Relationscapes - MINI EPISODE: “What a Good Boy,” with Steven Page
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Some songs wait decades before they reveal what they’re really about.
Back in the 90s when 20-year-old Steven Page wrote “What a Good Boy,” he understood it as a plea to ease up on restrictive gender expectations that harmed boys and girls. But as he performed it over the years, he realized it was about much more than that. The song can be understood as a stirring anthem exploring gender identity, wrestling against the binary world's hostility to people who don't fit the mold, trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, gay, or otherwise.
Page, a founding member of the smash-hit band Barenaked Ladies and an artist now working deeply in his solo career, has spent much of his life writing songs that explore vulnerability, humor, grief, and joy. His instinct to blend comedy with pathos has made his work resonate in ways he couldn’t have predicted.
Page reflects on how that song came to be, how meaning changes over time, and on the responsibility artists carry when their work becomes part of someone else’s becoming.
Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org. But you'll want to hear this one!
Fellow Traveler Episodes
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The Challenges of Parenting Trans Kids (with Abi Maxwell)
A Haunted Trans Story (with Kyle Lukoff)
What The News Isn't Telling You About Trans Teenagers (with Nico Lang)
Black and Beyond the Binary (with KB Brookins)
How to Support Trans Youth (with Ben V. Greene)
The Incredible Brain Science About Sex and Gender (with Daphna Joel)
Recovering Queer Black History for Everybody (with George M. Johnson)
About the Guest
Steven Page is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founding member of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Since going solo, Page has released five albums, he performs with groups like the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, and he publicly advocates on issues including mental and behavioral health. He has three sons and lives in New York with his partner, Christine Benedicto. I'm not sure if he has any dogs or cats, and I forgot to ask him. Join his Patreon at patreon.com/c/stevenpage.
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