They came from scandinavia, the land of midnight sun
And crossed the north atlantic when this century was young
They'd heard that in america every man was free

To live the way he chose to live and be who he could be

Some of them were farmers there and tilled the frozen soil

But all they got was poverty for all their earnest toil
They say one was a sailor who sailed the wide world round
Made home port, got drunk one night, walked off the pier and drowned


My mother was of scottish blood, it's there that she was born
They brought her to america in 1924

They left behind the highlands and the heather-covered hills
And came to find america with broad expectant dreams and iron wills


My granddad worked the steel mills of central illinois
His daughter was his jewel, his son was just his boy
For thirty years he worked the mills and stoked the !@%!e-fed fires

And looked toward the day when he'd at last turn 65 and could retire




And the sons become the fathers and their daughters will be wives
As the torch is passed from hand to hand

And we struggle through our lives
Though the generations wander, the lineage survives
And all of us, from dust to dust

We all become forefathers by and by

The woman and the man were wed just after the war

And they settled in this river town and three fine sons she bore
One became a lawyer and one fine pictures drew
And one became this lonely soul

Who sits here now and sings this song to you

And the sons become the fathers and their daughters will be wives

As the torch is passed from hand to hand
And we struggle through our lives
Though the generations wander, the lineage survives

And all of us, from dust to dust
We all become forefathers by and by