Malvina Reynolds: Song Lyrics and Poems  



No Room

Notes: words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1971 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1999. The editors introduced this composition when Malvina published it in Sing Out! with the following words: "If you have not read 'Alice in Wonderland,' some of the allusions in this song may escape you. 'Alice' is a good experience, so perhaps it's worthwhile for you to read it if you haven't, if only for the purpose of understanding 'No Room.' There may be some differences among singing people about the matter of population control, but, says Malvina, the right of a woman to control her own body, which is really the intent of this song, should not be questioned."


No room! No room! No room!
Said the Mad Hatter.
His brain had turned to batter
From eating tuna fish or swordfish
Or some such matter.
Something he et, to be sure.

Chorus:
Don't bring another baby in.
The Duchess will feed it pepper,
Or it might turn into a pig
Because it knows no better.

No room! No room! No room!
No room at the table.
Adding another Alice
Might make one too many,
And the tea pot empty,
Not enough crumpets to go round.

(Chorus)

No room! No room! No room!
Holy is the foetus.
But babies once born are simply human,
And if they die in the streets of Calcutta,
No one will notice but their ma,
And ain't that just like a woman.

(Chorus)


Malvina Reynolds songbook(s) in which the music to this song appears:
---- The Malvina Reynolds Songbook

Other place(s) where the music to this song appears:
---- Sing Out!, Vol. 21(3) (1972), p. 14

Malvina Reynolds recordings of this song:
---- Malvina
---- Virgo Rising; The Once and Future Woman (Thunderbird LP 7037, 1973)


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