Virginia and Hazel

Owen Temple

Rings on a Tree

  1. Virginia and Hazel
WRITTEN BY: OWEN TEMPLE & KELLEY MICKWEE

 

Virginia Kelley played the phonograph
It was Mamie’s Crazy Blues
“Getting all dolled up,” she said
“My gams look good in these shoes”
A car pulled up and honked
It was a breezer ’24
She laid a kiss on her daddy’s cheek
Scrammed on out the door
It was Hazel in the hayburner
And she pulled out the hooch
“Whattaya think, the new Chaplin?
Or the juice joint on the loop?”
Oh, Virginia!

“To the gin mill!” cried Virginia
Hazel said, “You’re on the trolley now”
And they’ll spend the next 4 decades
Living this night down
The girls turned every head
In the speakeasy saloon
“She’s the berries, she’s a bearcat”
Were the whispers in the room
Most were hard boileds and hoodlums
But two Jakes pulled up two chairs
They bought a couple rounds together
Then they all headed out the stairs
Oh, Virginia!

They peeled out of the parking lot
In a ’28 Model A
And they parked down by the river
It was a struggle buggy you might say
Cause both pairs were neck and neck
When a knock came on the door
A strange man pulled a shiv and said
“Get down on the floor”
He said “Get out of the car
Give me all of your jack
If you do just what I say
Ya’II might live to walk on back”
Oh, Virginia!

The stranger stole the Model A
They had to ankle back to town
The sheriff pinched the pickled crew
For walking drunk around
Virginia called her mom
Hazel called her dad
Forty dollars bail was set
Things were looking bad
She never forgot her father’s face
When he saw her through the bars
They didn’t speak a word
On the ride home in the car
No, Virginia!

The light of Sunday morning
Showed the shame on Virginia’s face
At the Mineral Wells Baptist Church
Where she sang Amazing Grace
That was Granny in the twenties
Now she’s pearls and powder blue
Secretary at the Baptist church
And that’s Hazel in the pew
That was Granny in the twenties
Now she’s pearls and powder blue
Secretary at the Baptist church
And that’s Hazel in the pew
Oh, Virginia!

© 2022 Owen Temple Music (BMI) / Milkweed Money (SESAC)