The songs which have the greatest effect on us are not always or necessarily those that we like the most in purely musical terms. A case in point is Charles Aznavour whom I have always appreciated for his diction and superb French without being a great fan of his music (with one or two exceptions such as La Bohème. Comme ils Disent was written in 1973 shortly after I arrived in France. When I first heard the song, I had only the faintest idea of what it was about, but for me it remains to this day one of the most extraordinary evocations of loneliness ever written.
When I later came to understand the words I saw that the song was indeed about loneliness - but much more than that, and it must have taken a lot of courage to tackle such a subject in 1973.
Here is the clip and below the lyrics in both French and English.
WHAT MAKES A MAN
Charles Aznavour (France) 1973
My mum and I we live alone
A great apartment is our home
In Fairhome Towers
I have to keep me company
Two dogs, a cat, a parakeet
Some plants and flowers
I help my mother with the chores
I wash, she dries, I do the floors
We work together
I shop and cook and sew 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
And 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
And conversation
We love to empty out our hearts
With every subject from the arts
To liberation
We love to pull apart someone
And spread some gossip just for fun
Or start a rumor
We let our hair down, so to speak
And mock ourselves with tongue-in-cheek
And inside humor
So many times we have to pay
For having fun and being gay
It's not amusing
There's always those that spoil our games
By finding fault and 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
And imitate the way I walk
Tell me if you can
What makes a man a man
My masquerade comes to an end
And I go home to bed again
Alone and 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 and happiness
Is unrequited
I ask myself what I have got
Of what I am and 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
J'habite seul avec maman
Dans un très vieil appartement
Rue Sarasate
J'ai pour me tenir compagnie
Une tortue deux canaris
Et une chatte
Pour laisser maman reposer
Très souvent je fais le marché
Et la cuisine
Je range, je lave, j'essuie,
A l'occasion je pique aussi
A la machine
Le travail ne me fait pas peur
Je suis un peu décorateur
Un peu styliste
Mais mon vrai métier c'est la nuit.
Que je l'exerce en travesti :
Je suis artiste
Jai un numéro très spécial
Qui finit en nu intégral
Après strip-tease
Et dans la salle je vois que
Les mâles n'en croient pas leurs yeux.
Je suis un homme, oh !
Comme ils disent
Vers les trois heures du matin
On va manger entre copains
De tous les sexes
Dans un quelconque bar-tabac
Et là on s'en donne à cœur joie
Et sans complexe
On déballe des vérités
Sur des gens qu'on a dans le nez
On les lapide
Mais on fait ça avec humour
Enrobé dans des calembours
Mouillés d'acide
On rencontre des attardés
Qui pour épater leurs tablées
Marchent et ondulent
Singeant ce qu'ils croient être nous
Et se couvrent, les pauvres fous
De ridicule
Ça gesticule et parle fort
Ça joue les divas, les ténors
De la bêtise
Moi les lazzi, les quolibets
Me laissent froid puisque c'est vrai.
Je suis un homme, oh !
Comme ils disent
A l'heure où naît un jour nouveau
Je rentre retrouver mon lot
De solitude
J'ôte mes cils et mes cheveux
Comme un pauvre clown malheureux
De lassitude
Je me couche mais ne dors pas
Je pense à mes amours sans joie
Si dérisoires
A ce garçon beau comme un Dieu
Qui sans rien faire a mis le feu
A ma mémoire
Ma bouche n'osera jamais
Lui avouer mon doux secret
Mon tendre drame
Car l'objet de tous mes tourments
Passe le plus clair de son temps
Au lit des femmes
Nul n'a le droit en vérité
De me blâmer de me juger
Et je précise
Que c'est bien la nature qui
Est seule responsable si
Je suis un homme, oh !
Comme ils disent
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