When I was seventeen

I asked my daddy

What does it take to be a man

He said sit down son

Let's have a little talk

I'll try and make you understand

Then he said years won't do it, tears won't do it

And sittin down to drink a thousand beers won't do it

Tattoos won't do it, and booze won't do it

And puttin little lifts in your shoes won't do it

I'm gonna tell you the thing that can

He said you get a good woman and she'll make you a man

He said only, a good woman can

That's the only thing, that's gonna make you a man

He said a scar won't do it fast cars won't do it

And kickin someone's ass in a bar won't do it

You aint gonna do it as an army private or

A captain or lieutenant, no just won't buy it

Listen son you'd better get yourself a plan

He said you get a good woman and she'll make you a man

He said only, a good woman can

That's the only thing, that's gonna make you a man

Now I was runnin around all through my twenties

Just to prove I had the stuff

Then one day I met this brown eyed girl

She said to me boy you aint so tough

She said that walk won't do it, talk won't do it

And struttin in here like a chicken hawk won't do it

Or bein a sexist, or drivin that Lexus

Or tellin people you were born and raised in Texas

Come over here boy if you think you can

She said you get a good woman and she'll make you a man

She said only, a good woman can

That's the only thing, that's gonna make you a man

My daddy died when I was thirty one

And that brown eyed girl gave me a brown eyed son

And when he comes to me wonderin how you do it

I'll say now sit down son cause I've been through