Standard (EADGBE)

 I got sent home from school one day with a shiner on my eye

 Cause fighting was against the rules and it didn't matter why

 When dad got home I told that story just like I'd rehearsed

 Then stood there almost trembling and waited for the worst

** Refrain **

 He (I, they) said let me tell you a secret about a father's love

 A secret that my daddy said was just between us

 You see daddy's don't just love their children every now and then

 It's a love without end, amen It's a love without end, amen

(Chords same as above)

When I became a father in the spring of '81

There was no doubt that stubborn boy was just like my father's son

And when I thought my patience had been tested to the end

I took my daddy's secret and I passed it on to him

Last night I dreamed I died and stood outside those pearly gates

When suddenly I realized there must be some mistake

If they knew half the things I've done they'll never let me in

Then a somewhere from the other side and I heard these words again