The song Family Man by Colin Hay is a personal recount of the life experiences of a man who has seen and gone through a lot in life. The lyrics touch on themes such as hard work, war, love, family, and memories. The song begins with the narrator talking about a man who came asking for his hard-earned pay and then drank it all away. The events take place in 1934, and the man in question seems to have been someone the narrator knew. The song then jumps to the time when the narrator went to war, and he talks about how it stole five years, and he was a stranger to his wife. He then mentions the slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, which is a dance step that refers to how life sometimes moves. The narrator then talks about a secret plan he had of becoming a family man, and how he remembers it like it was yesterday. He then sailed off to a distant shore, and now, 40 years or maybe more, he looks back at his life, and it all fades away. The song is a story of one man's life, filled with ups and downs, but with the determination to make a better life for himself and his family. It is a reminder that life moves quickly, and we have to make the most of it while we can. The song inspires us to hold on to our dreams and to never give up on our journey towards our goals.
