BY BARRY MANILOW AND ENOCH ANDERSON



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She's a great little housewife

Though sometimes she talks like a fool

But she helps at the store in the holiday rush

And she picks up the kids after school

And she puts down the phone when her husband comes home

And she changes from mother to wife

'Til she feels the words hanging between them

And she hangs by her words to her life



She says I swear I love my husband, I love my kids

I wanted to be like my mother

But if I hadn't done it as soon as I did

Oh there might have been time to be me

For myself, for myself

There's so many things that she wishes

She don't even know what she's missin'

And that's how she knows that she missed



She's a sweetheart, except when she's moody

It's hard to get through to her then

Depressed for a while when the youngest was born

Oh but that happens now and again

She might take a drink with the housework

Or when Michael's kept late at the shop

A Martini or two before dinner

But she always knows when to stop



She says I swear I love my husband and I love my kids

You know I wanted to be like my mother

But if I hadn't done it as soon as I did

Oh there might have been time to be me

For myself, for myself

There's so many things that she wishes

She don't even know what she's missin'

And that's how she knows that she missed



Oh they used to hold hands at the movies

Now it's seldom if ever they go

Once you've paid for the sitter and parkin' the car

There's no money left for the show

She was doing the dishes

When a glass fell and broke on the tile

And she cut her wrist (quite by mistake)

It was real touch and go for a while



She says Oh God I love my husband and I love my kids

You know I wanted to be like my, my mother

But if I hadn't done it as soon as I did

Oh there might have been time to be me

For myself, for myself

There's so many things that she wishes

She don't even know what she's missin'

And that's how she knows that she missed