The Moz/Smiths Top 100, Part 272: I'M NOT A MAN

How do you rate I'm Not a Man?


  • Total voters
    55

Houdini

Junior Member
In 2007, and early 2008, we put up polls for all 234 then released Morrissey and The Smiths-songs. More than 40,000 votes were cast and this resulted in The Morrissey/Smiths Top 100, or indeed, The Morrissey/The Smiths Top 234. In 2009/2010 we updated this chart with the 25 new songs that were released in 2008-2010. The final results of 2010, the 'Top 259', can be viewed here. Now, 4 years on, many people have asked me to continue with the polls as since the last one 25 new Morrissey-songs have been released.
So we'll start with the songs that were released in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and we'll end with the 18 songs from World Peace Is None of Your Business.

So here it goes. Let's hope for as big a turn-out as in 2007 and 2010 and, once again, vote with your heart, not with your mind.

Song 272: I'm Not a Man (Morrissey/Jesse Tobias)



Don Juan
picaresque
wife-beater vest
cold hand
ice man
warring caveman
well, if this is what it takes
to describe
I'm not a man
Wheeler-dealer
mover-shaker
Casanova
Beef-a-ronie
ah, but lonely
well, if this is what it takes
to describe
I'm not a man
I'm not a man
I'm something much bigger
and better than a man

Wise-ass
Smart-ass
workaholic
thick-skinned
two-fisted
hombre, ole
well, if these are terms you'd use
to describe
oh, I'm shaking!
look at me - I'm quaking!
True grit, true blue
kill crazy!
so very manly of you!
you are the soldier
who won't get much older
you are the Slow Joe
who signed up to go

Wolf down, wolf down
T-bone steak
wolf down
cancer of the prostate
ways to sit, and of course
ways to stand
I'm not a man!
I'm not a man!
no big fat locker-room
hockey-jock laughing
I am not a man!
I'd never kill or eat
an animal
and I never would destroy
this planet I'm on
well... what do you think I am
...a man ?

Previous polls:

Part 271: Neal Cassady Drops Dead
Part 270: The Bullfighter Dies
Part 269: Earth is the Loneliest Planet
Part 268: Istanbul
Part 267: World Peace is None of Your Business
Part 266: You Say You Don't Love Me
Part 265: Satellite of Love
Part 264: The Kid's a Looker
Part 263: Action is My Middle Name
Part 262: People Are The Same Everywhere
Part 261: Safe, Warm Lancashire Home
Part 260: Treat Me Like a Human Being
Polls 259-1

EACH TIME YOU VOTE, YOU SUPPORT THE PROCESS!
 
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Best song on the album: defiant, triumphant, heartfelt, funny and a bit absurd. It's a great tune with fantastic vocals, offering real food for thought.

Purest, undistilled Morrissey.
 
agreed best song on album. i wonder what the rumbling sound is as theres not actually real silence before the music starts. almost sounds like him breathing closely to the mic but i guess it could be anything. the second most human sound preceding a song titled im not a man.
 
whats baffling about the intro. many bands do this to build tension and frame a song as it center. seems to do just that
 
I made it through this song 1 time.
I removed it from my computer and phone.

The idea that red meat causes prostate cancer is HIGHLY speculative and cancer.org has this to say on the matter:

The exact role of diet in prostate cancer is not clear, but several factors have been studied.

Men who eat a lot of red meat or high-fat dairy products appear to have a slightly higher chance of getting prostate cancer. These men also tend to eat fewer fruits and vegetables. Doctors are not sure which of these factors is responsible for raising the risk.

So first off, they aren't sure if it's red meat or lack of fruits and vegetables as a cause so let's say it has a 50% chance of being red meat... then you only appear to have a slightly higher risk.

This song is a preachy extension of Meat Is Murder laced with misandry.

We live in a day where feminism has become a matter of XX > XY rather than XX = XY and we need terms with cis this and poly that and trans whatever and it's lame. This song only adds to the current noise.

http://reddit.com/r/tumblrinaction

1/10 since 0/10 was not an option.
 
A song that is fairly strong musically with big potential thematically, but one Morrissey should have taken more time with the lyrics, because several awkward lines ruin it for me. In my opinion, anyone who ranks this lyrically among his best work is just fooling themselves.
 
10. Great subject matter and sounds unlike anything he's ever done. Love it.
 
its not about fact, its about belief. none of the stereotypes that he and public culture use to define masculinity are factually biologically true but it is the common belief and its the belief that accosts him and many many others throughout there life (thats the frustrating part of it). i personally love all of the popular culture references. true grit and john wayne plus the general ideas about true grit and cowboys, the iceman commeth (the famous hitman), warring cavemen, the slow joe line which could be about athletes like the famous slow joe, the soldiers dying young for glory (friends who joined and died in iraq after 9/11) plus all of the sexual male lovers like don juan and cassanova (true men have sexual power over women) etc. if it were actual fact the song would just be sad but since its not about fact its just oppression and control. to see him take those on is cool to me and endearing as ive been effected by those and the people who wield them in many ways through popular culture. your being to literal which is kinda weird for a person saying the lyrics are to direct and lack subtly
 
its not about fact, its about belief. none of the stereotypes that he and public culture use to define masculinity are factually biologically true but it is the common belief and its the belief that accosts him and many many others throughout there life (thats the frustrating part of it). i personally love all of the popular culture references. true grit and john wayne plus the general ideas about true grit and cowboys, the iceman commeth (the famous hitman), warring cavemen, the slow joe line which could be about athletes like the famous slow joe, the soldiers dying young for glory (friends who joined and died in iraq after 9/11) plus all of the sexual male lovers like don juan and cassanova (true men have sexual power over women) etc. if it were actual fact the song would just be sad but since its not about fact its just oppression and control. to see him take those on is cool to me and endearing as ive been effected by those and the people who wield them in many ways through popular culture. your being to literal which is kinda weird for a person saying the lyrics are to direct and lack subtly

You summed it up rather nicely. One of my favourite songs on the album. I wasn't prepared for a song of this caliber when I first listened to the album. When it finished, I felt truly invigorated. Morrissey at his very best. I was initially reminded of Pulp's "I'm A Man", In which Jarvis sings about the conformity of masculine stereotypes. Anyway...I have to give this a ten. A really great and innovative vocal.
 
thank you and good call on the pulp association. i missed that one but it does really remind me of the sentiment. pulp were great
 
The first song on the album that got me really excited about it. Possibly preaching to the converted, but done so zealously!
 
A couple of dodgy moments aside, the likes of "I'm something much bigger and better than a man" and "I'd never kill or eat an animal", it's a great song. I just think subtlety and self deprecation are better ways to get a message across. So 6 rather than the 8 that it should be.
 
Interestingly, this song (so far) has by far the highest number of 10's (almost 1 in 3 give it 10), yet is only the 3rd scoring song of the new ones we've polled.
 
2nd best song on the album. Loses points for silly reasons - the unneeded intro, and the fact that the synth line at the end should have gone on a bit longer with the bounding drums and bass guitar behind it, instead it's one bar. Live it's two, and much better. 8.
 
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