Molly's sitting on her bed
It's Sunday afternoon
Radio's playing outside
TV bleeds from the next room

Antiseptic in the air
Nurses laughing down the hall
Crooked feet in crooked shoes
Her wooden cane against the wall

It's Sunday but her Sunday clothes
Are packed away somewhere
She doesn't need them anymore
Nothing to look her best for

I'm thirteen, I'm with with my mother
She doesn't know my name
I remind her I'm Lucy
But she looks at me the same

Like I'm a stranger she should remember
From a place she can't return
We've only just walked in
She says we've stayed too long
Too proud to be remembered
As a mother without a home

Oh, it's time to go
Oh, it's time to go
It's a dirty trick this growing old

We walk the halls anyway
My mother holds her arm
She's pleading with us to leave
So we walk her to her room
And we drive through the old neighborhood
The grand homes of the South Side
So many are abandoned now
So many lifetimes locked inside

And at the dinner table
It's my parents and me
I sneak looks at the two of them
To see what they need from me

And later she calls me over
Where she sits alone
She's polishing a silver ring
I've never seen before

She says this was Molly's
It was her mother's ring
I'm keeping it for you
As she kept it for me

Oh, it's time to go
Oh, it's time to go
It's a dirty trick this growing old

I'm told Molly was so proud to have
Another baby girl
Her only granddaughter
But I don't remember

This is what I remember


Lyrics submitted by cbrtea2000

Song for Molly Lyrics as written by Rick Litvin Lucy Kaplansky

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Song For Molly song meanings
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    General Comment

    These are very moving lyrics from a very underrated songwriter and singer. I think that anyone who has had a loved one with dementia will understand the lines about how her grandmother looked at her like she was a stranger that she should remember.

    Elvis Costello's song "Veronica" is also terrific.

    My beloved father had dementia and he did not say much about it, but we knew that he knew that his thinking and memory was impaired. It was beyond sad to see a brilliant CPA and businessman devolve into a very quiet and dependant person. I think this song has a message to people of all ages that could become increasingly important as our population ages and we seem to be far from a cure for dementia.

    The other lines and imagery in the song are also teriffic, such as about the aging houses and how unreliable our memories can be, starting with the lost memories of childhood.

    BTW, I don't like the lines about how its a dirty trick growing old, though, since I think that by the time a person is middle-aged they know what the deal is about aging (its not so good but it sure is better then being six feet under) so there is no "trickery"involved. Its just a fact of life and at least we have the choice of mitigating the effects of getting older by exercising, eating sensibly, etc. The line about a "trick" is kind of catchy but also untrue and misleading, since no one is tricking us. Also, slowly growing older does have some pluses. For example, it reminds us that life is precious and short and we could choose to use our remainig time and health to be productive, to be a blessing to others, and to get right wiht God.

    YogiBieron May 06, 2008   Link

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