I

A washing hangs upon the line,
    but it’s not mine.
None of the things that I can see
    belong to me.
The neighbors got a radio with an aerial;
    we got a little portable.
They got a lot of closet space;
    we got a suitcase.

I say, ‘Le Roy, just how much are we owing?
Something I can’t comprehend,
the more we got the more we spend…’
He only answers, ‘Let’s get going.’
Le Roy, you’re earning too much money now.

I sit and look at our backyard
    and find it very hard.
What have we got for all his dollars and cents?
    — A pile of bottles by the fence.
He’s faithful and he’s kind
    but he sure has an inquiring mind.
He’s seen a lot; he’s bound to see the rest,
    and if I protest

Le Roy answers with a frown,
‘Darling, when I earns I spends.
The world is wide; it still extends…
I’m going to get a job in the next town.’
Le Roy, you’re earning too much money now.

II

The time has come to call a halt;
    and so it ends.
    He’s gone off with his other friends.
    He needn’t try to make amends,
this occasion’s all his fault.
    Through rain and dark I see his face
    across the street at Flossie’s place.
    He’s drinking in the warm pink glow
    to th’ accompaniment of the piccolo.*

The time has come to call a halt.
I met him walking with Varella
and hit him twice with my umbrella.
Perhaps that occasion was my fault,
but the time has come to call a halt.

Go drink your wine and go get tight.
    Let the piccolo play.
    I’m sick of all your fussing anyway.
    Now I’m pursuing my own way.
I’m leaving on the bus tonight.
    Far down the highway wet and black
    I’ll ride and ride and not come back.
    I’m going to go and take the bus
    and find someone monogamous.

    The time has come to call a halt.
    I’ve borrowed fifteen dollars fare
    and it will take me anywhere.
    For this occasion’s all his fault.
    The time has come to call a halt.

*Jukebox

Readings

Songs For A Coloured Singer read by Elizabeth McGovern
Songs for a Coloured Singer read by Monica Dolan
Songs For A Coloured Singer read by Felicity Jones
Select reading
Songs For A Coloured Singer read by Elizabeth McGovern
Songs for a Coloured Singer read by Monica Dolan
Songs For A Coloured Singer read by Felicity Jones
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