"I Hate My Apartment"

I wrote this while living in my tiny efficiency studio in Boston’s South End. It was actually a very nice (if small) apartment in a great neighborhood. I couldn’t afford anything around there now. The only bad part was the shared bathroom, and even that could be tolerated at the time. I was young, and I had my very first solo apartment! It was an exciting time. This apartment figures in a lot of my dreams. Usually, I’m trying to get back in to see it. This, the Medford place, and my boyhood home on 40^th Street in Des Moines are all locations that pop up in a lot of dreams. Those are all places where I know I made some mistakes that I’d love to go back and correct.

I wrote a lot of my first complete songs – words and music – there on Pembroke Street, sitting at my Rhodes piano, looking out on the Hancock building, enjoying the lights of the city. I would go for long walks around the neighborhood, jotting down ideas in a notebook. When I got back home, I’d flesh out my ideas while starting to define a style I could call my own. I recorded this one for Making a Mess.

“I Hate My Apartment” on YouTube

I Hate My Apartment

© 1985 Brian Hutzell

Bare walls

Dirty floor

One room

Nothing more

I hate my apartment

I've seen bigger glove compartments

I hate my apartment

I'd rather live in a rat-infested basement

Thin walls

Rotten view

Peeling paint

Nothing new

I hate my apartment

But it's the only thing I can afford

I hate my apartment

I want something more

Poor lights

Looks dead

Ceiling leaks

On my head

I hate my apartment

It's a shame I have to call it my home

I hate my apartment

But at least it's my very own