Quality Time - Iris DeMent

She’s got a phone in one hand, a hairbrush in the other

And she says, «Life's too short to stay home and be a mother»

She says she can have it all 'cause that’s The New Deal

So God give her a hand, 'cause she needs one for the wheel

When he gets home from work, it’s well after seven

But he drives a nice car so he thinks he’s in Heaven

And his kids hardly know him but they’ve all got nice clothes

And in just a few hours more overtime he can pay-off that boat

And they’ve got nice big houses, and they’ve got nice big cars

And it looks, from the outside, like they’re really going far

But there’s trouble in the engine and we’re junkyard-bound

If some moms and some dads don’t start hanging around

When they get around to dinner they’re damn near half-dead

So they drive through McDonald’s and put the kids off to bed

But they’re upwardly mobile and everything is fine

'Cause when they do get together, it’s quality time

And they’ve got nice big houses, and they’ve got nice big cars

And it looks, from the outside, like they’re really going far

But there’s trouble in the engine and we’re junkyard-bound

If some moms and some dads don’t start hanging around

They want stickers on the music, they want the laws turned around

They want the cops to run Beavis and Butthead outta town

They say they care about their children, but it’s just too damn hard

To turn off that TV or sell off that car

And they’ve got nice big houses, and they’ve got nice big cars

And it looks, from the outside, like they’re really going far

But there’s trouble in the engine and we’re junkyard-bound

If some moms and some dads don’t start hanging around

There’s a whole lot of people who can’t make ends meet

And on the wages that they’re earning, I know a family can’t eat

But I’m talking 'bout people who would sell their kid’s soul

To keep up with the Jones', no matter the toll

And they’ve got nice big houses, and they’ve got nice big cars

And it looks, from the outside, like they’re really going far

But there’s trouble in the engine and we’re junkyard-bound

If some moms and some dads don’t start hanging around

When they do get together, it’s quality time