Grey Gardens: question re: "Around the World" lyrics

I saw Grey Gardens back in May and loved it, and I've been listening to my OBCR a lot lately. I realized that even after seeing the show and listening to "Around the World" many times, I don't quite "get" some of the lyrics. Maybe it's because I haven't seen the documentary yet? It's the part where Little Edie says:
It was mother's money
The Bouvier's.
And if mother spent it in crazy ways.
No one took care of her
Only me!
She was taken care of
Not sexually.
And if you infer that they were using her,
I will shove you under the god damn bed!

What does the reference to "mother's money...the Bouvier's" mean? Is Little Edie saying that it was her mother's money to spend as she pleased? But wasn't she a Bouvier by marriage, so it was really her husband's money?
Also--what does "She was taken care of/Not sexually" mean? I'm missing something here. I understand that Little Edie is saying she's been the one taking care of her mother all these years, but then when she says "if you infer that they were using her..."--who is "they"? Does she mean the rest of the family?
Sorry if I'm being dense!
Karen

---

Updated On: 7/6/07 at 01:41 PM

She was not a Bouvier by marriage. She was born a Bouvier. She was a Beale by marriage. The only money she had came from a $300.00 a month trust/allowance from her father, Major Bouvier. It would have been much more, but as we see in the play, he disinherited her down to that amount. The only thing she got from her husband was the house. That's the reason he got a Mexican divorce; so he wouldn't have to give her alimony.

This bit of lyric is based on a compilation of some of Little Edie's irrational ranting in the documentary. It was in response to, what she thought was, a suggestion from one of the guys filming that Big Edie was being sexually satisfied by Gould and later some guy named Tom that lived with them.

---

Mr. Blackwell does the famous Worst Dressed List every year.

---

Mr. Blackwell on Wikipedia

---

Thanks! This is probably a really stupid follow-up question, but is Little Edie then insulting Lee by implying that she would be on Blackwell's worst-dressed list? Was Lee Bouvier ever on that list?

---

He also lists the 10 best dressed -- it's just that the worst dressed gets more attention. I don't think Edie is insulting her cousin.

---

Thanks everyone; that does help a lot. And I KNEW Big Edie was a Bouvier and a Beale by marriage; I don't know how I forgot about that.
As for Mr. Blackwell, Lee R. was in fact on his list in 1976 (so I think the writers of the show must have been taking some artistic license, since doesn't the action of the show take place in the early 70s?) And Jackie made it on there as well, for that matter, in 1971: http://www.answers.com/topic/richard-blackwell

There was another line that was confusing me for a long time in "The Five Fifteen"--when Edith says "Reginaldo does our hair" and Gould says "That sounds promising!" I couldn't figure that out until I remembered that Gould was gay and so was making a little comment about hairdressers there. Correct?

---

As someone mentioned above, Edith got something-not much-but a little $300 a month allowance.

---

Good point Best. I believe in the "Beales of Grey Gardens" right after the fire scene, either Edie or Big Edie points out that the brothers (little edie's) pay the taxes on the house).

---

I believe Jackie and Lee each sent money for repairs to the house.

---

These little things are why Mr. Korie's lyrics are so great. He puts so much depth into them. He's the best lyricist, I think, since Sondheim or Ebb came along.

Big and Little Edie were devout Catholics. They didn't recognize the divorce whether it was legal or not. For Big Edie to have any sexual relations would be considered adultery. That is one of the reasons Little Edie goes nuts when it is suggested that Big Edie had a sexual relationship with anyone BUT Mr Beale.

---