Hitting You - Loudon Wainwright III

Long ago I hit you, we were in the car

You were crazy in the back seat, it had gone too far

And I pulled the auto over and I hit you with all my might

I knew right away it was too hard and I’d never make it right

I was aiming for your buttock but I struck your outer thigh

You had on a bathing suit and right before our eyes

Suntanned skin turned crimson where the hand had hit

And my palm stung from hitting you so hard that I hurt it

Against the law in Sweden, charges can be filed

Here it’s all too common, a parent hits a child

On your face I saw the shock and then I saw the pain

Then I saw the look of fear, the fear I’d strike again

Then I saw your anger, your defiant pride

And then I saw one tear drop, the rest you kept inside

I said I was sorry and I tried to clean the slate

But with that blow I’d sewn a seed and saw it was too late

These days things are awful between me and you

All we do is argue like two people who are through

I blame you, your friends, your school, your mother and MTV

Last night I almost hit you that blame belongs to me

Long ago I hit you, we were in the car

You were crazy in the back seat, it had gone too far

And I pulled the auto over and I hit you with all my might

I knew right away it was too hard and I’d never make it right