SONG LYRICS:

Lolly and Tony …      was my Mother and Father’s name
Working-class heroes,           with no money and no fame
They worked their fingers to the bone and raised a family...
Gave up their best years to my sister Julie and me.
           
 
They met each other during supper    at the Santo Cristo fair
Down on Columbia Street,  I can’t believe my Mom was there
That night he said to her, you don't know it yet, but someday you'll be my wife
I never heard anythin ’ more romantic in my life.
 
But then Hitler set the world on fire        and Tony joined the fray
     I’m sure he didn't want to go, but it’s the price he had to pay
     But Lolly's letters   they followed him      and saved his sanity ...
     in the war-torn Hell of France and Germany...
 
 
Our Mama loved us,  and she taught us how to pray
and we recited          all our prayers  every day
When each night she said her Rosary I think I could hear her cry
Askin’ Jesus to send some Money from the sky
 
Lolly taught both of us,     to be the best  that  we were able
“Don’t drink with your mouth full and get your elbows off the table”
“dedo as unhas”/ don’t bite your fingernails              get those “feripas” off your face
“If you’re wearing that thing,       you’re not going  anyplace”
 
But the best advice was some that my Father gave
He said, “That face that’s in your mirror when you shave…
..He’s always lookin back at you    and he’ll be watching ‘til you die.
So make sure that you can look him in the eye”.

Took me quite a while to get all that through my head
between  the two of them  an awful lot was being said
But as the years pass I can see now,       their truth was always plain
They laid it all out    for me to ascertain
 
Children grow up    start their lives and move away
Leaving parents on their own and turning gray
She was 69 when   leukemia,             took our Mom away
26 years gone ..   ’n’ I still miss her every day
 
Tony left us, 8 months later, now he’s with Lolly all the time
No more trying to squeeze a dollar from a lonesome little dime
the things those people taught me, will never fade away
“Now you’re gettin’ smart”  … that’s what my Dad would say
 
 
People say “It was a blessing…  The Lord took him in his sleep”
 But me, I think we’ll be awake   when we finally make that leap
It’s just something that we tell ourself     to whitewash our own pain  
..Cuz-once-you- cross that line,  you don’t come back again 
 
 
 
When someone’s broken, you want to fix ‘em…
and when you can’t, it makes you cry
and the hardest thing  you’ll ever do is watch  someone you love die.
Every day you try to hold on,  and just do the best you can
to be there for them if they need to hold your hand  
           
(Coda)
 I don’t mean stand there like a rock     and never show your pain
Sometimes it’s better to let it go        and make your feelings plain
But the main thing is just to be there… so they won’t be alone
So they don’t have to take that last step …
they shouldn’t have to make their last step …
Don’t let them take that last step on their own