The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
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
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
Lyrics submitted by emmychloe, edited by thereckoner
I'm a Boy Lyrics as written by Peter Townshend
Lyrics © T.R.O. INC.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Light Up The Sky
Van Halen
Van Halen
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I love the line the verse - i wanna play cricket on the green, ride my bike across the stream, cut myself and see my blood, i wanna come home all covered in mud. takes me back when life was that simple...
i like this song, and when i sing it my parents give me weird looks
Sounds like it's about a brother stuck with all sisters. This song is FUNNY! Absolutely love it.
This reminds me of something I was reading in a parenting book. (Yeah, I'm a 14-year-old, but I read parenting books. Just for fun. Gosh can I be weird.) I was reading about parents who want to have a girl but their child ends up being a boy (or they want a boy and they get a girl). This happens sometimes. People usually get over the disappointment, but the book said that there are some extreme cases where parents will not accept this and so, they'll act as though they DID have a girl even though their kid is really a boy. They'll give him a girl's name (or a name that works for both genders), they'll give him girly toys like dolls to play with, they'll dress him like a girl and they'll even identify him as a girl (which, to me, just seems really really weird). That's basically what this song is about. Pete Townshend's basically just writing a song about those kind of parents and the unfortunate child who lives with this situation. (How much you wanna bet that, when he's grown, he'll want to distance himself from these parents for this and then they'll have no one to blame but themselves?)
Hey, no worries. I thought I could read auoras when I was 14, thnx to the library. Oh, and check out "Boy Named Sue." It's funny too! Oh, and another one by The Fray, but I forget.
this song makes me think of gender identity; whoever telling the story in this song is biologically female, but they are mentally a male and don't get to always do the boy things that they want.
Interesting, like what?
this is such an awesome song, written for pete's rock opera about the future, in which a family chose all girls but were stuck with a boy...great sound, too
this song is funny.
This song makes me laugh everytime. Pete Townshend is an awesome songwriter and the beat is one of the greatest.
This song makes me laugh everytime. Pete Townshend is an awesome songwriter and the beat is one of the greatest.
I love the lyric "But if I say I am, I get it" it cracks me up