‘Hole In My Roof’ might be a chronicle of late-night despair, but its sense of melancholy is set to a jazz-funk backdrop.’ – Adrian Thrills, Daily Mail
Almost each track on Damian Lewis‘ debut album Mission Creep carries a personal story. I have been diving into those stories one by one, sharing all the insights I can uncover about each song. This week’s song is Hole in My Roof.
But before we dive into Hole in My Roof, if you missed earlier posts in our Song of the Week series, you can catch up on the stories behind some other songs here.
Damian took on social media a few months after he released his debut album Mission Creep, to ask us, fans, a question…
Hmmm… Zaragoza (literal) and Hole in My Roof (metaphor), maybe?
Both Zaragoza and Hole in My Roof talk about a hole, on the roof of Damian’s tent and on the roof of his house, respectively. In Zaragoza with which I launched the Song of the Week series, Damian takes us back to his busking years where he rode his bike down to France and Spain in summers and played his guitar on market squares and in front of restaurants. One evening, he judges poorly one evening. As he crosses the Pyrenees, on his way to Zaragoza, Damian builds his tent in the midst of a raging storm… And he realizes, as darkness falls, that water is coming through the roof… Yikes!
I got food on the fire, but I ain’t hungry no more
I hear a ripple in the water
Now what you do that for?
The electric storm rages overhead and the young man feels vulnerable wondering if this can be the end…
…whereas in Hole in My Roof, Damian sings about having a hole in his roof in the first verse —not a literal one (though maybe he does have a skylight in his kitchen, like we do, to let in more light…) but a metaphorical hole.
I got a hole in my roof
And I’m lookin’ at the stars
And I’m thinkin’ to myself
“Is there life on Mars?I got a hole in my head
Where the world gets in
And I’m thinkin’ to myself
“Where does the world begin?”
A roof protects and shelters; a hole in one’s roof suggests vulnerability, exposure, damage. And a hole in one’s head represents the emptiness left by loss — a wound in the self. Instead of being intact, the mind has an opening where grief, memories, and the outside world intrude.
When grieving, the line between inner and outer world often feels blurred. So Damian is probably questioning where his pain ends and the world begins… wondering how life can go on outside when everything has gone quiet inside?
The song also expresses a hopeful desire for reunion and togetherness, which breaks my heart everyt ime I hear it… probably because, while I hope with all my heart that people have a chance to reunite with their loved ones in afterlife, I don’t believe in afterlife.
You and me should be together ’til the end.
So bye bye, baby, I can’t wait to see your smile again.
Damian has spoken multiple times about how his songs function as personal journal entries. He has also pointed out that Helen’s death became a powerful catalyst for his songwriting, and that he found a natural outlet to communicate his raw emotion s in there. In Hole in My Roof, Damian’s deep, husky voice conveys the raw emotion and pain associated with his grief, it makes me think this one may be one of the first songs he wrote along with She Comes.
That said, while the song is deeply personal, it certainly allows for ambiguity. Damian doesn’t force everything to literal grief, and gives space to his listeners to read their own meaning. He has said in an interview with The Telegraph that he deliberately left the lyrics to each song a little bit opaque so that listeners could borrow from it in ways that relate to their own lives and experiences..
‘Hole in my roof’ tags at my heart string not only by a tangible feeling of loss and search for the ways of reconnecting with someone forever taken place in his heart. I also love how Damian Lewis organically blends his lyrics with the chosen texture of the tune, his way of using the discords as the tool for projecting the still raw emotions: none intrusively but tastefully and seamlessly applied – not an easy task.
Once again, his talent shines in full.