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My Father Lyrics
My father always promised us
That we would live in France
We'd go boating on the Seine
And I would learn to dance
We lived in Ohio then
He worked in the mines
On his dreams like boats
We knew we would sail in time
All my sisters soon were gone
To Denver and Cheyenne
Marrying their grownup dreams
The lilacs and the man
I stayed behind the youngest still
Only danced alone
The colors of my father's dreams
Faded without a sound
And I live in Paris now
My children dance and dream
Hearing the ways of a miner's life
In words they've never seen
I sail my memories of home
Like boats across the Seine
And watch the Paris sun
As it sets in my father's eyes again
My father always promised us
That we would live in France
We'd go boating on the Seine
And I would learn to dance
I sail my memories of home
Like boats across the Seine
And watch the Paris sun
As it sets in my father's eyes again
That we would live in France
We'd go boating on the Seine
And I would learn to dance
He worked in the mines
On his dreams like boats
We knew we would sail in time
To Denver and Cheyenne
Marrying their grownup dreams
The lilacs and the man
Only danced alone
The colors of my father's dreams
Faded without a sound
My children dance and dream
Hearing the ways of a miner's life
In words they've never seen
Like boats across the Seine
And watch the Paris sun
As it sets in my father's eyes again
That we would live in France
We'd go boating on the Seine
And I would learn to dance
Like boats across the Seine
And watch the Paris sun
As it sets in my father's eyes again
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lyrics are wrong. here's the correct ones:
My father always promised us That we would live in France We'd go boating on the Seine And I would learn to dance
We lived in Ohio then He worked in the mines On his dreams like boats We knew we would sail in time
my sisters' on the road and ran away To Denver and Cheyenne Marrying their grownup dreams The lilacs and the man
I stand behind the youngest still Only danced alone hoping that my father's dreams would someday take me home
I live in Paris now My children dance and dream Hearing the ways of a miner's life In words they've never seen
I sail my memories of home Like boats across the Seine and watch my father's eyes watching the setting sun set in my fathers eyes' again
sorry, first line it's also "promised me" not "promised us"
I still to this day have never heard any song that captures this sentiment at all, not to mention so beautifully. A child's love for their parent, a parent's wish that their child's life will be better than their own (a common mantra in the "American Dream"), the anguish felt that by the time the child achieves their shared dream, the parent has already died, did not live to see that day, and yet the child has comfort as an adult, knowing that the parent's dreams and wishes have been realized by the child's very existence and achievements. All of this in one beautiful and heart-wrenching song. Always been my favorite TMC song (not that I know the band's stuff that well). It's really an impressive artistic achievement I think.