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Boyz Lyrics

thaNANNANANANANANANNANANANNNANA (4x)
BOYS THERE HOW MANY BOYZ THERE?
how many?

How many tequilas in the place
how many beers are in the case?

boys there?
how many?
boys there?

How many?

how many dutty wine swing it away
how many shots without a chase

boys there?
how many?
boys there?

How many?

how many mash up and in a haze
how many wacky dip fall the head

boys there?
how many?
boys there?

How many?

how many not many boys are crazy,
how many boyz are raw?
how many not many boyz are rowdy
how many start a war?

hey now
let me go, hey now
can we go ridin up a dirty track up in Laventille
will you, show me before I make it back somewhere I could chill?

hey now

let me go, hey now
can we go riding up on motorbikes up to sugar hill
cooking chicken on the wall with the system up on full

what we do now (4x)
duppa bounce
dem der duppa bounce

oooo gosh its the new warlord

thaNANNANANANANANANNANANANNNANA (2x)
BOYS THERE HOW MANY BOYZ THERE?
how many?

how many not many boys are crazy
how many boyz are raw?
how many not many boyz are rowdy
how many start a war?

oooo gosh its the new warlord
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22 Meanings

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Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

M.I.A. said she wrote this because she wanted to see how the U.S. customs would react to her if she wrote a song with no meaning whatsoever.

Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

M.I.A :

"When I did ‘Boyz,’ it was name-checking all these dance moves that come from Jamaica—I hoped the Jamaicans would get it. They meant so much to me at the time I was writing it. I went there to shoot the video, and they loved it! When I took it back there and played it to those people and showed them, ‘This is what I wrote when I thought about you,’ they got it. And that makes me feel like I don’t really care what happens with this album, and I don’t care if Interscope loves or hates me."

Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

Seandd that's a real good point, and could definately be true. she could be trying to say that all the rich men and leaders of the world are the ones who are starting all the wars and problems.

and asking "how many boys without money or greed are starting wars?" which would be none

Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

wow.... M.I.A. has out-done herself once more. I love how shes totally dissing war. sending boys to war, ignorant, young, naive,just tryin to defend their country in this bullshit war. M.I.A. also may be trying to tell how all these boys in the world just resort to violence due to the influence of the war... i dont know, you can interpret anyway you want. wow.... im bored, i guess its kinda sad if im writing like a bigillion comments for "fun" during my second period class.... M.I.A. is a lot better than writng a paper on LSD. ha! wow, im lame as hell.

This is not about war, like in army and iraq invasion or whaever... The "war" is this song is the struggle to survival on gangs and criminal environments at poor communities (as pointed HeavyLid above).

The repeated "how many" question is a headcount to fight (per example, against another gang or drug dealer), and poor young boys are enlisted for liquor, drugs and small amounts of money... And how many of those have to die before politicians do anything?

Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

I suppose that it's about violence and crime in third world communities. In my opinion, this is made obvious by the reference to Laventille, a city of Trinidad that a very high crime rate.

My Interpretation
Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

corrections:

how many shots without a chase

can we go riding on our motorbikes up to sugar hill

Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

I think it may be:

How many not many boyz are crazy

and

How many not many boyz are rowdy

It is

Not Valid
Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

I copied these straight from M.I.A.'s MySpace, but I don't know how to edit them.

Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

i hate that i can't not like this song.

Cover art for Boyz lyrics by M.I.A.

I think it could be:

"how many NO MONEY boys are rowdy, how many start a war"