Your father was a rounder   He played that rock and roll   A leaper and a bounder   Down to his gypsy soul   The music was his angel   And sorrow was his star   And those of us who follow   Might hope to reach as far      They're walking slow in houston   Speechless in d.c.   There's no way I could tell you   What he meant to me      Your mother's a survivor   She'll do what must be done   Her children will revive her   And help her see the sun   She almost knew that unison   But the singing stopped too soon   Now she shares the silence   With a man up in the moon      To speak of missing persons   Tonight there's only one   And we all carry with us what the man's begun      And you can sing this song   On july the fourth   In the sunny south and the frozen north   It's a day of loss, it's your day of birth   Does it take a death to learn what a life is worth?       Your brothers are all older   And they'll take it in their stride   The world's a little colder   But manhood's on their side   Now you're the little girl-child   And you look so much like him   And he's right there inside you   Each time you want to sing      Sing of missing persons   Tonight there's only one   But he's where you can find him when it's said and done      And we will sing this song   On july the fourth   From the sunny south and the frozen north   This will always be your day of birth   May you always see what your life is worth