Every generation
  Blames the one before
  And all of their frustrations
  Come beating on your door
  
  I know that I’m a prisoner
  To all my father held so dear
  I know that I’m a hostage
  To all his hopes and fears
  I just wish I could have told him in the living years
  
  Crumpled bits of paper
  Filled with imperfect thought
  Stilted conversations
  I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got
  
  You say you just don’t see it
  He says it’s perfect sense
  You just can’t get agreement
  In this present tense
  We all talk a different language
  Talking in defence
  
  Say it loud, say it clear
  You can listen as well as you hear
  It’s too late when we die
  To admit we don’t see eye to eye
  
  So we open up a quarrel
  Between the present and the past
  We only sacrifice the future
  It’s the bitterness that lasts
  
  So don’t yield to the fortunes
  You sometimes see as fate
  It may have a new perspective
  On a different day
  And if you don’t give up, and don’t give in
  You may just be o.k.
  
  Say it loud, say it clear
  You can listen as well as you hear
  It’s too late when we die
  To admit we don’t see eye to eye
  
  I wasn’t there that morning
  When my father passed away
  I didn’t get to tell him
  All the things I had to say
  
  I think I caught his spirit
  Later that same year
  I’m sure I heard his echo
  In my baby’s new born tears
  I just wish I could have told him in the living years
  
  Say it loud, say it clear
  You can listen as well as you hear
  It’s too late when we die
  To admit we don’t see eye to eye