I'm a Boy (1966, UK)

A British pop group called The Who had a UK no 1 hit called I'm a Boy in 1966; this is a short promo film for the music.

The theme is that a boy of about twelve wnats to play rough-and-tumble boys' games, but his mother insists on him dressing as a pretty girl with his three sisters, as bridesmaids for a church wedding.

Pete Townsend wrote the music and explained that, "The song is set in the year 2000 about parents who order four girls and one of them turns out to be a boy, so he pretends to be a girl." This isn't quite borne out by the words of the song or the action in the video. In fact the words suggest that his mother keeps him permanently in girls' clothing. The words are:

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 practise making up on my face;
I get lucky if I get trousers to wear
[Indistinct] 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, 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, if I say I am I get it.

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.

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.

HF March 2009

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