Distant Star

First time I saw Daddy cry
Was when his Mama died
She was raised on the coast of Maine
The youngest Stewart child
To her parents, George and Henrietta
Her Grandad was a captain in his day

And Mama came on a Veterans Day
In a back seat down in Queens
One of two with a grandma who
Got hitched at twenty three
And her Daddy crossed the great Atlantic
Changed his name the day he landed
A Lightweight Wrestling Champion of the World

I've been trying to find
A little bloodline
That I can hold on to
Cause it's running deep
But that river keeps
Just a washing away my roots
A burning flare in the dead of night
Taking me to morning light
Distant Star I'm coming home to you

Tracing back my Great Great Granddad
Who shares the same last name
He fled his home at twenty four
When he buried his faith
And he set sail for Massachusetts
Boston bound with lots to prove and
He became and scholar in his day

I've been trying to find
A little bloodline
That I can hold on to
Cause it's running deep
But that river keeps
Just a washing away my roots
A burning flare in the dead of night
Taking me to morning light
Distant Star I'm coming home to you

Found a line on my Mama's side
From late nineteenth century
A Russian born immigrant named Morris
Had moved to NYC
And his daughter sang with Larry Clinton
She could get a grown man smitten
Made her big break singing Heart and Soul

I've been trying to find
A little bloodline
That I can hold on to
Cause it's running deep
But that river keeps
Just a washing away my roots
A burning flare in the dead of night
Taking me to morning light
Distant Star I'm coming home to you
Yeah, Distant Star I'm holding on to you