MRS STRESS AND STRAIN
©Trev Teasdel Coventry 1969 / 1975 / 78
When the sun is out shining,
Are you always ironing?
Does your Steven need new shoes
And Mary have the lover’s blues?
As life all around gets tense,
Do you ask yourself
‘Where is the sense?’
Maybe the milkman hasn’t been,
And your rooms aren’t very clean.
So many bills to be paid,
On your mind they’re all weighed.
Prices rising higher
And your state is getting dire.
Chorus –
Mrs Stress and Strain,
To the ‘kitchen sink you’re chained‘.
Worry haunts your life,
And I can see you are the wife
Of Mr Toil and Strife.
They say “A women’s works is never done”
and the housework isn’t fun.
Who else would work as hard as you
Such long hours, no rest due?
The stresses and the strains you bear,
The children and the mothercare!
And the beat goes on, day by day,
The isolation wears your soul away.
There’s nothing to show for all your work
Because you can’t stop a room from gathering dirt!
Do you feel you’ve got no life left of your own,
A permanent fixture, a doorpost in your home.
Chorus …
And though you’ll never make ends meet,
The adverts entice you to compete,
With an image of an ‘all-mod-con‘
Trendy space age ‘Super mom.‘
Should profiteers always hold the trump cards?
You’ve been dealt a hand of jokers –
Oh What a façade!
Sometimes ‘slave‘ means the same as mom.
Who does everyone fall back upon?
They don’t think, there can be another side of you.
Only see what they expect of you.
Locked into the family situation,
With the pills to ease your aggravation.
Chorus…
Sit down, sit back, light up and sigh,
Does your position in society make you cry?
“How hard’s the fortune of all women kind,
always in fetters, always confined.
Bound down by parents until made wives
Slaves to their husbands the rest of their lives.” *
* This verse in quotes is from the tradional folk song ‘The Waggoner’s Lad‘
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Featured on my album Songs From the Coventry Underground, Gnome label, 2007
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The story behind this is under The Ups and Down in the life of Mr Toil and Strife. I wrote this in 1969 originally adding in verses and revising in the late 70’s after reading various feminist books.
Here’s the video of the song Mrs Stress and Strain.