Full Time Loser

Just a baby holding momma real tight in the moonlight

Lying in her bed

I'm saying, "Momma, please don't cry"

What's wrong, isn't daddy, will he be coming home tonight?

And she said, "No, son, he'll be gone awhile"

Then the days turned in, into months on end

And I said, "Momma, when's he coming home?"

She said, "Forget him, son"

We got our own life to run

You'll be starting school before long

I met my teacher by my desk

Like the rest of the kids on that first day

Settle down now, kids, and listen

And now y'all, when I call your name

I want you to stand up and say

Where you're from and what your daddy does for a living

And I remember this one kid

And he stood up and said

My dad's a fireman, always ready

And when it got to my turn

I could feel my little broke heart burn

She said, "Alright now, what's your daddy?"

I said never ready, and that was pretty much steady

He's been called the devil's right hand

A long-gone lover of my dear sweet mother

And more than she could stand

A joker and a fooler

A smoker and a boozer

And part-time gambling man

And a full-time loser

It's tough enough growing up

Not to mention all the breaking up grown-ups do

It gives a kid only half a chance to make it

Momma cried, and she tried her best with me

But could never break through

If there was a rule, I was gonna break it

But it was bad at first

Then the bad got worse

Until before long, I was a wanted man

And then the judge told me

I'm letting you off easy

With only ten short years, my friend

I shook a hand of a man that I met

Two days into my ten years

Without ever seeing, he already knew my name

I asked him how, and he smiled

And said I know my own son anywhere

And damn look at you man

You sure ain't changed

I know it must have been hard, son

With your own life to run

But I wanna know every minute I missed

When it got to my turn

I can feel my old broke heart burn

He asked, "Why are you in a place like this?"

Well, you never got me ready

And you broke my heart steady

'Til I was called the devil's right hand

I'm a long-gone lover of my child's sweet mother

And more than she could stand

A joker and a fooler

A smoker and a boozer

And part-time gambling man

And a full-time loser

I'm a full-time loser