"The Man He Was" lyrics

In a village in the woods, they plant a tree for every newborn babe
So they sowed the seed for a child named John and they watched it day by day
The tree, it grew in a very strange way, as twisted as a knot
And the child, he grew in the very same way and never would his parents have thought

The lad was bright and he learned to read as well as he could talk
But his limbs were as twisted as the tree and never would he walk
People would come to stop and stare and you could hear them say
"It doesn't seem to me to be quite fair," and then be on their way

Sing a song of joy, lift your hearts in song
For a newborn boy, for a life that's long
For a life that's long

Now he loved the tree even though it was as twisted as himself
For somewhere deep inside his soul, he thought of nothing else
And the boy he grew, did the best he can, but his limbs remained the same
Well, whoever listens who will understand someone who is lame

Some came to cry, some came to laugh the day he passed away
He's really not dead, he's just taking a nap, I heard somebody say
I can't explain, but the tree had died, it withered without love
But a stump remains to remind you of the man that he was

Sing a song of death, sing a song of peace
Sing a song of rest and a song of relief
Till the end of time
Till the end of time
Till the end of time