{"id":7233,"date":"2018-08-17T08:13:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-17T08:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=7233"},"modified":"2025-07-09T05:31:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T05:31:32","slug":"once-a-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=7233","title":{"rendered":"Once A Boy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Once A Boy\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KgijcO0WVDI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I regard this as one of my best songs, although it is a little painful for me to listen to. At the end of the 80s we were just starting to recognise the extent in our communities of child sexual and physical abuse. This song is based on no one person in particular &#8211; but my own memories, and incidents and events from the lives of children I was working with at the time. I was seeing firsthand the damage and ripple effects it could cause at the same time as seeking to understand how growing up gay in a homophobic environment had directed and coloured my own life. I hadn&#8217;t hurt people in the overt way of the children in my care, but in other ways? I wasn&#8217;t so sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Listening back at the song, I feel it is technically quite impressive. I can remember the care and precision that went into the writing, and for once I am happy with my vocal performance. The production, as ever, is limited by experience and equipment, but it achieves its goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can probably tell I am proud of this one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once a boy heard a noise and suddenly came curiosity<br>And out of the dark as a knife leaves its mark<br>Innocence, innocence turns and betrays him<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the boy turned out to be someone to stand in this world<br>Of loneliness, in fear of someone no longer there<br>And the boy turned out to be someone who&#8217;s less than one part of me<br>But nonetheless someone could see<br>And if god should judge me then innocence must be my plea<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I dreamed someone who loved me opened up my eyes to things I did not want to know<br>Could not understand<br>I dreamed someone who loved me carried me away somewhere I did not want to go<br>I know it was not planned<br>That I should not forget the names and faces<br>Should not forget forbidden places<br>And not forget confusion as love turns to fear<br>And if we carry the torch of the sins of our fathers we never will be free<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the boy turned out to be a man with faith in the world<br>A world that would not harm a foolish man who means no ill<br>But in time this foolish man could see he&#8217;s still just an angry child<br>Who hasn&#8217;t learned to take some bitter pill<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pictures of childhood return as I sleep in your arms<br>Once a boy heard a noise and suddenly came curiosity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I regard this as one of my best songs, although it is a little painful for me to listen to. At the end of the 80s we were just starting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"rishi__cb_customizer_meta":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7233"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7535,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7233\/revisions\/7535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}