I think she was once a happy homemaker, when her husband was alive. She liked planning the parties they held. She wanted to be regarded as the most talented hostess of all. But she is delusional or daydreaming. Likely delusional since she is talking to herself out loud. She wants to escape from her lonely life in a basement apartment.
This story is told in two voices: Betty's delusional monologue (ie. "guess that plain old chicken wouldn't do") and that of the narrator.
The song ends with Betty being startled back to reality and breaking the delusion. She thinks she spots her husband in the grocery store aisle but it turns out to be a stranger. She realizes she isn't preparing for a gathering, that she lives alone, and that her husband is dead. She runs home and this time the weather affects her because she is back in the cold harsh real world. The rain freezes on her instead of just around her.
I think she was once a happy homemaker, when her husband was alive. She liked planning the parties they held. She wanted to be regarded as the most talented hostess of all. But she is delusional or daydreaming. Likely delusional since she is talking to herself out loud. She wants to escape from her lonely life in a basement apartment.
This story is told in two voices: Betty's delusional monologue (ie. "guess that plain old chicken wouldn't do") and that of the narrator.
The song ends with Betty being startled back to reality and breaking the delusion. She thinks she spots her husband in the grocery store aisle but it turns out to be a stranger. She realizes she isn't preparing for a gathering, that she lives alone, and that her husband is dead. She runs home and this time the weather affects her because she is back in the cold harsh real world. The rain freezes on her instead of just around her.