Thanks, dad, for letting me sing this to you with so many witnesses the night before. You throw a great party



I walk right by your office

It used to be my room

Mom moved out the furniture

When I went off to school



You filled it floor to ceiling

With all the things you've done

Letters from the President

Medallions that you won



And papers filled with numbers

Photographs of men

Your colleagues in their business suits

With hard hats on their heads



You took us down a mine once

We turned off all the lights

In that heart of darkness

Could we make everything all right?



You were a miner all your life

But I never made you mine

I never really took the time

To know the man inside

Soon I'll be walking down the aisle

And I want you by my side

Don't you think it's time

I finally tried to get inside the man?



So I'm drawn back to your office

To dig up more on you

Heavy rocks in bookcases--

Are they my only clue?



You traveled far to get them

You mined them from the land

You'd think that they were gold

The way you laid them in my hands



Chorus

Will I ever tell you just how

Dark the dark has been?

Do I have the courage

To let so much love in?



Now I'm sitting in your office

I'm trying out your chair

The room takes on new meaning

When I look at it from here



I hope that you don't mind

But I'm singing you a song

You'd think that it was gold

The way it's taken me so long



I've been a miner all my life

With my head stuck underground

But now I've grown, I want to know you

While you're still around

Wh