Womansplaining

I posted this song years ago, but I've come across a much cleaner, clearer copy, and more information about it. 

In the intro, included in the better defined edition posted below, Michael Nesmith mentions in passing that Martin Mull is performing with "Mrs Mull". 

She is, in fact, Wendy Haas, Martin Mull's third wife, and had some street cred in the music field, as a vocalist and keyboardist. 

HBO is currently running a documentary about Fanny, a rock group considered at the time to be a novelty, because all the members were women. (I believe the late George Harrison suggested the name, perhaps mischievously, knowing that Americans are not familiar with English slang.) 

Anyway, Wendy Haas was in the band before it morphed into Fanny, and has also performed with the likes of Santana and Melissa Manchester. 

This song appears in Martin Mull's 1977 album I'm Everyone I Ever Loved, where the backup vocals for "They Never Met" were supplied by Melissa Manchester. The following version appeared on Television Parts in the summer of 1985:     The boy was almost forty-eight years old. 

All he'd ever gone to bed with, was a cold. 

And he said to his mama, "Mama, I'm afraid it's true; 

Th'only woman that could love me is you." 

The girl could almost drink her age in beer-- 

Couple cases, give or take a year. 

She worked at the hospital -  hey, lots of people do. 

That's where they fell in love 

(Oh God, I wish that that was true).

 

But they never met, 

Not even briefly. 

I know what you thought, 

You thought that they might. 

Now, what was the problem? 

The problem was, chiefly, 

She worked the day shift 

And he worked the night. 

They never met, not even inform'ly-- 

I know you thought things like this work out right. 

No, no, they never met, not even abnorm'ly. 

She worked the day shift 

And he worked the night. 

Now the boy is almost fifty-nine. 

You ask him, "How's it goin', Frank?" and he says, "Fine." 

"And what's become of Mama?" "Well, Mama's in a better place." 

And he points his finger right straight out in space. 

The girl is finally chief admitting nurse; 

Considering what she had for brains, it could be worse. 

She could have been a victim of the dreaded Asian Flu; 

She could have had to live with you-know-who-- 

Now the boy's gone to meet his mom-- 

Natural causes: the bottle, not the bomb. 

They found him in the dining room; his face was in a stew. 

They dressed him in a suit of shiny blue. 

That same year, the girl gave up the ghost. 

The minister said she'd be missed the most. 

Her patients cried a tear, recalling how she signed their casts. 

The nurses said she'd find a man at last.  

They never met, 

Not even in spirit-- 

I know you thought things like this work out right! 

No, no, she went to Heaven... 

But he's nowhere near it. 

She works the day shift 

And he works the night.