Couldn't find my "Key of R" tape--must have lent it out--but I found a cassette tape I recorded off the radio back in 1988 or 1989, when "Women, Women & Song" were featured on a local show. I copied down the lyrics from that, and I'll post 'em here as well as posting one o' them there "LYR ADD" threads. Note that these original lyrics have a few significant differences from the lyrics currently available in the DT. Here you go:

THE KEY OF R
Copyright (1988?) Elizabeth W. Anthony (of "Women, Women & Song")
[Title track of WW&S's second album]

I'm an earnest young folksinger and I travel far and near
And I sing about the pain of life and other things I hold dear
And when I sing about the agony that I endure
I always sing in my favorite key; I sing in the key of "R"
        
CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R... is a wondrous key
                That nobody else sings in but me
                And some folks think I'm sharp or flat
                But the key of R... just sounds like that!

I sing about my mama, and how her life was hard
She had twelve kids and worked in the mines and rendered her own lard
She milked the goats and sewed our clothes and lots of things like that
And when I sing about her, I sing in the key of "R-flat."
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R-flat is a wondrous key...]

I had a dear old hound dog; his name--of course--was Blue
And we growed up together when the world was fresh and new
But oh, my friends, that ol' dog died, and no dog could be finer
And when I sing about Ol' Blue, I sing in the key of "R-flat-minor"
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R-flat-minor is a wondrous key...]

And oh, I love America, the land where I was born
Her purple mountains, amber waves of grain and fields of corn
The oceans and the deserts are a little part of heaven
When I sing about this land of mine, I sing in the key of "R-flat-minor-seventh."
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R-flat-minor-seventh is a wondrous key...]

But most, I sing of lost loves--and I seem to lose them all
The lovers that have left me would fill a union hall
And the pain of unrequited love just never seems to finish
And when I sing about it, I sing in the key of "R-flat-minor-seventh-diminished."
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of R-flat-minor-seventh-diminished is a wondrous key...]
                
And now my song is over, and I hope you sang along
Keepin' in mind that the notes we sang were never, never wrong
And though we faked for rhythm and we had to stretch for rhyme
We sang in the very best key of all; we sang in the key of "Rbm7dim with a dominant ninth."
        [CHORUS:        Oh, the key of Rbm7dim with a dominant 9th is a wondrous key...]

---

(Lyrics transcribed from a tape of a live radio performance c.1988-1989. The song may also be found on a recording called, oddly enough, "The Key of R", by the group, "Women, Women & Song.")