My mum & I we live alone
A great apartment is our home
In Fairhome Towers
I have to keep me company
2 dogs, a cat, a parakeet
Some plants & flowers
I help my mother with the chores
I wash, she dries, I do the floors
We work together
I shop & cook & swe a bit
Though mum does too I must admit
I do it better
At night I work in a strange bar
Impersonating every star
I'm quite deceiving
The customers come in with doubt
& wonder what I'm all about
But leave believing
I do a very special show
Where I am nude from head to toe
After stripteasing
Each night the men look so surprised
I change my sex before their eyes
Tell me if you can
What makes a man a man?
At 3 o'clock or so I meet
With friends to have a bite to eat
& conversation
We love to empty out our hearts
With every subject from the arts
To liberation
We love to pull apart someone
& spread some gossip just for fun
Or start a rumor
We let our hair down, so to speak
& mock ourselves with tongue-in-cheek
& inside humor
So many times we have to pay
For having fun & being gay
It's not amusing
There's always those that spoil our games
By finding fault & calling names
Always accusing
They draw attention to themselves
At the expense of someone else
It's so confusing
Yet they make fun of how I talk
& imitate the way I walk
Tell me if you can
What makes a man a man?
My masquerade comes to an end
& I go home to bed again
Alone & friendless
I close my eyes, I think of him
I fantasize what might have been
My dreams are endless
We love each other but it seems
The love is only in my dreams
It's so one sided
But in this life I must confess
The search for love & happiness
Is unrequited
I ask myself what I have got
Of what I am & what I'm not
What have I given
The answers come from those who make
The rules that some of us must break
Just to keep living
I know my life is not a crime
I'm just a victim of my time
I stand defenseless
Nobody has the right to be
The judge of what is right for me
Tell me if you can
What make a man a man?
Tell me if you can
Tell me if you can
Tell me if you can
What makes a man a man?
Charles Aznavour
1972
