American Gothic Songtext
von David Ackles

Mrs. Molly Jenkins sells her wares in town
Saturdays in the evening when the farmhands come around
And she sews all their names in her gown

Ah, but is she happy? No, no, no
She wants a better home and a better kind of life
But how′s she going to get the things she wants, the things she needs
As some poor wretch of a farmer's wife?

He trades the milk for booze and Molly wants new shoes
And as she snuggles down with a stranger
In some back-of-the-barroom bed
It′s much too dark to see the stranger
So she thinks of shoes instead

Old man Horace Jenkins stays at home to tend his schemes
Sends for pictures of black stockings on paper legs with paper seams
And he drinks till he drowns in his dreams


Ah, but is he happy? No, no, no
He wants to be reborn to lead the pious life
But how's he going to shed his boozy dreams
When he has to bear the cross of a wicked wife?

She claims to visit shows and he pretends that's where she goes
And as he snuggles down to his reading
In a half-filled marriage bed
He′s so ashamed of what he′s reading
That he gets blind drunk instead

Sunday breakfast with the Jenkins
They break the bread and cannot speak
She reads the rustling of his paper
He reads the way her new shoes squeak
And pray God to survive one more week
Ah, but are they happy? You'd be surprised
Between the bed and the booze and the shoes
They suffer least who suffer what they choose