The Ballad Of Penny Evans

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.