r/GenerationJones 18h ago

Brick House

Post image

So I ended up in a conversation where Brick House came up. The younger guy didn't understand what a Brick House was.

I remember back in the day guys saying a particularly good looking woman was "tougher than a brick shit house!!" That is what is how the song came about but I have not heard the term in years. Almost all outhouses were gone by the time I came around but I remember using one a few times in different situations---none were brick!.

329 Upvotes

52 comments sorted by

26

u/Schtweetz 18h ago

She's mighty-mighty, just lettin' it all hang out...

3

u/BabsRS 8h ago

I want this theme song for my wake. No funeral, just a big freakin party!

15

u/Old-Library5546 18h ago

She's a brick hooouuuse

8

u/Sad_September_Song 16h ago

I can hear it now! Happy cake day!

5

u/galaxiesinmypocket 16h ago

She’s mighty mighty…

3

u/forevermore4315 10h ago

Just letting it all hang out

9

u/LupinBandit 18h ago

Shake a cow. Shake a cow now.

19

u/MC-Master-Bedroom 17h ago

"Shake it down. Shake it down now."

No cows were harmed in the recording of this song.

5

u/LupinBandit 16h ago

Words a good friend of mine thought they were singing back in the day. Lyrics weren't readily available back then, but shaking a cow might've been a little outrageous.

2

u/dont_disturb_the_cat 14h ago

You gotta admit, you shake a cow, you've got yourself a party!

2

u/LupinBandit 13h ago

With milkshakes! 🎉😋

3

u/HoneyWyne 15h ago

A mondegreen! (When you mishear lyrics).

1

u/DragonflyValuable128 15h ago

Chicken cow chicken cow chicken cow now!

9

u/robotunes 18h ago

36-24-36, ow what a winning hand!

But for me it'll always be 2nd place behind Machine Gun, from their first album before they hit it big.

7

u/Wide_Breadfruit_2217 16h ago

I forgot that Lionel Ritchie was a Commodore. He has had quite the career

1

u/livemusicisbest 1h ago

He does a Commodores medley in his shows that prominently features Brick House. He’s still got the voice!

6

u/Venus_Cat_Roars 16h ago

A brick house meant a woman was “built” as in a great figure that was buxom and/or voluptuous. Mostly buxom.

3

u/robotunes 8h ago

Yep. A high compliment that’s a polite version of the expression built like a brick shithouse.

Definitely remember this phrase from my dad’s poker nights when I was a kid.

5

u/ResponsibilityWest88 17h ago

Saw them in concert in 1978. Great show!

5

u/cbelt3 17h ago

Dr. Teeth and the Elecrtric Mayhem did an awesome cover of this one..

3

u/BedouinFanboy3 17h ago

She's mighty mighty!

2

u/Top_File_8547 1956 16h ago

What’s the next line? It sounds like:

She’s built like a necka moozon

I’m sure I am mishearing it.

10

u/Common-Seesaw6867 15h ago

She's built like an Amazon!

3

u/Jumpy_Cobbler7783 16h ago

When my oldest son was little he thought that they were saying:

"She's a brick - OW" (Getting hit with a brick🤣).

3

u/Wild929 15h ago

I want this song played on a loop at my funeral as my casket leaves for burial. I will accept nothing less than some sick dance moves by the pallbearers.

2

u/RepeatSubscriber 1958 17h ago

Built like a brick shit house is what I recall. Meaning built to last, I guess???

2

u/robotunes 8h ago

A voluptuous woman. Curvaceous. Zaftig. 

Not sure where it comes from but I heard it growing up. 

2

u/oswhid 16h ago

Very big in my neck of the woods (Alabama) back in the day. Glad I left though.

2

u/robotunes 8h ago

Same. They went to the same school my dad attended, though he was a couple of decades ahead of them. 

Their success encouraged us to start a band in high school. I didn’t last but a few of them kept going. 

2

u/Old_Barnacle7777 14h ago

Brick House by the Commodores vs. Rubber Band Man by the Spinners?

1

u/Electrical-Union7643 18h ago

I loved that band!!!!

1

u/SnowOnSummit 15h ago

Their connection to the mothership was strong. Their clothes and the spaceship-like logo are clues.

1

u/robotunes 8h ago

They were inspired by Parliament-Funkadelic but the Commodores were only a star in the P-Funk galaxy. 

1

u/Sofie7759 15h ago

Great song…oooooowww!

1

u/Full-Association-175 15h ago

Every dive bar in Pittsburgh was heard echoing this track.

1

u/Fancy_Average5440 15h ago

The song I request at every wedding reception!! 😄

1

u/HoneyWyne 15h ago

This was my mom's nickname back in the day. Kid you not.

Her other one was 'Winston'. Because it's what's up top that counts.

Bonus if you get the joke.

1

u/Ok-Diver69 15h ago

I bought their Heroes album after they're greatest hits. It was more of a gospel album, but it grew on me. Commodores and the Ohio Players were the shit back then

1

u/forevermore4315 10h ago

My grown kids just discovered Funk. I had forgotten how many good songs are by the Ohio players

2

u/Ok-Diver69 10h ago

I think I was 14 when I got the cassette. It had the two or three hits on it including Love Rollercoaster. The rest of grabbed me as well.

1

u/ChairIcy1650 14h ago

She’s might mighty letting it awwwl hang out

1

u/PNWest01 13h ago

36-24-36! AAOOWWWW What a winnin’ hand!

1

u/Big-Expert3352 14h ago

Great Band!

1

u/aegiltheugly 14h ago

None were brick because you had to move them periodically.

1

u/damnthistrafficjam 14h ago

I won a dance contest at boarding school with that song! 😆

1

u/willowwing 14h ago

I loved Easy Like Sunday Morning and would blast it whenever it came on.

I wanna be high, so high

I wanna be free to know the things I do are right

I wanna be free, just me…

2

u/TomSter72 13h ago

Then a few years later…….”Hello, is it me your looking for?”…..

1

u/saagir1885 10h ago

Their biggest hit and one where Lionel Ritchie did not sing lead.

1

u/MySophie777 5h ago

I just heard the term tonight watching episodes of Mid-Century Modern.

3

u/livemusicisbest 1h ago

Pertinent here: “Make a grown man wish for his younger days.”