An American Family

Worked all his life in the rail yards

Summer heat, winter cold

He sits by the fire, now he’s retired

But he don’t really feel all that old

She comes in from the kitchen

And sits on the arm of his chair

He looks up and says, “Hey, lady, I love you”

Runs his fingers through her hair

And there’s a picture on the wall of Jesus in the garden

It’s been there since they got the house in ’53

Hey, they ain’t no big deal whatever go down in history

It’s just a little story of an American family

She waited for him in World War two

He fought the European campaign

Their son John spent two years in Nam

That war it wasn’t the same

Billy’s out in L.A., he’s a lawyer now

They worry he's so far away

Jeannie got married and lives here in town

She's comin’ over with the kids today

And there’s a picture on the wall of Jesus in the garden

It’s been there since they got the house in ’53

Hey, there ain’t no big deal, whatever go down in history

It’s just a little story of an American family

But the whole world is different now

Blood's been spilled on our shores

In hard times we pull together

That's what a family's for

Hey, there ain’t no big deal

It's written in our history

We're all part of the story of an American family

We're all part of the story of an American family