If You Knew How the Story Would End

V1:
I remember in the pre-dawn fog beside the river
Dad shoved me off, then he jumped in
He seldom spoke when we were in that boat
But when he did, his words sunk right in

So as the falling oak leaves
Buried my footprints like snowflakes in the wind
I asked my father, “Would you do it all again
If you knew how the story would end?
‘Cause I’m standing in the same place where you stood back then”

CH:
Would you go to Saigon
Take a bullet in the arm
Would you sell the family farm
When the mill shut down
Would you marry my mother
Stay together for the kids
Would you make all the sacrifices
I know you did
Well, I asked my father, “Would you do it all again
If you knew how the story would end?”
Oh, If you knew how the story would end

BR:
I climbed up the hill in the pouring rain
Where the old oak tree still stood
Where my height and name at nine years old
Were still carved in the wood
And I let fly at the top of my lungs a prayer to the angry wind
Do you know how the story will end?
Oh, Can you tell me how the story will end?

V2:
I’ve been slogging down the hard road for so long
But will it all be worth it in the end
Should I push on around one more bend
Or give up and start over again?

As I rowed that boat across the water
Where we caught the bass above his desk in the den
I asked my father, “Would you do it all again?”
As I scattered his ashes to the wind
Oh, as I scattered his ashes to the wind

CH:
Would you go to Saigon
Take a bullet in the arm
Would you sell the family farm
When the mill shut down
Would you marry my mother
Stay together for the kids
Would you make all the sacrifices
I know you did
Well, I asked my father, “Would you do it all again
If you knew how the story would end?”
Oh, If you knew how your story would end