Randall Knife

D                                                 Em
My father had a Randall knife, my mother gave it to him
A                           G                D
When he went off to WWII to save us all from ruin
D                                        Em
Now if you've ever held a Randall knife, you know my father well
A                                                G            D
If a better blade was ever made, it was probably forged in hell


[Verse 2]
D                                            Em
My father was a good man, he was a lawyer by his trade
A                                G              D
And only once did I ever see him misuse the blade
D                                 Em
Well, it almost cut his thumb off when he took it for a tool
A                                        G                          D
Ah, the knife was made for darker things and could not bend the rules


[Verse 3]
D                                Em
He let me take it camping once on a Boy Scout jamboree
A                              G                          D
And I broke a half an inch off trying to stick it in a tree
D                             Em
I hid it from him for a while but the knife and he were one
A                              G                     D
He put it in his bottom drawer without a hard word one


[Verse 4]
D                                      Em
And there it slept and there it stayed For twenty some odd years
A                      G                     D
Sort of like Excalibur except waiting for a tear


[Verse 5]
D                               Em
My father died when I was forty and I couldn't find a way to cry
A                                 G                           D
Not because I didn't love him not and not because he didn't try
D                                                  Em
I'd cried for every lesser thing, for Whiskey, pain and beauty
A                             G                       D
But he deserved a better tear and I was not quite ready


[Verse 6]
D                               Em
So we took his ashes out to sea and poured 'em off the stern
A                               G                        D
And threw the roses in the wake of everything we'd learned
D                                  Em
And when we got back to the house, they asked me what I wanted
A                                G                            D
Not the lawbooks, not the watch, I need the things he's haunted


[Verse 7]
D                                    Em
My hand burned for the Randall knife there in the bottom drawer
A                                       G                       D
And I found a tear for my father's life and all that it stood for