Friday night, my baby came home just as tired as could be
I asked her how her day was she said she didn’t want to talk to me
I said how come and she got mad, said cause she was all worn out
And she comes home to find me here sleeping on the couch
I said, Baby, Darlin—you know I ain’t been here all day
I been busy too you know while you have been away
“Oh really?” she said, “Is that so? Well in that case I’d love to hear
Just all about the things you did while I wasn’t here”
I did the laundry, the dishes, I filed the taxes / sent out my resume with necessary attachments
I swept, scraped and mopped the floor / fixed the old hinge on that creaky cellar door
I sent a get well card to your ailing brother, I called and spoke with your ex-step-mother
She said to tell you she’s doin fine, I told her you’d give her a call sometime
I raked the leaves, cleaned out the gutters, painted the door-frames and the window-shutters
I filled out applications for a half-dozen jobs, groomed the cat and walked the dog
I borrowed a mower from the next door neighbor / cut the grass in our yard and in his, as a favor
I cleaned the garage, the attic, the basement / retarred the driveway with quality pavement
I got the kids up, dressed em, made em breakfast / took one to the doctor, one to the dentist
I made their lunches, and gottem to school, picked em up and took em to the swimming pool
I made a list and went grocery shopping, ran seven miles without even stopping
Somewhere in there, I pulled a muscle, did a whole Sunday Times crossword puzzle
I entertained visitors, gave em a tour, I found that lost earring you been looking for
I took out the garbage, brought in the mail, I sold a lot of your junk at a neighbor’s yardsale
I hung your portraits after getting them framed, I organized the spice rack alphabetically by name
I vacuumed and dusted every room and surface, gave every useless trinket a purpose
I found what was wrong with the garbage disposal, I proof-read and edited your meeting proposal
I cooked your favorite meal: vegetable lasagna, set the table and then waited on ya
I went to the post office and then to the bank, went to the gas station, filled up the tank
Then I came back home and cracked open a beer, and that’s the whole story of how I got here
And look, I know it don’t look like I done too much, and I haven’t, don’t get me wrong—
But I been keepin busy, trine to keep from goin crazy—
Yes, I been keepin busy, since you been gone
But it was no use, all my explanations, they were to no avail
Time after time, again and again it seems no matter what I do, I fail
She said she was very sorry, but she didn’t see us working out
And just like that she showed me the door and said, “Alright now, get out!”
For a while I was miserable, I couldn’t seem to catch a break
I didn’t know how much worse it could get, or how much more I could take
Then one day she called me up, said it had been too long a time
When she asked me how I was doin, I told her I was just fine
I invented my very own dietary supplement, I took up yoga, achieved enlightenment,
I burned all those letters that I never sent you, finally read all those books I meant to,
I got membership cards to every local library, I memorized the Oxford English Dictionary
I rented every movie at the video store, watched em all twice, some three times, some four
I joined a gym, lost a few-dozen pounds, believe me it was a lot harder than it sounds,
I rode my bike all across the country, saw how folks was living in the 21st century
I worked some farms and at a couple of factories, water treatment plants, fishing hatcheries
I grew my hair out, then shaved it short—let’s see what else is there to report
I learned to count cards, took up gambling, traveled all over, roaming and rambling
I started a business with the money I won, then sold it to invest in another one
I went back to school got my degrees, my bachelor’s, master’s and a phD
I was nominated for a couple awards for accomplishing the things I’d put my mind towards
I finally learned how to cook and to bake, there’s practically nothing now that I can’t make
I apologized to every person I’d wronged, finished my memoire, wrote a few songs
I penned several drafts of my last testament will, Lord knows I’ve sure had some time to kill
But say how are you doing with your new life? Looks like you’ve merrily been getting along
Yes, well I been keepin busy, trine to keep from going crazy
Yes I just been keepin busy since you been gone
Sam Steffen is a Pennsylvania-bred, Boise-based singer-songwriter whose songs are the torch-wood for a new generation of
folk music that has learned from the best stuff in the tradition and aims in spite of everything to keep the human spirit alive and kicking. A versatile musician and skilled finger-picker, Sam is at heart a story-teller, and a prolific one....more
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