Lyrics below are from the sheet music, which you can see at the University of Maine.


IT’S A MAN, EV’RY TIME, IT’S A MAN
Words and music by Al Dubin, Jimmy McHugh, and Irwin Dash, ©1923.

1. They call her a girl that men forget, but why should she have to pay
A debt, I know, that she doesn’t owe, while the man goes on his way?

CHORUS: For who breaks her heart like a child breaks a toy?
It’s a man, ev’ry time; it’s a man.
And who brings her sorrow and takes all her joy?
It’s a man, ev’ry time; it’s a man.
If he makes a blunder, the whole world forgives,
But she has to suffer as long as she lives,
And who is to blame if her head hangs in shame?
It’s a man, ev’ry time; it’s a man.

2. This life is a game we have to play, and hearts are sometimes the stakes,
But why are men so quick to condemn the mistakes a woman makes?

* * *
[You can hear Vernon Dalhart’s 1924 recording of this song at the Internet Archive. He omits verse 2 and inserts this recitation over orchestral accompaniment, which is not in the sheet music:]

There is good in the worst of us, bad in the best,
And at judging a woman, we are just like the rest.
We’ll say, for example, a mistake has been made.
It’s the way of the world that a price must be paid.
The man is forgiven, yes, time after time,
But what she pays is greater by far than the crime;
And though she may repent, still she hasn’t a friend,
And the finger of scorn points her out till the end;
And though it is only wild oats that he sowed,
The rest of her life is a long dreary road;
For the standard of morals for woman and man
Has made it a rule that she can’t though he can.

[Then he sings:]

So who is to blame if her head hangs in shame?
It’s a man, ev’ry time; it’s a man.

* * *
The Internet Archive has the following additional recordings:
Lewis James, 1924.
Henry Scott, 1924.