"Boys" is a song, written by Luther Dixon and Wes Farrell, and performed by girl group The Shirelles in 1960, who released the song as the B-Side of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. It was later released in a cover version by The Beatles on Please Please Me, their first album.
The song's lyrics are simple, dealing with the singer's romantic feelings and the thrill of kissing. As opposed to "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", which was a somewhat controversial song (for 1960) about seduction and commitment, this is an up-tempo song about positive romantic feelings. The arrangements of the song vary between The Shirelles version (R&B) and The Beatles rock version.
When the Beatles recorded their version of the song, sung by Ringo Starr, they changed some of the lyrics...but not all of them. In the verses, Ringo sings:
My girl says that when I kiss her lips
She gets a thrill to her fingertips
But during the chorus, he is clear that
Well, I talk about boys now
You know I need boys
Given the controversy and
scandal that the Beatles arrival in the US caused in some quarters, it is curious that a man singing about how he needs boys didn't cause more alarm. The Beatles themselves said they never considered it. Perhaps in the overall shock to American society caused by The Beatles, a single 2 minute song on their album probably went without notice. Maybe also being sung by Ringo made it seem like more
filler than a direct attack on
heteronormativity.