D 
I came home from college to see my old man 
D 
He was sitting on the porch swing a book in his hand 
D 
He stared at my earring and at my tattoo 
D                                             Em 
Smiled, shook his head, said It's good to see you. 
D                                         A 
He chose his words carefully For it was hard for me to come 
        Em                                      D 
And he knew I had a temper and where I got it from 
D                                    A  
I waited for the sermon.  The one I knew so well 
          Em                                        D 
But this time he wasn't preaching about heaven or hell He said 
 
CHORUS: 
    G   D              A          D 
A real man knows the value of a woman 
    G    D          A        Em 
A real man's got nothing to prove    (man's - contraction for man has) 
         G          D             A        G 
He's strengthen by love and the Lord up a-bove 
           D        A           G    D 
To do the best you can To be a real man 
 
 
D                               A 
Could it be that I saw just a glimpse of his soul 
G                                           A 
Or maybe losing momma had just taken it's toll 
     D                               A 
He gave me his bible, stained with tears he had cried 
G                             D 
I open up the cover where he wrote inside And it said, 
 
 
Go to chorus, to ending 
 
ENDING: 
            D        A           G   D 
To do the best you can to be a real man