My Father's House - Live at the Walter Kerr Theatre, New York, NY - July 2018

Lyrics for My Father's House - Live at the Walter Kerr Theatre, New York, NY - July 2018

Last night I dreamed that I was a child Out where the pines grow wild and tall I was trying to make it home through the forest Before the darkness, darkness falls I heard the wind rustling through the trees And ghostly voices rose from the fields I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path With the devil snapping at my heels I broke through the trees and there in the night My father's house stood shining hard and bright The branches and brambles tore my clothes and scratched my arms But I ran 'til I fell shaking in his arms I awoke and I imagined the hard things that pulled us apart Will never again tear us from each other's hearts I got dressed and to his house I did ride From out on the road I could see its windows shining in light I walked up the steps and I stood on the porch And a woman I didn't recognize she came And spoke to me through a chained door I told her my story and who I'd come for She said: I'm sorry son, but no one by that name Lives here anymore Now those whose love we wanted but didn't get We emulate them That's the only way we have, in our power To get the closeness and love that we needed and desired. So when I was a young man looking for a voice to meld with mine, To sing my songs and to tell my stories, well I chose my father's voice. Because there was something sacred in it to me And when I went looking for something to wear I put on a factory worker's clothes, Because they were my dad's clothes And all we know about manhood is what we have seen And what we have learned from our fathers And my father was my hero And my greatest foe Not long after he died, I had this dream, I'm on stage, I'm in front of thousands of people, And my dad's back from the dead and he's sitting in the audience and suddenly I'm kneeling next to him in the aisle And for a moment we both watched the man on fire on stage And then my dad who for years, he sat at the kitchen table, unreachable, But I was too young, I was too stupid to understand was his depression. Well I kneel next to him in the aisle, And I brush his forearm And I say: look dad. That guy on stage That's how I see you My father's house shines hard and bright It stands like a beacon calling me in the night Calling and calling so cold and alone Shining 'cross this dark highway Where our sins lie unatoned