"Every Light in the House" is a song written by

Kent Robbins Kent Marshall Robbins (April 23, 1947 – December 27, 1997) was an American country music songwriter. Robbins was born in Mayfield, Kentucky. He began writing for Charley Pride's Pi-Gem music in 1974. Between then and his death, he wrote song ...

and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Trace Adkins Trace may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995 * ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993 * Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band * ''The Trace'' (album) Other uses in arts and entertainment * ''Trace'' ...

. It was released in August 1996 as the second single from his debut album '' Dreamin' Out Loud''. It was his first Top 5 single on the

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

(now

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

) chart, where it peaked at #3.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo ballad mostly accompanied by

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

in which the narrator has recently split from his wife. He turns every light on in the house and keeps them on for her in case she wants to return to his side.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price, of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably, saying that "Adkins' deep, powerful voice does justice to the yearning in this lyric about a man who has left the lights on waiting for his lover to return." Rick Cohoon of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the song a favorable review, calling it a "creative approach to the age-old 'goodbye, I miss you' song." He commended Adkins' voice for "communicat ngpain so well" despite the singer's stature, although he considered some of the

similes A simile () is a figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes differ from other metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than", while other metaphors cr ...

forced (e.g. "the backyard's bright as the crack of dawn").

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for this song is in black-and-white, and begins with Adkins sitting on the porch of a house with his dog after his woman left home. He then gets off the porch, and he and some workers get to work on a power generator. Scenes also feature him singing inside of the same house which also featured an alternative sub chorus "Drinkin' Bush Light til the crack of dawn" whilst a slew of empty Busch cans can be seen next to the generator, ultimately this scene and lyric was scrubbed and the original was used.

Chart performance

"Every Light in the House" debuted at number 72 on the

chart dated August 24, 1996. It charted for 21 weeks on that chart, and peaked at number 3 on the country chart dated December 14, 1996, giving Adkins the first Top 5 single of his career. In addition, it peaked at number 78 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also marking his first entry on that chart.

Certifications

Parodies

On his 1998 album ''

Did I Shave My Back for This? ''Did I Shave My Back for This?'' is the third album from country music parodist Cledus T. Judd. The title of the album itself is a take-off on Deana Carter's 1996 debut album ''Did I Shave My Legs for This?'', whose title track is parodied here. ...

'', country parodist

Cledus T. Judd James Barry Poole (born December 18, 1964) is an American country music artist who records under the name Cledus T. Judd. Known primarily for his parodies of popular country songs, he has been called the "Weird Al" Yankovic of country music, and ...

parodied the song as "Every Light in the House Is Blown". Trace Adkins is featured in the music video when the song begins and after it ends.

References

{{authority control 1996 singles 1996 songs Trace Adkins songs Songs written by Kent Robbins Song recordings produced by Scott Hendricks Capitol Records Nashville singles