“Rough to the Touch”

Rough to the touch
Tender to my woman
That’s why my father’s hands
Touched my mother’s heart
He was not a handsome man
But oh, how she loved him
My father’s hands and my mother’s heart
Now belong to me

Well, my papa worked so very hard
To feed his hungry family
He was out there in the fields
Before the rooster cawed
He would plow the land all day
And I would work beside him
Showing me the things he knew
So I would be a man

And I’ll be rough to the touch
But tender to my woman
That’s why my father’s hands
Touched my mother’s heart
He was not a handsome man
But oh, how she loved him
My father’s hands and my mother’s heart
Now belong to me

I never heard him once complain
Though his back was breaking
He gave his body to the land
And came the winter snow
You see, my papa died
My mama cried
I had to keep on workin’
Sow the seed and plow the land
My pa had left to me

So I’d be rough to the touch
But tender to my woman
That’s why my father’s hands
Touched my mother’s heart
He was not a handsome man
But oh, how she loved him
My father’s hands and my mother’s heart
Now belong to me

Now since my papa’s passed away
My son is here beside me
He has learned to plow the land
Like my pa and me
He works his fingers to the bone
Through the rain and sunshine
Seems my pa, my son, and I
Have all turned out to be

Yes, we are rough to the touch
But tender to our women
That’s why my father’s hands
Touched my mother’s heart
He was not a handsome man
But oh, how she loved him
My father’s hands and my mother’s heart
Now belong to me

That’s why I’m rough to the touch
And tender to my woman
That’s why my father’s hands
Touched my mother’s heart
He was not a handsome man
But oh, how she loved him
My father’s hands and my mother’s heart
Now belong to me