Call him superhero, role model, or the tough guy with a soft heart, fathers will always influence their sons in a huge way. Sons idolize their dads and the father-son bond is very special. This post shares similar feelings through the list of best songs ever on a father-son relationship.
Father and Son Making History!
According to a recent music poll conducted by the music magazine Watch and Listen the 1970s hit Father and Son by Cat Stevens is considered as the Greatest Song in the History of Music.
Interestingly the word ‘Dad’ dates back to the early sixteenth century. The oldest Father’s Day card found by archaeologists was carved in clay and given by a Babylonian youth named Elmesu to his father. In the modern world, Father’s Day was celebrated unofficially in Spokane, Washington on 19th June 1910. The law to celebrate every 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day was passed by President Richard Nixon in 1972. It is also said that Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, an American is credited with the origin of this concept.
You don’t need a special occasion to tell your dad how much you love him. Tell him how proud you are of him with the help of one of these wonderful gestures. You can write short heartfelt messages, organize a surprise party, buy gifts, or simply spend some father-son bonding time together. Here is a list of some special songs to share or get nostalgic thinking about your father.
Anything Like Me
BRAD PAISLEY
He’ll probably climb a tree too tall and ride his bike too fast
End up every summer wearing something in a cast
He’s gonna throw a ball and break some glass in a window down the street.
The song describes the anxious feelings of a soon father-to-be imagining all the various things that will happen to his son as he grows up and how they will experience various emotions in different stages of life.
A Boy Named Sue
JOHNNY CASH
My daddy left home when I was three
And he didn’t leave much to ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.
Now, I don’t blame him cause he run and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me “Sue.”
Talks about the love-hate relationship of a young boy with his father who left him young to cope with the world around and face the pangs of growing alone. Also he complains about the name, Sue that his dad gave him, and which causes him much ridicule and rejection from people.
A Song for Dad
KEITH URBAN
Lately I’ve been noticing
I say the same things he used to say
And I even find myself acting the very same way
I tap my fingers on the table
To the rhythm in my soul
And I jingle the car keys
When I’m ready to go
When I look in the mirror
He’s right there in my eyes
Starin’ back at me and I realize.
Says the perfect things a son would ever want to say to his father about how he has grown up to be like him in every single aspect of his life.
A Father’s Love
BUCKY COVINGTON
For the longest time, I guess I thought
He didn’t give a damn
Hard to read, hard to please
Yeah, that was my old man
On the day I left for college
It was nothing new
We never had that heart-to-heart
He had too much to do
A ballad about how some things don’t just change between a father and son and yet the not conveyed messages over the years form a deep meaning in the son’s life.
Beautiful Boy
JOHN LENNON
Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He’s on the run and your daddy’s here.
A sweet song about a dad’s way of comforting his son from a nightmare and making him feel safe from the terrors of night. The song sounds like a lullaby to the child.
Color Him Father
THE WINSTONS
There’s a man at my house he’s so big and strong
He goes to work each day, stays all day long
He comes home each night looking tired and beat
He sits down at the dinner table and has a bite to eat
Never a frown always a smile
When he says to me how’s my child
I’ve been studying hard all day in school
Tryin’ to understand the golden rule.
A sweet song describing a boy’s sentimental feelings for his step-father, the boy feels a sense of pride to have found a father-figure in his step-father and describes him as a hard-working family man whom he will never let down.
Cats in the cradle
HARRY CHAPIN
And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home, Dad
I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then
You know we’ll have a good time then.
A heart-breaking song that describes the emotional turmoil of a boy whose father is an excellent provider but puts career before his family and so has little time to spend with his son.
Drive
ALAN JACKSON
It was painted red the stripe was white
It was 18 feet from the bow to stern light
Secondhand from a dealer in Atlanta
I rode up with daddy when he went there to get her
We put on a shine, put on a motor
Built out of love, and made for the water
Ran her for years, till the transom got rotten
A piece of my childhood will never be forgotten.
A song describing the father-son bonding time over driving and the happy memories that the boy had while being in his father’s company.
Father and Son
CAT STEVENS
It’s not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy.
You’re still young, that’s your fault,
There’s so much you have to know.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy.
Recently voted as the best song in music history, describes the feelings of a boy who wishes to join the Russian revolution against the wishes of his father. A symbolic song about a son not wanting to lead the path laid out by his father but to pursue his own interests in the world.
Father of Mine
EVERCLEAR
Father of mine
Tell me where have you been?
You know I just closed my eyes
My whole world disappeared
Father of mine
Take me back to the day
Yeah, when I was still your golden boy
Back before you went away.
A song in which a son is questioning a father who has not been financially supportive to raise him, the son feels his father should have been there for him in his difficult times.
Father to Son
QUEEN
A word in your ear, from father to son
hear the words that I say
I fought with you, fought on your side
Long before you were born.
A heavy metal ballad, the song describes the father’s feelings for his son and advises him even though he is young to be good in this world.
He didn’t have to be
BRAD PAISLEY
I met the man I call my Dad when I was five years old
He took my Mom out to a movie and for once I got to go
A few months later I remember lying there in bed
I overheard him pop the question and I prayed that she’d say yes.
A song from the perspective of the son about his step-dad who is dating his single mother and how he feels about the new relation he shares with his step-dad.
Just the two of us
WILL SMITH
Just the two of us, we can make it if we try
Just the two of us, (Just the two of us)
Just the two of us, building castles in the sky
Just the two of us, you and I.
A beautiful and meaningful rap song describing the father’s feelings for his son and how he feels about being a dad and watching his son grown.
Mr. Mom
LONESTAR
Well
Pampers melt in a Maytag dryer
Crayons go up one drawer higher
Rewind Barney for the fifteenth time
Breakfast six, naps at nine
There’s bubble gum in the baby’s hair
Sweet potatoes in my lazy chair
Been crazy all day long and it’s only Monday
Mr. Mom
A song describing the life of a stay-at-home dad, which is a less-accepted fact in the world.
My Father’s House
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
Last night I dreamed that I was a child out where the pines grow wild and tall
I was trying to make it home through the forest before the darkness falls.
My father’s house shines hard and bright it stands like a beacon calling me in the night.
The song describes the difficult relation a son had with his father and he seems to go back into childhood memories to rectify it.
The Old Man
JOHN MCDERMOTT
The tears have all been shed now
We’ve said our last goodbyes
His souls been blessed
He’s laid to rest
And it’s now I feel alone
He was more than just a father
A teacher my best friend
He can still be heard
In the tunes we shared
When we play them on our own.
A nostalgic song about a son remembering his father, a symbolic perspective comparison about a young and old man’s life.
The Greatest
KENNY ROGERS
Little boy in a baseball hat stands in the field with his ball and bat
Says, “I am the greatest player of them all”
Puts his bat in his shoulder and he tosses up his ball.
And the ball goes up and the ball comes down,
Swings his bat all the way around.
The song describes the baseball craze of a son by his father, symbolically it speaks about not giving up during life’s tough situations and pitching in hard and facing life.
Wind Beneath my Wings
GERALD & EDDIE LEVERT
Did you ever know that you’re my hero,
You’re everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
’cause you are the wind beneath my wings.
A song describing the father as hero and idol, this song has been recorded by more than 200 artists. It is very popular and has won the Grammy Award for the Best Song of the Year in 1989.
Watching You
RODNEY ATKINS
Driving through town just my boy and me
With a happy meal in his booster seat
Knowing that he couldn’t have the toy
Till his nuggets were gone
A green traffic light turned straight to red
I hit my brakes and mumbled under my breath
His fries went a flying and his orange drink covered his lap
Well then my four-year old said a four letter word
That started with “s” and I was concerned
So I said son now now where did you learn to talk like that.
The song describes the son watching and following his dad’s ways. This song has known to have caused positive changes in the way fathers parented their children.
With Arms Wide Open
CREED
With arms wide open
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I’ll show you everything
With arms wide open
With arms wide open.
A song describes the joys of being a dad, this song won the Grammy for the best rock song in the year 2000. It also inspired a t-shirt sold for charity at the Hard Rock Cafe for the Arms Wide Open Foundation.
The above songs describe the father-son emotions perfectly, so now you can strum some of these awesome melodies on the guitar and surprise your dad.
