20-year-old Will recorded this in 1989 for Slow Study, when he & his dad were at odds over what Will was doing with his life. Listen to Cost of Living for more on that.
Years later, with Will on a comeback, the two of them mended fences. Will worried about playing this song in front of his dad, but his father, no fool when it comes to music, nodded a go-ahead and reassured Will, “It’s a good song.”
Yes it is.
I said, “Mom, I’m gone —
I’m hitting the highway.”
While she’s crying,
You’re trying to make me stay.
Hey, years before, you were out this door and on the run.
Don’t you bother: like father, like son.
You can’t believe the things I do.
Can’t you see I learned from you?
You always looked so damned amazed
Shaking the hand of the hell you raised.
Your younger hunger was wicked and wild.
You’d like to think it’s gone —
You passed it on to your child.
I said raise your head if you’re so scared to see your sin
Just disbelieving that old demon was born again
You can’t believe the things I do.
Can’t you see I learned from you?
You always looked so damned amazed
Shaking the hand of the hell you raised.
Mama’s misery ain’t nothin’ new
When she cries for me like she cried for you.
Your past comes pouring like a flood,
There’s no ignoring it’s in the blood.
You can’t believe the things I do.
Can’t you see I learned from you?
You always looked so damned amazed
Shaking the hand of the hell you raised.
You always looked so damned amazed
Shaking the hand of the hell you raised.
Live @ the Cactus Cafe with Dave Ducharme-Jones, Ernie Durawa, and GumB Williams
Buller's back porch 