Album: The Kick Inside (1978)

Charted: 6 85

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• I hear him
  Before I go to sleep
  And focus on the day that's been
  I realize he's there
  When I turn the light off
  And turn over
  Nobody knows about my man
  They think he's lost on some horizon
  And suddenly I find myself listening
  To a man I've never known before
  Telling me about the sea
  Oh his love is to eternity
  
  Ooh he's here again
  The man with the child in his eyes
  Ooh he's here again
  The man with the child in his eyes
  
  He's very understanding and he's so
  Aware of all my situations
  When I stay up late
  He's always with me
  What I feel when I hesitate
  Oh I'm so worried about my love
  They say no, No it won't last forever
  And here I am again my girl
  Wondering what on earth I am doing here
  Maybe he doesn't love me
  I just took a trip on my love for him
  
  Ooh he's here again
  The man with the child in his eyes
  Ooh he's here again
  The man with the child in his eyes Writer/s: KATE BUSH
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 9

• Alice from AlabamaKate got her inspiration for the song because she saw the movie Wuthering Heights and then read the book. It has nothing to do with the Ghost and Mrs Muir
• Melinda from AustraliaThis song always seemed to me to be about a guy who visits you late at night. You know, taps at your window after your parents have gone to bed. To spend some ‘private time’ with you.
  Kate Bush was from a middle class musical family. Who used to ‘jam’ together, with haunting Irish music in their big old house. (Her mother was Irish)
  I’ve noticed that musical families often produce talented children. And she’s a typical product of parents who actively encouraged creative expression. All the time.
  Whatever the meaning this song has, it’s very moving. She has a spellbinding voice.
  Kate Bush just wasn’t ahead of her time. She was her own ‘music movement’. Of that late 70’s early 80’s time. Honestly there was no one like her.
• Adrian from VietnamAs I remember Kate was interviewed about this song about 40 years ago! If memory serves me correct she was only 14 when she wrote it as already pointed out.
  I remember her saying that a man with a child in his eyes was all about men that have a small part in them that never grows up. My thought was the fact that us men always like our toys like motorcycles, cars etc. I thought it was a very sweet comment from somebody I had a very early crush on. One of the UK's best most talented singer/songwriter from the 1970s.
• Neil from Dublin, IrelandIs it a little of both? The song opens with obvious references to something similar to the Ghost and Mrs. Muir story, but then segues into something more personal to a young girl with a crush on an older man. Gilmore was definitely considered a hot rock guitarist at that stage, but maybe this association is just coincidental. The line...
  'And here I am again, my girl
  Wondering what on earth I'm doing here
  Maybe he doesn't love me
  I just took a trip on my love for him'
  ...really suggests a young woman shaking herself out of an infatuation, and not the first one she's had by the sounds of it.
• Brett from Liverpool., United KingdomI doubt it has anything to do with The Ghost and Mrs Muir. More likely the wishes of a young girl for an idealised man. Reflected in an articulate and poetic way for someone so young.
  The reference to not knowing he who speaks of the sea, is only the maternalistic instincts justifying themselves; the creation of a scenario whereby the man is lost in some way. The end statement of "needing to know better, girl" is fake innocence - it's said ironically for me.
  An early lead up to Kate's track about a fictional yet well-known idealised man; Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, which though no more articulately lyrical than The Man With the Child in His Eyes is definitively more personal and grown-up.
• Jason from Ibiza, SpainKate wrote this when she was 14. It has often been said to be about masturbation, until now, Kate has never commented on this, but, then again, has never oficially denied it..
• Dennis from Chicagoland Burrows, IlI kind of assumed this was about Kate and Gilmour.
• Ladystardust from Mexico, MexicoThe lyrics are so touching. and I thought the same as Debi, that it was about "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir": "...And suddenly I find myself
  listening to a man I've never known before, telling me about the sea", I find too many references to that story.
• Debi from Kansas City, MoI always thought that this song was about The Ghost and Mrs. Muir - a story about a widow who moved into a house haunted by a salty sea captain. The two fell in love, despite their circumstances. She became his "ghostwriter", dictating stories of his life and publishing them. Because he wanted her to live her life, he disappeared until she died in the house and then escorted her away, arm in arm.

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