I know you've come to hear me sing
About your life, in the songs I bring
Your loneliness and other blue
A line or two to pull you through

Parade with everything in place
Buying the right jeans and matching face
Still won't give you the right to claim
The rest of me in the public's name

So let us remain strangers
And let us play it straight
You play Hunky Dory
And I'll play Man Charade

I fell into the same old trap
My father's father's father fell
And although I don't know his face
His name and genes I know too well
His name and genes they are my hell

So let us remain strangers
And let us play it straight
You play Hunky Dory
And I'll play Man Charade

There was a time when there was peace
There was a time when I had rest
But now you're already in my knees
Moving up towards my chest
It's hurting bad inside my ch-ch-chest

So let us remain strangers
And let us play it straight
You play Hunky Dory
And I'll play Man Charade
I don't do this for money
I don't know who would pay
You smile and think it's funny
While I'm so sick of this charade
So sick of this charade
Children, let's play Man Charade!
Hate this charade