"Sylvia's Mother"

"Sylvia's mother says 'Sylvia's busy. Too busy to come to the phone.'

Sylvia's mother says 'Sylvia's trying to start a new life of her own.'

Sylvia's mother says 'Sylvia's happy.  So why don't you leave her alone?'

[refrain]

And the operator says 40 cents more for the next three minutes.

Please, Mrs. Avery, I just gotta talk to her.  I'll only keep her a while

Please, Mrs. Avery, I just want to tell her goodbye

Sylvia's mother says 'Sylvia's packing.  She's gonna be leaving today.'

Sylvia's mother says 'Sylvia's marrying a fella down Galveston way.'

Sylvia's mother says 'Please don't say nothin' to make her start cryin' and stay.'

[refrain]

Sylvia's mother says 'Sylvia's hurrying.  She's catching the nine o'clock train.'

Sylvia's mother says, "Take your umbrella 'cause Sylvia, it's starting to rain.'

And Sylvia's mother said, "Thank you for calling, and, sir, won't you call back again?"

Classic "golden oldie" from 1972 by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show.  Lyrics by Shel Silverstein, who is perhaps best known for his poetry and cartoons, but he also wrote the lyrics for many country-western songs.

Posted because after enjoying Fargo season 5, I decided to binge-watch season 2, and this song was featured in the background.

Reposted because I woke up with this as an earworm and had to Google various phrases until the source popped up, and because the only way to get rid of an earworm is to give it to someone else...

It's also interesting to ponder that probably one generation (maybe 2?) of readers here will not appreciate the implied potential tragedy of needing to "insert 40 cents more for the next three minutes"...