Thomas was torn between his country and his home
His heart would want a woman,
His head would want to roam
His wife and his mother could never let him go
But a slave child would never say no
So Sally and Thomas lived separate but near
On and off for 39 years
The half-black daughter of Tom's wife's dad
Sally got privileges most slaves never had
Like learning how to read, and living in Paris
Being loved by the President, ah ma cherie
Sally must have felt it was a strange love
Thomas must have felt it with a passion
Black, white, loving out of sight
Keeping from the daytime what their bodies knew at night
Black, white, living separately
Black, white, wanting to be free
Beneath Tom's brilliance and political ideals
His heart was touched by every hurt a human heart feels
He lost his wife and many a good friend
And 'twas no easy love he harbored til the end
Well some say it's completely untrue
It upsets their notions of red white and blue
But the neighbors must have known
What the nation would deny
And blacks take for granted what the whites have called a lie
That Sally bore his children and Sally served him tea
Sally loved the President, oh my cherie
Sally must have felt it was a strange love
Thomas must have felt it with a passion
Black, white, President and slave
Down in ol' Virginia that's just how the folks behaved
Black, white, loving desperately
Black, white, loving to be free
Pastiche - backup vocals and arrangements (Pastiche is Sandy Cressman, Becky West and Jenny Meltzer); Jeremy Cohen - fretless bass; Raz Kennedy - vocal solo; Diesel Cats - acoustic guitar.
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