I Am Who I Am

Perhaps I'll never show this world

all I could be:

I just can't sing to any man

the song he wants to hear.

And I know that some won't like me,

others try to be my friend;

But I'm all of me,

and that's all that I am.

And if life is for the living,

then why can't men be real,

'Stead of hidin' in their costumes,

forgettin' how to feel,

forgettin' how to feel.

We feel.

We still live in a time when manners

cover what is real;

There's a basic fact of life that

the times cannot conceal.

That if some are masqueraders,

others live in their facade.

But I'm what I am,

I cannot be what I am not.

And if life is for the living,

then why can't men be real,

'Stead of hidin' in their costumes,

forgettin' how to feel,

forgettin' how to feel.

We feel.

I may be to honest

and offend those who pretend;

I don't claim I'm always right,

that I'm ev'ry body's friend.

Perhaps for them it's easier

to be what they are not;

But I'm what I am,

and I just can't play that part.

And if life is for the living,

then why can't men be real,

'Stead of hidin' in their costumes,

forgettin' how to feel,

forgettin' how to feel.

We feel.