I don’t think we are talking enough about the concept of “the house that always rains.” It’s truly ingenious and so heartbreaking. How “the house that always rains” could allude to the place Conan’s partner lived and grew up in, surrounded in an environment that was in constant “bad weather” and was never in a still or calm state. And as Conan says “Come and find me, cause theyre shouting in my house that always shakes,” his emphasis on “my” says his house is the one that shakes, while his partner is the one whose rains. And also with shaking versus rain, shaking would be a more violent and destructive force, maybe alluding to more physical abuse, while rain can be loud and also violent, which may lean more towards emotional abuse and neglect, which goes along with Conan’s past of abuse and how that compared to rain shows both him and his partner had a traumatic childhood but with different aspects and terms of abuse and trauma. And because of this trauma, it’s driven the both of them to be “scared” of relationships and commitment. Because of the constant rain or shaking, neither of them lived in a still or peaceful environment for the first and most fragile first years of their lives, causing their perspective of relationships to be distorted and easily damaged. As Conan says in family line “Cause now Im scared that everyone I love will leave me,” because of his fathers abuse, his heart’s perception of love is broken and fearful anyone he loves will hurt him. Nauseous is the biggest tie to this song, especially with the lyric, “I know that it’s in me to really love someone, but that’s not a thing I learned from my loved ones,” which is saying he knows deep within him he truly can love, but because he’d never been given that love, he doesn’t know how receive or give it himself. In the bridge he admits if he could redo one thing he’d be less of a lover and more of a friend, which shows he did love this person, but realizes not in the way a friend would, which was what that person needed mentally rather than a romantic one. Again, the truama they both endured comes into play when Conan says “while I was scared of being left you were scared of being seen,” which again shows that even though both had childhood trauma, it affected them in different ways. While Conan was scared of being left because he’d never felt loved before and is scared it’s “too good to be true,” fearful everyone he loves will leave him, his partner is scared of being seen, maybe because of never being heard or understood during their childhood, causing them to hide or disguise themselves to hide their true emotion and identity. This song really ties together many songs (Family line, Summer child, Miss you, Winner, Class clown, nauseous) and concepts (trauma, abuse, fear of love and the effects they have) of Conan’s into one song. How two people may be perfect for eachother, they love and respect one another, but because of past abuse, it causes them to go about that relationship in the wrong way, and that eachother causes it to eventually fall apart. Because so many people grow up in broken houses, with physical abuse, mental/emotional abuse, neglect, etc, it not only causes truama to their mental state, but goes into effect in their relationship. That’s why this song hits so hard and is truly such an amazing song concept that we NEED to be talking more about.
