Come on up the house is a great gospel song by Tom Waits. The lyrics of come on up to house contain a few nice lines of poetry keeping the listener dangling whether it is meant cynically or as a sincere expression of faith. Tom Waits has been strongly influenced by Bob Dylan and it is difficult to put his music style in a box. For me a large part of his music connects to folk. Maybe this is also since many of his lyrics focus on the underside of society and therefore appeals to ordinary people in society. The chorus is one that will stick in your mind due to the beautiful third and fourth sentence, which by the way originates from a song from the American country singer Jim Reeves.

Come on up to the house
Come on up to the house
The world is not my home
I’m just a-passing through
You got to come on up to the house

With my own folk band Van Verre we play the song in our own arrangement and with a nice harmonica solo by Sjoerd Heijda. We play the song in the key of G, while the original by Tom Waits is in the key of E-flat. To play along I have taking our own version in the key of G. In the first PDF file you can find chords and lyrics in the same key to enable you to play along. In the second PDF file you can find the notes of the lead and backing vocals of the chorus.

Come on up to the house, chords and lyrics
Come on up to the house, notes for the lead and backing vocals of the chorus