LEADER OF THE BAND
Words and Music by Dan Fogelberg

An only child, alone and wild, a cabinet maker's sonHis hands were meant for different work and his heart was known to noneHe left his home and went his lone and solitary wayAnd he gave to me a gift I know I never can repayA quiet man of music, denied a simpler fateHe tried to be a soldier once but his music wouldn't waitHe earned his love through discipline, a thund'ring, velvet handHis gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understandThe leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing oldBut his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soulMy life has been a poor attempt to imitate the manI'm just a living legacy to the leader of the bandMy brothers' lives were different, for they heard another callOne went to Chicago and the other to Saint PaulAnd I'm in Colorado, when I'm not in some hotelLiving out this life I've chose and have come to know so wellI thank you for the music and your stories of the roadI thank you for the freedom when it came my time to goI thank you for the kindness and the times when you got toughAnd, Papa, I don't think I said ""I love you"" near enoughThe leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing oldBut his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soulMy life has been a poor attempt to imitate the manI'm just a living legacy to the leader of the bandI am the living legacy to the leader of the band

Copyright: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Writer(s): Dan Fogelberg