Ebbie: thanks for suggesting this.


DON'T PUT HER DOWN; YOU HELPED PUT HER THERE.
As sung by Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard on the various-artists collection "The Rounder Records Story" (2010)

1. You pull the string.
She's your plaything.
You can make her or break her; it's true.
You abuse her, accuse her,
Turn around and use her,
Then forsake her any time it suits you.

CHORUS: Well, there's more to her than powder and paint,
Than her p'roxided bleached-out hair.
Well, if she acts that way,
It's 'cause you've had your day.
Don't put her down; you helped put her there.

2. She hangs around
Playin' the clown
While her soul is aching inside.
She's heartbreak's child
'Cause she just lives for your smile
To build her up in a world made by men. CHORUS

3. At the house down the way,
You sneak and you pay
For her love, her body, or her shame,
Then you call yourself a man.
You say you just don't understand
How a woman could turn out that way.

LAST CHORUS: Well, there's more to her than powder and paint,
Than the men she picks up at the bar.*
Well, if she acts that way,
It's 'cause you've had your day.
Don't put her down; you helped put her there.*

Well, if she acts that way,
It's 'cause you've had your day.
Don't put her down; you helped put her there.


[* In Hazel Dickens' accent, "bar", and "there" are approximate rhymes.]