I heard a lot of songs say, "Where you goin' my son?"
Now I know they're true
Boy you never stop to think how fast the years run
Now they've taken you

I remember you was three-and-a-half
Your ma and me would sit there after things got quiet then
We'd laugh at some new word you said
How tough you were to get to bed
And we planned the night away
Planning for our kid

I was your hero then
I couldn't do no wrong as far as you were concerned
You thought I was the best of men
The tables hadn't turned
You hadn't learned
How little time it takes
And daddies make mistakes

Seems to me that lately I've been thinking a lot
I think about my dad
Lots of funny things come back I thought I forgot
Now they make me sad
High school and it used to be
I didn't want him touching me and I shuddered if he did
Further back to summer nights
Baseball games beneath the lights and sleeping in the car
My daddy, and his kid
He was my hero then
He couldn't do no wrong as far as I was concerned
I thought he was the wisest, and the strongest, and the best of men
The tables hadn't turned
I hadn't learned
How little time it takes
Everybody breaks
And daddies make mistakes

I heard a lot of songs say, "Where you goin' my son?"
Now I know they're for real
Boy you never stop to think how fast the years run
And the things they steal
Now it seems I always knew
Why I do the things I do and the things I never did
Why I worked my whole damn life
So's I could give the better life than the one my dad could give me
And give it to my kid