WIFE WHO WORKS IN TOWN - Song Page
© words & music by Annie Wilson
from CD Sky & Water, Wind & Grass
Album Note: I can’t explain all the economic and technological forces that have transformed the family farm from the classic husband-wife team to the lone husband and absentee-commuter wife. I just know on most farms & ranches today, that’s what it’s become.
This song won Second Place in Other 2014 in the Walnut Valley NewSongs songwriting contest.
We have a live performance video of this song, in addition to the CD recording.
LYRICS:
We say we love the farmer
He’s the truest guy around
But to keep that farmer going
There’s a wife who works in town . . .
She’s a teacher or a waitress
Gives a haircut you can trust
She’s a clerk down at the feed store
Twice a day she drives the bus
She’s a pediatric nurse and
Helps bring babies in the world
Then at night she’s pullin calves
Just like a genuine cowgirl
Oh the farm life looks romantic
Til the tractor’s broken down
So to pay that big repair bill
There’s the wife who works in town
While her husband’s sortin cattle
And deciding which to sell
She’s in trapped behind a counter
With the customer from hell
She’s waitin for the weekend
When she’ll finally get outside
On her horse or in her garden
Out beneath the open sky
Her mom stayed on the farm to work
Back in the simpler days
But now family farms can’t make enough
To keep the wolf away
So her husband works all by himself
Though he needs a helping hand
She worries that he might get hurt
Alone out on the land
But- she leaves home in the dark each day
To make that big long drive
She’s haulin' kids and dodging deer
No time to wonder why
They need that steady paycheck
When the market price is down
For the years of flood or drought times
There’s the wife who works in town
She’s a teacher or a waitress
Gives a haircut you can trust
She’s a clerk down at the feed store
Twice a day she drives the bus
She’s trapped behind the counter,
But she mustn’t wear a frown
Though her heart’s out in the country,
She’s the wife who works in town