Young Fathers

(album: White Lighter - 2013)

I was born in September
And like everything else, I can't remember
I replaced it with scenes from a film that I will never know

And I blinked, it was over
I was thinking my life would get slower
That I would sort this shit out when I'm sober

It gets better now that you're older

I read the scares on the front page
It says we're waiting around for an ice age
It says our comforts, they come with a price tag

They cured the cancer but discovered a new plague

They say just think of the children
And imagine the world that we've willed them
Is populated with weirdos to kill them
And break their hearts

And everybody knows
That this the end
It's now fashionable
Dinner party conversation

Now I'm as old as you were when you had me
Should I be afraid? Should I start a family?
Raise them in the wild 'cause up against the city
My love is such a small thing

When you're young, you're hot
You have your whole life before you
Everyone will adore
You'll grow up, you'll be an astronaut
Or anything you want

What goes up, goes up in flames
And now your choices surround you
Indecision confounds you
And you're pacing around the place
Shows you everything you're not

And then the brief little romance
You committed a soul without its consent
To live a life as a form without its content

Because young people get bored everyday
Yeah young people, young people get bored

Never went to church, thought a song was going to save me
So I wrote a hymn on the guitar that you gave me
Singing what you spoke, we built a fire just for smoking
You know hope is just a small thing

I just called to tell you
I just called to say
Learn all your mistakes
You were my inspiration

And it wasn't all we hoped for
But we shake it off and we say
Here's your yellow ribbon
I am your consolation

I was born in September
And if I died today
Just know I don't regret you
Some things I can't explain

It's a slow descent
It's a loveless place
Every goddamn day

Let it go
No matter where you go
Know that I will follow

I just called to tell you
I just called to say
Learn all your mistakes
Passed down through generations