The Washerwoman Lyrics - Richard Digance

She's just a washerwoman 

with the teardrops in her eyes 

She's wondering as she scrubs the factory floor 

She thinks of all the places 

and the faces she has seen 

And the other things she'll never see no more 

She was born into the backstreets in 1919 

War began when she was twenty-one 

So she seldom saw the flicker of a silent movie screen 

But often heard the cracking of a gun 

But given that chance again 

oh how she'd dance again 

Oh how she'd take to the floor 

But no knight in shining armour 

would take her by the hand 

Like they did in the days before the war. 

She tended to the troopers and she fended for the land 

So anxious to serve the best she could 

And friends of the family tell me how she loved to dance 

And those same people say that she was good 

But the years have stole her beauty like they often tend to do 

And who'd have thought it looking at her now 

That the hand that held her partner's hand as she waltzed on through the night 

Wiped the sweat from the washerwoman's brow 

But given that chance again 

oh how she'd dance again 

Oh how she'd take to the floor 

But no knight in shining armour 

would take her by the hand 

Like they did in the days before the war. 

I remember seven years ago my sister she was wed 

And the lady was no washerwoman then 

She tripped the light-fantastic and her eyes glistened bright 

In a way I thought I'd never see again. 

And the legs that she had crucified on endless factory floors 

They led her through the footsteps of her past 

She was first before a dance-band, last to leave the floor 

Oh how she wished that wedded night would last 

But now she's just a washerwoman 

with the teardrops in her eyes 

She's wondering as she scrubs the factory floor 

She thinks of all the places 

and the faces she has seen 

And the other things she'll never see no more 

But given that chance again 

oh how she'd dance again 

Oh how she'd take to the floor 

But no knight in shining armour 

would take her by the hand 

Like they did in the days before the war. 

Oh no knight in shining armour 

would take her by the hand 

Like they did in the days before the war.