Read your note this morning    "Bye-bye girl" that's all it said    Glad I found it first    Before the kids got out of bed       Baked a tray of muffins    Hung some wet-wash out to dry    By the time the kids got up    I could look them in the eye       Chorus:       You've gone away    You've gone away    How will I get through the day    This god-forsaken day       Drank some bitter coffee    Read your note ten times or more    And when I'd washed the dishes twice    I got down and scrubbed the floor       Empty chair at supper    Everybody's acting strange    All the food just getting cold    Kids real quiet for a change       (chorus)       Rain was falling hard    As I walked slowly up the stairs    Pushed my tears back down    As a stood listening to their prayers       There's your empty pillow    Your side's flat right to the wall    Now's the time for private crying    Now it hurts me most of all       You've gone away    I've turned off the light    How will I get through the night    This god-forsaken night       This long and lonesome god-forsaken night