Joe Jackson Turns 57 Today

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

That is Joe Jackson, the English singer/songwriter who is the same age as I am, & whom I resemble somewhat... not Joe Jackson, the fabled ball player or Joe Jackson, the father of Michael, or Joe Jackson, the jazz trombonist, or Joe Jackson, the novelist, or Joe Jackson the music journalist...