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NO CHARGE
Sung By: Melba Montgomery
Written by: Harland Howard

My little boy came into the kitchen this evenin'
While I was fixin' supper
And he handed me a piece of paper he'd been writin' on
And after wipin' my hands on my apron
I read it - and this is what it said:

For mowin' the yard - five dollars
And for makin' my own bed this week - one dollar
And for goin' to the store - fifty cents
An' playin' with little brother, while
you went shoppin' - twenty-five cents
Takin' out the trash - one dollar
Gettin' a good report card - five dollars
And for rakin' the yard - two dollars
Total owed - fourteen seventy-five.

Well, I looked at 'im standin' there expectantly
And a thousand mem'ries flashed through my mind
So I picked up the pen, turnin' the paper over,
This is what I wrote:

For nine months I carried you
Growin' inside me - NO CHARGE
For the nights I've sat up with you,
Doctored you, prayed for you - NO CHARGE
For the time and the tears.
And the cost through the years, there's NO CHARGE
When you add it all up.
The full cost of my love is NO CHARGE.

For the nights filled with dread
And the worries ahead - NO CHARGE
For advice and the knowledge
And the cost of your college - NO CHARGE
For the toys, food and clothes and for wipin' your nose
There's NO CHARGE, son
When you add it all up,
The full cost of my love, is - NO CHARGE.

Well, when he finished readin'
He had great big old tears in his eyes
And he looked up at me and he said,
"Mama, I sure do love you."
Then he took the pen,
And in great big letters
He wrote: "PAID IN FULL."

When you add it all up
The cost of real love is - NO CHARGE.


My first memory of this song, was not it as a song at all. The family would watch the Tommy Hunter Show Sunday night on CBC Television. At the end of his show he would take out his book and read this to the audience. He recited it so beautifully that I still remember it to this day and I went looking for it.

I thought it was a poem and today I found out it was actually a song. xd