The Randall Knife lyrics

My father had a Randall knife

My mother gave it to him

When he went off to World War II

To save us all from ruin

Now if you've ever held a Randall knife

You'll know my father well

And if a better blade was ever made

It was probably forged in hell

My father was a good man

He was a lawyer by his trade

And only once did I ever see

Him misuse the blade

Well, it almost cut his thumb off

When he took it for a tool

The knife was made for darker things

You could not bend the rules

Well, he let me take it camping once

On a Boy Scout jamboree

And I broke a half an inch off

Trying to stick it in a tree

Well, I hid it from him for a while

But the knife and he were one

He put it in his bottom drawer

Without a hard word one

There it slept and there it stayed

For 20 some odd years

Sort of like Excalibur

Except waiting for a tear

My father died when I was 40

And I couldn't find a way to cry

Not because I didn't love him

Not because he didn't try

Well, I'd cried for every lesser thing

Whiskey, pain and beauty

But he deserved a better tear

And I was not quite ready

So we took his ashes out to sea

And poured 'em off the stern

And then threw the roses in the wake

Of everything we'd learned

And when we got back to the house

They asked me what I wanted

Not the law books, not the watch

I need the things he's haunted

My hand burned for the Randall knife

There in the bottom drawer

And I found a tear for my father's life

And all that it stood for

• Artist:Guy Clark
• Album:Dublin Blues