Track 4 of the album Mile Marker Zero · 2016

Hands Like My Father's Hands

“I looked down at the wheel one morning and saw my father's knuckles on my own hands. That's the whole song, and it took me forty years to write.”

rock ballad · heartland rock · father song · 4:06

Lyrics

I looked down at the wheel this morning
Saw the scars and the knuckles and the lines
Cracked and brown like an old dirt road
Just like his, from another time

He never said he was proud of me
Not in words, not out loud
But he'd leave the toolbox open on the tailgate
And I knew that was how

Hands like my father's hands
Strong enough to hold the land
Never asked for a medal or a crown
Just a day's work and the sun going down
Hands like my father's hands
I understand now what he understands
Some pride is quiet, some love is plain
Like a steady grip in the wind and the rain

Now my daughter climbs up in the cab
Sets her small hand next to mine
I show her how to hold it easy
Not too tight, and keep the line

Hands like my father's hands
Strong enough to hold the land
Never asked for a medal or a crown
Just a day's work and the sun going down
Hands like my father's hands
I understand now what he understands
Some pride is quiet, some love is plain
Like a steady grip in the wind and the rain

No speeches at the kitchen table
No ribbons on the wall
Just a nod across the pasture
That says it all

Hands like my father's hands
Strong enough to hold the land
Never asked for a medal or a crown
Just a day's work and the sun going down
Hands like my father's hands
I understand now what he understands
Some pride is quiet, some love is plain
Like a steady grip in the wind and the rain

Hands like my father's hands
Hands like my father's hands