Forefathers

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[Verse 1]
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They came from Scandinavia, the land
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 of midnight sun,
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And crossed the North Atlantic when
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 this century was young.
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They'd heard that in America every 
man was free
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To live the way he chose to live 
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and be who he could be.

[Verse 2]
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Some of them were farmers there 
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and tilled the frozen soil.
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But all they got was poverty for all
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 their earnest toil.
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They say one was a sailor who sailed
 the wide world round,
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Made home port, got drunk one 
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night, walked off the pier and 
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drowned.

[Verse 3]
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My mother was of Scottish blood, 
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it's there that she was born.
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They brought her to America in 1924.
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They left behind the highlands 
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and the heather-covered hills
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And came to find America with 
broad expectant dreams and iron 
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wills.

[Verse 4]
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My granddad worked the steel mills 
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of central Illinois.
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His daughter was his jewel, his son 
was just his boy.
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For thirty years he worked the mills
 and stoked the coke-fed fires
And looked toward the day when he'd 
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at last turn 65 and could retire.
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[Chorus]
         Em                        
And the sons become the fathers and
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 their daughters will be wives
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As the torch is passed from hand to 
hand
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And we struggle through our lives.
             Em                    
Though the generations wander, the 
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lineage survives,
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And all of us, from dust to dust, 
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we all become forefathers by and by.

[Interlude]
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[Verse 5]
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The woman and the man were wed just 
after the war
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And they settled in this river town
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 and three fine sons she bore.
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One became a lawyer and one fine 
pictures drew
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And one became this lonely soul 
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who sits here now
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And sings this song to you.

[Chorus]
         Em                        
And the sons become the fathers and
               Am
 their daughters will be wives
         F
As the torch is passed from hand to 
hand
         C                    G
And we struggle through our lives.
             Em                    
Though the generations wander, the 
Am   G      Am   Am7
lineage survives,
     F          Am   F           
And all of us, from dust to dust,
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 we all become forefathers by and 
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by.
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By and by...
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By and by...