Nanci Griffith - Love Wore A Halo (Back Before The War) lyrics

She owned a hotel on the Jersey shore
She made her living sending
Sailors door to door
He was the small one with a crooked smile
Oh, he made her eyes light up like
The heavens on the fourth of July

She ran the numbers they say
She ran 'em clean
Those porcelain hands could keep a
Ledger even in her sleep
While he worked the Seabees
In the Philippines
They say she made more money than
You or I will ever see

Love was an anchor on the Jersey shore
If you were looking for love, boys
You could've found it in forty-four
Cause love wore a halo back before the war
When the men loved the women and the
Women knew what men were for

It was in the winter when he came home
He had to hold those porcelain hands
Just to keep her warm
So, they had a daughter they
Named her Stephanie Anne
Hey, they sent her off to Vassar
To find herself a family man

Love was an anchor on the Jersey shore
If you were looking for love, boys
You could've found it in forty-four
Cause love wore a halo back before the war
When the men loved the women and the
Women knew what men were for

Now, she sold the hotel it belongs to me
I watch those sailors come and go
Like the waves in the seas
I've hung their portrait's in
The honeyoon suite
I hear they're fishin' their lives
Away in the Florida Keys

Love was an anchor on the Jersey shore
If you were looking for love, boys
You could've found it in forty-four
Cause love wore a halo back before the war
When the men loved the women and the
Women knew what men were for