thought this might be a fun idea for a thread. are there any songs that you as a trans person relate to especially, even if the song wasn't written from a trans perspective? if so, share them here.

I'll start. this song keeps coming up on my iPod and making me think about my experiences, and the person I'm leaving behind in order to become a person that's more like me.



for the folks without fast internet, here are the lyrics:

Goodnight
To the city and the sea
To the strangers in the street
Goodnight
To the ghosts out in the hall
The paint peeling off the walls
Goodnight

Sometimes I stand between the sidewalk and the sky
And just stare into the clouds as they pass by
You have to leave the ground to learn to fly

Goodnight
To the TV and the clocks
To the rain that never stops
Goodnight
To everyone I know
Shut my eyes and let em go
Goodnight

Sometimes I stand between the sidewalk and the sky
And just stare into the clouds as they pass by
You have to leave the ground to learn to fly

There is something beautiful dying every day
And for the first time in my life I'm not afraid
Cause there is nothing in this world that doesn't change

Goodnight
To the person I have been
To the place that I am in
Goodnight
Tomorrow hello to the sun
Are you ready here I come
Goodnight

Sometimes I stand between the sidewalk and the sky
And just stare into the clouds as they pass by
You have to leave the ground to learn to fly
You have to leave the ground to learn to fly

since we are children again regrowing back up properly


"Greatest Love Of All"

I believe the children are our are future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone to fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
So I learned to depend on me

[Chorus:]
I decided long ago, never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all

I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be

[Chorus]

And if by chance, that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love

(for me this is about coming out to myself, but also responding to friends' responses...)

Jericho - Joni Mitchell

I'll try to keep myself open up to you
That's a promise that I made to love
When it was new
"Just like Jericho" I said
"Let these walls come tumbling down"
I said it like I finally found the way
To keep the good feelings alive
I said it like it was something to strive for.

I'll try to keep myself open up to you
And approve your self expression
I need that, too
I need your confidence, baby
And the gift of your extra time
In turn I'll give you mine
Sweet darling, it's a rich exchange
It seems to me
It's a warm arrangement!

Anyone will tell you
Just how hard it is to make and keep a friend
Maybe they'll short-sell you
Or maybe it's you
Judas, in the end
When you just can no longer pretend
That you're getting what you need
Or you're giving out anything for
them to grow and feed on.

I'll try to keep myself open up to you
It gets easier and easier to do
Just like Jericho
Let these walls come tumbling down now
Let them fall right on the ground
Let all these dogs go running free
The wild and the gentle dogs
Kennelled in me.

Hi for me it is Bon Jovi "It's my life". Only I can decide who to live it

Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants

Don't you ever, don't you ever
stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome
don't you ever, don't you ever
stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome

Prince Charming
Prince Charming
ridicule is nothing to be scared of
don't you ever, don't you ever
stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome

don't you ever, don't you ever
lower yourself, forgetting all your standards
don't you ever, don't you ever
lower yourself, forgetting all your standards

Prince Charming
Prince Charming
ridicule is nothing to be scared of
don't you ever, don't you ever
stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome

silk or leather or a feather
respect yourself and all of those around you
silk or leather or a feather
respect yourself and all of those around you

Prince Charming
Prince Charming
ridicule is nothing to be scared of
don't you ever, don't you ever
stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome

don't you ever, don't you ever
lower yourself, forgetting all your standards
don't you ever, don't you ever
lower yourself, forgetting all your standards

Prince Charming
Prince Charming
ridicule is nothing to be scared of
Prince Charming
Prince Charming
ridicule is nothing to be scared of...

Cherry Lips by Garbage

Okay, maybe it's not the best trans-related song, but it definitely has trans overtones

She gave you everything she had
But she was young and dumb
She'd just turned twenty-one
She didn't care to hang around
So when the ->-bleeped-<- came down
Why she was nowhere to be found
This life can turn a good girl bad
She was the sweetest thing
That you had ever seen

You're such a delicate boy
In the hysterical realm
Of an emotional landslide
In physical terms

With your cherry lips and golden curls
You could make grown men gasp
When you'd go walking past them
In your hot pants and high heels
They could not believe
That such a body was for real
It seemed like rainbows would appear
Whenever you came near the clouds would disappear
Because you looked just like a girl
Your baby blues would flash
And suddenly a spell was cast

You hold a candle in your heart
You shine the light on hidden parts
You make the whole world wanna dance
You bought yourself a second chance

Go Baby Go Go
We're right behind you
Go baby Go Go
Yeah we're looking at you
Go baby Go Go
Aw we're right behind you
Go Baby
Go Baby
Yeah we're looking at you
Go

"Half Jack" by Dresden Dolls... but that kind of goes without saying.

For a more sincere trans-related song, Dar Williams 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's 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 helpme
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 forme
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'vegot 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 cankeep
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 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.

Candy Says by The Velvet Underground. It was written by Lou Reed about Candy Darling, a pre-op MTF actress associated with Andy Warhol's Factory.

To me, it is the most beautiful song ever written about not being comfortable with yourself.


Candy says I've come to hate my body
And all that it requires in this world
Candy says I'd like to know completely
What others so discreetly talk about

I'm gonna watch the blue birds fly over my shoulder
I'm gonna watch them pass me by
Maybe when I'm older
What do you think I'd see
If I could walk away from me

Candy says I hate the quiet places
That cause the smallest taste of what will be
Candy says I hate the big decisions
That cause endless revisions in my mind

I'm gonna watch the blue birds fly over my shoulder
I'm gonna watch them pass me by
Maybe when I'm older
What do you think I'd see
If I could walk away from me

@Lucas Bann, I was about to post that one too.

Ever since my girlfriend showed me this song, it makes me cry, just because it...yeah. Sums everything up.

"Perfectly Flawed"

If you do this
If you do this you'll never have a chance to try again.
If you do this you'll never have a chance to try.

It's the same sound
Same sting.
The same collapse
Of every thing.

It's the same slice,
Same blade,
The same lie,
Same ol' vein

My weight
My face
My height
My race
I'm a mistake.

My weight
My face
My height
My race
I'm such a disgrace.

You're perfectly flawed
You're perfectly incomplete
Like cracks in the glass
And faded photographs

You're perfectly flawed
You're perfectly incomplete
Let them condemn
Imperfections will keep you unique

Nothing left to lose, just try again
Nothing left to lose, just try again

Its the same doubt,
The same dream
It's the same sabotage
Cause I'm the enemy

It's the same night
Same day
It's the same parasite,
Feeding on the betrayed.

My weight
My face
My height
My race
I'm a mistake

My weight
My face
My height
My race
I'm such a disgrace

You're perfectly flawed
You're perfectly incomplete
Like cracks in the glass
And faded photographs

You're perfectly flawed
You're perfectly incomplete
A work in progress
Imperfections will keep you unique

A disguise of self-deception
Hides my secrets perfectly
I'm rejecting my reflection
'Cause I hate the way it judges me

Don't you do it
You're not even you yet
Don't you do it
You're not even you yet

You're perfectly flawed
You're perfectly incomplete
Like cracks in the glass
And faded photographs

You're perfectly flawed
You're perfectly incomplete
A work in progress
Imperfections will keep you unique


Also, Smashing Pumpkins' "Mayonaise" (To me, at least).

Fool enough to almost be it
Cool enough to not quite see it
Doomed
Pick your pockets full of sorrow
And run away with me tomorrow
June

We'll try and ease the pain
But somehow we'll feel the same
Well, no one knows
Where our secrets go

I send a heart to all my dearies
When your life is so, so dreary
Dream
I'm rumored to the straight and narrow
While the harlots of my perils
Scream

And I fail
But when I can, I will
Try to understand
That when I can, I will

Mother weep the years I'm missing
All our time can't be given
Back
Shut my mouth and strike the demons
That cursed you and your reasons
Out of hand and out of season
Out of love and out of feeling
So bad

When I can, I will
Words defy the plan
When I can, I will

Fool enough to almost be it
And cool enough to not quite see it
And old enough to always feel this
Always old, I'll always feel this

No more promise no more sorrow
No longer will I follow
Can anybody hear me
I just want to be me
When I can, I will
Try to understand
That when I can, I will

And, a bit from Madonna's "Live to Tell" really gets to me every time I hear it.

If I ran away, I'd never have the strength
To go very far
How could they hear the beating of my heart?
Will it grow cold?
The secret that I hide, will I grow old
How would they hear?
When would they learn?
How would they know?

3 Doors down: Let me be myself

3 Doors Down - Let Me Be Myself


guess i just got lost
Bein' someone else
I tried to kill the pain
Nothin ever helped
I left myself behind
Somewhere along the way
Hopin to come back around
To find myself someday

Lately i'm so tired of waiting for you
To say that it's ok, but tell me
Please, would you one time
Just let me be myself
So i can shine with my own light
Let me be myself
Would you let me be myself

I'll never find my heart
Behind someone else
I'll never see the light of day
Living in this cell
It's time to make my way
Into the world i knew
Take back all of these times
That i gave in to you

Lately i'm so tired of waiting for you
To say that it's ok, but tell me
Please, would you one time
Let me be myself
So i can shine with my own light
And let me be myself
For a while, if you don't mind
Let me be myself
So i can shine with my own light
Let me be myself

That's all i've ever wanted from this world
Is to let me be me

Please would you one time
Let me be myself
So i can shine with my own light
Let me be myself
Please would you one time
Let me be myself
So i can shine with my own light
Let me be myself
For a while, if you don't mind
Let me be myself
So i can shine with my own light
Let me be myself
Would you one time... oooh
Let me be myself
Let me be me

definitely a good one

Oh Wow,

Some awesome songs that I have never heard before
Thank you

Cindy

the previously mentioned "Let me Be Myself" is in my top 3 with "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking for" and "Losing My Religion" (which I always saw as "I have to give up what I've been taught - and what everyone around me believes - in the face of my self-knowledge)

R.E.M. - Losing My Religion (Video)

Let me annotate...

Oh life, it's bigger
It's bigger than you  (the realities of life do not fit into your little box)
And you are not me (and you don't have my experience)
The lengths that I will go to (look at the price I'm willing to pay)
The distance in your eyes (I see the skepticism - the rejection)
Oh no, I've said too much (I've risked your disapproval and you do)
I set it up

That's me in the corner (isolated, alone)
That's me in the spotlight (yet mocked and ridiculed)
Losing my religion (being bold enough to say "what I was taught is wrong)
Trying to keep a view (yet trying to maintain my faith)
And I don't know if I can do it (can I still believe in God despite his followers?)
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough (someone has to say "it's a lie" - that I'm sinning)

I thought that I heard you laughing (at me)
I thought that I heard you sing (with me?)
I think I thought I saw you try (to understand?)

Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions (what do I dare reveal?)
Trying to keep an eye on you (will you reject me?)
Like a hurt, lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

Consider this
Consider this, the hint of the century
Consider this, the slip
That brought me to my knees, failed
What if all these fantasies come
Flailing aground
Now I've said too much

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep a view
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
Try, cry, why try
That was just a dream
Just a dream
Just a dream, dream

If I'd been trying to write a song about it - and had all the skills that anyone has ever had with lyrics - I don't think i could have done better.

The Siouxsie and the banshees song "into the light"

Into the line Into the light
I see it fine I see it fight
into the line Into the light
our hearts entwine a new horizon
Remember when Bleached into white
your time again kept out of sight
Standing in the light
always sitting on the line
never on a side
always wanting to be right Pushing out the light

Standing in the light
I never wanted to be right
Now I'm attracted by the light
and blinded my the sight

Dead ahead in the night
burning in the light
and knowing that it's right
driving in the night-Dead ahead in the light......

Into the light......

I immediately think of "Lola" by the Kinks, hehe, but as for a song I currently identify with: For You by Staind.  I relate to it in both a trans and nontrans perspective.

To my mother To my father
It's your son or it's your daughter
Are my screams loud enough for
You to hear me? Should I turn this up for you?

I sit here locked inside my head
Remembering everything you've said
The silence gets us nowhere,
Gets us nowhere way too fast.

The silence is what kills me
I need someone here to help me
But you don't know how to listen
And let me make my decision

I sit here locked inside my head
Remembering everything you've said
The silence gets us nowhere,
Gets us nowhere way too fast.

All your insults And your curses
Make me feel like I'm not a person.
And I feel like I am nothing.
But you made me so do something.
Cause I'm ->-bleeped-<-ed up because you are.
Need attention, Attention you couldn't give.

I sit here locked inside my head
Remembering everything you've said
The silence gets us nowhere,
Gets us nowhere way too fast.

I sit here locked inside my head
Remembering everything you've said
The silence gets us nowhere,
Gets us nowhere way too fast.

I have an "album" for my MP3 player that have songs I identify with from an identity point of view. So, to me they relate to my trans-ness. I call the folder "TRANScending idENTITY." The songs are:

"Why Can't I Be You?" by the Cure
"As Girls Go" by Suzanne Vega (which really is about a transwoman)
"Skin" by Oingo Boingo
"The Kill (Bury Me)" by 30 Seconds to Mars
"Unsafe Building" by the Alarm

Quote from: Sunnynight on August 01, 2011, 11:57:38 AM
For a more sincere trans-related song, Dar Williams When I was a Boy

That's so beautiful. Thanks for sharing. 

Quote from: Julian on August 04, 2011, 04:39:59 AM
That's so beautiful. Thanks for sharing. 

You're welcome. I first heard it when someone on Susan's shared it.

I like Blue October - Into the Ocean.

I love the part where it says: "Wish I was more masculine..."

It is so nostalgic.

I have a playlist on my iPod called "TransistorRadio" specifically for songs like this ^_^
Most notably is "Through Glass" by Stone Sour, which I take to mean as being in a glass cage, like a snake in a zoo, for everyone to come stare at you. People are so preoccupied with you being transgender that they forget they're looking at a real person, someone who is (or used to be) their friend. You're locked away in your mind because you can't really talk to anyone, you feel like it'll be forever before you can transition or have the shock wear off from transitioning, and people call you a freak because they've never seen/met a person they know is trans* before.
Also, "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath always seems like an ally trying to understand, trying to see people they way they really are and embrace them as such rather than writing them off as freakish.