Men Live by Loudon Wainwright III Lyrics

When a ship is sinking and they lower the lifeboats
And hand out the life jackets, the men keep on their coats
The women and the children are the ones who must go first
And the men who try to save their skins
Are cowards and are cursed

Every man's a captain, men know how to drown
Man the lifeboats if there’s room, otherwise go down

And it's the same when there's a war on
It’s the men who go to fight
Women and children are civilians
When they're killed it's not right
Men kill men in uniform, it's the way war goes
When they run they're cowards
When they stay they are heroes

Every man's a general, men go off to war
The battlefields a man's world
Cannon fodder's what they’re for
It’s the men who have the power
It's the men who have the might
And the world’s a place of horror
Because each man thinks he's right
A man's home is his castle so the family let him in
But what's important in that kingdom
Is the women and the children

A husband and a father, every man’s a king
But he's really just a drone
Gathers no honey, has no sting
Have pity on the general, the king, and the captain
They know they're expendable, after all they're men