Album: The Rainy Season (1993)

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• Don't know much about you
  Don't know who you are
  We've been doing fine without you
  But, we could only go so far
  Don't know why you chose us
  Were you watching from above
  Is there someone there that knows us
  Said we'd give you all our love
  
  Will you laugh just like your mother
  Will you sigh like your old man
  Will some things skip a generation
  Like I've heard they often can
  Are you a poet or a dancer
  A devil or a clown
  Or a strange new combination of
  The things we've handed down
  
  I wonder who you'll look like
  Will your hair fall down and curl
  Will you be a mama's boy
  Or daddy's little girl
  Will you be a sad reminder
  Of what's been lost along the way
  Maybe you can help me find her
  In the things you do and say
  
  And these things that we have given you
  They are not so easily found
  But you can thank us later
  For the things we've handed down
  
  You may not always be so grateful
  For the way that you were made
  Some feature of your father's
  That you'd gladly sell or trade
  And one day you may look at us
  And say that you were cursed
  But over time that line has been
  Extremely well rehearsed
  By our fathers, and their fathers
  In some old and distant town
  From places no one here remembers
  Come the things we've handed down Writer/s: MARC COHN
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 7

• Tommy Boy from OhioPersonally I consider this one of the finest written, arranged and sung . I still cry every time I listen to it. At 70 I can see my dad and grandfather in things " I do and say".
• Kristen Durante from ChicagoThis comment is for Brian, from Chicago - Marc is still alive. He released music in 2019.
• Bob from York, Pa UsaThis is a haunting song. The part where he sings about the sad reminder of things we've lost along the way and "maybe you can help me find her in the things you do or say" paints a picture of a sad father to be awake alone at night, hoping that the birth of his child might heal a troubled marriage or repair a broken one. I sense his wife is gone, either literally or in spirit.
  
  His self-deprecating words speak to me of a husband who has poor self esteem and is accustomed to being the inferior partner in the marriage.
  
  This can be a hard song to listen to.
• Volker from HamburgBesides the one by Art Garfunkel, other cover versions of "The Things We've Handed Down" by Anthony Miltich, Briana Corrigan, Carol Lang, Fester Spunk, James Steensma, Jeremy Sassoon, John Gorka, Susan Anton and Tommy Fleming can be found on Spotify – one more romantic and tender than the other.
• Brian from Chicago, IlI love this song! It captured and added to my experience of expecting a new baby. It got me more in touch with the incredible thing it is to have your genes past on and from where these genes came from. I am even more excited for my new baby!
• Brian from Chicago, Il"On August 7, 2005 Marc Cohn was shot in the head during a random attempted carjacking after a concert in Denver."
  
  I found the above tid bit on his website http://www.marccohn.net/about/MC_Bio.aspx
  
  There is much more about him and his influences in his bio. I didn't want to post it for fear of some kind of plagiarism allegation.
  
• Stu from Suffern, NyWhile the songwriter deserves much credit, a cover version by Art Garfunkel has Mark's version beat for smoothness and beauty.

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