Intro Verse 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 Chorus He checked the air in my tires, the belts and all the spark plug wires Said, "When the hell's the last time, you had this oil changed" And as I pulled out the drive, he said, "Be sure and call your mom sometime" And I didn't hear it then, but I hear it now He was sayin', "I love you" The only way he knew how | | | | | | | A hundred twenty thousand miles, six years down the road A brand new life and a brand new wife, we'd just bought our first home When he finally came to visit, I thought he'd be so proud He never said he liked the place, he just got his tool belt out Chorus And put new locks on the doors, went back and forth to the hardware store Said, "Come and hold this flashlight," as he crawled beneath the sink And "These old wires ain't up to code" and "That circuit box is gonna overload" And I didn't hear it then, but I hear it now He was sayin', "I love you" The only way he knew how Last Sunday, we all gathered for his sixty fifth birthday And I knew he'd stiffen up, but I hugged him anyway When it was finally time to say goodbye, I knew what was next Just like he always does, right before we left Chorus He checked the air in my tires, the belts and all the spark plug wires Said, "When the hell's the last time, you had this oil changed" And as I pulled out the drive, he said, "Be sure and call your mom sometime" And I didn't hear it then, but I hear it now He was sayin', "I love you" Tag He was sayin', "I love you" The only way he knew how Outro | () | (D) -----