House

This is the first single from the Ben Folds compilation album The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective. The album title comes from a track on the band's 1995 self-titled debut album, though it doesn't feature on the standard edition retrospective.

The single is one of three newly recorded Ben Folds Five songs for the record. It was debuted on the website for the NBC competition show The Sing-Off, of which Folds is a judge. "It's definitely about the past, and that was what I was thinking about with this retrospective," Folds said of the song to Spinner. "It occurs to me that there comes a time for anybody that they just want to close the door on the past. In some ways, this retrospective record allows me to shut the door on that and keep moving."

Explaining how the band came to record three new songs for the compilation, Folds said that it was as simple as his label, Sony Music, suggested it. "We tend to do things when we're asked," he told Spinner. "It's really funny. We hadn't had any offers to do anything. I guess it's all self-motivation. We didn't know if we were going to get together or not for anything. I called Robert (Sledge, bass) and Darren (Jessee, drums) up - they were free for a week - so we got the studio for the week."