Mobile homes (in the United States; also called trailers or house trailers) or static caravans (in other countries; also called caravans) are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied. Being built on a permanently attached chassis with highway-grade wheels and tires, they are usually transported by being pulled behind a tractor-trailer over public roads to a home site. Mobile homes share the same historic origins as travel trailers, but today the two are very different in size and furnishings, with travel trailers being used primarily as temporary or vacation homes.
Mobile homes are usually placed in one location and left there permanently, but they do retain the ability to be moved, as required in many areas. Behind the cosmetic work fitted at installation to hide the base, there are strong trailer frames, axles, wheels, and tow-hitches.
In the United States, this form of housing goes back to the early years of cars and motorized highway travel. It was derived from the travel trailer, a small unit with wheels attached permanently, often used for camping or extended travel. The original rationale for this type of housing was its mobility. Units were initially marketed primarily to people whose lifestyle required mobility. However, beginning in the 1950s, the homes began to be marketed primarily as an inexpensive form of housing designed to be set up and left in a location for long periods of time, or even permanently installed with a masonry foundation. Previously, units had been eight feet or less in width, but in 1956, the 10-foot (3 m) wide home ("ten-wide") was introduced, along with the new term "mobile home".
I think I'm an all around Norwegian -
On my eighteenth birthday -
My daddy gave me a gun -
And I am what you'd call -
A real good sport -
And I was born and raised -
In a trailor court -
Mobile Home -
Filled with foam -
Polyester catacomb -
Mobile Home -
My neighborhood's got the distinction -
Of being all the same -
There are rows and rows -
Of divorcees in a metal frame -
My life goes on - It's my last resort -
And I'm gonna die - In a trailor court -
Mobile Home -
Filled with foam -
Polyester catacomb -
Mobile Home -
OH NO! -
Mobile Home -
Filled with foam -
Polyester catacomb -
Mobile Home -
Now do you see just a little bit of a paradox -
Your living or dead -
Your stuck in a box -
Your life goes on - It's your last resort -
On a dead end road - In a trailor court -
Mobile Home -
Filled with foam -
Polyester catacomb -
Mobile Home -
A tiny turtle in a can
I dig a living room in the sand
Poke a toe through a hole in the floor
(Floor!)
And ramble on some more
(Ramble on!)
Mobile home..... My mobile home
My mobile home
I take easy, small and slow
I hang around 'till its time to blow
I take easy, small and slow
(Slow!)
Shed away to lighten my load
(Lighten the load!)
Mobile home..... My mobile home
My mobile home
Mobile home... Go!
In the road
To some highway Pebble Beach
Alabama's just out of reach (?)
Lessiana temp swamp
(Swamp!)
Montana on a mountain top
(On a mountain top!)
Mobile home..... My mobile home
My mobile home
Mobile home..... My mobile home
I got mobile home
A tiny turtle in a can
I dig a living room in the sand
Poke a toe through a hole in the floor
(Floor!)
And ramble on some more
(Ramble on!)
Mobile home..... My mobile home
My mobile home
I take easy, small and slow
I hang around 'till its time to blow
I take easy, small and slow
(Slow!)
Shed away to lighten my load
(Lighten the load!)
Mobile home..... My mobile home
My mobile home
Mobile home... Go!
In the road
To some highway Pebble Beach
Alabama's just out of reach (?)
Lessiana temp swamp
(Swamp!)
Montana on a mountain top
(On a mountain top!)
Mobile home..... My mobile home
My mobile home
Mobile home..... My mobile home
I got mobile home
Mobile home..... My mobile home