Swann Song

Yeah, I could tell you lots of things.
I grew up on the bay.
I used to race my sisters up the fence-side
to Mr. Medley's place.

Papa ran the general store
and mama did everything
and the waves and the waves and the sea.
Time brought me here like a fishing boat
at the whim of the Atlantic breeze.

It was a good life,
yeah it was a good life,
I'd do it all again.

I joined the Navy Nurses Corp.,
it was 1941
and I met my sailor in that fated harbor
in the days before the bombs came...

Hail Mary, I made it home,
'til I was laughing as my ship went down,
singing and bailing water right back
to the shores of San Francisco town.

It was a good life,
yeah it was a good life,
I'd do it all again.

I was hitched out in Reno,
I stayed at home
and he went out to sweep the mines.
I'll never forget the day
we heard it on the radio,
it was the end of the war...
and we laughed and cried
and cheered and laughed again...
yeah we cried and cheered like it would be the last one.

Yeah sure, yeah sure I've wished for things,
I wish I had been there the day that Nancy drowned.
I wish I hadn't seen them build a highway,
a highway right through my backyard.

But you just learn to love the little things,
I've lived long enough to know.
And I'm still waving from this front porch
and this is still my swan song.

It was a good life,
it was a good life,
I'd do it all again,
I'd do it all again...