The Things We've Handed Down lyrics

Don't know much about you

Don't know who you are

We've been doing fine without you

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

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...

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 remembers

Come the things we've handed down

The things we've handed down, yeah

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

• Artist:Marc Cohn
• Album:The Rainy Season (1993)