Song Lyrics

He owned a hotel on Jersey shore
She made her living seeing the sailors door to door
He was a small Hawaiian with a crooked smile
But he made her eyes light up like the heavens on the Fourth of July
She ran the numbers, they say she ran them clean
Those porcelain hands keep a ledger even in her sleeves
While he worked the See-Bees in the Philippines
They say she made more money than you and I will ever see

[Chorus:]
Cause love was a magnet on the Jersey shore
If you were looking for love boys, you could have found it in '44
Cause love wore a halo back before the war
When the men loved the women
And the women knew what men were for

It was in the winter when he came home
And he had to hold those porcelain hands just to keep her warm
So they had a daughter, her name was Stephanie Anne
They sent her off to Vasser to find herself a family man
She sold the hotel, it belongs to me
And I watch those sailors come and go by the waves in the sea
From the poor chaps in the honeymoon suite
And I hear them fishing their lives away in the Florida Keys

Nanci Griffith

The duration of Love Wore a Halo (Back Before the War) is 3:23 minutes and seconds.