Dad never started drinking ‘til he was thirty-five

And once he found the power

He made up for his lost time

Go outside and catch a cricket, then unplug the phone

Said their singing kept him company

When we'd leave him alone


Those were days of feeling awkward,

Being seventeen and such

Hoping I could find some comfort

In a deacon's daughter's touch

I'd spend time out in the desert

Feeling lonely with a friend

And we'd talk about leaving

But it was years before we did


Oh the time moves slow

And you can't go where you want to go

But, oh the time slips away

Day after day, day after day

Day after day


Well I found myself a genie

Said she's grant a wish for me

And all I had to do was love her

Endlessly

So I asked my dad about it and he said

Son, life's a game we play

So I closed my eyes, held her and said

Take me away


Let's live in a lighthouse on the Maritime shore

And we'll hang a wreath to loneliness

Upon our lighthouse door

But we never made the ocean, she never followed through

She said the day she left

You know, I really thought you knew


Well I went back home to see my dad

And I walked through the door

To his photographs of Hank and Johnny

Lying on the floor

Hank had a hole shot through his mouth

And Johnny in the head

There were crickets in hallway

And Dad awake in bed


He was sitting in the darkness

With just a cigarette light

Said he went a little crazy

Sometime in the night

I never asked him about the pictures

Though it was clear to me

He shot ‘em for the life

And the man he wouldn't be