Not to Blame - Joni Mitchell

The story hit the news

From coast to coast

They said you beat the girl

You loved the most

Your charitable acts

Seemed out of place

With the beauty

With your fist marks on her face

Your buddies all stood by

They bet their fortunes

And their fame

That she was out of line

And you were not to blame

Six hundred thousand doctors

Are putting on rubber gloves

And they’re poking

At the miseries made of love

They say they’re learning

How to spot

The battered wives

Among all the women

They see bleeding through their lives

I bleed--

For your perversity--

These red words that make a stain

On your white-washed claim that

She was out of line

And you were not to blame

I heard your baby say

When he was only three

«Daddy, let’s get some girls

One for you and one for me.»

His mother had the frailty

You despise

And the looks

You love to drive to suicide

Not one wet eye around

Her lonely little grave

Said, «He was out of line girl

You were not to blame.»