PAINTIN' HER FINGERNAILS
(Shel Silverstein)


Mary Kay Place - 1977
Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminals' Starvation League - 2002





As recorded by Mary Kay Place:

She's paintin' her fingernails, waitin' for something to happen
Listenin' to love songs, watchin' the clock on the wall
She could fix a cheese sandwich, someone might ask her to dinner
So she's paintin' her fingernails, waitin' for someone to call

On her desk is the macrame she started back last December
And the bright gilded Christmas card he sent her three years ago
So she stretches her legs in an exercise she's been neglecting
Paintin' her fingernails, hoping the grade doesn't show

And it dawns on her the telephone just might be out of order
So she picks it up, hears the tone, sets it down again
Hell, there are lots of other men

(Instrumental Break)

In the fridge there's what is left of Wednesday night's candlelight dinner
On her neck is the love mark he left her to prove he was there
She should call up the dentist and take her red coat to the cleaners
But she's paintin' her fingernails, wondering if anyone cares

And she crawls into bed knowing that this time tomorrow
She'll be painting her fingernails waiting for someone to call
Paintin' her fingernails, waitin' for someone to call


********************


As recorded by BOBBY BARE JR.:

She's paintin' her fingernails waiting for something to happen
Listening to love songs, watchin' the clock on the wall
She could fix a cheese sandwich, but someone might ask her to dinner
So she's paintin' her fingernails waitin' for someone to call

There's torn, yellowed photograph stuck in the edge of the mirror
By the Raggedy Ann doll she played with when she was a child
There's a top dresser drawer filled with jewelry, pills, and old letters
And she's paintin' her fingernails dreaming of Paul Newman's smile

There's a sink full of dishes leftover from three lonely breakfasts
And some old glamour magazines all very neatly arranged
But the magazines just make her feel that she's fat and she's ugly
So she's doing her fingernails waitin' for something to change

On her desk is the macrame she started back last December
And the bright gilded Christmas card he sent her three years ago
So she stretches her legs in an exercise she's been neglecting
She's paintin' her fingernails hopin' that age doesn't show

And it dawns on her the telephone just might be out of order
She picks it up, hears the tone and sets it down again
Hell, there are lots of other men
If she has to she can always call a friend

In the fridge there's what's left of last Wednesday night's candlelight dinner
On her neck is the love mark he left her to prove he was there
Should call the dentist and take her red coat to the cleaners
But she's paintin' her fingernails wonderin' if anyone cares

She undresses seductively in front of Johnny Carson
And smiles goodnight to the bullfighter there on the wall
She crawls into bed knowin' that this time tomorrow
She'll be paintin' her fingernails waitin' for someone to call
Paintin' her fingernails waitin' for someone to call



(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - August 2020)