I ain’t never beat a man didn’t ask for it twice
I ain’t looked too long at another man’s wife
ain’t I a man
ain’t I a man?

I moved myself to a big city
to escape small town monopoly
there’s only two jobs where I come from
you either rob from the sick
or you sell to children
makes it hard to be a man
ain’t I a man

I got here to find it was even worse
they still rob the sick but they do it in church
and what they sell kids well it don’t even work
and they only read what can fit on a shirt
and they climb up mountains to get buried alive
and they sing about living in 1905
and nine out of ten can’t take a ____ on their own
yeah they’re utterly helpless when they ain’t on the phone
and I ain’t never met a man here
but ain’t I a man

And you say they’re beautiful
I say babies are beautiful
We are all born beautiful
but some day you gotta grow up, you gotta be a man

Well while I was gone my home town it got worse
little boy stood up tall said we won’t pay you to work
said you can scream all you want but it’s money I hear
say goodbye wisconsin, kansas is here

So I’m stuck in the city where geeks are all kings
they got all the morals of louis the 14
they don’t pay no taxes send their kids overseas
so they don’t have to see the poor sleepin on the street
makes it hard to be a man
but ain’t I a man

I seen a protest I seen some broken glass
I heard a couple kids shout save the middle class
they said we want to live like our parents did
you got us begging for scraps we want to live like men
but the kids got sprayed and they got locked up
and they learned to stay down and they learned to shut up

Makes it hard to be a man
Ain’t I a man.