Miranda Lambert’s ‘The House That Built Me’ Was Almost Cut by Blake Shelton
No doubt about it -- "The Hour That Built Me" is one of Miranda Lambert's most personal and emotional songs. Looking back, it's difficult to imagine anyone else singing it, but in fact, the track was first pitched to Lambert's then-boyfriend, country star Blake Shelton.
After the song was pitched to Shelton, he happened to be in the same room as Lambert when he listened to it for the first time. As the song played, he looked over, and she was sobbing. Shelton knew he had to give up the song. He did, and the rest is history.
Still, why does the song mean so much to Lambert, and still bring her to tears nearly a decade after its 2010 release? Well, even though she didn't write it -- Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin actually did those honors -- the ballad's lyrics are eerily similar to her own life growing up.
In fact, the lyrics of the song hit so close to home that Lambert's parents told Today in 2010 that they were shocked when they learned their daughter hadn't written it. "It's like the persons that wrote that song were channeling into our lives at that horrible but great time in our lives," the singer's dad, Rick Lambert, explained. "It was so many mixed emotions at that time because we actually lost everything we owned. We actually lost a house that we built with our own hands."
When Lambert was a young child, her private investigator parents hit a difficult financial period, worsened by a few bad business decisions. The family of four -- including Lambert and her brother -- were left homeless, and stayed with family for a while before moving into a rental property that was in such bad shape that it came close to being bulldozed.
One room at a time, the family began to renovate the house. In the meantime, they ate from their garden and caught game animals for sustenance. They even raised rabbits, though Lambert and her brother were only allowed to name two: The rest were destined for the dinner table.
To learn more about why "The House That Built Me" is such a special song in Lambert's catalogue -- and why the songwriters struggled for so long to finish it -- press play above to watch this week's episode of The Secret History of Country Music, from The Boot's partner site, Taste of Country.
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