John's Wife

©1978 Andrew Calhoun, recorded on Water Street and Staring at the Sun

Anne Hills recorded a beautiful version on "Don't Panic," Flying Fish CD. I have long written songs from a woman's voice, I don't know why. It is lovely to hear it sung in one. One of my best natural melodies.

I dropped the "John is a master..." verse on the new recording.

I took a lover, it was late in the Spring
The fleas did sparkle, and the bees did sing
His body beside me, like a bird on the wing
And the skies did weep and mourn

I came back to John, when the mid-summer tattled
The doors all closed, and the ceiling rattled
I took off my clothing, but none of it mattered
And the skies did rain cold rain

I went back to night school, the following Autumn
I passed my lessons, and then I forgot 'em
The teacher did stare at body and bosom
We did gather there

And the Winter came, like a guiltless trial
When we met on the platform, we forgot to smile
And the air was dead, but after a while
We did not notice the snow

I am alive, starved and swollen
An untaught, storebought, half-crazy woman
In need of a drink, or my father's blessing
Help me to be free

John is a master of rationing sorrow
John is a swell and a jolly good fellow
But the water is deep where it looks to be shallow
He will drown in tears

Now it's early in Spring, and the streets have roses
The buses go by, children hold their noses
A daughter of darkness, a daughter of Moses
I will die one day