Father

[Verse 1]
There is a house in a town called Brooks
And in ’45 a boy was born and blessed with good looks
And charm, his father was Laverne Sr., but everybody
Called him “Jocko,” everybody called his new junior “Buddy”
And Buddy’s mother was Lottie Veronica, and after she’d
Had Nellie Diane, Buddy rounded out the family
When Jocko got a job with the county, it was time
To move the Schaffers into Corning, it was ‘59
And Buddy was a teen drawing hot rods, listening to rock songs
Cracking jokes, but then it was not long
Before at 21, when the fun ended fast
For even Buddy’s bad ear couldn’t save him from the draft
And that’s when Buddy went to Vietnam on his mission
To serve in the Airborne 101st Division
A helicopter gunner hovering above Saigon
Buddy from Iowa could see that his childhood was gone

[Chorus]
A class clown joker always looking for fun
A drinking smoker with a baby boy, he only had one
And he is his father’s son
A smart-ass trouble maker since he was young
Hard-living sarcastic sharp-tongued son of a gun
And I am my father’s son

[Verse 2]
Bud became a man among the battle and the madness
But when he got back, he brought back some baggage and bad habits
Scrapping, tossed out the local tavern, his palace
And that is around the time when Bud met Alice
In six months they were married, March of ‘71
And moved into a little house with her 6-year-old son
It was three years before by a stroke of fate, see
In ’74 when Bud and Alice made me
And his quartet dwelled for five years on 6th Street
He was working at the garage or sipping beers and fishing
Soon his habits turned to problems, booze and coke
Jocko passed away, Bud’s family unit broke
And after his divorce, he moved back in with his mom
And continued to use, a short fuse on a ticking bomb
Crashed some cars, broke some hearts, man, people are strange
Bud from Iowa could see it was time for a change

[Chorus]
A class clown joker always looking for fun
A drinking smoker with a baby boy, he only had one
And he is his father’s son
A smart-ass trouble maker since he was young
Hard-living sarcastic sharp-tongued son of a gun
And I am my father’s son

[Verse 3]
By 1981, Dad’s life had grown messy
Then a woman named Ramona came along like a blessing
Lovely and kind, a sign that life could be better
But first and for himself he had to get his act together
And that first step that he so needed in the worst way
He checked into rehab on his son’s 10th birthday
Clean and sober, he’d never felt more alive
Moved to Des Moines with Ramona, married in ‘85
He went from treatment straight to training and in ’90 became
A certified addiction counselor, a life with new aim
Worked in hospitals and prisons helping other troubled persons
His demons hadn’t beaten him, instead they gave him purpose
Laverne Dean “Bud” Schaffer Jr. is a survivor
A veteran and a healer, Mr. Fix-It like MacGuyver
A gamer and a runner and a man with many titles
A bad motherfucker, my dad and my idol

[Chorus]
A class clown joker always looking for fun
A drinking smoker with a baby boy, he only had one
And he is his father’s son
A smart-ass trouble maker since he was young
Hard-living sarcastic sharp-tongued son of a gun
And I am my father’s son