THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

874-Eels-Susan’s House.

1997-Number 9 single.

Best Bit-At 2.23. Just think, if Bon Jovi hadn’t have had the idea first, the Eels could have called their Album ‘Slippery When Wet.’

The Eels were formed in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1995, by Mark Everett. (multi instumentalist) Jonathan ‘Butch’ Norton, (drums) and Tommy Walter, (bass) in total there have been nine official members of the Eels come and go, with Everett being the bands one constant.

In 1991 Mark Everett signed a contract with ‘Polydor’ records, releasing two solo Albums. and two solo singles in 1992, and 1993, using the stage name ‘E.’ On signing for ‘Dreamworks’ records in 1995, Everett, Norton, and Walter became ‘Eels,’ the name was chosen so that the band records in music stores would be close to ‘E’s’ solo records in an alphabetical ordering, although with so many releases by bands such as the Eagles, and Earth Wind & Fire, the idea didn’t really work that well. The discography of the Eels, whose music has been described as ‘Alternative Rock,’ and ‘Indie Rock,’ includes 19 studio Albums released between 1985-2022, which includes Mark Everett’s recorded and released independently Album ‘Bad Dude in Love,’ from 1985, and also his two solo Albums. Everett and the Eels have also issued 17 singles between 1992-2020, and there are eight official live Albums, and four compilation Albums available. Many of the Eels songs have been used in film and television, including, ‘Christmas Is Going to the Dogs,’ in How the Grinch Stole Christmas,’ (2000) and ‘My Beloved Monster,’ in ‘Shrek’ (2001.) In America on Billboard none of their Albums or singles have ever charted within the top 40, but ‘Novacaine for the Soul’ made Number 1 on the ‘Alternative Airplay’ chart in 1996. In the UK, 14 of their Albums have made the top 40, and they have had six top 40 hit singles, with ‘Susan’s House’ charting the highest at Number 9 in 1997.

Mark Oliver Everett was born on April 10th, 1963, in Virginia, United States, in 2003 he was suspected of working under the alias MC Honky, who released the album ‘I Am the Messiah,’ although he denies it. Many of Everett’s songs are based on his real life experiences, for example the Eels second studio Album ‘Electro-Shock Blues’ from 1998, focuses extensively on the death of his mother Nancy, who had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Everett’s father was Hugh Everett III (1930-1982) the world famous physicist, and his maternal grandfather was Harold ‘Kid’ Gore, (1891-1969) a legendary American football, and basketball coach.

‘Susan’s House’ was the second of five singles released from the Eels debut studio Album ‘Beautiful Freak,’ from August 1996. The song was co-written by Mark Everett, Jim Jacobsen, and Jim Weatherly. ‘Susan’s House’ samples the piano introduction from the 1974 Gladys Knight & the Pips track ‘Love Finds Its Own Way,’ from her their Album ‘I Feel a Song,’ that track had been written by Weatherly, (1943-2021) (see also best songs 667) and is the reason why he is credited as one of the songs writers. ‘Susan’s House’ tells the tale of Mark Everett walking from his house, to Susan’s house, and the horrors he encounters along the way, but he is comforted in the knowledge that when he arrives, he will be safe. Everett has said, ‘Susan wasn’t a crazy girl, a rare exception at the time,’ In reality Susan’s house was in Pasadena, which was not a walkable distance from where Everett lived at the time. By the time of recording the song, Everett and Susan had already been apart a few years. Susan is also the subject of the song ‘Beautiful Freak,’ from the same Album.

‘Here comes a girl with long brown hair who can’t be more than seventeen. She sucks on a red Popsicle, while she pushes a baby girl in a pink carriage, and I’m thinking, that must be her sister, that must be her sister, right? They go into the 7-11 and I keep walking.’