(This song is sung by our hero, Jess, after the store has emptied out at the end of the day and the audience learns that he, a returned World War II veteran, is living in the store after hours because he has no other place to live - a common plight of returning World War II veterans).

Verse:

I had all my postwar plans
Completed to a "T."
The future was the common man's
And the common man was me.

They told me I'd be coming home
To a land of milk and honey -
With ev'ry sir and madam
Living off a busted atom,
And the trees all sprouting money.

And with these thoughts in mind,
This is the only home I'm able to find.

Chorus:

I never thought my dreams would treat me this way.
I never thought my hopes would fade with each day.
I never hoped for magic castles in Spain -
What good dream castles when your sky of Spain drops
Real live rain drops?

I dream this is a home - a house really mine.
A place where love can live and firelight shine.
Each night I try pretending
This time, the dream's not ending,
But when that early morning beams,
They take away my house of dreams.

Interlude:

Five thousand toothbrushes stand in the rack -
None may I legally use.
Six hundred beds, and at none of their heads,
May I legally line up my shoes.

Can't eat the calories -
Can't wear the Mallorys* -
Can't park my ash on the floor.

Can't wash my face
Without chancing disgrace -
Not unless I pay heed to a sign on the door.

         *Mallory - a popular men's hat at the time

(Music reprises chorus while Jess explains to Jeannie's picture that he is determined to win the contest the store is sponsoring for the best musical number, the prize of which is to be a furnished home, by which time the music has reached the last eight bars for Jess to sing: )

This time, the dream's not ending -
And when that lovely morning beams,
I'll take you to my house of dreams.