Shenandoah Judy

Judy materialized at the table
Smokin' Marlboro red, dropped a coffee and said
"What'll it be?" holdin' pen to paper

Jimmy lifted his face from the menu
"i'll take your finest champagne, moët d'Epernay"
"Or a donut" tappin' 'thank you' with his cane

Judy never held a job where she didn't don
A nametag or rubber on her shoes
Run down by the world with the silver in her curls
And the terms of how to flirt for a buck
Oh, centenarian crush
Hundred-years pine for the hundred-years blush
It's the bird on a wire, the lonely in a laugh
It's the "you can't choose who loves you back"

Finishin' the last of his donut
Jimmy left exact change for the bill of exchange
Tippin' big on the days he'd play keno

With each Shenandoah monday
He stays sweet on his Judy
With his vision all but blurry
And a slur he endures from a stroke

Jimmy never had a wife and swore it all to Christ
Retired from the union workin' nights
Weighed down by the frown of this Pennsylvania town
But 'ole Judy's still the love of his life

Oh, centenarian crush
Hundred-years pine for the hundred-years blush
It's the bird on a wire, it's the lonely in her laugh
It's the "you can't choose who loves you back"

Judy never held a job where she didn't don
A nametag or rubber on her shoes
Run down by the world with the silver in her curls
And the terms of how to flirt for a buck

Oh, centenarian crush
Hundred-years pine for the hundred-years blush
It's the bird on a wire, the lonely in a laugh
It's the "you can't choose who loves you back"