All in the tangles you're trying to untie by telling
But you tie yourself up with the one who's told
Grandma's hands are stiff, when I hold them they're freezing
She's still refusing to get old
Her fingers hurt bad, can't close her handbag
Can't do the bu*tons of her jumper up
Her body's gone wrong, but stubborn and strong
She argues with the doctor
Call me the nurse I don't want a hearse
The police are getting younger
The stairs are getting longer, your voice is getting quieter
The wind is getting stronger
She emigrated from Russia at nine months old
She's still got all her teeth, some are filled with gold
But they hurt her now when she drinks something cold
She won't stand her false teeth a-rattling her gobhole
Her fingers hurt bad, can't close her handbag
Can't do the bu*tons of her jumper up
Her body's gone wrong, but stubborn and strong
She argues with the doctor
Call me the nurse I don't want a hearse
The cops are getting younger
The stairs are getting longer, your voice is getting quieter
The wind is getting stronger
Grandma was raised near Stepney Green
Between Aldgate East and Petticoat Lane
Her mother always made sure there was food to eat
But as a girl she ran around without shoes on her feet
Her dad spoke Russian, not much English
My Gran translated for him, co*kney to Yiddish
She mothered her brothers and daughtered her mother
The blind fool tried to stop her daughter seeing my father
'Cause he was an atheist, he wasn't kosher
My mum and dad eloped so they could get closer
But my great gran told my mum you love him that's enough
'Cause my great gran was forced to wed a man she didn't love
Grandma said we didn't know it but times were very hard then
But then at least there was the dancing
But then at least we could go dancing
I was the oldest sister so I never had a childhood
When I was six years old, she talks
I had to spoon feed and carry my brothers
'Till they were old enough to walk
As a girl she worked as a seamstress
That's how her nine brothers and her sister were fed
She has a little hole in her front tooth
From the constant biting of the cotton and thread
Her fingers hurt bad, can't close her handbag
Can't do the bu*tons of her jumper up
Her body's gone wrong, but stubborn and strong
She argues with the doctor
Call me the nurse I don't want a hearse
The cops are getting younger
The stairs are getting longer, your voice is getting quieter
The wind is getting stronger
When she was seventy years I saw her throw a spinning top
And catch it spinning on a piece of string
She could touch her toes and shoot a netball
And spin around the ballroom dancing
Waltzes, Fandangos, Charlestons and Tangos
She and my grandpa would foxtrot
They won prizes but illness sacrifices youth
So now they have both stopped
Call me the nurse I don't want a hearse
The cops are getting younger
The stairs are getting longer, your voice is getting quieter
The wind is getting stronger
Well call me the nurse I don't want a hearse
The police are getting younger
The stairs are getting longer, your voice is getting quieter
The wind is getting stronger
The wind is getting stronger
The wind is getting stronger