There's a fly in the window 
A dog in the yard 
And a year since I saw you 
There's a trunk in the corner 
I keep all my letters 
My bills and demands I keep too 
 
Well I can't help thinking 
About the times 
You were a wife of mine 
You aimed to please me 
Cooked black-eyed peas-me 
Made elderberry wine 
 
Drunk all the time 
Feeling fine on elderberry wine 
Those were the days 
We'd lay in the haze 
Forget depressive times 
How can I ever get it together 
Without a wife in line 
To pick the crop and get me hot 
On elderberry wine 
 
Round a tree in the summer 
A fire in the fall 
Flat out when they couldn't stand 
The bottle went round 
Like a woman down south 
Passed on from hand to hand