I got sent home from school one day    With a shiner on my eye    Fighting was against the rules    And it didn't matter why    When dad got home I told the story    Just like I'd rehearsed    And then stood there on my trembling knees    And waited for the worst       (Chorus)    (He said/I said), "Let me tell you a secret    About a father's love    A secret that my daddy said    Was just between us    He said, daddies don't just love their children    Every now and then    It's a love without end, amen    It's a love without end, amen."       When I became a father    In the spring of '81    There was no doubt that stubborn boy    Was just like my father's son    And when I thought my patience    Had been tested to the end    I took my daddy's secret    And I passed it on to him       (Repeat chorus)       Last night I dreamed I'd died    And stood outside those pearly gates    And suddenly, I realized    There must be some mistake    If they know half the things I've done    They'll never let me in    And a voice spoke from the other side    And I heard those words again       (Repeat chorus)