“Old-Time Woman” Sheet Music (pdf).
“Old-Time Woman” Karaoke (midi with lyrics).
Lyrics: Jeff Langley and Holly Near.
Tune: Jeff Langley.
I just found out this afternoon, I’ve been carrying life for two,
Needed conversation to know what I should do.
I was walking down a lonely street when I heard this talking chair,
So I climbed up on the moonlit porch to see what was there.
She was propped up on a pillow and rocking in a rocking chair.
She looked like she might be lonely, like she maybe had some words to share,
So I pulled up close and asked her name, and this was her exact reply,
“I am an old-time woman, a-waiting to die.”
Well, we got to talking, and soon we were the best of friends.
I told her about my problems; she told me how it was back then.
We talked about a lot of things. I never thought she’d have understood.
But that old-time woman, she did me good.
She told me she’d never had a man ’til she was firmly wed,
Never understood her ma until her pa was dead,
But still her man came first and then her thirteen sons.
It wasn’t ’til they had all gone away that she started to have any kind of fun at all.
I wanted to make her young again, but all that I could do was cry.
She took my swollen cheeks in hand and made me look her in the eye.
She said, “If I had not suffered, you wouldn’t be wearing those jeans.
Being an old-time woman ain’t as bad as it seems.”
She was propped up on a pillow, rocking in her rocking chair.
I’d never had such good talking; I knew that she really cared.
I’m glad I couldn’t make her young again. This moment might have passed us by.
I’ll love that old-time woman until I die.
When I left her house that night, my problems seemed so small.
If I grow to be like her, soon I won’t have many problems at all.
I know I’m going back again to rock with my finest friend.
I’ll love that old-time woman until the end.