Boy meets girl in a flatbed Chevy
Parked on a dead end road
Life is fast and love is heavy
High school sweetheart
Just twenty years old
Gets down on a knee says
I know this ring
Is a little bit cheap
But will you be the measure of a man for me?
We'd been married for two whole years
I woke up on a weekday morning
In a flash it all became so clear
The hourglass was pouring
Out of time and out of reach
If I was gonna go down
I'd go down swinging
I'm talking to you now
'Cause you look just like me
So let me tell you
'Bout the measure of a man
That comes with freedom
We take it as a burden
Sheepdogs they don't pick who needs them
The good ones are good at hurting
And they stay on their feet
And they just keep serving
Just like me
'Cause I was twenty-five
When my daddy died
I woke up on a weekday morning
In a flash it all became so clear
The hourglass was pouring
Out of time and out of reach
If I was gonna go down
I'd go down swinging
I'm talking to you now
'Cause you look just like me
So let me tell you
'Bout the measure of a man
If I die young
And I might die young
I ain't afraid to die
I've already lived a full life
So put me in the ground
Where the dirt is deep
Let me tell you
About the measure of a man
I was twenty-eight
When my baby was born
I woke up on a weekday morning
In a flash it all became so clear
The hourglass was pouring
Out of time and out of reach
If I was gonna go down
I'd go down swinging
I'm talking to you now
'Cause you look just like me
So let me tell you
'Bout the measure of a man