Walk out of an alley with a bloody dollar bill   Holdin' your lunch money that no bully's gonna steal   Put that dime left over with the others in a box   To buy your grandpa a new Buck knife to replace the one you lost      Steal your daddy's Pontiac and plant it in a ditch   Watch him walk to work all week till he could get it fixed   Work it off on the weekends sweatin' in a mill   Go there with a debt to pay and leave there with a skill      That's how you make a boy become   More than just his father's son   Fight and crawl, climb and fall, stand tall on your knees   That's how you make a man like me      Pick up that telephone you wish you never heard   Take the longest two mile drive you ever took to her   Wait as she takes that test 'cause you just couldn't wait   And taste bittersweet victory when she says, "We're okay"      Let your buddy leave a party, and don't ask him for his keys   Rest that casket on the shoulder where your best friend used to lean   See that baby boy's whole life flash right before his mama's eyes   Live with knowin' you could've saved his life      That's how you make a boy become   More than just his father's son   Fight and crawl, climb and fall, stand tall on your knees   That's how you make a man like me      Kick your self for stumblin', but never leave your feet   Lie awake with your mistakes and find peace, piece by piece   Pray that you wake up as who you want to be   That's how you make a man like me   You walk proud in the shoes, who no one wants to be   That's how you make a man like me