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 cabin in there and 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, icecream
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