For Evelyne

Lyrics

[Verse 1] I was headed to the fifth floor Just a deliveryman A crate of photographic film Grown heavy in my hands She swore "You drop those canisters I'll surely have your head The Rollei is a fickle beast The film so hard to thread" Hard to thread The way she said it, I believed her [Chorus] Oh Evelyne Do you see your dreams Through the eyepiece of a Rolleiflex 4 by 4? No man can compete Or hold the perfect posе The way you need Forever now, forеver more For Evelyne [Verse 2] Dodging Sinn Fein bullets Or the Battle of Ballantyne When insurrection needs a photo That's where you'll find Evelyne The telephone would chatter Just as we were settling down It's the Telegraph Gazette She's needed out of town Out of town She was only half here anyway [Chorus] Oh Evelyne All your dreams In a bakelite box With a bellows and a reflex lens Was I ever in the frame? I guess that all depends On what that means Forever now, forever more For Evelyne [Verse 3] So you married a well-heeled barrister From up 'round Sussex town But no proper gent would ever stand For all that running around So you gave him a lovely daughter And a couple of handsome sons You saved a gilded ball and chain For yourself when it all was done [Verse 4] And the Rolleiflex is collecting dust Up on the second floor The bellows cracked The lens is chipped The film no good no more No more good Covered with an old bedspread Oh Evelyne [Verse 5] Didn't I read the headline In the Telegraph Gazette? They found your smiling baby daughter Giggling and soaking wet She'd wandered off for two days With her Brownie in the pouring rain And all your world was frantic For her safe return again Save for you So strangely understanding [Chorus] Oh Evelyne Do you dream your dreams In a red-lit darkroom Where the rest of the world can't see? Children at your knees And still you feel the chill of incomplete Forever now, forever more For Evelyne Forever now, forever more For Evelyne