“She’s Leaving Home,” The Saddest Song Ever
Lennon and McCartney tell a tale of exceptional sadness.
Song lyrics of “She’s Leaving Home,” written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, are in bold print.
Wednesday morning at five o’clock
As the day begins
Silently closing her bedroom door
Leaving the note that she hoped would say more
She goes downstairs to the kitchen
Clutching her handkerchief
Quietly turning the backdoor key
Stepping outside, she is free
I was 12 years old when Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released by the Beatles. Just like nearly every teen, I loved that album. I still do. Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band included a song entitled “She’s Leaving Home.” The song meant nothing in particular to me as a child. As a parent, it has a profound impact on me.
She(we gave her most of our lives)
Is leaving (sacrificed most of our lives)
Home (we gave her everything money could buy)
She’s leaving home, after living alone, for so many years (bye bye)
I am utterly terrified of the idea of my daughter walking out of my life.
Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown
Picks up the letter that’s lying there
Standing alone at the top of the stairs
She breaks down and cries to her husband
“Daddy, our baby’s gone.”
Whenever I hear the song, I get quiet and depressed. As a parent, I can not grasp the idea of my child leaving me.
“Why would she treat us so thoughtlessly?”
“How could she do this to me?”
She (we never thought of ourselves)
Is leaving (never a thought for ourselves)
Home (we struggled hard all our lives to get by)
My daughter is our only child. My wife and I sacrificed. We provided all of her needs and many of her wants. We worked hard to build a home that supported her. I can’t even contemplate the idea that she’d leave us, abandon us.
She’s leaving home, after living alone, for so many years
Friday morning, at nine o’clock
She is far away
Waiting to keep the appointment she made
Meeting a man from the Motortrade
She (what did we do that was wrong)
Is Having (we didn’t know it was wrong)
Fun (fun is the one thing that money can’t buy)
Something inside, that was always denied, for so many years
She’s leaving home, bye, bye
Aren’t parents supposed to provide for their children, to see they are fed, clothed, and loved? Both my wife and I worked exceptionally long hours in jobs that didn’t end at 5 pm.
Often we’d bring work home. More often than not, we’d have work to do on the weekends, too. We willingly did this to provide for our child. We did all we could do. Wasn’t it enough?
It was enough. I am pleased to say we were able to give our daughter the love and support she needed. We also had lots of fun times.
When she was three years old, my daughter would awaken me at 6 am with, “Daddy, Daddy, go zoo.” At her 6th birthday party, I arranged for the volunteer fire department to come to the house with their fire engine to show the kids the truck, and show how the fire hose worked.
As she got older, in the summers, we’d go to state parks and caverns.
My precious daughter is grown, age 23, and graduated from college. She lives and works 2 hours east of town, yet comes home to visit nearly every week. I’m so glad she is not the daughter in the song.
© 2019 Randle B. Moore
Song Lyric Source: LyricFind; YouTube [LINK]
Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul Mccartney
She’s Leaving Home lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
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