About The Song
“Stranger in My House” is a song written by Mike Reid and recorded by American country music artist Ronnie Milsap. It was released in April 1983 as the first single from the album Keyed Up.
The song tells of a man who suspects his wife is fantasizing about being with a secret lover. It is mainly in the key of D minor, with some portions of the verses being in D Dorian due to the sixth tone being raised by a half-step. Milsap’s vocal ranges exactly two octaves (from D3 to D5). The main chord pattern on the verses is Dm-C-G twice, followed by Gm-Dm-Gm-A; the chorus uses Dm-Gm-A twice and ends on a Dm chord.
Milsap’s 35th single to be released, the song immediately became a major hit as it peaked at No. 5 on the country chart and No. 8 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song also went as high as No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart.
The song features a rock guitar solo from Bruce Dees. Some country stations edited this solo out of the song, and a station in Denver, Colorado, refused to play the song, because its personnel opined that the song sounded like a Led Zeppelin song. That particular airplay lost from the Denver station likely kept the song from peaking at No 1
Reid would win the Grammy Award for Best Country Song category for this song in 1984.
A black-and-white music video for the single, directed by David Hogan, was also released. During the beginning of the video, a man is shown trespassing in the narrator’s house as the blind singer plays his piano. During the climax, it shows his wife’s imaginary lover playing an electric guitar as she performs an erotic dance to the solo. In the end, it shows detectives investigating the tape outline of an electric guitar.
Video
Lyrics
There’s a silence here between us
I’ve never heard before
And I can’t find the love
In her eyes anymore
There’s some changes going on
I’m beginning to understand
When I’m holding her
I swear I feel the presence of another man
There’s a stranger in my house
Somebody here that I can’t see
Stranger in my house
Somebody here trying to take her away from me
She sits staring out the window
A million miles away
And when I ask if she’s all right
She never has too much to say
Is it somebody we both know
Or somebody she just met
Is she loving him in her mind
While she’s lying here in my bed
There’s a stranger in my house
Somebody here that I can’t see
Stranger in my house
Somebody here trying to take her away from me
Suspicions lead to questions
And questions to alibis
Is it just my imagination
Or has her love turned into lies
There’s a stranger in my house
Somebody here that I can’t see
Stranger in my house
Somebody here trying to take her away
There’s a stranger in my house
Somebody here that I can’t see
Stranger in my house
Somebody here trying to take her away
A stranger in my house
Somebody here trying to take her away from me
A stranger in my house