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Click on the ‘Play’ button above to hear the song and read the lyrics below. If the player doesn’t start straight away, wait and then press the ‘Play’ button again.
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The Boy is Father To The Man is an original song written, produced and with lyrics by Paul Robert Thomas with music exclusively commercially licensed to Paul from the album Some Folk
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The Boy is Father To The Man is available to download on Bandcamp HERE
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The album Some Folk Is available to download at all good download stores HERE as well as on Bandcamp HERE
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This track acts as a powerful philosophical pillar for the album. It feels like an anthem of resilience, pulling together classic literary aphorisms, historical proverbs, and deep personal reflection. It reads like a seasoned traveler standing his ground, looking back at a lifetime of struggle, and claiming his right to exist on his own terms.
“The Boy is Father To The Man” is a philosophical and defiant folk anthem centered on human dignity, resilience in the face of a cruel world, and the journey to self-understanding.
The song opens with a universal call for empathy (“Am I not a man and a brother too”), contrasting the deep divides of a world where half the population laughs while the other half cries. It introduces the core theme of survival—that hardship breeds strength, and endurance is paramount.
The driving, defiant chorus serves as an absolute declaration of sovereignty over one’s own life. The narrator asserts that his existence is a given right (“I was given this day”), and no external force or “man” has the authority to strip that away.
The narrative explores the hidden cruelties of society, noting that “the cruelest lies are told in silence” and that emotional violence through words can be just as lethal as physical force. Yet, like a drowning man who no longer fears the rain, the narrator has become desensitized to the world’s harshness.
The song reaches its thematic climax in the title phrase (borrowing the classic William Wordsworth concept). It posits that to truly understand oneself, a person must “arrive back where it all began.” The trials, innocent sparks, and traits of the child (“the boy”) ultimately shape, govern, and father the adult (“the man”).
In the final stanzas, the narrator rejects the distractions of a “fools paradise.” Describing himself humbly as a “nice unparticular man” who values precision, truth, and clarity, he credits his survival to the grace of God and a refusal to back down, walking his path with quiet conviction.
This is a lyrical tour de force that’s woven a massive tapestry of classic idioms and literary nods here—Wordsworth, Shakespearean echoes (“milk of human kindness”), Longfellow (“into every life a little rain must fall”), and Thomas Hardy vibes (“unparticular man”).
Instead of feeling like a list of quotes, they serve as a collective wisdom the narrator has gathered over a lifetime to build his armor. After the deep isolation of “A Man of No Tomorrow,” this track feels like a triumphant re-emergence. It has a steady, anthemic heartbeat to it.
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The Boy is Father To The Man Lyrics
Am I not a man and a brother too
Do I not feel the same as you do
Half the world knows not the other half
And half the world cries while the other laughs
That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger
Try to hold on for a bit longer
Try to hold on for a bit longer
I have the right to stay
I was given this day
No man shall take it away
No, no man shall take it away
Were we not all born to a living pain
A drowning man cares not if it rains
The living need charity more than the dead
Truth is stranger than fiction some one once said
See the cruelest lies are told in silence
Words can kill you as much as violence
Words can kill you as much as violence
Come what will, come what may
I was given this day
No man shall take it away
No, no man shall take it away
Listen to the confessions of a sinner
If it’s not you then don’t look in the mirror
To get by you got to walk the high wire
You got to win every trial by fire
To arrive back where it all began
The boy is father to the man
The boy is father to the man
The milk of human kindness has run dry
Seeds are killed in the twinkling of an eye
Live for today as tomorrow never comes
There will soon be no where for us to run
Into every life a little rain falls
The sun always shines above the wall
The sun always shines above the wall
This is what I must say
I was given this day
No man shall take it away
No, no man shall take it away
See I have made it through against all odds
As I go on with the grace of God
It took a long time for me to understand
Coz I’m just a nice unparticular man
Who tries to be true and sharp and precise
And not get lost in a fools paradise
And not get lost in a fools paradise
I walk along the way
I was given this day
No man shall take it away
No man shall take it away
No, no man shall take it away
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Paul Robert Thomas PRS No. 497904008 (London)
PRS Tunecode: 027524WD * ISWC: T-340.970.493-0
Audiosparx Catalogue ID: 1423061 * ISRC: US5UL2651417
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You can check out Paul’s complete Music Discovery HERE that includes 53 of Paul’s albums, as well as 569 of Paul’s songs categorised according to their music genre HERE and you can also read Paul’s Bio HERE
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Take a tour of Paul’s music site at www.paullyrics.com and you’ll find not only great songs, but you can also read about Paul’s meeting with Andy Warhol, the letter that Robert Johnson’s grandsons sent to Paul, the letter to Paul from Buckingham Palace, Paul’s successful court battle against the London police, Paul’s Dylan concert reviews, articles and much much more!
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Paul is a member of the PRS (London) CAE 497904008
Join Paul on YouTube HERE and on Facebook HERE and on Bandcamp HERE
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You can contact Paul via email at paul@paullyrics.com
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