Ruby Through the Looking-Glass Lyrics

Lyric discussion by estelle 

Cover art for Ruby Through the Looking-Glass lyrics by Tori Amos

itsALLprogramMUSIC, I was wondering exactly the same thing, that's why I came to look at the lyrics here - because I've never fully understood what she meant by that line "As a man do you find, doesn't every boy smoke to cry?" I would think that maybe she is saying something about the difference between a boy and a man because why else would she say "as a man" and then "every boy" - she could have said "every one" or something but she chose boy. But smoking is something people do to relieve tension and feel better about things and crying can also do this. But of course, crying is something more associated with girls, and men have this whole idealized "being a real man" expectation. So I think she's just saying something like men smoke to relieve themselves, on a more general level, it's pointing out that men have a different way of going about doing things than women, I don't think it's completely literal.

I wonder if anyone else has a better idea, because she's never made any comments on the song specically, so it's hard to know what she meant by it unless she explained it.

@estelle I would like first to thank everyone in this site. You guys are awesome. Getting back to estelle, what has been answered thus far suit the bill to me. But I would like to add some more. Because this is my favorite song by Tori. Every single word of this song is the merciless execution of a man. An apparently shallow man, but one may question why on earth someone would ever write or publish such a song. The very act kind of rehabilitates the guy, to some extent. Not in any way in contradiction to what has been...