But I was old enough to know I better start thinking
If I was going to save my life
From a man who hit his wife
Almost daily
I learned to make myself small when things were bad
I wondered why this man was so damn mad
I tried to make him laugh
But the devil comes in a glass
He was the only daddy I ever had.
We looked like the perfect family to those outside
When we met with folks around that devil would hide
My grandma used to say I was a lucky kid
to have a father who did the things my daddy did
I would tell her sometimes he made me sad
And she would tell me he was the only daddy I ever had
Supper time was the meal we used to fear
Daddy had all day to drink that beer
Oh no we are too late, we didn't clean our plate
Them hateful hazel eyes warned us about our fate.
The broken dishes and early bed
Were nothin we used to dread
It was the foul tongue of the demon that made us cringe
I hid under the sheets the night the door came off the hinge
But he was the only daddy I ever had
I was a teenage boy made to be a man
The day the old man struck me with his hand
I looked him in the eye and bellowed a crazed war cry
That day I pushed him and told him never again
I became the devil that reveled in his sins.
Judgment day came one late Sunday night
Momma and daddy had another massive fight
He called her a worthless whore
Then he threw her on the floor
I knew I couldn't take that anymore
I knew I couldn't take that anymore!
I pushed him down and tried to call the cops
He grabbed the phone from me and made me stop
I looked him in the eye and I lost my reason why
I guess I just couldn't take it anymore
I picked him up over my head and tossed him out the door
He never challenged me again, later we became good friends
Because he was the only daddy I ever had.
The years of beers and smokes had not been kind
My daddy wasted away before his time
He's been gone eight years and more
And now I miss him a lot more
than the days when everything was so bad
He was the only daddy I ever had.