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2:15
Words
Verse 1
You taught two hundred kids a year to read out loud
And every night you came home and read to me again
You said a word is just a small machine for feeling
And you were right, and I've been taking them apart since
I never said thank you in a way that stayed said
So here it is with a piano behind it, Mum
Chorus
Thank you for the long way round to school
Thank you for answering the question I asked twice
Thank you for not saying I told you so in March
You bit your tongue so hard I heard it from here
Verse 2
You gave up Wednesday evenings for a decade of my noise
Recorder, then guitar, then that terrible year of drums
You sat through every minute with the same face on
Somewhere between proud and quietly in pain
You never made me pay it back or make it worth it
You just kept the receipts and never showed me one
Chorus
Thank you for the long way round to school
Thank you for answering the question I asked twice
Thank you for not saying I told you so in March
You bit your tongue so hard I heard it from here
Bridge
I've got your handwriting and I've got your bad knees
I've got the way you cannot leave a kettle alone
Whatever I turn out to be, the frame of it is yours
And I gave up fighting that at about thirty
Outro
Thank you, Mum, for all the small machines
Thank you for reading it to me twice
I'm going to call more. Starting Sunday.
Made with Neva · lyrics and music generated by AI