Well. This certainly has the feel of a real-life party or song circle: If you get 'em talking and eating, they forget to sing! -- It's a tough choice between pleasures. Some friends have started just having soup and salad for dinner. That keeps guests from getting too stuffed and lazy to sing....

I'd like to sing a fine song called "Mothers, Daughters, Wives" by Holly Near. (?) Words are in Rise Up Singing. Here's the chorus:

Well, the first time it was fathers,
The last time it was sons
And in between your husbands
Marched away with drums and guns
But you never though to question,
You just went on with your lives,
'Cause all they taught you how to be was
Mothers, Daughters, Wives.