Crowded House released “Silent House”

Silent House Crowded House

Writer(s): Neil Finn, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robison (see lyrics here) Released: 6/29/2007 (album cut on Time on Earth) First Charted: -- Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards (Crowded House): Click on award for more details. Awards (Dixie Chicks): Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Silent House” was a joint writing effort between Neil Finn and the Dixie Chicks. Neither released it as a single, but both recorded versions. It was first featured on the latter’s 2006 album Taking the Long Way Home, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. A year later, Finn recorded his version of the song with his band, Crowded House. It was featured on Time on Earth, the band’s first album in fourteen years. Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks said the song is about her grandmother, who’d been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for a decade. The song reflects on “memories of her triggered by walking through the house.” SF She described it as “a sad song that tries to be sweet” BT and that it takes the perspective that “it’s okay to forget, I’ll try and carry on.” BT The Dixie Chicks’ version “is quintessential country, complete with banjos a-plucking and fiddles a-whining.” GW It isn’t a fast song, but the drums do give it momentum. Vocally, Maines has a “strong, forthright” voice and “the melody is firmly in her wheelhouse.” GW By contrast, on the Crowded House version, the drums are “barely there: less percussive, and more like thumps, like heartbeats.” GW Additionally, Finn’s “voice is softer, more vulnerable.” GW As such, the latter version ends up striking a more somber, reflective tone. The song takes on even more weight with the knowledge that Paul Hester, Finn’s bandmate in Crowded House and Split Enz, had committed suicide in 2005. While a different kind of loss, one can’t help but wonder if Finn thinks about Hester when he sings the song. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Crowded House DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Dixie Chicks BT TheBoot.com (5/27/2016). “Story Behind the Song: Dixie Chicks, ‘Silent House’” GW Medium.com (4/20/2018). “Sad Songs: Silent House” by Greg Weight. SF Songfacts Related Links: First posted 5/6/2020; last updated 11/13/2023.

Dixie Chicks Taking the Long Way won Album of the Year

Taking the Long Way The Dixie Chicks

Released: May 23, 2006 Peak: 12 US, 19 CW, 10 UK, 14 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 0.1 UK, 3.96 world (includes US and UK) Genre: country

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. The Long Way Around (8/29/06, --) Easy Silence Not Ready to Make Nice (3/25/06, 4 BB, 36 CW, 32 AC) Everybody Knows (5/6/06, 45 CW) Bitter End Lullaby Lubbock or Leave It Silent House Favorite Year Voice Inside My Head I Like It Baby Hold On So Hard I Hope (10/22/05, 54 CW) Total Running Time: 66:42 The Players: Natalie Maines (vocals, Omnichord) Martie Maguire (fiddle, viola, mandolin, strings, background vocals) Emily Robison (banjo, guitar, papoose, accordion, sitar, background vocals)

Rating: 4.235 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: As if following up three albums that sold nearly 30 million copies and a battle with their record label over royalties weren’t enough, this Texas trio now known as the Chicks were facing backlash from criticism of then-President George W. Bush made by lead singer Natalie Maines. Conservative country radio suddenly wanted nothing to do with them. To their credit, Maines, Martie Maguire, and Emily Robison did not back down. While their country audience diminished, they had become international superstars bigger than a particular genre. “Their sound and sensibility played to an audience that was much bigger and more self-consciously sophisticated than the country audience, so their shift from country to pop on 2006’s Taking the Long Way feels natural.” STE “The trio’s harmonies still shine brightly, they still play with conviction, and they still have a strong body of songs here.” STE On songs like “the defiant Not Ready to Make Nice [Grammy winner for song and record of the year] and the redneck-baiting Lubbock or Live It” STE they “don’t sound like they’re in retreat…they merely sound like they’re being themselves.” STE “They are now savvy, sophisticated urbanites” STE that are now “a little more NPR than hot country” STE with a sound that is “more suited for upscale apartments and coffeehouses” STE than Nashville. The album cover even suggests the newer image with them looking “like they’ve stepped out of Sex and the City.” STE The band outsourced some songwriting to the likes of Sheryl Crow, Neil Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz), Mike Campbell (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Dan Wilson (Semisonic, Trip Shakespeare), and bluesman Keb’ Mo’. “All are accomplished songwriters whose strengths may not seem to lie in country, but they all know how to structure a song, and they help give the group direction and the album focus.” STE They also worked with famed producer Rick Rubin. His “skill on picking collaborators for the trio makes up for his typically flat production – it’s clean and classy but not colorful, which it begs to be, given that this is a pop album filled with different styles and textures from rollicking rock & roll to soulful laments to sweet ballads. But this lack of zest in the production is forgivable because Taking the Long Way is otherwise a strong, confident affair that is far from suggesting the Dixie Chicks are being cowardly for moving away from country. Rather, they’re bravely asserting their identity through this varied, successful crossover move.” STE

Resources and Related Links: STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 10/8/2011; last updated 2/6/2024.