Faster Pussycat - House of Pain - Lyrics Meaning

``House of Pain'' was the second single from Faster Pussycat's 1989 album ``Wake Me When It's Over.'' The song reached #28 on Billboard's Hot 100 in the U.S. and the video was featured in heavy rotation on MTV.

``House of Pain'' was the quintessential power ballad that was common among hard rock bands in the mid-to-late 80's and early 90's. However, rather than being about broken hearts and love gone awry, the lyrics of this particular song dealt with a deadbeat dad. The lyrics describe a young adult looking back angrily at his father's absence from his childhood and adolescence. He describes himself as a young boy waiting on the porch step for a father that wasn't coming home. He expresses frustration over not understanding the divorce of his parents and his father's disappearance.

Now, as a young adult, he is still angered by the pain and loneliness he endured without a father figure in his life. He feels that the pages of his life's script were rearranged through no fault of his own. The song closes with the spoken line, ``Well, if I learned anything from this... it's how to live on my own.''