Penny Evans

My name is Penny Evans and my age is twenty-one

I'm a widow of the war that was fought in Vietnam

I have two baby daughters and I do the best I can

They say the war is over but I think it's just begun

I remember I was seventeen when first I met my Bill

At his father's grand piano we played old 'Heart and Soul'

I only knew the left hand part, he knew the right so well

He's the only boy I slept with, and the only one I will

First we had a baby girl, we had two good years

And next the warning notice came, we parted without tears

Then it's nine months from our last goodbye our second child appears

And it's ten months and a telegram confirming all our fears

So once a month I get a check from some army bureaucrat

And once a month I tear it up and mail the damn thing back

Do they think that makes it all right? Do they think I'll fall for that?

They can keep their bloody money; it won't bring my Billy back

I never cared for politics, speeches I don't understand

Likewise I'll take no charity from any living man

But tonight there's fifty thousand gone in that unhappy land

And fifty thousand 'Heart and Souls' being played with just one hand

My name is Penny Evans and I've just gone twenty-one

A young widow in the war that's being fought in Vietnam

And I have two infant daughters, I thank God I have no son

Now they say the war is over but I think it's just begun