What makes a man? Ultimately, isn’t a man just a boy who expects to receive constant praise from those around him, regardless of whether or not he’s earned it in any way?

Finally, we have a song praising men, instead of criticizing them. Deniece Williams, with her song “Let’s Hear It for the Boy”, asks us to “give the boy a hand” despite his many faults (he’s boring, he’s a slob, he’s perpetually underemployed, he has no talent). She’s a saint and should probably run for president.

Let’s check out the video:

We open with an actual boy, wearing a dunce cap.

When I had first had kids, I realized that so many songs I originally thought were in some way romantic were actually about an adult’s love for a baby or young child. It seems like this song, which I thought was metaphorically about a boy and literally about a man might actually be literally about a boy, in this case a boy inexplicably wearing a dunce cap.

Suddenly, he sees something so shocking he literally can’t believe it.

It’s famous singer Deniece Williams!

She helps him take off his dunce cap, something he was too much of a dunce to do himself.

She replaces it with a top hat, universally considered the opposite of a dunce cap.

Give the boy a hand!

Next, we see a nerd playing the piano.

NERD!

Someone removes his glasses, apparently causing him intense, terrifying pain.

Turns out the person who removed his glasses is famous singer Deniece Williams!

Wait a second, maybe this isn’t literally about a boy anymore, but is instead about a very nerdy man. One who experiences excruciating pain whenever his glasses are removed.

Deniece Williams, realizing that the reason he is sitting at a piano is that he has never heard of recorded music, shows him a record.

He looks on, amazed.

As soon as the record starts playing, he is transformed from a total nerd to a nerd dressed in a vaguely cool way.

Let’s hear it for the boy!

The third manboy (boyman?) we see is spectacularly bad at football, yet tries to play it anyway.

Famous singer Deniece Williams doesn’t know if she can muster any enthusiasm about this man. She’s already been through so much today, there’s only so much one person, famous singer or no, can take.

I think this image could reasonably stand in for the video as a whole.

Finally, famous singer Deniece Williams’s willingness to give literally any man or boy a hand for literally any reason attracts a gaggle of barely tolerable male people of all ages.

Some of them start break dancing for some reason.

In the end, giving men and boys a hand seems to have backfired. Too bad her follow-up “Let’s Give the Boy the Back of My Hand” didn’t have the same success.

-PTD