My father always promised me That we would live in France We'd go boating on the Seine And I would learn to dance We lived in Ohio then He worked in the mines On his dreams like boats We knew we would sail in time My sisters on the road, and ran away To Denver and Cheyenne Marrying their own grownup dreams The lilacs and the man I stand behind the young girls dreams Only danced alone Hoping, hoping that my fathers dreams would take me home. I live in Paris now My children dance and dream Hearing the ways of a miner's life In words they've never seen I sail my memories of home Like boats across the Seine And watch my fathers eyes Watching the setting sun Set in my fathers eyes again