i remade j's transition mix cd, and i just KNEW y'all would want to see...
1. athens boys choir - red britches
abc/katz is fabulous trans punkrock spoken word poet. no works posted online, unfortunately, but the album i pulled from can be found here: http://www.daemonrecords.com/athens/index.htm. trust me...if you're into gender, you're into this.
2. creedence clearwater revival - fortunate son
no specific lyrics, just the feeling of being a social rebel, the feeling of being denied, of not feeling that entitlement that most take for granted. plus, it's classic.
3. three doors down - be like that
"he spends his nights in california watching the stars on the big screen
then he lies awake and wonders why can't that be me?
cause in his life he's filled with all these good intentions
he's left a lot of things he'd rather not mention right now
but just before he says goodnight he looks up with a little smile at me
and he says, If I could be like that I'd give anything
just to live one day in those shoes...."
4. dido - honestly ok
"I just want to feel safe in my own skin
I just want to be happy again....."
5. athens boys choir - biological
6. amy ray - mtns of glory
a little punk infusion for the girls like me. take it where you will....
"call up my rockboy finally score, he's got drama like a toreador
me and the bottle we were on the mend, tired of winning gonna lose again
i'm gonna miss being the boy
i'm gonna miss being the man..."
7. indigo girls - shed your skin
"I'm speaking in tongues handling you
I got religion now look at it
The days grow longer as we grow stronger
So shed your skin baby
Let it rip... "
8. tom petty and the heartbreakers - runnin' down a dream
"There's something good waiting down this road
I'm picking up whatever is mine
I'm running down a dream
That never would've come to me
Working on a mystery
Going wherever it leads
Running down a dream..."
9. athens boys choir - dick not jane
10. switchfoot - dare you to move
"welcome to the fall out
welcome to resistance
the tension is here
between who you are, and who you could be
between how it is, and how it should be...
where can you run to escape from yourself
where you gonna go?
where you gonna go?
salvation is here...."
11. bruce springsteen - a good man is hard to find
because my boy is SUCH a bruce fan. but moreso because so many of us girls have been burned, and it can be so very hard to trust.
12. trisha yearwood - she's in love with the boy
because i'm not above a sweet simple sappy country love song about a southern boy and a southern girl....
13. shakira - underneath your clothes
because that's what people REALLY want to know about...because that's what is so fragile...because that's what he puts in my hands. it's about making something thought of as broken beautiful again. that's my job, and i am so honored.
"You're a song written by the hands of God
Don't get me wrong...
But you own the place where all my thoughts go hiding
And right under your clothes is where I find them
Underneath your clothes there's an endless story
There's the man I chose, there's my territory
And all the things I deserve for being such a good girl, honey..."
14. athens boys choir - queers in kentucky
15. the pretenders - i'll stand by you
for me, the ultimate partners song. i've cried to this one a few times. i'm a big girl, i can own that.
http://www.pretenders.org/lyrics.htm
16. tift merritt - good hearted man
what happens when a fiesty hothead gets a really good man? this.
"I swore that I was living free.
Oh, you couldn't talk to me
And the pride that kept me, didn't want no company
Early morning subway train
Feeling lost and running late
Well, he held the car, and he gave his seat to me
I told him that he'd better go
'Cause I was crazy and impossible
That my love was broken, my dreams had run off wild
But patient as the easy rain he never turned away,
Calling, 'Hey sweet woman, you know you're not a child'
So I'm trading in that hothead kid for a woman I can give to him
It ain't easy, but I'm gonna do the best I can
For that good hearted man...."
17. u2 - miracle drug
and what would a transition mix be without a hormone reference?
"Of science and the human heart
There is no limit
There is no failure here sweetheart
Just when you quit
Love and logic keep us clear
Reason is on our side, love
The songs are in your eyes
I see them when you smile
I've seen enough I'm not giving up
On a miracle, a miracle drug, a miracle drug..."
18. james taylor - sweet baby james
because sometimes we all need a lullaby.
"Goodnight, you moonlight ladies
Rockabye, sweet baby James
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose
Won't you let me go down in my dreams
And rockabye, sweet baby James..."
19. john denver - rocky mountain high
when i got to know my boy, i was a little surprised to learn he was a john denver fan. i, like most hipsters, thought i was way too cool for john denver. but this is the boy's transition song for himself, and i have learned to love it. somehow, it fits.
"He was born in the summer of his 27th year
Coming home to a place he'd never been before.
He left yesterday behind him
You might say he was born again,
Might say he found a key for every door..."
20. athens boys choir - speculum to scrotum
21. lynyrd skynyrd - simple man
because it is my hope that he will continue to go from boy to man. because we all need guidance. because his own mother will probably never tell him these things...because sometimes we have to help each other.
"Boy, don't you worry... you'll find yourself
Follow your heart and nothing else
And you can do this if you try
All I want for you my son, is to be satisfied...."
22. israel kamakawiwo'ole - over the rainbow
because the T in GLBT is not silent. because he'll always be just a little queer. because he loves camp as much as i do...and because i do so love to end on a high note.
"someday i'll wish upon a star
and wake up where the clouds are far behind me
where trouble melts like lemondrops
high above the chimney top
that's where you'll find me...."