When the phone began to ring,
her hands were in the dishes
Her feet were in her slippers
and her head was full of wishes
She sighed and dried her hands
and took the baby from its pot
Lifted the receiver
but the caller'd given up
She changed the baby's nappy,
put the dinner on
And then put the garbage
out the laundry room
when the phone began again
She quickly ran to answer it
and tripped over the toys
Scattered round the kitchen
by her tribe of little boys
She lay there in a daze
upon the kitchen floor
She thought about the fighters
who get up and come back for more
She thought about her sanity
and the book that she was writing
The phone continued ringing
and the kids had started fighting
She never reached the phone
cause the baby started crying
Dinner started burning,
it was time to do the ironing
But once again the phone began,
may I speak to Earl?
My husband isn't home,
he's gone out to save the world
The oppressed, the underprivileged,
the exploited and the needy
If you see him, tell him, come on home,
his dinner's ready