Great Big World

I didn’t know my father could sing
I never heard a note
he was an engineer
with a slide rule and a shop coat
poetry was not in his nature
nor whimsy his forte
I didn’t know my father could sing
until I heard him sing one day

he was 91 years old
and we were shootin’ the breeze
about the days when people
listened to different melodies
and there was one in particular
that had a certain swing
he sat up a little straighter then
and he began to sing

and there was Lili Marlene
and A Bicycle Built For Two
and they moved on down to the orchard town
in sight of the mountain view
and sometimes he sang out loud
when there was no one around
it was great big world and it
just kept turning around

funny thing is back in the day
before our tables turned
I was the one tryin’ to sing
a song that I’d just learned
and he was lookin’ at me like I was a fool
and maybe I was
’cause I just kept goin’
and that’s what a fool does

I was yelling at him
and he was yelling at me
and I couldn’t hear
and he couldn’t see
and I slammed the door
and I was gone
and 50 years later
he’s singin’ me a song

he’s gone now
to where all of us will go
beyond the walls and the bridges
of the goodbye hello
but for the songs of my own
and the ways of what I do
I think I understand a little better now
this one’s for you

and there was Lili Marlene
and A Bicycle Built For Two
and they moved on down to the orchard town
and had a kid or two
and sometimes he sang out loud
when there was no one around
it was great big world and it
just kept turning around