Chuck Brodsky The Ghost Of Mrs. Addison
The old house needs a painting after all the winter floods
You can see it on the window ledge, there's still a trace of mud
Everybody's pushing shovels, they're all digging in the dirt
I didn't come to cause them trouble but I know the truth would hurt
No one's heard from Abraham in over 30 days
There's talk in Mama's Restaurant that he got swept away
But I cannot believe them and I refuse to mourn
He's been looking to get out of here since the day that he was born
The windows of the steeple have been covered up with wood
‘Cause there is not too much faith no more in this old neighborhood
And I have to keep explaining it to all the folks I knew
That I'm only here to see my Pa, I'm only passing through
Everybody asks me how I've managed where I've been
All the friends of 2nd cousins and all the next of kin
I get a lot of “Good to see ya's” and the “Won't you please come in's”
But I can tell from every handshake who's lying through their skin
I stopped by the cemetery, I came to pay my last respects
To the one who'd live forever, he died of a broken neck
From the weight upon his shoulders, man he finally hung his head
So I laid a wreath above him for the honest life he led
There's a lot more of those tombstones than there ever were before
People dying so much younger now, there's not much hope anymore
And I can't tell anybody how I've seen a glimpse of death
Nobody wants to hear it & I shouldn't waste my breath
The ghost of Mrs. Addison, she was haunting me last night
People say that she's still living, but her face is much too white
She used to be my teacher, she retired to collect
But it's been almost a year now since she last received a check
People talk of hard times in the government reports
In the newspapers & the radio & the television shorts
But it's been that way a long time here & I guess it will go on
...Tomorrow I'll be gone
The old house needs a painting after all the winter floods
You can see it on the window ledge, there's still a trace of mud
Everybody's pushing shovels, they're all digging in the dirt
I didn't come to cause them trouble but I know the truth would hurt