My Father's Son Lyrics - Ricky Skaggs

My history is no secret it's written in the stones 

In the hill beside this river rest my mother's gentle bones 

And daddy there beside her among his next of kin 

And their legacy passed down to me the sons of mountain men 

Raised to be a miner by a miners callused hands 

Passed my youth between these mountains where I grew to understand 

That family was the word of God and faith was it's demand 

And life and death the same came from the coal beneath this land 

Well, a rich man writes the book of laws a poor man must defend 

But the highest laws are written on the hearts of honest men 

If that cup is passed to me to do what must be done 

When they lay me down remind them I was just my father's son 

I've walked among these people, heard the stories that they tell 

I've crawled beside them in the mines and touched the walls of hell 

I've shared their sacred secrets, known their triumph and their pain 

And right or wrong I'll stand with them on the final judgment day 

They say God gives his comfort when the time of trouble comes 

They say we'll know no share of peace till we lay down our guns 

But will my boy have the chance to do the things I've never done 

Or will he, like me, be told that he must be his father's son? 

Well, a rich man writes the book of laws a poor man must defend 

But the highest laws are written on the hearts of honest men 

When that cup is passed to me to do what must be done 

On a chunk of coal just carve these words, "I was just my father's son"