The House Is Rockin'

"The House is Rockin'" is the first track of In Step, Stevie Ray Vaughan's fourth and final studio album with Double Trouble. Vaughan would record one more album in collaboration with his brother Jimmie before the end. Double Trouble is Stevie Ray Vaughan's backing band, as Crazy Horse is to Neil Young. They comprise Tommy Shannon on bass, Chris Layton on drums and Reese Wynans on keyboards.

The title is a play on a popular bumper sticker of the 1970s, which said, "If this van's a-rockin', don't bother knockin'." You see, vans were all the rage in the early '70s, and part of their allure was that they could be used as an impromptu place for a "quickie." Many drivers tricked out their vans with ridiculous carpeting and a bed, as if it were a bachelor pad on wheels. Thus, the bumper sticker implies that if the vehicle is parked and moving back and forth on its suspension, there's obviously some romantic activity going on in there and you shouldn't disturb them. Amongst many cultural references, comedian George Carlin on the stand-up album What Am I Doing in New Jersey? once expressed his disdain of vans, with the words: "You want to haul lumber rent a truck. You want to get laid, go to motel like an evangelist would, for God's sakes!"

Vaughan wrote this song, and a few others on the album, with fellow Texas songwriter Doyle Bramhall. Vaughan was in a band with Bramhall called The Nightcrawlers when they were starting out, and the two began collaborating on songs when Stevie Ray launched his solo career.