I’m working up a lesson plan for my ESL Reading students, and I’ve chosen a theme of “Fathers and Sons.” (This may come dangerously close to the prohibition against homework help, but I’m the teacher, not the student.) My students are Korean, and they can tolerate up to two pages of poetry/song lyrics per piece without rebelling. So far, the pieces I’ve chosen for them are “A Boy Named Sue” (Shel Silverstein/Johnny Cash), “If” (Rudyard Kipling) and “Cat’s In the Cradle” by Harry and Sandy Chapin. If I could nail down one or two more with the same theme, it would time out the session perfectly. Any suggestions from my Doper pals?
Father and Son by Cat Stevens seems the blaringly obvious choice here.
O My Papa, the Eddie Fisher hit of the 1950s. It added lyrics to what had been a hit instrumental of the same name by a German trumpet player whose name escapes me.
Rudyar Kipling, ‘If:’
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
[[shortened quote]]
An excellent example of the first conditional too!
Dylan Thomas, Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
[[shortened quote]]
Though I guess it doesn’t mention a son anywhere, just a father.
“The Living Years” by Mike and the Mechanics, sung by Paul Carrack.
Brevity has a certain accessibility, especially for ESL students. One of the best brief evocations of a son’s late understanding about his father is the poem Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden. There’s a reason it’s anthologized so heavily.
*Hold me, my Daddy *by XTC, from the album “Oranges and Lemons”.
His name just came to me: Bert Kampfert.
More a parents-and-kids thing, but there’s always Philip Larkin. 
That was the one I came into this thread to mention.
Everclear’s Father of Mine. Not every family is Ozzie and Harriet.
Ooh, good one!
“Ships” by Barry Manilow. Although actually written and recorded by Ian Hunter, I don’t know that it had the personal meaning that it did for Manilow.
Father and son I wanna teach him right from wrong
Father and son I wanna grow up and be strong
I want the best for my child
I wanna grow up and be wild
I’m the best dad
I’m the best son
I’m the best dad
No, I’m the best son
I’m the best dad
No, I’m the best son
[[shortened quote]]
“Boy Named Sue”?
Tank Park Salute - Billy Bragg
Walk Like a Man - Bruce Springsteen
Is it just me or do these songs ooze with treacly 70’s-ness?
With that, I’ll thrown in Dan Fogelberg’s Leader of the Band.
If you it’s sentimentality to the schmaltzy-th degree you want, here you go!
The Old Man - The Fureys
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic Simple Man is parental advice. Comes from the mother instead of the father, but similar vibe.