She Came Along to Me

Laura put Mermaid Avenue on the stereo tonight. I suppose Woody Guthrie's "She Came Along to Me" could be heard as one of those patronizing "behind every great man stands a great woman" songs... but I have to think the universalism he finishes with extends to gender equality. And somehow Billie Bragg knew exactly what to do with wacky American vernacular like "Never could have it been done":

Ten hundred books could I write you about her
Because I felt if I could know her
I would know all women
And they've not been any too well known
For brains and planning and organized thinking
But I'm sure the women are equal
And they may be ahead of the men

Yet I wouldn't spread such a rumor around
Because one organizes the other
And some times the most lost and wasted
Attract the most balanced and sane
And the wild and the reckless take up
With the clocked and the timed
And the mixture is all of us
And we're still mixing

But never, never, never
Never could have it been done
If the women hadn't entered into the deal
Like she came along to me

And all creeds and kinds and colors
Of us are blending
Till I suppose ten million years from now
We'll all be just alike
Same color, same size, working together
And maybe we'll have all the fascists
Out of the way by then
Maybe so.