I'm A Boy

Album: Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy (1966)
Charted: 2
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  • One girl was called Jean Marie
    Another little girl was called Felicity
    Another little girl was Sally Joy
    The other was me, and I'm a boy

    My name is Bill, and I'm a head case
    They practice making up on my face
    Yeah, I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear
    Spend evenings taking hairpins from my hair

    I'm a boy, I'm a boy
    But my ma won't admit it
    I'm a boy, I'm a boy
    But if I say I am, I get it

    Put your frock on, Jean Marie
    Plait your hair, Felicity
    Paint your nails, little Sally Joy
    Put this wig on, little boy

    I'm a boy, I'm a boy
    But my ma won't admit it
    I'm a boy, I'm a boy
    But if I say I am, I get it

    I want to play cricket on the green
    Ride my bike across the street
    Cut myself and see my blood
    I want to come home all covered in mud

    I'm a boy, I'm a boy
    But my ma won't admit it
    I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm a boy
    I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm a boy
    I'm a boy, I'm a boy, I'm a boy Writer/s: PETER TOWNSHEND
    Publisher: T.R.O. INC.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 15

  • Oliver from None Of Your Businesstransmasc teen here. this encapsulates my feelings pretty well, albeit a bit simplistically. wonderful song and surprisingly progressive for the sixties :)
  • Ben from AustraliaAs a trans man, this song hits really close to home. Really captures the s--ttiness of being misgendered by your own mum.
  • Clemence from New YorkI always wondered if this song was autobiographical for Pete Townsend. Sounds like it wasn't.
  • Scott from New York, NyChris, it's a French Horn. That was John's first instrument and he plays it on various who songs such as My Wife.
  • Guy from Woodinville, WaThis is a great song! I grew up one boy with four sisters, so I could always relate to it. I didn't have the extreme issues portrayed in the song, but it always cracked me up and I felt like it was one of my theme songs. It pays to have a sense of humour. Pete Townshend wrote about real psychology like no other rocker!!
  • David from Boerne, TxThis lyric is surprisingly touching. Especially to an adult who might've had "gender identity issues" as a kid, which I understand Townshend did.
  • Tomcat from Richmond, VaReply to Zack:
    I think that this means that if the poor kid tries to assert himself, his parents whack the living tar out of him.
  • Stefanie Magura from Rock Hill, ScThe description of "Quads" in the above mensioned songfacts sounda little like what happens in the movie "Gattica". has anyone else noticed that?
  • Chris from Elk River, MnOne of the few rock songs I am aware of that uses a tuba. At least I'm pretty sure it's a tuba, at the end of the song.
  • Zack from Burnley, EnglandCan anyone else here a voiceover on "...but if I say I am I *get it*"?
  • Fintan from Cheltenham, EnglandThe family in "Quads" had ordered four girls but had instead gotten three girls and one boy.
  • Eddie from Petaluma, Cathis song rocks. the lyrics rock and so does the actual song. god bless the who and pete townshend for coming out with such a great song
  • Stefanie Magura from Rock Hill, ScWow pete Townshend was definitely ahead of his time. I mien, I dould the song was about a boy whose mother wanted him to be a girl, but noone else would have written about that in the '60's. Would they have?!
  • Ryan from Albion, Nyi thought this song was kind of the opposite..like a girl who acts like she's a boy or something..oh well
  • Shana from Detroit Rock City, Canadahaha this song is cool...it starts to rock out a bit into it and I think they should have stuck with that for the rest of the song, or at least made it into a chorus type thing...
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