Father's Day

Kier and sons in DC, December 2003

On Sunday, my older son visited me for Father's Day and helped me transfer a song I recorded 27 years ago from cassette to computer. The song, "Handed Down," acknowledges what I received from my father that I want to pass on. When I wrote the song, this same son was 6 months old. Now he and his wife are a month from having their own child. Meanwhile, my dad is still going strong at 86 years old. You can listen to the song at strejcek.net/bands/FF_MP3s.html.  [After my father's death in 2023, I made a slideshow video of the song: https://youtu.be/s5Iw7YjRChM.] 

Handed Down (1992)

I remember protest marches
Where everybody had a dream
We'd get together and make things better
Eliminate war from the scene
A dozen years have passed in darkness
Maybe now we can redeem
What our souls were needing
As if our hearts were bleeding

You introduced me to Marx and Lennon
Of course I mean Groucho and John
Double features and weekend matinees
Woodstock or Woody would be on
No more sundaes at the Waffle Shop
Just like the Senators, it's gone
And so we too are distant
And though our visits are not frequent...

I hope I can hand down
What's been handed down
What's been handed down to me

I've always thought I had a happy childhood
That means that you did something right
Driving lessons and model airplanes
And more important what is right
Now I find myself where you were
Parenthood is such a fight
For sleep, for reassurance
To bring the past into the light

I hope I can hand down
What's been handed down
What's been handed down to me

I've had some help in learning my role
Cause every father is a son
When that son becomes a father
He's thought of what is to be done
Patience is not the highest virtue
Selflessness could be the one
And now I want to tell you
I think some battles have been won

I hope I can hand down
What's been handed down
What's been handed down to me