She’s Suddenly Cruel

The song I have chosen today’s Song Lyric Sunday is one that I like very much….however, the score reminds me so much of the closing credits tune to The Moomins. Is it just me? I have tagged the tune I mean to the bottom of this post so you can tell me if I am imagining it!

Billy Joel’s song is “She Is Always A Woman”, and I always took it as an ode to real love – the kind of love that accepts a person has many shades to their moods and temper. Loving a person even when they have a bad day, loving a person when you see something unattractive about them. So many love songs are frankly unrealistic. They are either about how physically beautiful a woman is or how angelic. I do like a love song that acknowledges some personality flaws!

I read that Billy Joel wrote this song about his then-wife Elizabeth Weber who was apparently a very tough cookie indeed when she took over management for her husband. Some found her strength “unfeminine” – story of the 20th century woman! I love this song – and so did John Lewis who used it for a very memorable advertising campaign.

Credits: Billy Joel

She can kill with a smile
She can wound with her eyes
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child
But she's always a woman to me

She can lead you to love
She can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth
But she'll never believe
And she'll take what you give her as long as it's free
Yeah, she steals like a thief
But she's always a woman to me

Oh, she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind

She will promise you more
Than the Garden of Eden
Then she'll carelessly cut you
And laugh while you're bleedin'
But she'll bring out the best
And the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself
Cause she's always a woman to me

Oh, she takes care of herself
She can wait if she wants
She's ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out
And she never gives in
She just changes her mind

She is frequently kind
And she's suddenly cruel
She can do as she pleases
She's nobody's fool
But she can't be convicted
She's earned her degree
And the most she will do
Is throw shadows at you
But she's always a woman to me

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