Interpretations:Half A Boy

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• Lyrics
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• Bass Tab
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Interpretation 1

This song has the similar TMBG theme of not wanting to grow up. In many ways it reminds me of narrow your eyes. The line about half a boy reminds me of something my grandfather says "one boy is half a man and two boys is no man at all" or the speaker feels he is definatly not "a man." The key differance between this song and Narrow Your Eyes is that the young man in narrow your eyes is running from the prospect of becoming an adult, but in this song the boy wants to grow up but the girl he likes rejects him because she sees him as only "half a boy". -a.lost.boy

I think this is basically a story about a kid saying that he can drive to impress an older girl, he gets taken to the police office. He hopes that if he gets arrested and goes to jail, the girl will be in love with him, and is able to bail him out. That's what I think. ~n8jorge

Interpretation 2

This is a great example of TMBG's unique style of Love Gone Sour songs. To me, it's a tender, sincere, and slightly bitter lament about a lost love. I particularly like the twisting of the expression "the writings on the wall," i.e. the situation is obvious "and I should know, cause I wrote it all," i.e. it's my fault. Tutt 14:55, 7 Oct 2005 (EDT)MasterChivo

Good observation. Since the other verse turns the statement around to "you should know 'cause you wrote it all", I think he's caught in the "after-breakup self-accusation / blame-the-other-party tug-of-war" trap. --Nehushtan (talk) 17:19, 10 August 2021 (EDT)

Nick Lowe

I have to believe the ghost of Nick Lowe's "Half A Boy And Half A Man" is lurking in this song. Lowe's tune was full of insult, but Flans dispenses with the man half - there's "nothing else" - and changes the vicious "he" to a despairing "me" - brooding sadness in place of spirited spite. --Nehushtan (talk) 01:12, 10 August 2021 (EDT)