Father, do you remember the time
When I had to pay rent but I hadn't a dime
I eyed the floor and asked for more
And you wondered what went wrong
All the finest schools
The perfect tools
It would take a fool to screw that up
Will he ever grow or will he just go waste time on another
song?

And you couldn't have known back in '79
When you both had a drink and a real good time
That the order of a bottle of wine
Would turn out to be tall
No you couldn't have known that the crop was bad
That I'd lack the sense you always had
To get on with it, not just sit and contemplate the meaning
of it all



Brother, do you remember the day
When I wanted to win, to have my way
I decided to stand up to you
Like I never did till then
So you held me down
To the ground
And I heard the sound of my ego snap
''I'm bigger than you, better than you
Don't you ever try that again''

Well, you couldn't have known that it wouldn't fade
You were teaching me I should be afraid
I have always been in the second grade
And the world has been the fourth
No, you couldn't have known and I guess you too
Are a victim of the way we grew
'Cause I see you now always looking down
Too good for love of any kind but yours



Mother, do you remember the time
When you looked in the back of my car to find
That I bought a hose and heaven knows I was planning my
escape
I was so damn cold
That I simply told and you
Grew older before my eyes
And I knew right then that I may well bend but for you I
wouldn't break

Well, we couldn't have known when I made the vow
That I'd write the words you're hearing now
There is just so much my soul allows
Before it closes down
No you couldn't have known 'cause I really thought
I would hold on with the last resort
But the only way to drive away
These feelings is to put them underground