'House of So Much Fun' - Marsh Family adaptation of 'Rising Sun Blues' (House of the Rising Sun)

As some of you who follow us on Patreon or Facebook already know, we had an amazing opportunity at the end of the summer - at the invitation of Experience Kissimmee - to take the kids on their first ever long-haul flight and enjoy a week's vacation in Florida, in the Vacation Home Capital of the World®. We had an incredible time, visiting amazing sites, enjoying US-style hospitality and food, and doing the kind of stuff we relish on vacation - outdoors, nature, exciting days and trips, and just spending time together to make memories and learn about new places and people. It's always those bits in between that stick in family folklore: the pool alarm, the car doors, the bad songs on the playlist, the size of the breakfast fruit, Tess dancing on a carpet because for the first time in her life she had a room to herself for seven nights.

This song was written to reflect the experiences we had on holiday - an adaptation of "House of the Rising Sun" or its original folk title, "Rising Sun Blues". We were slightly surprised that our hosts, Experience Kissimmee, were happy for us to riff on a song about someone down-at-their-heels in Louisiana, but we quickly realised that's because they 'get' us and see things very similarly - that making the best of life is about finding fun, and having a laugh, and choosing to collaborate and build experiences around sunshine and fresh air and music. We'd like to give a huge shout out to all those venues that we got to visit around Kissimmee and Orlando - so you might spot footage (or references to) Wild Florida, Jeeves Florida Rentals, Universal Orlando Resort™ (our first ever theme park!), Gatorland, the Paddling Center (at the tranquil Shingle Creek), and the Island H20 Water Park. We feel like we only scratched the surface in our time there, and the kids are now determined to get back to the USA as soon as they can! We'll post some more pictures in the Community pages if people are interested.

Huge thanks to Juliana, Nick and the whole team - with special mention to Keri who came with us on several of our adventures to see alligators, and to Jo who first reached out to us in the dark COVID days of April 2020, when travel of any kind seemed like a tantalising dream, and suggested the idea. And lastly thanks to our lovely friend Sarah and her dad who looked after the cats for us while we were away in August!

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LYRICS:

Thomas: There is a house in Kissimmee
All: With a pool, wide skies, and sun
Danielle: And we’ve been there for a holiday
Thomas: We hoped to have some fun

Ben: Now Ella’s scared of ‘gators
Alfie (/Ben): Tess of fast machines
Tess: Our father’s more a rambling’ man
Tess (/Thomas): He don’t like crowded scenes

Ella: Mum abhors her swimwear
Ella: The boys are awkward teens
All: It could have been a dreadful plan
All: To go to Kissimmee…

Ben: Now the home met all our family needs
Ella/Danielle: With a pool where we could dunk
All: We could roam along the waterside
All: We could kayak through the swamps

Danielle: I wish we’d left the children!
Ben: Other things we could have done
Both: When you and I are retirees,
Both: Can we leave the Animals home?

Alfie: Oh, Mother could not zipwire
Ella: Dad wore hideous trunks
Kids: Spent our time doing awe-inspiring things
Boys: While pretending we’re not their sons

Ella: Well, I’m not one bit scared of ‘gators!
Tess: I loved the rides and trains!
Kids/Danielle: Yes, every time we finished one
Kids/Danielle: We had to ‘go again’

Males: There is a house in Kissimmee
Ben: (KissIMMee!)
All: With a pool, wide skies, and sun
All: And we’ve been there for a holiday
All: We got to have so much fun!
All: We got to have so much fun!

[KittyStarlight]

Mum. "I wish we'd left the children."
Giggle. 😉
That has to be one of my favorite lines. 😉
Then again. "While pretending we're not their sons" was a really good counterattack. 😉

[larissatom]

The notes Ella hits at 1:26 are amazing 🤩

[daisymeadow]

all the kids voices are maturing so so so much, just fantastic, think you could all be singers in your own right but then family is whats important, and your harmonies are just spinechilling. Tess is growing up before our eyes, as they all are, love this adaptation, of one of my favourite songs, miss the poppy curtains though.😉

[tonylock]

Youtube being Youtube, it just pinged this up on my feed. Another great song, but the first thing my brain came up with was - WHAT? they took their instruments on holiday to Florida!!

[Bee-lygx]

Now my four children are grown up I yearn for this type of family holiday. Why do they grow up so fast.

[chessnut]

The father doesn't like crowded scenes but his house is all cramped up. Funny.

[timwood]

I bet the local tourist information board would love this song and video 😎

[Iron-Uschi]

I'm from Gernany and also have to thank you very much for the great lyrics. Kamala will give hope also for us europeans. I hope your song will go viral to all americans.

[Donnie-ui]

The parents have given the kids a great gift

[manhattanmama]

Two years later this shows up on my feed 🤷🏼‍♀️ Don’t know you guys but great voices. Glad you enjoyed my beautiful Sunshine State of Florida! P.S. I love gators too 😊🐊🌴

[michelewalburn]

This song is so much better for the dad's voice than the other song I just heard, the first of theirs I've heard.
It was the song about inflation.

[dogsareprecious]

I just discovered you tonight (Nov. 10, 2024) after your BRILLIANT "Bohemian Trumpsody" and "VP Vance" vids came up on my feed. And I can't stop watching your vids!! 😆 Such a talented family!

[divahc]

Ella, I think, perhaps, this is your best vocal performance to-date! You've grown in confidence, and your vocal
skills are fantastic! Great job! Everyone else-yeah, I guess you were okay... oh, alright, you're all AMAZING!! More, please!!

[catherinerobilliard]

We took our late-teenage children to Anna-Marie Island off the coast of Florida for the millennium; best and last “everybody there” family holiday we had. They have families of their own now. Happy days. Fond memories.

[rwadley]

Well done Family Marsh, another superb parody to keep me smiling for the next few hours. Too many fantastic lines to pick out a favourite :-)

[EddiesTech]

Looks like it was a great holiday! 😎🏖️

[michelewalburn]

2:20. I feel you. I just got back from the keys with my sister and my two young granddaughters.
We're going back in a couple of weeks without those lil booger pickers. Hehehehe

[JamesAidan-so]

Not only good lyrics and great performances but spectacular filming too❤

[melissaweintraub]

Fun to see where you were and what you did. And yay to having a room to yourself, Tess.

[Al-ImprovEd]

One of your best. I’m so glad someone visits Florida…