Dirt Gets Under the Fingernails - Harry Chapin

Now he was a man who worked with his hands

Only in a motor he found peace

He could make an engine sing like a bird

He could find his only kind of release

When he was up to the elbows in the grease.

She dreamed of a time for painting

As she was cleaning up his stains from the rug

She'd play all day with their children

And try to meet him with a welcome and hug

As he came shuffling through the house with a shrug

I tell you dirt gets under the fingernails

And hate gets under the skin

But a dream got a way of getting down to the bone

and the heart of a body that it's in.

While he was making magic with his piston machines

She was cleaning up the mess he'd left behind.

She was trying to make it through to the end of the day

With a little empty time

And do the painting that meant peace of mind.

I tell you dirt gets under the fingernails

And hate gets under the skin

But a dream got a way of getting down to the bone

and the heart of a body that it's in.

Well one day she didn't bother 'bout making his bed.

She hurried all the children out the door.

And she let the bills and the marketing go.

And she went and almost bought out an art supply store.

It just so happened that day he got to thinking.

Of the grease that always covered up his skin.

So he left the garage a little early

He got a shave and a manicure and trim

Came out clean as a plaster maniquin.

He came home in a hurry

But he almost didn't recognize the place.

It looked like it'd been hit by a hurricane.

There was canvas filling every open space.

And she had paint all over her face.

I tell you dirt gets under the fingernails

And hate gets under the skin

But a dream got a way of getting down to the bone

and the heart of a body that it's in.

They both stood stunned into silence

Then their laughter exploded like a shout

And he went out to make some magic in the kitchen

The clean man learning what cooking was about.

And the dirty girl painting her messy heart out.

I tell you dirt gets under the fingernails

And hate gets under the skin

But a dream got a way of getting down to the bone

and the heart of a body that it's in.