Every child grows up
With the hope of being something special in life
But what happens when the one that they depend on the most
Is never there...

Told that I was supposed to fail
I wouldn't amount to much of nothin'
Yes I pray
There was days I wondered if you really loved me
But baby you feel pain
Mama was sane when I felt like runnin' away
I couldn't take it
I'm so hinted, angry with all of the world
I couldn't keep friends
Just wishin' you'd come back and see
My difficult times being an adolescent
And like so many just like me without a shoulder to lean

I needed you
When I needed a father figure
I needed you
To stop me from makin' the wrong decisions
At seventeen,
When the cold of the world got my back up against the wall
When temptation was calling me,
Didn't know which way to go

I needed you
I need, I needed you
I needed you
I need, I needed you

At seventeen,
When the cold of the world got my back up against the wall
When temptation was calling me,
Didn't know which way to go

Mama had no financial help
And thoughts of breakin' the law came
Seein' her tryna hold down two jobs
Was tearin' up on me, had a way (had a way)

All my friends was gettin' in it
It came time for me to get that dough
Wrong or right
I had to go for what I know

I needed you
When I needed a father figure
I needed you
To stop me from makin' the wrong decisions
At seventeen,
When the cold of the world got my back up against the wall
When temptation was calling me,
Didn't know which way to go

I needed you
I need, I needed you
I needed you
I need, I needed you

At seventeen,
When the cold of the world got my back up against the wall
When temptation was calling me,
Didn't know which way to go

And Lord I pray, give me strength to forgive them
And not hold all the hate I've got
Even though the pains from this was too heavy
And Lord I pray, show my younger brothers
Growin' up without a father
How to turn what they have less into a legacy

And Lord I pray

From the knowledge I ain't get
God, you gave me
When temptation was calling me,
Didn't know which way to go

I needed you
When I needed a father figure
I needed you
To stop me from makin' the wrong decisions
At seventeen,
When the cold of the world got my back up against the wall
When temptation was calling me,
Didn't know which way to go