Lost Boy
The song “Lost Boy” by Ruth B is about a boy who does not want to grow up and escapes reality to play in his imagination with Peter Pan. In an interview, Ruth mentioned the inspiration behind the song was a tv show called Once Upon a Time. The song brought Ruth a huge unexpected success. Still, the fans had their own interpretation of the song, thinking it was about running away from responsibilities or even escaping by doing drugs.
Peter Pan has been given a negative connotation by being referred to as Peter Pan syndrome, the adults who refuse to grow up and take responsibility. However, Ruth looks at the Peter Pan story with a deeper and more sophisticated outlook. The song starts by describing the feeling of being lonely and having a sense of not belonging. The song’s main idea is to go from feeling lonely to finding your Peter Pan in a passion or purpose. For Ruth, it was her piano and song writing. Neverland is a place you go to feel at home and free to be yourself when your life gets tough. It is about staying true to yourself and not seeking validation from others. The song ends with the important message that your hardships are a big part of your life and success story. In the end, it’s about looking back at your life events through the lens of love and realizing they each played their own purpose.
“I am a lost boy from Neverland
Usually hanging out with Peter Pan
And when we’re bored we play in the woods
Always on the run from Captain Hook
“Run, run, lost boy, ” they say to me
Away from all of reality
Neverland is home to lost boys like me
And lost boys like me are free
Neverland is home to lost boys like me
And lost boys like me are free
Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Wendy Darling
Even Captain Hook, you are my perfect story book
Neverland, I love you so
You are now my home sweet home
Forever a lost boy at last”
Image Credits:
Feature Image: Emily Wills, on Pixabay, Creative Commons
This song to me is so much deeper than about the Disney movie. I think the “lost boy” is a boy who’s family either abandoned him or ignores him. He’s all alone and has no one. “Peter pan” someone who introduces the boy to drugs/alcohol which is represented by the green pixie dust. The other lost boys are other drug users telling the boy to keep running away from reality by continuing to use a substance…Captain Hook is society telling him he’s a drug user and worth nothing. He runs away from Captain Hook and continues to use to numb his pain.
I feel like the song describes an autistic person in the world inside their head.
Ruth looks at the Peter Pan story with a deeper and more sophisticated outlook. The song starts by describing the feeling of being lonely and having a sense of not belonging. The song’s main idea is to go from feeling lonely to finding your Peter Pan in a passion or purpose. For Ruth, it was her piano and song writing. Neverland is a place you go to feel at home and free to be yourself when your life gets tough. It is about staying true to yourself and not seeking validation from others.
I am autistic and this is exactly how I interpreted and related to the song, it’s so beautiful❤️ as a child peter pan was my movie, I watched it on repeat, I loved Tinkerbell and my favorite place to be was in my imagination and in the woods climbing trees.. crazy also I also love the piano. I was often alone in my world and as i grew up and discovered that i was autistic it was freeing, im learning self love and to appreciate the things that make me different in a world I feel i dont belong.. picking back up old passions and detaching myself from needing the validation of others. this song is a gem
Wow that’s a beautiful song