Real Men (song)

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"Real Men"
Single by Joe Jackson
from the album Night and Day
B-side"Chinatown"
Released11 June 1982 (UK)[1]
GenrePower pop
Length4:03
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Joe Jackson
Producer(s)
Joe Jackson singles chronology
"Jumpin' Jive"
(1981) 		"Real Men"
(1982) 		"Steppin' Out"
(1982)

"Real Men" is a song by English singer-songwriter and musician Joe Jackson, released in 1982 as the lead single from his fifth studio album, Night and Day. The song was written by Jackson, and was produced by Jackson and David Kershenbaum.[2] Although "Real Men" only reached number 89 in the UK Singles Chart, it became a hit in the Dutch language area, as well as Australia where it peaked at number 6.[3][4] The song was covered by Tori Amos on her 2001 album of gender-swapped covers, Strange Little Girls.

Background[edit]

Jackson has described "Real Men" as being about the "age old battle of the sexes". He told Billboard in 1982, "I think your average male has had his masculinity and supremacy threatened to the point where he's not sure what it is he's supposed to do. Intelligent, forward thinking, in the sexual arena, is being done by women. It's all about the way stereotypes have reversed, turned upside down and become meaningless."[5] The song has also been described as examining the themes of sexuality and male sexual attraction to other men.[6]

Jackson believed the lyrics remained relevant years later, when he told BBC Radio 2 in 1998, "I still think very much people don't know what a real man is anymore. What is the role of a man? How is a man supposed to be? I think we're in this period of transition of redefining the sexes, which is really interesting to me."[7]

Music video[edit]

The song's music video was directed by Steve Barron.[8]

Critical reception[edit]

Upon its release as a single, Neil Tennant, writing for Smash Hits, considered "Real Men" as a return to the "small-guy bitterness" of Jackson's early records. He called it a "tough, piano-backed ballad" that "spits and scratches" and sees Jackson "kick sand in the faces of macho men".[9] Mike Nicholls of Record Mirror called it a "portentous thought-provoking ditty" with a "nice tune", "mighty strum-und-drang production" and lyrics "intoned with so much of his usual boring venom one loses the drift of whatever the hell it is he's on about".[10] Frank Edmonds of the Bury Free Press felt the "terribly earnest and meaningful song" is "far too serious to be entertaining".[11]

In a review of Night and Day, Mike Day of The Age considered "Real Men" to be a "superbly grandiose creation" with "Phil Spector-style piano", a "wailing vocal chorus that is vintage Springsteen", "echoing drums" and lyrics that "cut a swathe through male chauvinism".[12] Susan Molloy of The Sydney Morning Herald described it as "lyrically one of the most outrageous songs for a long time" which "seemingly ends with a plea for grass-roots heterosexuality".[6] Alan Kellogg of the Edmonton Journal noted the "sheer lyric depth" and "brittle intensity", adding it was "a song for the Eighties if there ever was one".[13] Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone commented that it "solemnly blends string chamber music with echoes of Phil Spector, as Jackson sorts out the contradiction between the traditional male role of warrior and today's macho gay culture".[14]

In 2015, Kevin Wuench of Tampa Bay Times said of the song's lyrical message, "'Real Men' is not so much pro-gay song but more an open-ended song that asks the listener to make their own definition of what makes a real man".[15] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described the song as "haunting" in a retrospective review of Night and Day.[2]

Track listing[edit]

7-inch single

  1. "Real Men" – 4:03
  2. "Chinatown" – 4:26

12-inch single (The Real Men EP, Dutch release)

  1. "Real Men" – 4:05
  2. "El Cancer" – 6:06
  3. "El Blanco" – 3:52
  4. "Un Otro Mundo" – 4:00

Personnel[edit]

Production

  • Joe Jackson – producer, mixing
  • David Kershenbaum – producer, mixing
  • Michael Ewasko – engineer

Other

  • Gary Green – photography

Charts[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Joe Jackson - Real Men / Chinatown - A&M - UK - AMS 8231". 45cat. 18 June 1982. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Night and Day - Joe Jackson | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Joe Jackson UK Singles Chart History (from ukmix.org)". Imgur.com. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  4. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 151. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  5. ^ "Billboard - Google Books". 17 July 1982. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  6. ^ a b Molloy, Susan (30 August 1982). "Joe forgets Billy". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  7. ^ Joe Jackson (7 February 1998). Heaven and Hell: The Joe Jackson Story (Radio). BBC Radio 2.
  8. ^ "Joe Jackson - Real Men (1982)". IMVDb. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  9. ^ Tennant, Neil (24 June 1982). "Singles". Smash Hits. Vol. 4, no. 13. p. 16. ISSN 0260-3004.
  10. ^ Nicholls, Mike (19 June 1982). "Singles". Record Mirror. p. 14. ISSN 0144-5804.
  11. ^ Edmonds, Frank (25 June 1982). "Soundscene with Frank Edmonds". Bury Free Press. p. 13. Retrieved 13 May 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ Daly, Mike (23 September 1982). "Joe's not just a singer". The Age.
  13. ^ Kellogg, Alan (15 July 1982). "Sound Waves". The Edmonton Journal.
  14. ^ (Posted: Aug 16, 1982) (16 August 1982). "Joe Jackson: Night And Day : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2 June 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2018.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "What is 'Real Men' about? Joe Jackson leaves that up to you". Tampabay.com. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  16. ^ "Joe Jackson – Real Men" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  17. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Joe Jackson" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  18. ^ "Joe Jackson – Real Men" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  19. ^ "Joe Jackson – Real Men". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  20. ^ "Kent Music Report No 445 – 3 January 1983 > National Top 100 Singles for 1982". Kent Music Report, via Imgur.com. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
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