***Songs To While The Time (And Shed A Tear) By –Tom Paxton’s She Sits On The Table …

 

 

…it wasn’t the first time he had done it, had in a drunken rage beaten her, beaten her for some small thing. Maybe supper was not ready, maybe the sink was not cleaned, maybe she starched his shirt too much, maybe, maybe about five thousand possible maybes. But as the song said where could she turn to, where could she go. She and the two kids, four and six, already weary of their father’s rage (although he never touched them, she was the punching bag). Her mother (and through mother her father) said she had to stay with him for the sake of the children (and maybe for their own neighborhood sake since they had proclaimed the pairing a match made in heaven). She had made a holy vow, a Catholic eternal vow, to stick, stick no matter what. Her best friend (and bride’s maid) had said stay with him, stay he will grow out of his rages. And for a while she listened to them, listened closely as 1964 turned to 1965, but she was the one with the black eye, she was the one with the busted rib, she was the one who was tired of it all.  One night she swore, swore to God and all that was holy that she would leave him the next time (but where could she turn to, where could she go)…      

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SHE SITS ON THE TABLE
(Tom Paxton)
She sits on the table in a dress made of paper
Diplomas all over the wall
One university, one school of medicine
She's overwhelmed by it all
The nurse is all sympathy, voice of experience:
Let's have a look at that eye
It's going to look bad for a week, maybe more
Go on, darling, it's all right to cry

(CHORUS): How can I leave him, she is crying
What could I do, where would I go?
He didn't mean it, he will change someday
Oh, God, how he used to love me so

The doctor is busy, his manner professional
She finds she must look at the floor
He looks at her eye, at her ribs and her arm
And it seems every last inch is sore
The doctor is handsome, he smells of cologne
And his figure's athletically slim
He speaks disapprovingly: What did you do
To deserve such a beating from him?

(CHORUS)

The policeman is waiting outside in the corridor
He speaks to her as to a child
He's friends with her husband, he's angry with her
And he asks if there'll be charges filed
She says she's not sure, she needs time to recover
She feels beaten down in disgrace
The policeman asks isn't she secretly glad
For a man who'll keep her in her place

(CHORUS)
@feminist @abuse
Copyright Tom Paxton
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