Tom Waits is an American musician who cut his teeth in the 1970s singer-songwriter circuit. Waits’ expansive discography often centers around the darker underbelly of society: lost love, broken homes, drug use, runaways. The song this line comes from, “House Where Nobody Lives,” is no exception. The lyrics describe an abandoned house, contemplating the lives it once held as it now stands alone and choked with weeds. Waits uses the decrepit structure to illustrate the fickleness of worldly possessions. “Houses are just made of wood,” he sings in the final verse. “What makes a house grand ain’t the roof or the doors. If there’s love in a house, it’s a palace for sure.”