“The Things We’ve Handed Down” is a song by American singer-songwriter Marc Cohn, appearing as the closing track from their second studio album The Rainy Season. It was released on May 25, 1993, and recorded at Quad Recording Studios in New York City, by Alantic Records label.
[Verse 1]
I don't know much about you
I don't know who you are
We've been doing fine without you
But we could only go so far
Don't know why you chose us
Were you watching from above?
Is there someone there that knows us?
Said we'd give you all our love
[Verse 2]
Will you laugh just like your mother?
Will you sigh like your old man?
Will some things skip a generation
Like I've heard they often can?
Are you a poet or a dancer?
A devil or a clown?
Or a strange new combination of
The things we've handed down?
[Verse 3]
I wonder who you'll look like
Will your hair fall down and curl?
Will you be a mama's boy
Or daddy's little girl?
Will you be a sad reminder
Of what's been lost along the way?
Maybe you can help me find her
In the things you do and say
And these things that we have given you
They are not so easily found
Oh but you can thank us later
For the things we've handed down
The things we've handed down
Down, down, down, down, down, down
[Verse 4]
You may not always be so grateful
For the way that you were made
Maybe some feature of your father's
That you'd gladly sell or trade
And one day you may look at us
And say that you were cursed
But over time that line has been
Extremely well rehearsed
By our fathers and their fathers
In some old and distant town
From places no one here remembers
Come the things we've handed down
The things we've handed down, yeah
The things we've handed down, ooh
The Things We’ve Handed Down was written by Marc Cohn.
The Things We’ve Handed Down was produced by Ben Wisch & John Leventhal & Marc Cohn.
Marc Cohn released The Things We’ve Handed Down on Tue May 25 1993.