I hope everyone out there had a good Father’s Day, whatever you may be a father of.

Over the weekend, while lingering six feet away from the person in front of me in the grocery store checkout lane, I saw this Father’s Day greeting card. It struck me immediately how funny it is that all the things we (at least in the U.S.A.) associate with dads are usually the same, from year to year and generation to generation.

On this particular greeting card, for some reason, those things include the following:

Grilling and grill-related instruments

An apron, an oven mitt

Ketchup, mustard, hamburgers, hot dogs

A tomato

A fishing tackle

A butcher knife, I think.  (I’ll leave to your imaginations what that last item might be used for.)

Obviously, dads are about so much more. My own dad did all the things dads are “supposed” to do — provide for the family, take care of household responsibilities, and dole out “dad’isms” (e.g., “money doesn’t grow on trees”), AND he was about grilling on certain occasions, yes, but he was also about good advice (that his children mostly did not take), wisdom, kindness, and an easy smile.

Now, a departure:

Some people don’t HAVE dads.

They HAD dads.

The world of dads according to Perry Farrell’s “Jane’s Addiction” lyrics* provides an offbeat nod to dads, from the unique perspective of a troubled son:

Had a dad
Big and strong
Turned around
Found my daddy gone
He was the one
Made me what I am today
It’s up to me now
My daddy has gone away…

[Verse 1]
Well I spoke to the mountain
I listened to the sea
Both told me that the fountain
Was the best that you could be
My daddy’s hand it growed
Slow to the lickin
Sonny boy
Grow to whip him!

[Verse 2]
If you see my dad
Tell him my brothers
All gone mad
They’re beating on each other
I walked around
Even tried to call
Got that funny feeling
He’s not there
At all…

[Verse 3]
If you see my dad
Tell him my brothers
All gone mad
They’re beating on each other
I walked around
Even tried to call
Got that funny feeling
God is dead
He’s not there at all
Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah

[Hook]
I had a dad
He was big and strong
When I turned around me now
I found my daddy gone
Yes, he was the one
Who made me what I am today
It’s up to me now
My daddy has gone away
Gone away, gone away gone away

[Outro]
Yes, I said I had, I had a dad
I said I had, I had a dad
I said I had, yeah yeah yeah-yeah yeah

* Jane’s Addiction (written by Jane’s Addiction and Perry Farrell) “Nothing’s Shocking,” released in 1988

CHECK OUT THE SONG wherever you listen to music. It’s pretty great.