we thought we’d call you gentle annie
i learned the song and sang it in those first few days
then i saw you pitching a fit and it sunk in quick
my new kid needed a new nickname

when you were startled you’d start laughing
i don’t think that i could ever get enough of that game
here i was a grown-ass man trying to scare the bananas
out of my own beautiful babe

then before i even knew it you were growing up, girl
and the palm of your hand held the whole damn world
my only complaint with this whole dad thing
is that you’re growing up way too fast for me

girl, we get that mini-van jammin’
i think we both trail off in the very same way
and i’m loving how you wail on the wall during your bedtime songs
lost and gone to some stage

but there’s a fire inside you cracklin
i’m hoping i can help teach you how to tend those flames
before you let em burn the years like your dad did, dear
i’ve only got myself to blame

if there’s a little bit of you even a tiny bit bad
there’s no doubt now it passed down from your dad
but the lion’s share there is this angel i see
i pray heaven lets a little rub off on me

i know my snugglin’ days are numbered
i know you can cross without my hand
i know your name by heart, darling
there’s no forgetting my anzbananz
i know darkness might find you
cuz i know that there’s plenty in our blood
so you can ask anything you want to
i’ll tell you about every hole i’ve dug
and i could say your future is bright as ever
but honey between just you and me
most us fathers aren’t the prophets we tend to pretend to be
so when that darkness finally finds you
or boils up in your blood
just know that you come by it honest
and you can have my hand back if you want