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Children of Children Lyrics
Pictures of the farm before us
Old men in a gospel chorus
Sepia and saddle horses, easy on the reins
'81 a motor inn
Your mama's seventeen again
She's squinting at the dusty wind, the anger of the plains
You and I were almost nothing
Pray to God the gods were bluffing
Seventeen ain't old enough to reason with the pain
How could we expect to stay in love
we neither knew the meaning of
the difference between sacred and profane
You were riding on your mother's hip
She was shorter than the corn
All the years you took from her just by being born
Didn't mean to break the cycle
Seventeen, I went by Michael
No one ever called by my own name anyway
Half full generations
living all these expectations
giving way to one late to have a baby on the way
I was riding on my mother's hip
She was shorter than the corn
All the years I took from her just by being born.
Old men in a gospel chorus
Sepia and saddle horses, easy on the reins
Your mama's seventeen again
She's squinting at the dusty wind, the anger of the plains
Pray to God the gods were bluffing
Seventeen ain't old enough to reason with the pain
we neither knew the meaning of
the difference between sacred and profane
She was shorter than the corn
All the years you took from her just by being born
Seventeen, I went by Michael
No one ever called by my own name anyway
living all these expectations
giving way to one late to have a baby on the way
She was shorter than the corn
All the years I took from her just by being born.
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From an interview:
"Mine and my wife's [childhood] were on my mind, we had similar early years, because her mom was real young and mine was too. They both did a great job and we're still really close to both of them, but the older that we get, the more we realize that it couldn't have been easy for them at that point."
http://tinyurl.com/cofc072717
I feel the second verse hints at an abortion and ex girlfriend maybe ex wife. He said at the time that it was speaking of him and Amanda's feelings toward their mothers, but he met her later then the "meant to stay in love" line implies. He wrote White Baretta in his latest album. I think it's more autobiographical than most expect.