Penny Evans

I've been listening to a lot of the late Steve Goodman's music lately. Following up my most recent post with something a bit apropo...

The Ballad Of Penny Evans

by Steve Goodman
(sung a cappella to the tune of tune of "Flying Cloud")

Oh my name is Penny Evans and my age is 21
A young widow in the war that's being fought in Vietnam
And I have two infant daughters and I do the best I can
Now they say the war is over, but I think it's just begun

I remember I was seventeen on the day I met young Bill
At his father's grand piano, we'd play old "Heart and Soul"
Well, I only knew the left hand part and he the right so well
He's the only boy I ever slept with and the only one I will

It's first we had a baby girl and we had two good years
It was next the A1 notice came and we parted without tears
So it's nine months from our last good night our second babe appears
So it's ten months and a telegram confirming all our fears

And now every month I get a check from an Army bureaucrat
And it's every month I tear it up and mail the damn thing back
Do you think that makes it all right, do you think I'd fall for that
And you can keep your bloody money, it won't bring my Billy back

I never cared for politics and speeches I don't understand
And likewise never took no charity from any living man
But tonight there's fifty thousand gone in that unhappy land
and fifty thousand "Heart and Soul's" being played with just one hand

Oh my name is Penny Evans and my age is 21
A young widow in the war that's being fought in Vietnam
And I have two infant daughters and I do the best I can
Now they say the war is over, but I think it's just begun