Of Missing Persons

Your father was a rounder
 He played that rock and roll
 A leaper and a bounder
 Down to his gypsy soul
 The music was his angel
 And sorrow was his star
 And those of us who follow
 Might hope to reach as far
 They're walking slow in Houston
 Speechless in D.C.
 There's no way I could tell you
 What he meant to me
 Your mother's a survivor
 She'll do what must be done
 Her children will revive her
 And help her see the sun
 She almost knew that unison
 But the singing stopped too soon
 Now she shares the silence
 With a man up in the moon
 To speak of missing persons
 Tonight there's only one
 And we all carry with us what the man's begun
 And you can sing this song
 On July the Fourth
 In the sunny south and the frozen north
 It's a day of loss, it's your day of birth
 Does it take a death to learn what a life is worth?
 Your brothers are all older
 And they'll take it in their stride
 The world's a little colder
 But manhood's on their side
 Now you're the little girl-child
 And you look so much like him
 And he's right there inside you
 Each time you want to sing
 Sing of missing persons
 Tonight there's only one
 But he's where you can find him when it's said and done
 And we will sing this song
 On July the Fourth
 From the sunny south and the frozen north
 This will always be your day of birth
 May you always see what your life is worth