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How to Build a Girl

from Songs about Friends by The Football Club

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lyrics

I was out with some transgender friends, we were having a real nice time,
When a bunch of cishet dickhead boys yelled at us from behind,
And as the smell of their Lynx Africa wafted from every pore,
I said “Oh no Toto, we’re not in Transas anymore”.

I sat down at my computer, I was feeling pretty damn shitty,
So I googled “21 year old trans girl", to know there’s people just like me.
But all I got were death tolls and porno sites tattooed across my screen,
(And there’s quite a great deal more than that I think I wanna be).

So stand up straight, and say, the wrong things in the right fashion.
And walk this way, do all that’s in your power not to,
Draw a stare, or show the ones that you love you that you’re hurt;
I’m just a product of the world, trying to build a girl.

Midnight, trying to hail in a cab in ripped stockings and a dress,
When a West Footscray Police car parked in front of me instead.
And they asked me what a girl like me was doing selling sex;
It took ten minutes of “it’s a joke” before they finally left.

I’ve got rashes all over my body, from shaving head to toe each week.
I’ve got blisters on both my ankles, from size 8 heels on size 12 feet.
I’m just trynna be 100% myself, and nothing less,
So baby tell me how my cock looks in this brand new Kmart dress.

The kids from school, will say, "I should have got that faggot,
When I had the chance”, and doesn’t he know he still looks just,
Like a man, I wouldn’t even fuck him, it, or her".
I’m just a product of the world, trying to build a girl.

They screamed at us on every train, every tram and every bus.
You stared into me, eyes full of tears - “why do they hate us so much?”
And how the fuck are we to prosper in a world that’s so messed up?
How the fuck are we to survive in a world that’s trying to kill us?

Sometimes I think about the life I might have had in Brisbane,
If I stayed inside, if I never transitioned.
Yeah, I might be fine;
but since you helped me realise that I needed to try,
I haven’t tried to die.

credits

from Songs about Friends, released September 30, 2016

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The Football Club Footscray, Australia

The Football Club are a folk-punk band from Footscray. They sing sad songs with big drunken choruses and heaped mouthfuls of words, telling stories on topics like sexuality, gender, friendship, and cheap red wine.

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