Family History

Tim O'Brien · Other Songs - Tim O'Brien

Family history, I don't know too much,

family history, I don't keep in touch

With my mother and father quite like I want to do

There's some family history, I'd rather not go lookin' through



Family history will repeat, look through your history, you're sure to meet

Someone a walkin' much the same pathway as you

It's just family history, like it or not you're passin' through



Family bible, dates and names, faces in pictures look much the same

Like you're runnin' in circles, until you don't know where it ends

Can't know where you're goin' until you know just where you've been



What's with my uncle, I want to know, we never see him whenever we go

To some family reunion, no one dares to say his name

It's against the rules in our secret family history game



Family history, need to learn, lest old troubles will return

Come back and haunt you, you'll hear them rattle their chain

You'd better break it, it might just drag you down again



Family history seems like fate, but you can break it, it's not too late

To ask a few questions, it's time to face up to your fear

Because it lies there waitin', it's comin' back again next year