When I Was a Boy

A while back, I tuned into NPR and caught a song that touched me deeply both as a former girl child, and as the mother of a little "girl" and a little "boy." I googled it based on the few lines I remembered, but could not find it. I looked for it at music stores, to no avail. It had a folksy quality, I thought Patti Griffin, but I was wrong. Yesterday I had the brilliant idea to ask Jess, knower of all things music, and she got it instantly. Thank you so much Jess!

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'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 came 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 this clothing store, and the signs say 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, 'cept when I'm being caught off guard
And I've had a lonesome awful day, the conversation finds its way
To catching fire-flies out in the backyard.

And I so 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.