What Makes A Man A Man

Drag artiste Miss Lola Lasagne performing Charles Aznavour's 'What Makes A Man A Man' as part of 'We Are Fabuloso', the Brighton & Hove Pride digital festival, 2020.

Aznavour is widely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters and performers of the 20th century, having composed more than 1,000 songs, performed by a staggering who’s who of the entertainment world. Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Bob Dylan, Petula Clark, Ray Charles, Lena Horne, Serge Gainsbourg: all have sung his praises.

In 1972, Aznavour (described as the gayest straight man ever) wrote what would become one of his most famous songs, “Comme Ils Disent,” or “What Makes a Man.”
 
“I was the first to write a song in France about homosexuality,” he says. “I wanted to write about the specific problems my gay friends faced. I could see things were different for them, that they were marginalised.”
 
The song’s lyrics describe the life of a gay man, his crossdressing at Paris clubs by night, his close relationship to his mother. “I always wrote about things that others might not have written about. We don’t mind frank language in books, the theatre or cinema, but for some reason still to sing about such things is seen as odd.”


He sings the English version here.