Artist ReflectionMy son Liam and I were riding home from a show in Pennsylvania, not expecting to hit the pillow 'til 3:00am-ish. We were juked up on chocolate and Mountain Dew, and he was quite talkative. He started one sentence by saying: "Dude, . . . I mean Dad," to which I quickly replied: "I'm Not Dude, I'm DAD!" I immediately got the songwriter's light bulb over my head! At the time Liam was a hip-hop fan, and we had it playing on the radio. I started singing the phrase over the top of the hip hop tune, mentally blocking out the chords the speakers were spewing at me and replacing them with my own. When I eventually made a demo with a hip-hop inflected beat, it didn't really make tons of sense, so I did it piano & voice on the CD. Simple concept in the song: Parents are too concerned with having their kids LIKE them. My approach with Liam is he can like me when he's 35 and I haven't screwed him up by being too permissive. The song is written for the parents, not the kids! — Bob Halligan, Jr. LyricsI love that you wanted to ride with me. You're gettin' more and more comfy as we go. I love just havin' you here with me. But there's one thing I need you to know: I'm not dude, I'm Dad. I'm not dude, I'm Dad. Someday you'll be glad, I'm not dude, I'm Dad. I've heard what your classmates say about me, How your momma and I, we just won't bend. And I'm stricter than Principal Honcharski, But God made me your father, not your friend. I'm not dude, I'm Dad. I'm not dude, I'm Dad. Someday you'll be glad, I'm not dude, I'm Dad. Maybe Dad's a bit old-fashioned. Could be Dad's a tad uptight. Maybe Dad just has a passion to see you turn out right. I don't care if you've imagined some other way, some other life. You're stuck with me tonight. I see your left cheek start to glisten. I don't s'pose those are tears of joy. But humor me now, just listen. I so, so love that you're my boy. I'm not dude, I'm Dad. I'm not dude, I'm Dad. All I am is glad, I'm not dude, I'm Dad. I'm not dude, I'm Dad. I'm not dude, I'm Dad. Someday you'll be glad, I'm not dude, I'm Dad. I'm your Dad. Copyright 2004, WBOB Music. Published by spiritandsong.com, a division of OCP, for Bob Halligan, Jr., copyrights. All rights reserved. |
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