Author’s note: This tune was inspired by the song “It Hurts To Face Reality” by Lefty Frizzell, from the movie Tender Mercies, one of my favorites – Robert Duvall, displaying his amazing talents, which won him the Best Actor Academy Award for 1983. My song is slow, traditional country, with (I imagine) steel accompaniment. A.S.
MOMMA had, a little girl, when she was, a little girl.
And it made for an interesting tale.
As Daddy learned, to make a buck, I came along, to join the fun.
A humble house, a special time, a growing love.
Chorus:
We were the children of children, you could see it in their eyes.
They learned it as they went along, though they never compromised.
We never wanted nothing, and we always felt their love.
We were the children of children, growing older, growing up.
Sometimes Dad, he worked the night shift, back when I was in grammar school.
I’d come home for lunch on my Stingray, we’d shoot baskets in the afternoon.
And Sis she was a beauty, no one smarter or aware.
Raised by the hands of two young lovers more determined than they were scared.
Chorus:
We were the children of children, the pictures they don’t lie.
They learned it as they went along, though they never compromised.
We never wanted nothing, and we always felt their love.
We were the children of children, growing older, growing up.
Bridge:
And Sis she would turn fifty today, if all was right with life.
But the Lord took her home at thirty-nine, and you know that don’t seem right.
And Momma and Daddy grow old together, though it’s rare that people do.
And the river may rise like tears in your eyes, but they’re determined to see it through.
Repeat chorus:
We were the children of children, you could see it in their eyes.
They learned it as they went along, though they never compromised.
We never wanted nothing, and we always felt their love.
We were the children of children, growing older, growing up.
© 2012 Andrew Spradling
First published Shelton College Quarterly
Andrew Spradling 