A Lady Of a Certain Age

Back in the day you had been part of the smart set

You'd holidayed with kings, dined out with starlets

From London to New York, Cap Ferrat to Capri

In perfume by Chanel and clothes by Givenchy

You sipped camparis with David and Peter

At Noel's parties by Lake Geneva

Scaling the dizzy heights of high society

Armed only with a cheque-book and a family tree

You chased the sun around the Cote d'Azur

Until the light of youth became obscured

And left you on your own and in the shade

An English lady of a certain age

And if a nice young man would buy you a drink

You'd say with a conspiratorial wink

You wouldn't think that I was seventy

And he'd say: No, you couldn't be!

You had to marry someone very very rich

So that you might be kept in the style to which

You had all of your life been accustomed to

But that the socialists had taxed away from you

You gave him children, a girl and a boy

To keep your sanity a nanny was employed

And when the time came they were sent away

Well that was simply what you did in those days

You chased the sun around the Cote d'Azur

Until the light of youth became obscured

And left you on your own and in the shade

An English lady of a certain age

And if a nice young man would buy you a drink

You'd say with a conspiratorial wink

You wouldn't think that I was sixty three

And he'd say: No, you couldn't be!

Your son's in stocks and bonds and lives back in Surrey

Flies down once in a while and leaves in a hurry

Your daughter never finished her finishing school

Married a strange young man of whom you don't approve

Your husband's hollow heart gave out one Christmas Day

He left the villa to his mistress in Marseilles

And so you come here to escape your little flat

Hoping someone will fill your glass and let you chat about how

You chased the sun around the Cote d'Azur

Until the light of youth became obscured

And left you all alone and in the shade

An English lady of a certain age

And if a nice young man would buy you a drink

You'd say with a conspiratorial wink

You wouldn't think that I was fifty three

And he'd say: No, you couldn't be!