Steve Goodman The Ballad Of Penny Evans Lyrics

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 and I do the best I can
Now they say the war is over, but I think it's just
begun.

And I remember I was seventeen on the day I met young
Bill
At his father's grand piano, we'd play good 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 1A notice came and we parted without
tears
It was 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 I 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 sure 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.

And my name is Penny Evans and I've just gone twenty-
one
A young widow in the war that's being fought in Viet
Nam
And I have two infant daughters and I thank God I have
no sons
Now they say the war is over, but I think it's just
begun.