Loudon Wainwright Iii - Surviving Twin lyrics

Last week I attended a family affair And a few remarked upon my recent growth of facial hair You look just like your father did With that beard someone said I answered back I am him Even though my old man's dead I didn't want to be him Well at first I did When I loved and looked up to him As a little kid He sent me to his old school I was a numeral with his name And he gave me this gold signet ring And he wore one just the same And I guess that I believed him And probably it was true When he told me I was just like him That's what some fathers do But a father's always older And my dad was rather tall Who says size doesn't matter He was big and I was small I needed to be big enough To be someone someday And I learned I had to beat him Andthat was the only way I learned I had to fight him My own flesh blood bone and kin But I felt I was just like him Can a man's son be his twin? First we fought for my mother That afforded little joy When he left she was heart broken And I was still their little boy But I started to get bigger And to win the ugly game When I made a little money And I got a bit of fame And I saw how this could wound him Yes this could do the trick And f I made it big enough I could k** him off quick But how can you murder someone In a way that they don't die? I didn't want to k** him That would be suicide I got frightened so I backed off I let up and I was through And in the end he did himself in Usually that's what we do I'm alive and he is dead And neither of us won It's spoiled for the victor Once the vanquishing is done A man becomes immortal Through his daughter or his son But when he fears his legacy A man can come undone And the beard is a reminder I'm a living part of him Although my father's dead and gone I'm his surviving twin