Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1964
That's the Way Boys Are
Buy That's the Way Boys Are now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'"That's the Way Boys Are"' is a song written by Mark Barkan and Ben Raleigh, first recorded by Lesley Gore and released in March 1964 her fifth hit single, following four consecutive top five hits on 'Billboard's Hot 100. In late April 1964, with the British Invasion in full swing, "That's the Way Boys Are" peaked at No. 12 on the Hot 100; hits by UK acts The Beatles and The Dave Clark Five accounted for five of the singles in the Top Ten. The track was produced by Quincy Jones and arranged by Claus Ogerman and features on Gore's third album, 'Boys, Boys, Boys'.
Music critic William Ruhlmann called the song "a well-crafted reflection from a sympathetic and understanding female perspective on the obtuse mating habits of boys." Author Richard Aquila noted that the lyrics "voice the era's acceptance of sexual double standards," in contrast with the theme of Gore's previous single, "You Don't Own Me". Aquila regards "That's the Way Boys Are" as one of several examples of Lesley Gore songs that regard women as dependents or passive objects, along with earlier singles "It's My Party" and "Judy's Turn to Cry." Musicologist Walter Everett described the song as one of the many 1960s sexist songs that "perpetuated a boys will be boys tolerance for male but not female infidelity." Music critic Greil Marcus also remarked on the way "That's the Way Boys Are" backs off from the "proto-feminist manifesto" of "You Don't Own Me" to a message of "he may treat you like garbage, but they're all like that, and we love 'em for it!" Rulmann described the music as "a bouncy, contemporary sound that compared favorably to the Phil Spector Wall of Sound style without being as ornamented." 'Cash Box' described it as "a contagious, multi-tracked handclapper that Lesley and her choral-ork support shuffle thru in ultra-commercial manner" and praised the arrangement by Claus Ogerman.
Subsequent to its initial release, "That's the Way Boys Are" has been released on compilation albums including 'The Golden Hits of Lesley Gore' in 1965, 'It's My Party: The Mercury Anthology' in 1996, 'Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows: The Best of Lesley Gore' in 1998, '20th Century Masters The Millennium Collection' in 2000 and 'The Ultimate Collection 1963-1968: Start the Party Again' in 2005. It has also been included on multi-artist compilation albums such as 'Growin' Up Too Fast: The Girl Group Anthology' in 1996 and 'Mad Men: A Musical Companion (1960-1965)' in 2011.
"That's the Way Boys Are" was covered by Y Pants. Greil Marcus commented that the Y Pants version has more tension than Lesley Gore's version, and that the Y Pants version starts with a sad, sweet 'a cappella' vocal but progresses to horrible screaming.
References
Category:Lesley Gore songs
Category:1964 songs
Category:1964 singles
Category:Song recordings produced by Quincy Jones
Category:Songs written by Mark Barkan
Category:Mercury Records singles
Category:Songs with lyrics by Ben Raleigh
Buy That's the Way Boys Are now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1964