Back When Ted Loved Sylvia Lyrics - Singles - Nanci Griffith

They both wrote poetry 

In fact, that was how they met 

He was a Yorkshire man in Cambridge 

She was from Massachusetts 

They spoke and they fell in love 

They kissed and picked daffodils 

She came across the ocean 

Just to bid her heart goodbye 

The hawk next to his goddess 

They were glorious to see 

Back when Ted loved Sylvia 

Close friends disapproved 

Said they ought to wait 

They did not care with all that said 

And married none the less 

They traveled and they taught 

A life of academia 

Typewriters and cocktails 

Angry verses and sad pleas 

Dutiful wife and mother 

The poet behind her man 

Back when Ted loved Sylvia 

The tempests that were howling 

And tearing them apart 

Were forces that had been in place 

To wreck them from the start 

So she stayed home with the kids 

Collecting poems in a jar 

He had his lectures and soon a mistress 

And left her all alone 

Why did she end it all? 

Was he just to blame? 

There's only two that know for sure 

And neither one remain 

I don't need an answer 

I prefer to read between the lines 

Back when Ted loved Sylvia 

Back when Ted loved Sylvia