He Thinks He'll Keep Her - Mary Chapin Carpenter @ Wolf Trap

Taken from the "Jubilee: Live at Wolf Trap" performance. The sixth single on the album "Come On Come On", "He Thinks He'll Keep Her", was Carpenter's biggest hit off the album. Written by Carpenter and Don Schlitz, the fast-paced song follows a 36-year-old homemaker who leaves her husband, and was inspired by a 1970s series of Geritol commercials in which a man boasts of his wife's seemingly limitless energy and her many accomplishments, then concludes by saying "My wife ... I think I'll keep her." Carpenter said, "That line has always stuck with me. It's just such a joke." He Thinks He'll Keep Her lyrics: She makes his coffee, she makes his bed She does the laundry, she keeps him fed When she was twenty-one she wore her mother's lace She said "forever" with a smile upon her face She does the car-pool, she PTAs Doctors and dentists, she drives all day When she was twenty-nine she delivered number three And every Christmas card showed a perfect family Everything runs right on time, years of practice and design Spit and polish till it shines. He thinks he'll keep her Everything is so benign, safest place you'll ever find God forbid you change your mind. He thinks he'll keep her She packs his suitcase, she sits and waits With no expression upon her face When she was thirty-six she met him at their door She said I'm sorry, I don't love you anymore Everything runs right on time, years of practice and design Spit and polish till it shines. He thinks he'll keep her Everything is so benign, safest place you'll ever find God forbid you change your mind. He thinks he'll keep her For fifteen years she had a job and not one raise in pay Now she's in the typing pool at minimum wage Everything runs right on time, years of practice and design Spit and polish till it shines. He thinks he'll keep her Everything is so benign, safest place you'll ever find At least until you change your mind. He thinks he'll keep her.