Embraceable You

Little Jenny Lynn had a daddy with a fiddle
And a mommy who made cookies with her name right in the middle
and jars of yellow peaches lined up on the cupboard shelf
Jenny Lynn had joys that no one knew of but herself

Her dad from Mississippi always said her name like Gin
brought her airport trinkets from St. Paul where he had been
Those second hand love tokens went on her bedroom shelf
Jenny Lynn had thoughts that no one knew of but herself

Mommy called her to get back
She'd need to reverse her tracks
Mommy called her to come back
And pull her tracks up one by one

A leaf pile made a kitchen, she would dig in dirt with spoons
Little rocks and tiny shells ... and underdog cartoons
Singing in the tape deck that she put up on the shelf
Jenny Lynn had reasons no one knew of but herself

Now all her life's belongings are boxed up in the yard
She left them there for now 'cause it's not raining very hard
Couch surfing for a year at forty-two can seem so long
Jenny Lynn's been looking back, and all the turns were wrong

Now if she wants to get back
she needs to reverse her tracks
She has to go further back
And pull her tracks up one by one

Jenny has a jar of flattened pennies from the train
And nothing in those boxes can relieve her of her pain
Thirty years of puttin' childish things upon the shelf,  set
Jenny Lynn to looking for the pieces of herself

A tiny orange stuffed kitten, ribbons from the fair
A purple pencil holder, a third grade love affair
Three pink plastic cereal bowls still up on the shelf
Jenny Lynn took all of them to fill her empty self

'Cause she wants to get back
She needs to reverse her tracks
She had to go further back
And pull her tracks up one by one
Jenny Lynn had to get back
She had to reverse her tracks
She had to go further back
And pull her tracks up one by one

MollyBygolly