At last the kids are gone now for the day
She reaches for the coffee as the school bus pulls away
Another day to tend the house and plan
For Friday at the Legion when she's dancing with her man
Sure was a bitter winter but Friday will be fine
And maybe last year's Easter dress will serve her one more time
She'd pass for twenty-nine but for her eyes
But winter lines are telling wicked lies
All lies
All those lines are telling wicked lies
Lies all lies
Too many lines there in that face;
Too many to erase or todisguise;
They must be telling lies
Is this the face that won for her the man
Whose amazed and clumsy fingers put that ring upon her hand?
No need to search that mirror for the years
The menace in their message shouts across the blur of tears
So this is Beauty's finish. Like Rodin's "Belle Heaulmière"
The pretty maiden trapped inside the ranch wife's toil and care
Well, after seven kids, that's no surprise
But why cannot her mirror tell her lies
All lies
All those lines are telling wicked lies
Lies all lies
Too many lines there in that face;
Too many to erase or to disguise;
They must be telling lies
Then she shakes off the bitter web she wove
And turns to set the mirror, gently, face down by the stove
She gathers up her apron in her hand
Pours a cup of coffee, drips Carnation from the can
And thinks ahead to Friday, cause Friday will be fine!
She'll look up in that weathered face that loves hers, line for line
To see that maiden shining in his eyes
And laugh at how her mirror tells her lies
All lies
All those lines are telling wicked lies
Lies all lies
Too many lines there in that face;
Too many to erase or to disguise;
They must be telling lies
All those lines are telling wicked lies
Lies all lies
Too many lines there in that face
Too many to erase or to disguise
They must be telling lies
Lies was written by Stan Rogers.
Lies was produced by Paul Mills.
Stan Rogers in the Northwest Passage liner notes:
For farmers' wives, because farmers' wives are farmers too. “Rodin’s Belle Heaulmiere” refers to a sculpture by Auguste Rodin, a nude of an old woman which forces the viewer to see past the ravages of age to the young person we all are inside.