“12. The House on That Quiet Street (Tribute to Carol)” from The House That Trauma Built by Li Jean-Luc Harris. Released: 2026. Track 12.
Lyrics: (Verse 1)
Another front door, another hall
My brother’s shadow on the wall
Another name to memorise
Behind a set of guarded eyes
I was a file, a history
A storm of what they’d done to me
Then I landed at your gate
A ‘Looked After Child’, sealed by fate.
(Pre-Chorus)
And I was braced to break it all
To build a fortress, stand up tall
And wait for you to walk away
Like every other yesterday.
(Chorus)
But in the house on that quiet street
You gave me space for my defeat
You didn’t try to fix the cracks
Or demand the pieces I held back
You just held the line with patient hands
While a complicated kid made complicated plans
You built a home where I could fall apart
And let me find my own new start.
(Verse 2)
I lived my life behind a screen
In fantasy worlds, unheard, unseen
My mind a war that never rests
Putting every kindness to the test
I stole the food from kitchen tins
A hunger deeper than the tins
Most would have locked the door that night
But you just left the porch light on.
(Chorus)
‘Cause in the house on that quiet street
You gave me space for my defeat
You didn’t try to fix the cracks
Or demand the pieces I held back
You just held the line with patient hands
While a complicated kid made complicated plans
You built a home where I could fall apart
And let me find my own new start.
(Bridge)
And Carol, you fought the system, page by page
You saw the child, not just the rage
You pushed for help, a voice set free
In hospital walls, for me to be…
But their ‘solace’ was a tragedy
The system tore you away from me
That anger burns, a fire still,
Against social care’s bitter pill
But even then, through all that pain
Your love endured, a constant rain
That washed away the sharpest sting
And taught my broken heart to sing.
(Outro)
Every speech I give today
Every single bill I pay
In the quiet of the home I own
Are the seeds that you and John had sown.
You didn’t just build a home for me, you built a bridge back home,
Gave me the peace to see my own mother’s war-torn throne.
You didn’t heal me overnight, but you taught my darkness how to fight,
And that quiet debt, I’ll always keep,
Rooted in me, running deep…
On that quiet street. With you.
Thank you.