– Fan Fun “Song of the Week” Series –
by Damianista | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | September 30, 2025
‘Hole In My Roof’ might be a chronicle of late-night despair, but its sense of melancholy is set to a jazz-funk backdrop. – Adrian Thrills, Daily Mail
Almost each track on Damian Lewis’ debut album Mission Creep carries a personal story. I have been diving into those stories one by one, sharing all the insights I can uncover about each song. This week’s song is Hole in My Roof.
But before we dive into Hole in My Roof, if you missed earlier posts in our Song of the Week series, you can catch up on the stories behind Zaragoza, She Comes, Never Judge A Man By His Umbrella, Harvest Moon., Wanna Grow Old In Paris, Such a Night, Soho Tango, Pentonville Prison. and Makin’ Plans.
Damian took on social media a few months after he released his debut album Mission Creep, to ask us, fans, a question…
Hmmm… Zaragoza (literal) and Hole in My Roof (metaphor), maybe?
Both Zaragoza and Hole in My Roof talk about a hole, on the roof of Damian’s tent and on the roof of his house, respectively. In Zaragoza with which I launched the Song of the Week series, Damian takes us back to his busking years where he rode his bike down to France and Spain in summers and played his guitar on market squares and in front of restaurants. One evening, he judges poorly one evening. As he crosses the Pyrenees, on his way to Zaragoza, Damian builds his tent in the midst of a raging storm… And he realizes, as darkness falls, that water is coming through the roof… Yikes!
I got food on the fire, but I ain’t hungry no more
I hear a ripple in the water
Now what you do that for?
The electric storm rages overhead and the young man feels vulnerable wondering if this can be the end…
…whereas in Hole in My Roof, Damian sings about having a hole in his roof in the first verse —not a literal one (though maybe he does have a skylight in his kitchen, like we do, to let in more light…) but a metaphorical hole.
I got a hole in my roof
And I’m lookin’ at the stars
And I’m thinkin’ to myself
“Is there life on Mars?I got a hole in my head
Where the world gets in
And I’m thinkin’ to myself
“Where does the world begin?”
A roof protects and shelters; a hole in one’s roof suggests vulnerability, exposure, damage. And a hole in one’s head represents the emptiness left by loss — a wound in the self. Instead of being intact, the mind has an opening where grief, memories, and the outside world intrude.
Read the rest of the original article at Fan Fun With Damian Lewis