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...