Written and performed by: [Kate Bush]
First released on: [The Kick Inside] (Released 17 February 1978)

The year was 1980; the place a tiny [Harvard] dorm room. I was a naive young man from the [mountains] of [Alleghany County, Virginia|rural, southwestern Virginia], and my first [significant other|boyfriend] was introducing me to sex, to love, and to the music of Kate Bush, a name I'd never heard, and a voice like none I'd ever heard. And this [song]... oh, this song was expressing something about my life, my [coming out|coming-out] process, my opening up to another man, feelings and actions I'd withheld to then, and all the attendant doubts and fears of finally releasing them. I barely think back to my [college] years now, or even have many strong memories of that time, but this song and a few others — like [Bronski Beat]'s "[Smalltown Boy]" and [Quarterflash]'s "[Love Should Be So Kind] "— take me right back to that place and time, and let me again be that green kid with so much yet to learn, feel, do, be.

Written by a young Kate Bush (sources vary, but Kate herself is quoted as saying that she wrote and first recorded the song at age 16). The lyrics tell of a [relationship] between a young girl and an older man — perhaps an [imaginary|imagined] relationship, as no one but the girl is certain that the man truly exists. The phrase "child in his eyes" comes from Kate's observation that most of the men she knew at that time of her life were "[little boy]s inside," that they are "more or less just grown up kids."

This was one of the first songs Kate ever recorded, having done so three years before the release of The Kick Inside, her [debut] album. On December 9, 1978, Kate performed this song (along with "[Them Heavy People]") on [Saturday Night Live], her first U.S. performance.

I hear him, before I go to [sleep]
And focus on the day that's been.
I realise 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],
All his love, 'til [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.
And when I stay up late,
He's always waiting, but I feel him hesitate.

Oh, I'm so [worried] about my love.
They say, "No, no, [nothing lasts forever|it won't last forever]."
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.
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.

Chords

Em  Em/D               C
I   hear him, before I go to sleep 
G/B              Am
And focus on the day that's been. 
Em        Em/D
I realise he's there, 
       C        G/B                Am
When I turn the light off and turn over. 

Bm     A
Nobody knows about my man.
Bb              F/A          G
They think he's lost on some horizon.
               F#
And suddenly I find myself
F             Em   Eb
Listening to a man I've never known before,

Dm          C
Telling me about the sea,
G       F           Ab
All his love, 'til eternity.

C   G C      Bb    F    Bb F/A
Ooh,    he's here again,
Bb               F/A          C9
The man with the child in his eyes.
C   G C      Bb    F    Bb F/A
Ooh,    he's here again,
Bb               F/A          C9
The man with the child in his eyes.

Em        Em/D
He's very understanding,
         C           G/B         Am
And he's so aware of all my situations.
Em         Em/D
And when I stay up late,
C           G/B                     Am
He's always waiting, but I feel him hesitate.

Bm         A
Oh, I'm so worried about my love.
Bb             F/A               G
They say, "No, no, it won't last forever."
               F#
And here I am again, my girl,
F         Em            Eb
Wondering what on Earth I'm doing here.

Dm           C
Maybe he doesn't love me.
G             F          Ab
I just took a trip on my love for him.

C   G C      Bb    F    Bb F/A
Ooh,    he's here again,
Bb               F/A          C9
The man with the child in his eyes.
C   G C      Bb    F    Bb F/A
Ooh,    he's here again,
Bb               F/A          C9   C
The man with the child in his eyes.

Kate Bush quotes from "[Cloudbusting] — Kate Bush in Her Own Words" (http://children.ofthenight.org/cloudbusting/music.html)
Chords from http://www.norbry.net/kate-bush/

The Man With the Child in His Eyes (thing)