The Man Before the Name

Intro

Mm

Mm-hmm

Mm

Verse 1

Found a box beneath the attic floorboards

Dust on every photograph

My father's face before I knew him

Leather jacket, half a laugh

His hand around a stranger's shoulder

Somewhere coastal, 1973

A woman I have never met

He's looking at her differently

Pre-Chorus

And I thought I knew the man

Who tucked me in at night

But there's a whole world in these shadows

A life I never saw in the light

Chorus

Oh, I knew your name

But I never knew your story

All those years, all the same

Now I'm seeing the glory

Of a stranger wearing your face

In a time I can't trace

I knew your name

But I never knew your story

Verse 2

Letters tied with faded ribbon

Every sentence spells a dream

He wanted to play piano

In some New Orleans scene

His mother said it was a waste

So he buried it away

I hold the yellow pages now

And I don't know what to say

Pre-Chorus

He was someone else before

Before the mortgage and the car

I'm holding all the pieces

Of a door I cracked too far

Chorus

Oh, I knew your name

But I never knew your story

All those years, all the same

Now I'm seeing the glory

Of a stranger wearing your face

In a time I can't trace

I knew your name

But I never knew your story

Bridge

We never ask the questions

We're too scared of what we'll find

Every parent has a lifetime

Before they leave their own behind

Guitar Solo

Final Chorus

Oh, I knew your name

But I never knew your story

All those years, all the same

Now I'm seeing the glory

Of a stranger wearing your face

In a time I can't trace

I knew your name

I knew your name

But I never knew your story

Outro

Mm

I never knew

Mm-hmm

Your story