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

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

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 portraits in the honeyoon suite

I hear they’re fishin' their lives away in the Florida Keys