When I Was A Boy

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 so 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."

"We adults may think very different things about boys and girls, and treat them accordingly, but when we measure their capacities, they're remarkably alike . . . . In that [ 5 months through 7 years ] age span, you see a considerable number of the pieces of our mature capacities for spatial and numerical reasoning coming together . . . But while we always test for gender differences in our studies, we never find them."