Wives and Lovers
(From Katie Stringer, one of our Briefing readers in Bellevue Hill, Australia.)
It's 5.15 pm, and I'm folding nappies and singing to my nine-and-a-half week-old baby girl as we listen to track 7 on a Burt Bacharach collection I've borrowed from the library.
Hey, little girl,
Comb your hair, fix your make-up.
Soon he will open the door.
I merrily sing along, noticing for the first time the happy coincidence of the lyrics as we await ‘Daddy's’ imminent arrival home from work. The back of the CD case tells me I'm singing with Jack Jones to ‘Wives and Lovers’ which was written in 1963 by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The tune is great, so I turn up the volume and listen to the lyrics for the first time:
Don't think because
There's a ring on your finger,
You needn't try anymore,
For wives should always be lovers too.
Run to his arms the moment he comes home to you
I'm warning you ...
Now hang on a minute! I push stop on the CD player, somewhat affronted by the incredible political incorrectness of the song I'm singing to my little girl. I assume it's written with an ironic nod to 50s housewives, but what if it's not?
When my husband does come home, I play him the rest of the song:
Day after day
There are girls at the office
And men will always be men.
Don't send him off
With your hair still in curlers;
You may not see him again.
My husband laughs—a little too heartily, I feel.
For wives should always be lovers too ...
“That's true”, my husband says. Hmm, I guess he has a point.
After a few replays, I've come to the conclusion that this song has a lot going for it. For a start, it's anti-adultery—which is something a lot of today's music can't boast (for example, “Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?” by the Pussycat Dolls). And, dare I say it, it's almost biblical in its exhortation for wives to be working hard at keeping their husbands faithful.
Of course, husbands need to work hard at staying faithful too. I'm not suggesting wives are responsible for husbands straying, but rather, as their helpers, we can help them in this area. We're supposed to. So there's nothing wrong with a wife making a little effort to keep the flames burning. Curlers have never been my thing and you can forget about a full face of make-up, but I guess I could get out of my slobby tracksuit pants.
Paul states that one of the purposes of marriage in 1 Corinthians 7:1-5 is to protect husbands and wives from sexual immorality. So a healthy marriage provides protection for husbands and wives from the girls and boys in the office. Furthermore, it is supposed to be satisfying. Proverbs 5:18-19 says,
Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated always in her love.
So play on, Mr Jones:
Hey, little girl,
Better wear something pretty—
Something you'd wear to go to the city—and
Dim all the lights,
Pour the wine, start the music.
Time to get ready for love.
Time to get ready—
Time to get ready for love.