Lyrics

As I grew up by the docks on the New Jersey side
My dad took take me down Park Ave for a Sunday drive.
He'd point up to those penthouses every few hours,
Saying 'There's two ways known to man, boy, you can live in those towers.

CHORUS
Gotta be LEAN OR RICH, gotta be LEAN OR RICH.
And it don't matter how, don't matter which,
You know you gotta be either LEAN OR RICH.

Well, a guy I knew in high school, he could never get a date.
When you're fat, and bald, and ugly, such is bound to be your fate.
He struck black gold in Texas, he moved to Palm Springs,
His wife, french maid, and mistress are the sweetest young things.

CHORUS
Gotta be LEAN OR RICH, gotta be LEAN OR RICH.
And it don't matter how, don't matter which,
You know you gotta be either LEAN OR RICH.

Well, a guy I used to work with was a big lazy slob,
He never had no money 'cause he never held no job.
But going to the health spa added muscle to his life,
And he's shacked up down in Rio with some fat rich guy's wife.

CHORUS
Gotta be LEAN OR RICH, LEAN OR RICH,
And it don't matter how, don't matter which,
You know you gotta be either LEAN OR RICH.

I'm really not complainin' about my lot in life, but
I'm just a working stiff with a bit of a gut.
And I'll never be Paul Newman, nor hit the sweepstakes,
So I’ll give you this advice, boy, go and get what it takes.

CHORUS
LEAN OR RICH, gotta be LEAN OR RICH.
And it don't matter how, don't matter which,
You've only got to be either LEAN OR RICH.