Turns Out Its Genetic
Intro
Verse 1
I grew up in a house with linen napkins,
where you laughed politely or you didn't laugh at all,
and I'd crack a joke at Sunday dinner
and watch it die against the wall.
Nobody there could tell me
where the crooked streak came from,
so I figured I just built it,
like a weird kid builds a drum.
Chorus
Turns out it's genetic.
Turns out I came by it fair.
I found my father late in life,
and the punchline was already there.
I spent my whole life thinking
I'd invented my own brand of wrong.
Turns out it's genetic.
He's been telling my jokes all along.
Verse 2
He's an engineer, of course he is.
We talked tolerances and load,
then he told a joke I won't repeat here,
and I laughed so hard I nearly choked.
Same timing, same raised eyebrow,
same "wait, it gets worse" grin.
I'd been looking for my people,
and the first one let me in.
Chorus
Turns out it's genetic.
Turns out I came by it fair.
I found my father late in life,
and the punchline was already there.
I spent my whole life thinking
I'd invented my own brand of wrong.
Turns out it's genetic.
He's been telling my jokes all along.
Verse 3
Now we trade links at midnight
from the back alleys of Reddit,
the kind of threads you'd never show your mother,
and we both swear we never read it.
Two engineers with a browser history
that ought to be encrypted,
and somewhere there's a family tree
that's laughing at the script.
Bridge
They taught me which fork to use.
They taught me how to sit up straight.
But the part of me that laughs too loud
at things I shouldn't?
That one came by mail.
Took fifty years to get here. **
Final Chorus
Turns out it's genetic.
Turns out I came by it fair.
I found my father late in life,
and the punchline was already there.
Nature gave me the punchline,
nurture gave me the shame.
Turns out it's genetic,
and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Outro
Tag
Don't ask about the subreddits.
We don't talk about the subreddits.