This song was inspired by a black and white grainy photo of me aged about 6 or 7, taken (I think) by my elder brother. The words flowed out with very little effort and when I’d finished recording it I entered the song into the UK Songwriting Contest. To my surprise, it reached the finals in the Acoustic/Folk category. The line “The boy is the father to man” is a paraphrase of a line from Wordsworth. I’m especially fond, and proud, of the closing lines: “And the man who remembers what once he held dear is a boy still at heart until the end of his years”. (Written and recorded July – August 2019)
Lyrics
Imagine a boy in the long summer’s heat.
In baggy short trousers the world at his feet.
He knows what he wants and how he’ll enjoy!
The thrill of the journey. Imagine that boy.
He’s trod ev’ry path and climbed ev’ry tree
He knows where the badgers and foxes might be
The brambles they scratched him so bad that he bled
In bracken so tall it hangs over his head
For the boy is the father: the father to man
And he knows so much more than all the grown-ups can.
Imagine a boy in paradise lost
His plans for the day: find a stream he can cross
To splash through the puddles and make lots of noise
His world is a wonder. Imagine that boy.
For the boy is the father: the father to man
And he knows so much more than all the grown-ups can.
Imagine a boy sixty years down the line
Though battered and care-worn he’s doing just fine
He stares in the mirror; the boy stares right back
He’s still not forgotten the fun that he had
For the boy is the father, the father to man
And he knows so much more than any grown-up can.
And the man who remembers what once he held dear
Is a boy still at heart until the end of his years.