In Madness' "Our House", what does the brother have?

In Madness's “Our House,” the brother has a date to keep, so the canonical answer is “A Date.”

The line appears near the start of the song, after the lyrics describe the rest of the family: the father wears his Sunday best, the mother needs a rest, the children play downstairs, and the sister sighs in her sleep. The brother's appointment is presented as one more small detail in the busy household's daily routine.

“Our House” was written by Madness members Chas Smash and Chris Foreman and released in 1982 as the lead single from the album The Rise & Fall. Its cheerful arrangement contrasts with the nostalgic portrait of family life in the lyrics. The song became one of Madness's best-known international hits and their biggest U.S. Billboard Hot 100 success.

Listeners sometimes remember the lyric simply as “the brother has a date,” but the wording in the song is “Brother's got a date to keep.” That makes “A Date” the intended quiz answer, even though the lyric describes an obligation rather than explaining who the date is with.