Things We’ve Handed Down

(Marc Cohn)

Don't know much about you
Don't know who you are
We've been doin' fine without you
But we could only go so far
Don't know why you chose us
Were you watching from above
Is there someone there that knows us
Said we'd give you all our love

Will you laugh just like your mother
Will you sigh like your old man
Will some things skip a generation
Like I've heard they often can

Are you a poet or a dancer
A devil or a clown
Or a strange new combination of
The things we've handed down

I wonder who you'll look like
Will your hair fall down and curl
Will you be a Mama's boy
Or Daddy's little girl
Will you be a sad reminder
Of what's been lost along the way
Maybe you can help me find her
In the things you do and say

And these things that we have given you
They are not so easily found
Oh, but you can thank us later for
The things we've handed down
The things we've handed down
Down,down,down,down,down

You may not always be so grateful
For the way that you were made
Maybe some feature of your father's
That you'd gladly sell or trade
And one day you may look at us
And say that you were cursed
But over time that line has been
Extremely well rehearsed

By our fathers and their fathers
In some old and distant town
From places no one here remebers
Come

The things we've handed down
The things we've handed down, down
The things we've handed down