My Father's Flag

I still have my Father's Flag
Under the bed where I lay my head
And I still remember what he said
When I asked him about the war

He said he'd done some things that he'd still regret
25 years and it hurt no less
He came back alive, he came back dead
With less illusions than he'd had before
More disillusioned than before the war...

He used to sing me songs about gambling men
Rambling rogues with tarnished hands
And that is how I still remember him
Straining for the highest notes
His voice cracking on the highest notes

My father, he always hated his name
My father, he gave it to me just the same
And I have never been ashamed

Now he's buried in a field with a thousand men
With the same white stone from the government
That held him to his back taxes
I guess some things will never change

I still have my father's flag
Under the bed where I lay my head
And I go on living with what he said
When I asked him about the way
When I asked him about...