What does House of Gold mean?

Twenty One Pilots: House of Gold Meaning

Tagged:   No tags, suggest one.
Album cover for House of Gold album cover

Song Released: 2013


House of Gold Lyrics

She asked me, son, when I grow old
Will you buy me a house of gold?
And when your father turns to stone
Will you take care of me?

She asked me, son, when I grow old
Will you buy me a house of gold?
And when your father turns to...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    tenorbone
    click a star to vote
    Jan 24th 2015 !⃝

    This is a conversation between he and his mother. She asks him to take care of him when she become old, but in a rather grandiose fashion. She asks him to get her a house of gold. This represents the American dream. She wants him to get this house when his father dies.

    The next verse talks about the two of them leaving what they know to pursue their "dreams." However, this was a bad decision and they just did their best to think that this was a good decision.

    But here's the kicker. Tyler realizes that life's dreams and aspirations are pointless and lead only to death (more on that later). No one can plan life and it can put your dreams on hold or even end them. So he's saying that you shouldn't base your life solely on your dreams. He would rather become homeless and be someone else different than pursue "dreams" with his mom. SWhen he speaks of putting his mom on the map and curing her of disease, he refers to his eagerness to do what his mom asked him.

    So let's talk about the music video. It starts off with a house in the country and Tyler happily playing the ukulele. As the music video progresses, you notice that his torso has some blood on it. Then it shows you that Tyler's bottom half is gone. There's a machine in the distance (where Josh is) that has blood on it as well. This represents that the machine killed Tyler and Josh. Dark and ironic, right? The music video is a satire of the American dream. The humor comes when Josh's bottom half is wondering around, not knowing where to go. This represents him aimlessly pursuing the American dream without knowledge of the consequences (dreams are dead and life will turns plan's on its head). As the song nears its end, the sun sets and goes to rest in the mountains. Then Tyler's body falls dead. This represents the consequences of ignorantly following the American dream.

    In conclusion, it may seem like this song is just poking fun at the dream, but this is a dark warning. The song is saying that pursuing your materialistic dreams will lead nowhere except death. The happy melody contrasts vastly with the meanings of the song and music video. It's really cool and really scary at the same time.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 28th 2016 !⃝

    Their mother is asking for them to help her when she is old and their father dies. But he is torn between both his mother and his dream. But both kill a part of him. And he wants to please his mother but at the same time he wants to follow his dreams.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Apr 12th 2016 !⃝

    My interpretation is simple. His mother asked him to build a house of gold when his father dies and take care of her. While part of him wants to make his mother happy, this would kill his dreams of pursuing music. The fact that his heart is with his mom and his legs are elsewhere shows that he is truly torn between pursuing his dreams and taking care of his mother. Ultimately, he dies when he stays with his Mom, which represents his pursuit of a music career dying.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Feb 13th 2023 !⃝

    I think it's about him killing his mom.
    " I will make you queen of everything you see..": you can't see anything when you're dead.
    "I'll put you on the map...": In a grave
    "I'll cure you of disease...": You don't have disease when your dead.

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 25th 2022 !⃝

    She asked me son when I grow old,will you buy me a house of gold?and when your father turns to stone will you take care of me? I will make you Queen of everything you see I'll put you on the map I'll cure you disease.

  6. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 1st 2021 !⃝

    When his father dies his mother wants him to build her a house and take care of her.



































  7. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 7th 2020 !⃝

    He promises a House of Gold to his mom, because his mom always backed what he did, and when your father turns to Stone, could also mean he leaves the Family... and when the father leaves, he fails to support the family. So the son feels his mother was always there for him...
    and his father turned to stone when he left.
    Mother and son have strong bonds. The Son wants to make thing right in his mother world,
    His father thinks a music career is a bum's dream... WHEN HE WILL BECOMES A MUSICIAN TO BECOME SOMEONE, LIFE HAS A WAY of being derailed by hurdles, or unforeseen consequences,
    My son said "mom this is our song" (we both have a sense of humor, so the manner of the song's unfortunate ending.. was the icing on the cake.. but not the end of their relationship)

  8. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jun 12th 2019 !⃝

    If we go just by the lyrics, perhaps she is asking whether she will be alone after her husband dies, or whether her son will take care of her when she’s no longer able to do so for herself; his answer is, “Yes.” Then he asks if they can change the life they have and whether that change would give them the fairy tale ending they’ve both been hoping for. She asks again whether she will be alone or he will take her in. Again he says, “Yes.” And when he reminds her that our plans often go awry, and she again asks him for reassurance that he will be in her life, he again tells her that he will.

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 20th 2018 !⃝

    First the conversation is between him and his mother his mother ask him to build her a house of gold after his father dies (she ask me son when I grow old will you buy me a house of gold when your father turns to stone). But Tyler has a choice between his career and his mother and he is torn between the two like he body with his mother and his legs wandering off blindly pursuing his dreams, but there was a consequence. Death. And the same thing for Josh too. And when the sun sets over the mountain his body falls the consequences.

  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 18th 2018 !⃝

    I am not summarizing the song, I am just going to explain the part about Tyler becoming a bum.

    If you pay attention to the line before he says that he will become a bum, he states that "life turns plans upside down." What I'm trying to get at is, Tyler uses the idea that, because life turns plans upside down, he will plan to be a bum- therefore, he will not be bum. ;) Get it?

  11. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 2nd 2017 !⃝

    When Tyler's mom gets old and his dad turns to stone-dies because a grave is made of stone-he makes music. But his Mom wants a house of gold. Not a real house of gold. A house which is perfect. Tyler meets a girl and they run away to pursue their young dreams. But it all goes wrong when he dies in a tractor accident. He goes to visit the girl-or his mom-and they ignore him. If it's his mom then she's upset he died and can't bare to look at him and is sad that he left her only to wind up like his dad. Dead. If it's the girl then she worries that he blames her and is trying to haunt her. But he's only trying to give her a song about his mother and the girls adventures. When the sun goes down he has a realization: She won't listen to him. Or maybe he realizes how his decisions have killed him...and his dreams.

  12. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 25th 2017 !⃝

    His mother asked him to take care of her when she is older, as in not to just give her up to the old people homes but to give her the dream of living old in a house once her husband (his dad) dies. He tells her not to worry and that he's sorry that he couldn't of given her a better life when he was younger and she was caring for him, and promises her he will make her famous by letting people know how much she cared and took care of him and their family, by putting her on the map, and finding a cure for her disease (ill put you in the map, ill cure you of disease) which takes us back to her asking him "Son when I get old, will you buy me a house of gold, and when your father turns to stone, will you take care of me? "

  13. 21pilots
    click a star to vote
    Oct 19th 2017 !⃝

    In the song his emotions are split between his love, his motivation, his mother and the thing that he loves, the thing he wants, the thing that inspires him, his career as a singer, but if he were to forget his mother he would lose inspiration. I feel like that when the sun rose and his top torso died he lost what he felt towards his mom when started his career. So he made the song to show that he still cared about his mom and that nothing could take him away from what he loved, just distract him from that love that kinder within him.

  14. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 12th 2017 !⃝

    When his dad passes away his mother wants him to look after her and so half of him is with his dreams of music and the other half is with his mother.

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 10th 2017 !⃝

    His aspiration asks him will there be a profit from what he does, when public will think this music is old will there be a memory of what he did(house of golg)(music on the map of musics)(desise is coraption in indusrty)(row field is people minds, mashine is pop culture and fasion that torn him apart and correct his activity)house on top is a harbor where no sun that allow you to do things that wouoldnt be accepted if you were not popular,
    sun is musucal activity time and eyes that look at him, his frind is under car, he has own vision of mashine, but at the end nothing is matter, everything is from sunrise to sunset, go eat your mtv mofo.

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 4th 2017 !⃝

    his heart is with his mother, but since he wants to travel, his heart and body split and he stayed with his mother and his legs pursued his dreams.

  17. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    May 20th 2017 !⃝

    I think the songs meaning is that he is tore in half between his mom and music career.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 16th 2017 !⃝

    Tyler and Josh love their mother's very much. That is no secret. So you obviously see that this song is about their mother.(They are not siblings.) However this song is not just about their mothers. It is about their dreams too. While Josh wants to take care of his mother he also wants to follow his dreams and gets too attached to his dreams. Tyler is trying to say don't revolve your life all around your dreams. The reason he is torn in half in the music video is because he is torn on which path to choose and because he revolved to much around his dreams. The harmonic melody believe it or not has a dark meaning.

‹ prev 12



More Twenty One Pilots songs »


 


Latest Articles

 


Submit Your Interpretation

[ want a different song? ]




Just Posted

Mad Hatter anonymous
Fire Lake anonymous
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead anonymous
We Gotta Get out of This Place anonymous
Jealous anonymous
Won't Get Fooled Again anonymous
Smokestack Lightning anonymous
True Colors anonymous
Future Love Paradise anonymous
Adios, Adios anonymous
Strangers anonymous
Possibility anonymous
Jailbreak anonymous
Sour Girl anonymous
Cornflake Girl anonymous

(We won't give out your email)