The Ballad of Penny Evans

The Ballad of Penny Evans Steve Goodman
 Oh my name is Penny Evans and my age is twenty one
 A young widow in the war that's being fought in Viet Nam
 And I have two infant daughter's 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 grandfather'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 10 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 speches I don't understand
 And likewise never took no charity from any living man
 But tonight their'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 twenty one
 A young widow in the war that's being fought in Viet Nam
 And I have two infant daughters I thank god I have no son's
 Now they say the war is over, but I think it's just begun.