You Had To Be There

He sat down, picked up the phone and said, "Boy, I'm your old man"
He touched the glass between the two
As if to shake his hand

The boy, he didn't budge
Not even so much as a blink
The man said, "Oh, come on, better late than never, don't you think?"

He said, "I read it in the paper, can't believe you're twenty one
Can't believe some son of mine
Could do the things I hear you've done"

He went on like some big hero who flew in to save the day
And the boy said, "If you're here to steer me right, man, it's too late"

You had to be there and I'm talkin' from day one
That's the only time a man should talk through glass to his new son
And you'd have to go back and teach me how when I was nine
'Cause my mama couldn't throw a ball even if she had the time
And I should have been learnin' how to fish
Instead of learnin' how to smoke
I bet if you'd have whooped my tail, I'd never thought it was a joke

He said, "Sometimes the will for doin' wrong is way too strong
For any Mama's prayers
You had to be there"

The man said, "Boy, I'm sorry you hate me like you do"
The boy said, "Dry it up, man, we ain't makin' this about you
It's about a teenage girl against the world who was left there high and dry
About a kid who might have stood a whole lot better shot at life"

But you had to be there and I'm talkin' from day one
That's the only time a man should talk through glass to his new son
And you'd have to go back and teach me how when I was nine
'Cause my mama couldn't throw a ball even if she had the time
I should have been learnin' how to fish
Instead of learnin' how to smoke
I bet if you'd have whooped my tail, I'd never thought it was a joke

He said, "Sometimes the will for doing wrong is way too strong
For any Mama's prayer
You had to be there"

Before the boy hung up the phone
He said, "They say I'm out of time"
And it hit the man right there and then
"My God, son, so am I"