House Of Gold

Album: Vessel (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • Tyler Joseph wrote this ukulele-led song for his mother, Kelly Joseph. The tune originally appeared as a bonus track on Twenty One Pilots' second self-released album Regional at Best. It was later re-recorded for Vessel with a different vocal track.
  • Some record industry insiders wanted to focus on this song and make Twenty One Pilots the next Mumford And Sons. "There was that moment where it looked like 'House Of Gold' was going to be the single that was going to represent who we are," Tyler Joseph recalled to Alternative Press. "That was the song all the labels said, 'That's the hit, let's do this.'"

    "That was one of the most frustrating parts of our journey," he continued. "This was a song that I wrote in a parking lot out of love and it made sense on a record. But to make it a flagship of what we're trying to do doesn't make sense. All that stuff - Mumford, Lumineers, Of Monsters And Men - was hitting hard back then. Fortunately, we had enough people who understood what we were about and said, 'The song is good, but it's not the full experience.'"

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