Play Us a Waltz - Lyrics - Hazel Dickens
Hazel Jane Dickens was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro-union, feminist songs. Cultural blogger John Pietaro noted that "Dickens didnât just sing the anthems of labor, she lived them and her place on many a picket line, staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her into the cause." The New York Times extolled her as "a clarion-voiced advocate for coal miners and working people and a pioneer among women in bluegrass music." With Alice Gerrard, Dickens was one of the first women to record a bluegrass album.
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You walk in the door, you see them sitting there
The old people in shawls, in silver wheel chairs
The blind and the lame, herded into a room
Where there is no one to love, and nothing to do
"Play us a waltz, play us a tune
I'll pray for you Mister, each night in my room
My children are grown, my living is done
Oh say you'll remember, my darling young one"
Here in this place, there are no last names
It's Martha and Bill, and Sarah and Jane
Everything else, has been given away
To their children who don't come, on visiting day (refrain)
Get them up in the morning, and see that they're fed
Lay them back down at night, while they cry in their beds
In this worst kind of prison, where there ain't no parole
No one sets them free, they're unwanted and old (refrain)
You walk out the door, and they're still sitting there
The old people in shawls, in silver wheel chairs
The blind and the lame, herded back to their rooms
Where there is no one to love, and nothing to do (refrain)
