From the recording Take Time
Lyrics
TODAY'S THE DAY
Words and Music by James Keith Norman
VERSE #1-a:
Today’s the day I buried my father.
The rain fell and the wind blew cold.
The reverend said all the usual kind words,
tried to rest my father’s soul.
Don’t know why my father was angry
every day of his life.
But no joy lived in that old man’s heart;
darkness long ago replaced light.
VERSE #1-b:
I recall when I was nine, I would
come running home from school
and for no reason that I gave him
on my back he’d break the Golden Rule.
VERSE #2-a:
Today’s the day I buried my father
’neath a dark and threat’ning sky.
And no one other than me and the reverend
came today to say goodbye.
Don’t know why my father was angry
through all of his years.
But he hurt so many people that now
no one for him is shedding tears.
VERSE #2-b:
I recall when I was twelve, I would
sometimes wake late at night.
And I’d hear my mother crying
under his fists till he took flight.
VERSE #2-c
And I recall when I was fifteen, my
mother passed and I left home.
With every mile and day, I felt safer
even walking into the unknown on my own.
BRIDGE:
In my dreams, I’ll often be
adrift and lost on open sea
and I’ll hear my father’s voice screaming out at me.
Waves grow so high around me,
swell high enough to drown me
and I’ll hear my father’s voice laughing as I slip under the sea.
Will the nightmares be over now? Over now?
VERSE #3-a:
Today’s the day I buried my father,
laid his body deep in the dust.
I placed a Bible gently next to him
and left him in the Good Lord’s trust.
Don’t know why my father was angry
for all of his days.
But I wish I could’ve known his demons
and somehow could’ve chased them away.
VERSE #4-a:
Today’s the day I buried my father.
The rain fell and the wind blew cold.
Copyright © 2010 and (P) 2011 James Keith Norman. (SOCAN and SOCAN RR)