A Father's Love (The Only Way He Knew How)

For the longest time, I guess I thought He didn't give a damn Hard to read, hard to please Yeah, that was my old man On the day I left for college It was nothing new We never had that heart-to-heart He had too much to do He checked the air in my tires The belts and all the spark plug wires Said, "When the hell's the last time You had this oil changed?" And as I pulled out the drive He said, "Be sure and call your mom sometime" And I didn't hear it then but I hear it now He was saying, "I love you" The only way he knew how 120, 000 miles Six years down the road A brand new life and a brand new wife We'd just bought our first home When he finally came to visit I thought he'd be so proud He never said he liked the place He just got his tool belt out And put new locks on the doors Went back and forth to the hardware store Said, "Come and hold this flashlight" As he crawled beneath the sink And these old wires ain't up to code And that circuit box is gonna overload And I didn't hear it then but I hear it now He was saying, "I love you" The only way he knew how Last Sunday, we all gathered For his 65th birthday And I knew he'd stiffen up But I hugged him anyway When it was finally time to say goodbye I knew what was next Just like he always does Right before we left He checked the air in my tires The belts and all the spark plug wires Said, "When the hell's the last time You had this oil changed?" And as I pulled out the drive He said, "Be sure and call your mom sometime" And I didn't hear it then but I hear it now He was saying, "I love you" He was saying, "I love you" The only way he knew how