Stranger in the House (song)

"Stranger in the House" is a song composed by Elvis Costello. Costello recorded the song as a duet with country music star George Jones in the summer of 1978 for Jones' 1979 album My Very Special Guests. Costello also recorded a solo version recorded at a John Peel session on October 1978 which surfaced as a free 7" single with the first copies of his second album This Year's Model in the United Kingdom. According to Holly Jones-Warren's liner notes to the 2005 Legacy Records reissue of My Very Special Guests, Costello wrote the song specifically with Jones in mind, with the new wave star stating, "George Jones was my guiding light whenever I wrote in the country idiom."