Growing Up In Public

You keep your jealousy and your snide remarks to yourself
You know that i'm not seeing anyone else
You just keep your ear down to the ground
Yell your head off if you hear a sound
Here's a whistle, a badge and a phone
You can arrest me if i'm not at home
And if i don't keep my word i swear
I'll keep away

Here's some books and a puzzle by escher
Here's shakespeare's measure for measure
Here's a balloon, a rubber band and a bag
Why don't you blow them up if you think you've been had
Here's a castle, a paper dragon and a moat
An earring, a toothbrush and a cloak
And if i don't keep my word i swear
I'll keep away

I swear i'll keep away, from all we've ever done
I'll keep away the good times, i'll keep away the fun
I swear i'll join the army, or maybe the marines
I'll start to wear designer suits and put away my jeans

I swear that i'll keep away, from all my old-time friends
I'll throw away my records, i'll try to make amends
I swear i'll give up gambling, and playing with the rent
I'll give up food and drinking, i'll give up a life ill-spent

Here's a yardstick you can measure me by
Here's a coupon, maybe there's something you want to buy
Here's a bandied in case you cut your feet
Here's a rubber mallet you can use on your front teeth
Here's a gun no one uses anymore
And a bracelet made of some expensive ore
And if i don't keep my word
You won't see me anymore

I swear i'll keep away, from dignity and pride
I'll keep away from abstracts, i'll keep it all inside
Well, i'll just wrap me up in butter, and melt me on a shelf
I'll fry in my own juices, i'll become somebody else

Well, i'll just swear to keep away, from everything that's good
I'll lie down in the gutter, where i really should
I swear i'll light a candle, to every modern foe
I swear i'll close the book on this, and not see you anymore
'cause i just got to get away

She calls on the phone
She says she doesn't want to be alone
She says it's making her neurotic
But please don't mistake it for being erotic

So alone, so all alone

She says let's go for a walk
We'll have a drink and maybe we will talk
And he thinks she has possibilities
If she could just put away her rosary

So alone, nobody wants to be alone

But i just didn't know
I swear to you, i just didn't know
I would never make you sad
If i had known i never would have
Said those things to you
You have to be crazy to say those things to you

Let's face it i made a mistake
Well you know, fools rush in where angels take a break
I can't be smart all of the time
And anyway i didn't know you were making time over him

To tell you the truth, i forget all about him

And you know, i don't think it's nice
Asking one man about another man's vice
I don't care if you pick my head
As long as we end up in bed

Alone, just the two of us alone

I just didn't know
I swear to god, i just didn't know
Can't you understand that it's frightening
When you hear women talking about castrating and hating men
Who wants to know about how you hate men

Well, you said now you wanted to dance
So now we're going to dance
You said that you weren't complete
But we're going to put you on your feet
You said that you were very vexed
You told me to forget about sex
You said you liked me for my mind
Well, i really love your behind

Oh, get up and boogie, oh baby, get up and dance
Oh, get, get, get, get up and boogie, baby, oh, get up and dance
Shake your booty, mama, oh, get up and dance

Your points very clear
You're not one to cry into your beer
Why don't we go to my place
Believe me, i'm very chaste

And i'm so alone, ao all alone

Sure all men are beasts
Hey, look, i'll sit here quietly and i'll stare at my feet
I don't blame you for taking umbrage
With animals staring at your cleavage

So alone, we're so all alone

Hey, do you mind if i turn out the light
Don't take offense, but why don't you spend the night
I know your passions run very deep
But at this point we both need sleep

So alone, and who wants to be alone

A son who is cursed with a harridan mother
Or a weak simpering father at best
Is raised to play out the timeless classical motives
Of filial love and incest

How does he speak to a
How does he speak to the prettiest girl
How does he talk to her
What does he say for an opening line
What does he say if he's shy

What do you do with your pragmatic passions
With your classically neurotic style
How do you deal with your vague self-comprehension's
What do you do when you lie

How do you speak to a
How do you speak to the prettiest girl
How do you speak to her
How do you dance on the head of a pin
When you're on the outside looking in

How do you speak to a
How do you speak to the prettiest girl
How do you speak to a
How do you speak to the prettiest girl
How do you speak to a
How do you speak to the prettiest girl
How do you speak to a
How do you speak to the prettiest girl

How do you speak to a
How do you speak to the prettiest girl
How do you speak to a
How do you speak to the prettiest girl
You just say, hello, (hello) baby (hello)
...
Baby, angel, how do you talk to the prettiest girl, you say
Hello baby, hello baby, angel, angel, pretty little girl
Angel, angel ....

Some people are into the power of power
The absolute corrupting power, that makes great men insane
While some people find their refreshment in action
The manipulation, encroachment and destruction of their inferiors

Growing up in public, growing up in public
Growing up in public, growing up in public with your pants down

Some people are into sadistic pleasures
They whet their desires and drool in your ears
They're quasi-effeminate characters in love with oral gratification
They edify your integrities, so they can play on your fears

They're gonna do you in public, 'cause you're growing up in public
They're gonna do it to you in public,
'cause you're growing up in public with your pants down

Some people think being a man is unmanly
Some people think that the whole concept's a joke
But some people think being a man is the whole point
And then some people wish they'd never awoke

Up from a dream of nightmarish proportions
Down to a size neither regal nor calm
A prince hamlet caught the middle between reason and instinct
Caught in the middle with your pants down again

Caught in the middle, i'm really caught in the middle
I'm caught in the middle, caught in the middle deciding about you

Some like wine and some like hops
But what i really love is my scotch
It's the power, the power of positive drinking

Some people ruin their drinks with ice
And then they, they ask you for advice
They tell you, i've never told anyone else before

They say, candy is dandy but liquor makes quipsters
And i don't like mixers, or sippers or sob sisters
You know, you have to be real careful where you sit down
In a bar these days

And then some people drink to unleash their libidos
And other people drink to prop up their egos
It's my burdon, man, people say
I have the kind of face you can trust

The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive drinking
The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive
The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive
The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive
The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive drinking

Some people say, alcohol makes you less lucid
And think that's true if you're kind of stupid
I'm not that kind that get's himself burned twice

And some say liquor kills the cells in your head
And for that matter so does getting out of bed
When i exit, i'll go out gracefully, shot in my hand

The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive drinking
The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive
The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive
The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive
The pow-pow-pow-pow-power of positive drinking