Give Me A Man With a Nose
Give Me a Man With a Nose
© 1996 Betsy Wellings
Down to Earth Music
All rights reserved.
Written and performed by Betsy Wellings
Some people say that noses
Should be small and refined
Some even get their noses redesigned
But I could not agree less
I register this protest
For I want a man with a nose
Give me a man with a nose
So said my great-grandma
So the story goes
Great-grandfather Lawson
Was totally awesome
With respect to the size of his nose
We respected the size of his nose
He was steadfast and strong and serene
With two honest eyes and a nose in between
He may have snored loudly
But he did it proudly
For he was endowed with a nose
Yes, he was endowed with a nose
Great-grandfather Lawson was smart
Well, he led with his nose but he followed his heart
And my great-grandmother
Had eyes for no other
She said, "Give me a man with a nose
Oh, give me a man with a nose!"
A nose takes you right to the source
And just like a rudder, it keeps you on course
Although the wind blows
It’s steady as she goes
Yes, you owe a lot to your nose
Oh, you owe a lot to your nose!
Golda Meir and Susan B. Anthony
John Lennon, Joan Baez and Jimmy Durante
To name just a few
Of the great people who
Were endowed with an ample proboscis
What I mean is, they all had big schnozzes
My own nose is medium-sized
Through three generations, it’s been minimized
To prove my potential
It will be essential
To find me a man with a nose
Yes, find me a man with a nose!
Without my mother’s influence, this song never would have come into being.
There was a great-grandfather on my father’s side whose wife used to say, "Give me a man with a nose!" in reference to his noble character and deeds.
"You should write a song about that, Betsy!" she said. I agreed, humoring her while thinking what a typical "Mom" idea it was, based on her reality, her time, and her style of music.
Even so, I went home and scratched out four verses that same night. I quickly added two more plus an intro about a year later, thinking the song was "not long enough".
This is part of an interesting syndrome; often the fill-in ideas that I have no real emotional investment in turn out to be among my best creations.