Zac Brown Band, ‘My Old Man’ [Listen]
Zac Brown Band's "My Old Man" is the kind of anti-single that becomes timeless. The raw, acoustic ballad has flaws and genuine emotion. It's simple, honest and the reason a million fathers will take a day off to snap 1,000 pics of their kids in 2017.
Perhaps that's an exaggeration. There aren't many Dad songs on the radio any longer. Alan Jackson's "Drive" comes to mind as an all-timer. If your relationship with Dad isn't the best, Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" will come to mind as you hear Brown and his bandmates sing praises of their fathers. It's difficult to hear "My Old Man" as anything less than a confessional — never have the Zac Brown Band released a single this personal.
The group's first single from their upcoming Welcome Home album comes full circle with Brown (and by extension his bandmates) looking at their kids in the same ways their fathers once looked at them. That's when even the toughest stone will leak a few tears, and an overwhelming urge to clock out early will strike. With "My Old Man" Zac Brown Band remind us of the important things in life.
Did You Know?: Zac Brown and his father Jim used to own and run a restaurant together.
Listen to Zac Brown Band, "My Old Man"
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Zac Brown Band, "My Old Man" Lyrics:
He was a giant / And I was just a kid / I was always tryin’ to do everything he did / I can still remember every lesson he taught me / Growing up learning how to be like my old man.
He was a lion / We were our father’s pride / But I was defiant when he made me walk the line / He knew how to lift me up and when to let me fall / And looking back he always had a plan / My old man.
Chorus:
My old man / Feel the callous on his hands / And dusty overalls / My old man / Now I finally understand / I have a lot to learn / From my old man.
Now I’m a giant / Got a son of my own / He’s always trying to go everywhere I go / Do the best I can to raise him up the right way / Hoping that he some day wants to be like his hold man.
My old man / I know one day we’ll meet again as he’s looking down / My old man / I hope he’s proud of who I am / I’m trying to fill the boots of my old man.