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 was 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

In the sunny south and the frozen north

This will always be your day of birth

May you always see what your life is worth