Lyr Req: Putting Up with the Joneses

Subject: the joneses are not like you and me
From: GUEST,ceitagh
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 12:25 AM

h'lo folks,
Can anybody help me scratch an itch? A friend of mine used to sing a song about a disabled couple (the joneses) who wanted to have children. All I can remember of it is a snatch of the refrain, which runs:
"the joneses are not like you and me"

Other than that snippet, my mind is blank, i may even have the name wrong. I'd ask my friend, but he's disappeared without a forwarding address for the summer, and I'm going to go nuts if I have to wait 'til september to scratch this itch!
Pax
Ceit [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the joneses are not like you and me
From: nutty
Date: 28 Jul 01 - 10:11 AM

I've cone uo with this .............. is it right?

PUTTING UP WITH THE JONES

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the joneses are not like you and me
From: GUEST,Ceitagh
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 01:43 PM

Thats it!!! Thanks nutty!

Ceit

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the joneses are not like you and me
From: GUEST,MudWeasel
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 07:13 PM

It's on "Save This House" by Spirit of the West, one of their last really good albums so far as I know. I'm pretty sure it's an original by them. Great band...

-MudWeasel

Subject: Lyr Add: PUTTING UP WITH THE JONESES
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 Mar 02 - 10:26 PM

The above link doesn't work any more, but I found the lyrics at lyricsfreak.com. It may not be folk, strictly speaking, but it has a strong enough message that I think it belongs here.

PUTTING UP WITH THE JONESES

Mr. Jones has a little problem.
If I had eyes, I'd see that it was me.
He's the size of a man with the potential of a boy,
Not what God had meant a child of its to be.
I'm afraid that he'll amount to all of nothing.
The joy of reading Yeats he'll never know.
And in the rat race twirl
Of our computer-guided world,
He stands no chance of winning,
Let alone to place or show, so—

Lock him up and throw away the key, boys.
Mr. Jones is not like you or me.
Luck him up tight
'Cause if he had the chance, he might
Show us that we're wrong and that's the one thing we can't be.
Oh, no.

Mr. Jones wanted to be married.
It seemed like such a cute thing at the time:
Two peas in a pod, two of a kind
Who never have to ask each other,
"What's on your mind?"
It seemed a simple way to make them happy,
And happy is such a simple way to be.
And if the kept to themselves,
Like two books upon a shelf,
The kind you judge by the cover and never take the time to read—

Lock him up and throw away the key, boys.
Mr. Jones is not like you or me.
Luck him up tight
'Cause if he had the chance, he might
Show us that we're wrong and that's the one thing we can't be.
Oh, no.

Mr. Jones and Mrs. Jones, we're elated to inform you,
Though you've failed to meet the standards,
We've a place where we'll reform you.
It's a ways outside of town,
But the distance has its uses:
Close enough to make the effort,
Far enough to make excuses.

Lock him up and throw away the key, boys.
Mr. Jones is not like you or me.
Lock him up tight
'Cause if he had the chance, he might
Show us that we're wrong and that's the one thing we can't be.
Oh, no.

Mrs. Jones wants to have a baby.
She says that as a woman it's her right.
Yes, we tried to tell her. I guess that she forgot.
When she and Mr. Jones were wed,
The doctors tied the knot.
Why can't she just be happy in her own world?
Then we could all be happy here in ours.
We could still help out,
Even go as far as to stop off
At the Safeway, and drop some pennies in the jar.

Lock her up and throw away the key, boys.
Mrs. Jones is not like you or me.
Luck her up tight
'Cause if she had the chance, she might
Show us that we're wrong and that's the one thing we can't be.

Lock them up and throw away the key, boys.
The Joneses are not like you or me.
Luck them up tight
'Cause if they had the chance, they might
Show us that we're wrong and that's the one thing we can't be.
Oh, no.

[Performed by Spirit of the West on "Save This House," 1990.]