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Raised Right Men Lyrics

There ain't enough raised right men
I said there ain't enough raised right men
It takes a raised right man to keep a happy hen
I said there ain't enough raised right men

Heavens to murgatroyd, miners to coal
A good woman can make a diamond out of a measly lump of coal
And you need the patience of a glacier
If you can wait that long
Open up his window and admit when you're wrong

They're ain't enough raised right men
Ain't enough raised right men
I said there ain't enough raised right men
It takes a raised right man to keep a happy hen
I said there ain't enough raised right men

Mickey Debiasi was a complicated man
He quarreled with his woman
And she quarreled with her man
And his head was just too thick, so she knocked out a tooth
He's that lonely man on the Turnpike in the tolltakers booth

They're ain't enough raised right men
Ain't enough raised right men
I said there ain't enough raised right men
It takes a raised right man to keep a happy hen
I said there ain't enough raised right men

Gunplay Maxwell and Flat Nose George
Ice Pick Ed Newcomb on a slab in the morgue
And Flat Nose looked at Gunplay and they all looked at me
With a good woman's love
We could have saved all three

They're ain't enough raised right men
Ain't enough raised right men
Ain't enough raised right men
Ain't enough raised right men
I said there ain't enough raised right men
It takes a raised right man to keep a happy hen
I said there ain't enough raised right men
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Cover art for Raised Right Men lyrics by Tom Waits

I think Tom is mourning the loss of traditional values, boys being raised in to good men who know how to function well in relationships rather than winding up alone and sad, like the Mackie Debiasi in his toll takers booth, or dead in the morgue like Gunplay Maxwell and his two friends. He's saying it takes a good man to keep a good woman (a "Happy Hen"), and that the love of a good woman can in turn be the salvation of a man.

 
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