The Ballad Of Mary Foster

The Ballad of Mary Foster - Al Stewart Tuning half step down David Foster lives in Gloucester with his family Works ’til pay-time through the day-time then comes home for tea Steak and kidney then with Sydney to his club and feels free   They close the bar he finds his car and then goes home to sleep And his wife has been with Rosie in the parlour where it’s cosy Watching telly doing dishes patching pants and making wishes And he’ll say "Bill should have wired" and "Not tonight dear I’m too tired" And life drifts slowly by in the provinces Peter Foster goes to Gloucester for his first school day Bites his teacher sees a preacher and is taught to pray Sees some birds and learns some words it’s very very rude to say Yes he’s rather like his father was in his young day And his father has discussions holding forth about the Russians "Will the Red Chinese attack us?" "Do we need the Yanks to back us? "And in bed she feels his shoulder but he grunts and just turns over And life drifts slowly by in the provinces Wedding rings come with strings but love depends on the little things "Oh could that still be really you?" "Is there anything time can’t do?"                     David Foster’s been promoted he’s a decent sort Peter’s gone to Dad’s old Public School it’s good for sport They’ve even got a private parking place down in Huntingdon Court Maybe soon he’ll be a magistrate the neighbours thought Yes and then he’ll teach the beatniks And the hang-around-the-streetnicks And the good-for-nothing loafers Who knock girls up on their sofas And his wife is quite nice really Though she seems a little dreamy Recently...        I was born and brought up on the east side of town And my earliest days they passed quickly I would play after school with the kids all around In the sun and the dust of the back streets Oh all through my girlhood the war had its day And my daddy he would always be leaving So my brother and I we would sit by her side    Telling our tales through the evening Oh I grew with the days and the boys came to cal lIn the back shed I learned about kissing But I don’t think my mother has noticed at all For we’ve heard that my daddy is missing Then my school days they were over and I went off to work And my mother grew quieter and greyer So one day I left her and went off to live      With Billy a saxophone player        In our broken down attic we laughed and made love And all that we had we were sharing Oh we slept through the day and played into the night God we did as we pleased without caring Oh but a year’s passed away and he’s left me one day To play in a far away country        And the sun told my eyes "You’ve got no place to hide" As I waited to be having his baby     Oh I lived in the park and the men passed and stared Each wondering which one had lost her And one came to ask could he buy me a meal      And he said he was called David Foster We were married that month and I swore to myself Somehow I’d pay back what I owed him Cooking his supper and cleaning his boots       Yes and kidding myself I could love him Oh but now my baby is grown and he’s gone out to school And he looks very much like his daddy And David has buried himself in his work        And the time on my hands it hangs heavy Oh the neighbours they smile as we pass in the streets And they make their remarks on the weather But the butcher and baker deliver things now    And I’ve stopped going out altogether Oh I live by my mirror and stare in my eyes   Trying to make out who I see there   But I’m looking at a woman that I can’t recognize And I don’t think she knows me either There are lines on her face and her hair is a mess And the light in her eyes it grows colder In the morning there’s nothing will change ah but yes I will be just a little bit older