As I was working on the last of my bow orders, my mp3 player filled my ears & heart with one of my favorite songs. If you are not familiar with Dar Williams, run, run, run to your library and pick up her music. She is one of my favorite musical story tellers. This song pulls at my heartstrings and makes me cry like a baby every single time I hear it. As a mother of a little boy, the last verse just breaks my heart.
The song begs me to ask the question, “Were you once a boy too?”
Hope you all are enjoying a lazy Sunday too!
When I Was A Boy by Dar Williams
I won’t forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy; I’m glad he didn’t check.
I learned to fly, I learned to fight I lived a whole life in one night
We saved each other’s lives out on the pirate deck.
And I remember that night
When I’m leaving a late night with some friends
And I hear somebody tell me it’s not safe, someone should help me
I need to find a nice man to walk me home.
When I was a boy,
I scared the pants off of my mom,
Climbed what I could climb upon
And I don’t know how I survived,
I guess I knew the tricks that all boys knew.
And you can walk me home,
but I was a boy, too.
I was a kid that you would like,
just a small boy on her bike
Riding topless, yeah, I never cared who saw.
My neighbor come outside to say, “Get your shirt,”
I said “No way, it’s the last time I’m not breaking any law.”
And now I’m in a clothing store, and the sign says less is more
More that’s tight means more to see,
more for them, not more for me
That can’t help me climb a tree in ten seconds flat
When I was a boy, see that picture?
That was me
Grass-stained shirt and dusty knees
And I know things have gotta change,
They got pills to sell,
they’ve got implants to put in,
they’ve got implants to remove
But I am not forgetting
That I was a boy too
And like the woods where I would creep,
it’s a secret I can keep
Except when I’m tired,
except when I’m being caught off guard
I’ve had a lonesome awful day,
the conversation finds its way
To catching fire-flies out in the backyard.
And I tell the man I’m with about the other life I lived
And I say now you’re top gun,
I have lost and you have won
And he says, “Oh no, no, can’t you see
When I was a girl, my mom and I we always talked
And I picked flowers everywhere that I walked.
And I could always cry,
now even when I’m alone I seldom do
And I have lost some kindness
But I was a girl too.
And you were just like me, and I was just like you.