Why Can't A Man Stand Alone?

Why can't a man stand alone? Must he be burdened by all that he's taught to consider his own? His skin and his station, his kin and his crown, his flag and his nation They just weigh him down You know pride is a sin that we tend to forgive But it gets hard to live When you don't have the love in her heart to begin with Why can't a man stand alone? Why can't a woman be just what she seems? Must she be tarnished by men who can only be men in their dreams? When beauty meets ignorance they shout in the street Repeating their offer to each girl they meet The respect that she needs, it isn't a gift But it gets hard to lift yourself up When you don't have the strength to begin with Why can't a woman stand alone? Why can't a baby sleep at night and dream of the time to come And never fear the world outside the touch of someone very near Why can't a man stand up? Why can't a man stand up? Why can't a man stand alone?

Why Can't A Man Stand Alone? Written by Elvis Costello Performed by Elvis Costello & The Attractions Produced by Geoff Emerick & Elvis Costello Musicians Elvis Costello - vocals, guitar Steve Nieve - keyboards Bruce Thomas - bass Pete Thomas - drums Recorded August-September 1995, Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin February 1996, Westside Studios, London Released May 13, 1996 Albums All This Useless Beauty, 1996 Length 3:16 First known performance:  August 2, 1995, New York, NY Last known performance:  October 6, 2011, Montclair, NJ      (90 known performances) “It’s easy to theorize songs for people, but they don’t always work out. For instance, I wrote ‘Why Can’t a Man Stand Alone’ for Sam Moore, but he didn’t take it. Now when I think about it, the song has too many words. Sometimes lyrics can get in the way of expression.” — Chicago Sun-Times, December 6, 2009 Alternate versions Why Can't A Man Stand Alone (Demo) Performed by Elvis Costello Musicians Elvis Costello - vocals, all instruments Recorded circa 1992, unknown location Released August 21, 2001 Albums All This Useless Beauty (Rhino reissue), 2001 Length 2:58 Why Can't A Man Stand Alone? (Live 1996) Performed by Costello & Nieve Musicians Elvis Costello - vocal, guitar Steve Nieve - piano Recorded May 15, 1996, San Francisco, CA Released July 8, 1996 Albums Costello & Nieve, 1996 Singles Little Atoms, 1996 Promos Live At The Fillmore, San Francisco, 1996 Length 4:10

Covers

My Darling Clementine & Steve Nieve

My Darling Clementine: Country Darkness Vol. 3

2020

MyDarlingClementineMusic.co.uk

Steve Nieve

instrumental, performed live, 2020-03-30, The Daily Improvisation, France

2020

Facebook - 09:15

Erich Sellheim

home studio production, sung in German

2021

YouTube

Internal links

• Elvis Costello Home Page: All This Useless Beauty  •  lyrics  •  chords  •  ATUB info page 1
• Lyrics  •  Covers

External links

• Elvis Costello Reissues: All This Useless Beauty