When I Was A Boy

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's 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

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