Another Try
Written by Gerry Beckley, ©1974
Found on Holiday. America Live, Live In Central Park, Encore: More Greatest Hits, Highway, The Complete Greatest Hits, and The Grand Cayman Concert.

Hey, Daddy just lost his pay
What did he do it for
It never made it through our door
He drank the whole week away
And what can a family say
There must be a better way
Now Mama don't start to cry
Let's give him another try

Pick up the telephone
Tell him you want him home
To sit and watch the evenings pass
And readin' the Leaves of Grass

I'm caught in a closing door
It's pinning me to the floor
Now Mama don't start to cry
Let's give him another try

I'm caught in a closing door
It's pinning me to the floor
Now Mama don't start to cry
Let's give him another try

When we're old and gray
And the things we say are the things we really mean
So why cause a scene
When things ain't what they seem
'Cause the end result's the same
Now what can a family say
There must be a better way
Now Mama don't start to cry
Let's give him another try

The Leaves of Grass was a set of books of poetry written by American poet Walt Whitman. He published several volumes starting in 1855.

Highway Highlight (from the box set booklet) If "Tin Man" had the feel of the tropics, Beckley's "Another Try" brought the wry strains of British musical theater to mind. "That's a pretty straight-ahead song about growing up in an alcoholic family," he says. "It's not about me personally, though I am well aware of the damage of alcohol. We made it a string-quartety thing. I remember sitting around with George, saying, 'Right here--that's where we bring this part in.' I would suggest a horn or something, and George would always look at the target, and then kind of look left or right and come up with something unique."