Is Life Worth a Damn?

[PrivateTim]

Can you shout, I am what I am?

 

 

I am what I am

I am my own special creation.

So come take a look,

Give me the hook or the ovation.

It's my world that I want to take a little pride in,

My world, and it's not a place I have to hide in.

Life's not worth a damn,

'Til you can say, "Hey world, I am what I am."

 

I am what I am,

I don't want praise, I don't want pity.

I bang my own drum,

Some think it's noise, I think it's pretty.

And so what, if I love each feather and each spangle,

Why not try to see things from a diff'rent angle?

Your life is a sham 'til you can shout out loud

I am what I am!

 

I am what I am

And what I am needs no excuses.

I deal my own deck

Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces.

There's one life, and there's no return and no deposit;

One life, so it's time to open up your closet.

Life's not worth a damn 'til you can say,

"Hey world, I am what I am!"

[John Doe]

Makes me want to go see a musical...

[paya]

Makes me think of an old French chanson by Charles Aznavour...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okXt33o40MQ

 

My mum and I we live alone

A great apartment is our home

In fairhome towers

I have to keep me company

Two cats, a dog, a parakeet

Some plants and flowers

I help my mother with the chores

I wash, she dries, I do the floors

We work together

I shop and cook and sew a bit

Though mum does too I must admit

I do it better

At night I work in a strange bar

Impersonating every star

I'm quite deceiving

The customers come in with doubt

And wonder what I'm all about

But leave believing

I do a very special show

Where I am nude from head to toe

After stripteasing

Each night the men look so surprised

I change my sex before their eyes

Tell me if you can

What makes a man a man

 

Round 3 o'clock or so I meet

With friends to have a bite to eat

And conversation

We talk and empty out our hearts

On every subject from the arts

To liberation

We love to pull apart someone

And spread some gossip just for fun

Or start a rumour

We let our hair down, so to speak

And mock ourselves with tongue-in-cheek

And inside humour

So many times we have to pay

For having fun and being gay

It's not amusing

There's always those who spoil our games

By finding fault and calling names

Always accusing

They draw attention to themselves

At the expense of someone else

It's so confusing

Yet they make fun of how I talk

And imitate the way I walk

Tell me if you can

What makes a man a man

 

My masquerade comes to an end

And I go home to bed again

Alone and friendless

I close my eyes and think of him

And fantasize what might have been

My dreams are endless

We love each other but it seems

The love lives only in my dreams

It's so one-sided

But in this life I must confess

The search for love and happiness

Is unrequited

I ask myself what have I got

And what I am and what I'm not

What am I giving

The answers come from those who make

The rules that some of us must break

Just to keep living

I know my life is not a crime

I'm just a victim of my time

I stand defenceless

Nobody has the right to be

The judge of what is right for me

Tell me if you can

What makes a man a man...

 

 

 

[Tipdin]

For many years, I was part of the theater world. My partner is a SAG member from his Broadway days, and this song has special meaning for many gay men that lived through Stonewall and the first AIDS years. I still belt it out and nearly always end it with tears in my eyes.

[Nephylim]

I LOVE that song and I LOVE John Barrowman *sigh*

[phana14]

Can you shout, I am what I am?

 

 

I am what I am

I am my own special creation.

So come take a look,

Give me the hook or the ovation.

It's my world that I want to take a little pride in,

My world, and it's not a place I have to hide in.

Life's not worth a damn,

'Til you can say, "Hey world, I am what I am."

 

I am what I am,

I don't want praise, I don't want pity.

I bang my own drum,

Some think it's noise, I think it's pretty.

And so what, if I love each feather and each spangle,

Why not try to see things from a diff'rent angle?

Your life is a sham 'til you can shout out loud

I am what I am!

 

I am what I am

And what I am needs no excuses.

I deal my own deck

Sometimes the ace, sometimes the deuces.

There's one life, and there's no return and no deposit;

One life, so it's time to open up your closet.

Life's not worth a damn 'til you can say,

"Hey world, I am what I am!"

 

To Tim,

I only WISH that I could do just that! Shout it out! Let EVERYONE know who the hell I actually am!!

I don't have the equipment, I guess, to do so.

 

What a wonderful song with a life-altering message.

 

Thank you for posting this.

 

Just, maybe, the door cracked a bit wider.

[Menorain]

life IS worth a damn, and you are too!

 

/me saves the day

[Skylights]

I LOVE IT!!!!

 

thanks for sharinggggggggggggggg <333

 

unfortunately, sometimes we must keep certain things to ourselves because the world is intolerant and it means losing loved ones

f**k everyone else though