Lyrics of 'Lawrence Brown' by The Strawbs

Lawrence Brown was a family man
Worked as hard as any man can
His wife was thin
And his daughters were fat
And all day long his daughters just sat
And watched their mother scrub the floors
And do the other family chores
They just sat around indoors

A bank clerks life is boring is as hell
It's even worse when you're not feeling well
He came home one afternoon
At four o'clock on the second of June
With a cup of tea
He went to bed
He took a book
That he never read

By five o'clock Mr Brown was dead
The Doctor came and with hardly a look
He drew the sheet and closed the book
Mrs Brown sat numb and just stared
The only one who really cared
She thought of all that she had to do
And wondered how she would see it through
And how she did it no one knew

Her daughters went out dancing that night
Staying home didn't seem right
Mrs Brown was left all alone
To sort the future out on her own
She got a job in a week or two
In an office block with a lousy view
Of another block
That was lousy too

Six months later poor Mrs Brown
Had a council flat in the middle of Town
Her youngest girl had ran off from home
Leaving her mother to cope on her own
Her elder daughter quite by chance
Had an easy life in the South of France
As a paid companion
To a maiden Aunt