(Barry Manilow / Enoch Anderson) She's a great little housewife Though sometimes she talks like a fool But she helps at the store in the holiday rush And she picks up the kids after school And she puts down the 'phone When her husband comes home And she changes from mother to wife 'Til she feels the words hanging between them And she hangs by her words to her life She says.... I swear I love my husband I love my kids I wanted to be like my mother But if I hadn't done it as soon as I did Oh, there might have been time to be me for myself, for myself So many things that she wishes She don't even know what she's missing And that's how she knows that she missed She's a sweetheart except when she's moody It's hard to get through to her then Depressed for a while when the youngest was born Ah, but that happens now and again Ah, she might take a drink with the housework Or when Michael's kept late at the shop A martini or two before dinner But she always knows when to stop She says.... I swear I love my husband And I love my kids And, though I wanted to be like my mother But if I hadn't done it as soon as I did Oh, there might have been time to be me for myself, for myself So many things that she wishes She don't even know what she's missing And that's how she knows that she missed Oh, they used to hold hands at the movies Now it's seldom, if ever, they go Once you pay for the sitter, and parking the car There's no money left for the show She was doing the dishes When a glass fell and broke on the tile And she cut her wrist, quite by mistake It was real touch and go for a while She says.... Oh God, I love my husband And I love my kids Well, I wanted to be like my mother But if I hadn't done it as soon as I did Oh, there might have been time to be me for myself, for myself So many things that she wishes She don't even know what she's missing And that's how she knows that she missed