MY FATHER
Judy Collins
As recorded by Judy Collins on "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" (1968)

My father always promised us that we would live in France.
We'd go boating on the Seine and I would learn to dance.
We lived in Ohio then; he worked in the mines.
On his dreams like boats we knew we'd sail in time.

All my sisters soon were gone to Denver and Cheyenne,
Marrying their grown-up dreams, the lilacs and the man.
I stayed behind, the youngest still, only danced alone.
The colors of my father's dreams faded without a sound.

And I live in Paris now; my children dance and dream,
Hearing the ways of a miner's life in words they've never seen.
I sail my memories of home like boats across the Seine.
And watch the Paris sun set in my father's eyes again.


Alan