Real Men

Take your mind back

I don't know when

Sometime when it always seemed

To be just us & them

Girls that wore pink

Boys that wore blue

Boys that always grew up better men

Than me & you

What's a man now?

What's a man mean?

Is he rough or is he rugged

Cultural & clean?

Now it's all changed

It's got to change more

We think it's getting better

But nobody's really sure

& so it goes, go round again

But now & then we wonder

Who the real men are

See the nice boys

Dancing in pairs

Golden earring, golden tan

Blow-wave in their hair

Sure they're all straight

Straight as a line

All the gays are macho now

See their leather shine

You don't want to sound dumb

Don't want to offend

So don't call me a faggot

Not unless you are a friend

Then if you're tall, handsome & strong

You can wear the uniform & I could play along

&so it goes, go round again

But now & then we wonder

Who the real men are

Time to get scared

Time to change plan

Don't know how to treat a lady

Don't know how to be a man

Time to admit

What you call defeat

'cause there's women running past you now

& you just drag your feet

Man makes a gun

Man goes to war

Man can kill & man can drink

& man can take a whore

Kill all the blacks

Kill all the reds

If there's war between the sexes

Then there will be no people left

& so it goes, go round again

But now & then we wonder

 Who the real men are

 Joe Jackson

1982