[Verse 1] My old man had a saying For damn near everything, Some I rolled my eyes at, Some I still hear him sing. “If you lay down with dogs, boy, You’re gonna get up with fleas.” I thought he was just talking Like fathers do at seventeen. I knew more than the old man, At least that’s what I believed. Funny how the years go by And change the things you see. [Chorus] All those things my father said Come back around inside my head. Words I swore I’d never need Turned into truth eventually. You can laugh when you’re young, You can call the old man crazy, But time has got a funny way Of making wisdom out of maybes. And if you lay down with dogs, You get up with fleas. I wish I’d listened sooner To the things my father said to me. [Verse 2] Back sometime in the seventies He said, “Computers are the thing. You ought to learn about ’em, son, There’s no telling what they’ll bring.” I pictured geeks with taped-up glasses, Pocket protectors, buttoned sleeves. I said, “Dad, that ain’t my future. That’s not anybody I wanna be.” Now I’m talking to a machine That talks right back to me. And somewhere Dad is laughing, Saying, “Son, what did I tell you? See?” [Chorus] All those things my father said Come back around inside my head. Words I swore I’d never need Turned into truth eventually. You can laugh when you’re young, You can call the old man crazy, But time has got a funny way Of making wisdom out of maybes. And if you lay down with dogs, You get up with fleas. I wish I’d listened sooner To the things my father said to me. [Verse 3] He told me, “Take a typing class, You’ll use it every day.” I said, “What am I, a secretary?” And laughed and walked away. Now these fingers hit the keyboard More than any guitar string, Writing plans and chasing answers, Building every kind of thing. Turns out the old man saw tomorrow Long before it came to me. I was busy being seventeen. He was busy planting seeds. [Bridge] Funny thing about a father, He can see around the bend. You don’t know that when you’re younger. You just think he doesn’t understand. Then one day you hear his voice Coming right out of your mouth, Giving someone else the same advice You once tried to tune out. And suddenly he’s not so old. And suddenly you know He wasn’t trying to run your life— He was trying to show you the road. [Final Chorus] All those things my father said Live on long after he’s gone. Little pieces of his wisdom Still keep showing up all wrong— Wrong when I first heard ’em, Right when I finally see Life has got a way of proving What a father tried to teach. And if you lay down with dogs, You get up with fleas. Turns out the smartest man I knew Was standing right in front of me. Yeah, I wish I’d listened sooner To the things my father said to me. [Outro] Computers. Typing class. Choose your friends carefully. I laughed at every one of ’em. Now I hear him laughing back at me.
