'm sure that I'm moving to St. Louis
Three long years wondering here in New York City
I guess I'm looking for the right way to do this
I guess I'm looking for the right things to call pretty
Young boys playing in the park turning their backs to take a shot
You know I'll stay sharp around here'cause they're stoning and leaving type
It's the kind of love that comes and goes when there's company coming around
What's a boy to do who knows no man now?
What's a boy to do who knows no man now?

Daddy's been looking down his nose at all of them
And I've been looking round for someone to tell me who I am
He kept saying I was too young to finish a fight
I'd die each time they came I never got to draw my knife
Well it was just a pair of shoes in a middle school room with the world watching in
An angel is crying I'm dying just a little inside as they ran away
Funny which words stick around 20 years down when you're driving alone
What's a boy to do when there's no man at home?
What's a boy to do when there's no man at home?

Well I'll stack all my books into perfect rows
From the biggest down to the smallest ones
And I buy all the perfect clothes
Bullet proof and black, where I look like a son
Well it was just a rainy night at his house
A bottle spinning around the room
And everybody's singing and slipping down the bottom of a halfway rush of blood
And I was grabbing Missy but I was trying to find the light switch in the dark
What's a boy to do with no man in his heart?
What's a boy to do with no man in his heart?

It's all quiet for the first time
With no voices left to fall
I saw a boy at the bottom of the bridge
His car was left there on the top
It's four o'clock in the morning
Didn't need to be like this
There's a white sheet left to cover up
What should have been a holy kiss
It's not like those days
It's not like I'm scared of you
What's the Son of Man and a boy to do?
What's the Son of Man and a boy to do?


Lyrics submitted by New Year's Project

What's a Boy to Do Lyrics as written by Mathew Kearney

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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What's a Boy To Do song meanings
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    I think this is the only song that he has that has a problem presented and no solution; every other song gives some sort of hope, but this one just asks questions and gives excuses.

    anyway, the song goes through a young man's life, chronicling how his father has never truly paid attention to him. "Its the kind of love that comes and goes when there's company coming around." The father never approved of his son's life, his friends or his reactions to people making fun of him, but he could never retaliate "but i never got a chance to draw my knife"

    the boy tries so hard to gain his father's approval, doing everything "perfectly," but his father never pays attention. The father and the son apparently fight a lot. "its all quite for the first time" after the boy decides to jump off of bridge and kill himself. mel, the white sheet is the sheet that they cover the corpse with. the narrator thinks that it never had to be this way, but one can just imagine him shaking his head when he says "what's the son of man and a boy to do" (the son of man meaning Jesus).

    i do have some questions myself: i don't understand the first and fourth verses, they utterly confuse me what is a "halfway rush of blood" and who is Missy? what is the "holy kiss"? what is "not like those days, its not like i'm scared of you"?

    thank you

    labgurl123on January 04, 2007   Link

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