"Iolanthe" lyrics - JAMES MCMURTRY

Your mother used to take the cure
She kept plastic on the furniture in the living room
You used to tell your friends
If you never saw that place again it's be too soon

But your college beau
Didn't seem so bad
So you brought him home
To Mom and Dad
Like you're supposed to do
But he wouldn't account for himself
And he got along better
With the hired help
Than he did with you.

No big loss, I don't suppose
Brush it away like a fly off a rose
We're all bound to miss a time or two Iolanthe

Your father always held his ground
He never liked you hanging round with the lesser kind
He suffered not the weak
And he was never loath to speak his twisted mind.

He liked to watch an evening pass
Clinking the ice in his bourbon glass while you played your scales
With eyes that burned right through
He would say he always knew you were bound to fail.

[Chorus:]
Shake it off and let it go
Brush it away til the light it shows
We can't help what came before
Iolanthe

Well who's that standing there?
Watcha been doing lately?
Your clothes not long outta style
You gave us all quite a scare
But the years were hardly wasted
Only missing for a while
Don't sweat the losses, let em go
Toss em all out where the tall grass grows
We're all bound to get our share
Iolanthe