Lyrics I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face - Kenny Dorham

I've Grown Accustomed to Your Face

Damn!
Damn!
Damn!
Damn!
I’ve grown accustomed to her face
She almost makes the day begin
I’ve grown accustomed to the tune that
She whistles night and noon
Her smiles, her frowns
Her ups, her downs
Are second nature to me now
Like breathing out and breathing in
I was serenely independent and content before we met
Surely I could always be that way again
And yet
I’ve grown accustomed to her look
Accustomed to her voice
Accustomed to her face
I can see her now, Mrs. Freddy Eynsford-Hill
In a wretched little flat above a store
I can see her now, not a penny in the till
And a bill collector beating at the door
She’ll try to teach the things I taught her
And end up selling flowers instead
Begging for her bread and water
While her husband has his breakfast in bed
In a year, or so, when she’s prematurely grey
And the blossom in her cheek has turned to chalk
She’ll come home, and lo, he’ll have upped and run away
With a social-climbing heiress from New York
Poor Eliza.
How simply frightful
How humiliating!
How delightful
How poignant it’ll be on that inevitable night
When she hammers on my door in tears and rags
Miserable and lonely, repentant and contrite
Will I take her in or hurl her to the walls
Give her kindness or the treatment she deserves
Will I take her back or throw the baggage out
But I’m a most forgiving man
The sort who never could, ever would
Take a position and staunchly never budge
A most forgiving man
But, I shall never take her back
If she were even crawling on her knees
Let her promise to atone
Let her shiver, let her moan
I’ll slam the door and let the hell-cat freeze
But I’m so used to hear her say
Good morning everyday
Her joys, her woes
Her highs, her lows
Are second nature to me now
Like breathing out and breathing in
I’m very grateful she’s a woman
And so easy to forget
Rather like a habit
One can always break
And yet
I’ve grown accustomed to the trace
Of something in the air
Accustomed to her face