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