Just when you thought you could safely come here and not be subjected to another of my song lyrics, here is another of my song lyrics. Written around a grain of truth, it’s best described as a fictionalized composite as far as details are concerned.
Although the lens is personal, the theme strikes me as relevant to some of the reckoning that is happening in culture writ large right now. But I would think so, wouldn’t I? See what you make of it. Let me know in the comments, if you’d like.
More lyrics can, of course, be had in 31 Down, which you should absolutely buy if you like songs better without all that pesky music getting in the way.
Anyway, the song:
Man of His Time
He was born in Oklahoma
When the dust was stirring up
Settled down by eighteen
With a girl that he loved
Worked one job for 40 years
Shirt tucked, stitches straight
Needed supper at 5:30
And never washed a plate
He was a man of his time
And I’m a man of mine
Raised up on radio news
Of Pacific submarines
A life of casting glances
At the foreigners he’d see
Couldn’t drive past a crop row
Without an ethnic slur
As a boy rode with his hero
Weighing every word
He was a man of his time
And I’m a man of mine
If I could be half the man
I know which half I’d choose
But mostly I just miss him
As I sit here in the pews
Thinking of the better parts
I hum “Farther Along”
Hoping there might be some truth
To the title of that song
He was a man of his time
And I’m a man of mine
Really nice.
Thanks, Erin!