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Men Will Be Men
Men will be men and they'll call me the governor
I'll walk through the bar and I'll buy the next round
Because this is my ship and I say it's my destiny
And we'll all go up and go down, we go down, go down
Through the town and back up through the avenues
And into the places where people don't stay
Go visit the king and then leave through the window
Go hang with the gang and get lost in the fray
Andy's a saint or a savage, I forget
Depends on the day and if he's eaten yet
He's something to see when he's first out of bed
Not that I'd know, I've just heard it said
Said that men will be men and they'll call me the governor
I'll walk through the bar and I'll buy the next round
Because this is my ship and I say it's my destiny
And we'll all go up and go down, we go down, go down
Through the town and back up through the avenues
And into the places where people don't stay
Go visit the king and then leave through the window
Go hang with the gang and get lost in the fray
Spider's the guy to handle the gun
He'd show me how, but I don't want one
He's oh-so polite for a second-story man
And he's changed his spots as much as anyone can
We know men will be men and they'll call me the governor
I'll walk through the bar and I'll buy the next round
Because this my ship and I say it's my destiny
And we'll all go up and go down, we go down, go down
Through the town and back up through the avenues
And into the places where people don't stay
Go visit the king and then leave through the window
Go hang with the gang and get lost in the fray
Come and sit with the whores and admire the view
Drink down these beers, I think you've had a few
Yes and don't look at me, I'm not selling today
Over the crowd hear the bartender say
Say that men will be men and they'll call me the governor
I'll walk through the bar and I'll buy the next round
Because this is my ship and I say it's my destiny
And we'll all go up and go down, we go down, go down
Through the town and back up through the avenues
And into the places where people don't stay
Go visit the king and then leave through the window
Go hang with the gang and get lost in the fray
Men will be men and they'll call me the governor
I'll walk through the bar and I'll buy the next round
Because this is my ship and I say it's my destiny
And we'll all go up and go down, we go down, go down...
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Notes:
Suzanne explaining
the origin of the song:
"When you're on tour, you travel for a
long time. You travel for, I don't know, a year, sometimes a
year and a half. And you play big cities, and you play little
cities. And if you're fortunate you have a crew. And a crew
is made up of men who work for you. You get the occasional woman
who works for you as well, but most of the men are men. It becomes
kind of like a small ship, with me as the captain, I'm the captain
and then I have my crew. So this next song is for my crew, is
a kind of a drinking song..."
In concert: Cambridge Festival, England,
July 27, 1991
From the Passionate Eye, about the lines "Go visit the king and then leave through the window":
"I was invited in 1988 to visit President Soares at the Palace
[...]
Formal circumstances, even as informal as these always make me uncomfortable,
so I thought that I would initiate a movement to conclude our visit and marched
forward confidently to the huge front doors and tried to throw them open. "Oh
Miss Vega, wouldn't you rather leave through the door rather than the second
story window?" said the guard running over to prevent me from flinging myself from the balcony."
Impressions of Portugal, the Passionate Eye, the Collected Writing of Suzanne Vega
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