Nanny

My grandmother was like no other
Too bad you didn't meet her
Every day at three she'd have G and T
At bridge you could not beat her

Christmastime she'd end up crying
Listening to Chevalier
And I got ten bucks and a card each year
In September for my birthday

My grandmother didn't much bother
Too much about being a granny
She didn't bake or knit, she didn't give a shit
Us kids called her nanny

In the summertime we'd visit her
Take the train up to Rhodes Island
Westerly all east taxi
Would pick us up, we'd party

My grandmother, my sister and my brother
And me all went to the ocean
In her cabana there in that big beach chair
She'd survey our commotion

At the yacht club we'd get our grub
We had grinders and grape sodas
What a dream, pop corn, ice cream
Two weeks, no junk food quotas!

My grandmother would light up another
You know that cough of hers was chronic
She didn't drink wine but she was just fine
With that nice tall gin and tonic

Nanny had opinions
Nanny wasn't prissy
She said the men were queer who just drank beer
And ginger-ale was for sissies

My grandmother provided cover
For me when times got tricky
She took me in despite my sin
When I was busted in the late sixties

She found me a job in a boat yard
In her kitchen I cooked my brown rice and vegetables and hijiki seaweed
Wasn't too long before I wrote my first song
Pretty soon I'd done it twice

My grandmother was like no other
Too bad you didn't meet her
Every day at three she'd have G and T
At bridge you could not beat her

Christmastime she'd end up crying
Listening to Maurice Chevalier
And I got ten bucks and a card each year
In September for my birthday

One year I got a twenty from nanny on my birthday