Dwight Yoakam – Home for Sale

About The Song

“Home for Sale” is a song written and recorded by American country singer Dwight Yoakam. It appears on his fifth studio album, This Time, released by Reprise Records on March 23, 1993. Produced by longtime collaborator Pete Anderson and recorded at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, the album blended neo-traditional country with rock and soul touches and went on to become Yoakam’s biggest commercial success, eventually earning triple-platinum certification in the United States. While “Home for Sale” was not promoted as an A-side single, it gained wide exposure as part of this hit album and later as a B-side to the chart-topping single “Fast as You.”

Within the track list of This Time, “Home for Sale” is positioned in the middle of the album with a running time of about three minutes and thirty-nine seconds. The song is credited solely to Yoakam as writer, fitting the general pattern of the record, where he wrote or co-wrote all but one track. Contemporary commentary on the album highlights “Home for Sale” as an example of Yoakam and Anderson broadening their sound: the arrangement features a Hammond B3 organ, an instrument the pair had begun using on the previous album and which was still relatively uncommon in mainstream country productions at the time.

Lyrically, the song uses the image of a house being put on the market as a metaphor for the end of a relationship. The narrator describes a large, once-cherished home that now feels too big and empty for a single owner. Lines about the asking price including all the memories and about the property being “restored like new” underline that the structure is intact even though the life inside it has disappeared. Later verses hint that what sounds like rain leaking through the roof is really the last remaining tears, linking the physical space to the emotional residue of a breakup.

The text of “Home for Sale” has been described by Yoakam as a “stone country” lyric – direct, concise and rooted in classic honky-tonk themes of loss and separation. What distinguishes it is the way those emotions are filtered through everyday details of real estate and domestic space rather than through overt declarations of heartbreak. The house becomes a stand-in for a family that no longer exists, and the language focuses on square footage, views and repairs as a way of talking about love that has faded. This mixture of plainspoken imagery and emotional weight fits well with the broader writing on This Time.

Musically, the track is a mid-tempo ballad built on Yoakam’s characteristic blend of Bakersfield-influenced country and more contemporary textures. Electric and steel guitars, bass and drums provide the core backing, while the Hammond organ adds a warm, sustained layer that gives the song a subtle soul and gospel flavor without moving it out of the country category. Critics have pointed to songs like “Home for Sale” as evidence of how This Time pushed beyond the stripped-down honky-tonk of Yoakam’s early work while preserving his vocal phrasing and melodic sense.

“Home for Sale” has remained visible in Yoakam’s catalog through later releases. An acoustic version, featuring only voice and guitar, was included on the 2000 album dwightyoakamacoustic.net, emphasizing the strength of the lyric when stripped of full-band production. The song also appears in the 2002 box set Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years and in multi-album reissue series that collect his 1980s and 1990s studio work. In 2016, Yoakam revisited the song again for the bluegrass-oriented project Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars…, re-arranging it with acoustic instrumentation while retaining the original’s core melody and structure, which underlines the song’s adaptability across different stylistic settings.

Video

Lyric

Home for sale
That’s much too large
Too many rooms
Big ol’ empty yard

Far more space
Than the owner needs
Price includes
All memories

Home for sale
Restored like new
It’s just a place
Two lives outgrew

A change in heart
Forces move away
Would like to keep
But just can’t stay

Listen close and you might hear the sound
What you think is rainfall leaking down

The roof is fine, set aside your fears
It’s just a few, remaining tears

Home for sale
Not all that old
A family’s dream
Stands dark and cold

Scenic views
That go for free
Of all the love
That used to be

Home for sale
That’s much too large