Michelle Branch - I'm A Man [Official Video]

Michelle Branch's "I"m A Man," from the new album 'The Trouble With Fever,' available September 16 on Audio Eagle / Nonesuch / Warner Records. You can pre-order the album at https://found.ee/MBTheTroubleWithFever

Michelle says: "I wrote the chorus of 'I’m A Man' long before the verses. It started as an empathetic view towards men struggling to find a new way to navigate in a post- “Me Too” world of toxic masculinity.

Having a son made me think of how men are taught to be from a young age and the pressures to provide and succeed and this sort of burden to be seen as macho. But you can’t tell that story with just one side of the coin because as I was trying to paint a sympathetic view it just seemed completely minuscule and ridiculous in comparison to the struggles that women have been dealing with, really, since Eve bit the apple.

Why are nearly all mass shooters male? Why do I need my husband’s written permission in 2022 to get my tubes tied? Why do American women have fewer reproductive rights than our grandmothers? Why don’t we get paid as much as men? Why do I have to teach my daughters not to walk alone at night? And so on and so on. Yet we carry on with grit and grace like we always have because we have no other choice."

Lyrics:

Pay the bills
Take the pills
Buy the house
Make the money
Get the job
Country club
I’m gonna be late tonight
Sorry honey

I’m so scared of knowing what I might find
I can’t turn my back and mind my own damn
this time
Pretty as a daisy if I just smile
But I can’t look away
No I can’t look away

I’m a man
And I’m out of control
And I can’t help myself
And I can’t let it go
’Cause I’m a man
And I’m ready to blow
And I can’t get it up
And I can’t let it show
’Cause I’m a man

I’m so tired of being told by everybody
That I can’t make decisions ’bout
My own damn body
Angry ’cause I’m
Ruled by my emotions
But I’m not afraid
Can’t take that away

I’m a man
And I’m out of control
And I can’t help myself
And I can’t let it go
’Cause I’m a man
And I’m ready to blow
And I can’t get it up
And I can’t let it show
’Cause I’m a man

Seems as though we’ve got an awful way to go
We’ve got a longer way to go, oh

I’m a man
And I’m out of control
And I can’t help myself
And I can’t let it go
’Cause I’m a man
And I’m ready to blow
And I can’t get it up
And I can’t let it show
’Cause I’m a man

VIDEO CREDITS:
Excerpts from "Silent Parade 1917" courtesy of the Dawson City Museum/Library and Archives Canada/Library of Congress/"Dawson City: Frozen Time" by Bill Morrison; "Judo for Housewives" by Polygoon-Profilti/Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision CC-BY-SA 3.0; "Not for Men Only" courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives; "Dyke March SF 1993.2" courtesy of Freedom Archives CC-BY 3.0; "Sex Ed 101: Laura Bush Protest" courtesy of roundpointmovies CC-BY 2.5; "June 24th Roe v. Wade Protest at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C." by Rob Silver Visuals CC-BY 3.0; "Cairo: Women’s March Fights Against Military Rule" by Troy Carter CC-BY 3.0; "2018 San Francisco Women's March video" by Gregory Varnum CC-BY-SA 4.0; "8M 2019 Folga Feminist" by galizacontrainfo CC-BY 3.0; "International Womens Day FCI Dublin.1" courtesy of Freedom Archives CC-BY 3.0; "Trans Pride 2019 in Dublin" by Workers Solidarity Movement CC-BY 3.0; "Abortion Hotline - Trailer" by mc2.ca CC-BY 3.0; "The Moment the Women’s March Took the Streets" by Northampton Community Television CC-BY 3.0; "Day Without a Woman Protests in New York City - 32977652580" by Alec Perkins CC-BY 2.0; "Defend Roe v Wade" by Susan Ruggles CC-BY 2.0

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