Nathanson, Matt - Kinks Shirt Lyrics

Can I just compliment this comments section? 95% of the comments I've seen have been so supportive of trans folks, just like the video is, and that makes the whole thing so comforting.

Like, no matter how bad the world might get, I will always have this adorable, tender little romance to fall back on.

Okay wow I heard this song in my orthodontists office years ago tried to find it a few times but I just looked up girl in the picture, I'm just now finding out it kink shirt lmao

Positive representation of both trans people and sex workers! 😍

I love how Matt in the video is totally cool with watching his trans girlfriend strip (because it’s fine!) but he has the bemused reaction to the weird man with the mustache playing guitar. 😂

I have been looking for this song for years. All i could remember is the guy singing one word; shirt. Finally after years and years of searching I finally found FINALLY

LOVE IT!!!!

Nearly 6 years later this song is still a favorite and I'm actually in a relationship with someone who is transgender❤

Still love this video today :-)

I saw his free concert and he sang this song! He is amazing live

ITS NOT EVEN A FLUFFING KINKS SHIRT

Anyone know the name of the actress?

Cute chest tbh o///o

Does the guitar at 1:58 remind anyone else of the guitar from The (Shipped) Gold Standard by Fall Out Boy?

The bridge is a rip off of the shipped gold standard by fall out boy

so my dad told me about the band "the Kinks" and the video for this song made a lot more sense

gayyyyyyyyyyy!

Great video and a catchy tune! Love at first sight!

love all the positive comments 😊keep spreading the love guys 👌🌈💚

I'm not sure what to make of seeing this video on VH1 and Youtube.
I mean, numerous music videos which feature nudity by women born as women would not be featured in any way unless in an overly artistic style. I can think of Prodigy's Smack my Bitch Up or, more recently, Lady Gaga's Marry the Night being like that. So can this video really be construed as a step for transgender folks if a possible male-to-female transwoman (Still not sure about the nomenclature on this, forgive me) is not treated like a biological female would?
Like, what if this entire time this person was actually flat-chested and not trans? Something tells me this video wouldn't be hosted on the Vevo account. It'd be on Matt's website or posted up in. . . That corner of Youtube.

This song is playing in your nearest Red Lobster.

Can confirm. Worked at red lobster. And this also plays at Applebee's where I currently work. Had no idea this song was a mainstream chain restaurant go to lol

Why do people think just because your child is lgbt that they failed as a parent?! no no, you abandoning your child and stop loving them and making them feel ashamed for who they are means you failed as a parent.

La stories delle cacca

hey who says that gurl is transgender

she might be a breast cancer survivor
come on guys don't be soo closed minded

@Shiloh Christie don't worry about it man, I aint that hurt lol. But in all seriousness I respect you and you are an honorable person in my opinion.

@ERc Pteco Thank you, to you too :)

if she was a breast cancer survivor she wouldn't have nipples.

@Fansonette Rox uhmmmmmmmmm.... maybe they're fake nipples?? You don't, many know man are into some weird shit xD

Orangy Pteco the song is a reference to Lola by the kinks. Which is about a trans woman. The artist, and the director have both said that the song and the video is about a trans woman. There’s nothing in there to suggest it has anything to do with breast cancer. I understand you see it differently, and art is ultimately subjective, BUT if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it’s a duck and not a breast cancer survivor

I saw Matt on That Metal Show recently and enjoyed seeing a folksy popsy musician mixing it up with a bunch of metalheads (and winning them over too). I'll always have special places for Ronnie James Dio and Lemmy, but also for good musicians from other genres too. Glad to be getting to know Matt's work!

yank. ypu r

أحبك يا سويد

Is no one else else concerned that the flower Matt gives her in the beginning of the video has a BEE in it? It was one of the first things I noticed. She could get stung!

+Cadence Lasker Bees are beautiful and fascinating creatures. More valuable than the flowers themselves.

Not only is this song catchy, but the video's also cute, and it's great representation for transgender women. Good job, Matt Nathanson!

Girl in the pink shirt.

+Decoy the Kinks was the name of an old band who did a song called Lola about a beautiful girl who was actually a guy

Why is he is so underrated :/

I don't know. Matt Nathanson's got a great voice!

erik cruz I know. lol😄

I like the song. Catchy tune. Where can you get the cd?

Either at Walmart or download it onto iTunes or mp3 player

I've looked at Wal-Mart and can't find it.

Is he wearing a rocky horror shirt?

Rip vid, youtube is gonna take it down for indecent exposure when you get big

I work at OfficeMax and i hear this song every day XD

@JeremiahP3 We got new registers a few weeks ago and as expected, it screwed everything up. Signing in is a pain in the ass and the rewards accounts all went to hell so now you'll have to call the help desk with a really pissed off customer that wants their $17.50 in store credit. 

Oh god we get the new registers next week and my managers have yet to train me :( Plus we're gonna get this handheld device that will be able to ring up customers on the sales floor. But if you say it's that bad then it looks like ill have to prepare for the worse lol

I like the new register because it's faster but that's about it. It's a lot taller than the one you have right now and it's still in that same whitish-yellow color that makes it look like it's from 1995. I'm 5 foot 10 and I can see over it just fine. But if you're any less, it's a stretch. You need an override from a manager to void a transaction and the sign-in/sign-out procedure is weird. 

The devices that can ring customers up are fifth gen iPod touches with a scanner attached. I have yet to ring anyone out on the floor because it's weird and I just really don't want to at all... haha

oh wow lol but yeah your right about the registers. The old ones really slowed things down for me which resulted in these huge lines of people who would appear out of no where lol. We have a model the new one to training the employees and it's a freakin dinosaur compared to the old ones XD. Also, I didn't know the devices are basically iPods lol only OfficeMax or Depot.... (sometimes I have no clue to call ourselves lmao)  would be so cheap to use recycled iPods instead of actually creating it's own devices XD   

Oh, and the touch screen for us at least isn't calibrated so there's that..

This song and Riptide by Vancejoy are tied for making no sense. like I understand the story of it. but the lyrics are so random it's unreal.

They get into a civic at the end

I love this song!!! ugh! and god she is so beautiful!!! 

@emobanana22 — Indeed. If I looked that good I’d stay in all day and just stare at myself in the mirror. So it’s probably just as well. ;-)

Wait... what? Why the hell would I want to watch this type of music video?

@Quinn Cosens GENDER IS FAKE!!!!!!!!! GENDER IS FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GENDER IS FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saying it in shouty caps and putting 8+ exclamation points at the end will not make me believe you.

@Quinn Cosens [chanting] GENDER IS FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!! GENDER IS FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! GENDER IS FAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...Have fun with that.

The Kinks were a band in the seventies who wrote a song called Lola about a guy who met a girl who he late found to be a transvestite. The video for this song portrays this same story. This, combined with the name of the song suggest that its writer is a major Kinks fan. Essentially, the video is just a homage to the legacy of the Kinks.

I can't NOT sing this song at work. Ohhhh ohhhhh ohhhhh ohhhwaohhh

I like the video and I like the song. My friend who is an author shared it with me. Your music is great. I am going to check on Amazon and see if I can get it there! I love the subject but I would like this even  on it's own. It is so different and fun!!

@Tidal Ashburn Musician here. Yes; this song & video are firing on both levels.

It's almost criminal how gorgeous she is!

Celine dion is my favourite singer in all the world . I love her so much .
Vevo thanks to let us hear Cilline .

Kinks shirt is pretty cool!

#Lovemattnathanson!!!!!

this video makes me so happy !! im a trans male (closeted from my parents) and seeing things like this makes me really ecstatic !! go matt for supporting the lgbtq+ community !!

Words cannot describe how much I adore this song, for so many reasons! Awesome support to those of us in the LGBT community <3

Great song and i love how he spreads a positive message

What the hell is a kinks shirt?

I heard so many different lyrics when listening to this song at first. "Kink show," "pink shirt," "pink show," etc

She's wearing a "The Kinks" top in the video, The Kinks are a band :)

@yogozarfy Suddenly I feel one hundred years old with this post. The Davies brothers were born a generation before me, but I don’t believe I could have survived college without them, when they came on my horizon.

Actually thought the character was a really flat chick before reading the comments... Also didn't realize the bulge at 2:19 the first time I watched it

The video makes sense to me now. It was weird to me that such a bouncy song was put in a strip club setting.

@Tanya Grace “Hey — my eyes are up here.” ;-)

I WORK AT HOME DEPOT IT WAS FORCED UPON ME

The chorus reminds me of the line in a blink-182 song.. "I fell in love with the girl at the rock show"

awesome band

@Shay Grey yeaaaahhh

I like that song more only because it's not played at my work.

It sounds like a wholesome, harmless, school girl crush song. I didn't expect the video to be like this. Oh well. I've seen worse.

You do realize that Matt Nathanson is 41 right? What bothers you then? The fact that she's a transwoman or that she's an exotic dancer?

@Lexi J. Binkley None of the above! :)

Imo, I just never would think to hear this kinda song in a strip club is all.

strippers apparently love Matt Nathanson :D

+Vivien Ballard the Kinks was the name of an old band who did a song called Lola about a beautiful girl who was actually a guy, so there's actually a pretty big joke in this video that he found his Lola

This is so freakin awesome!

wow ;_; this is amazing

become, stripper, get a dude...got it.

Maybe she's not transgender at all, but just had a double mastectomy.

She's a Ru Paul girl!

+Cat Phillips The song is about a transgender woman, that is made especially clear by the fact that the song is called Kinks shirt which is a reference to a band called The Kinks who made a song about a transvestite.

Of course she's trans. Bobcat Goldthwait (director) is a big Kinks fan, and he wanted to shock people. Lighten up.

@Cat Phillips Who were you talking to, because my comment was more of a friendly just in case type of thing since there are a lot of comments from people who are genuinely against this song for its theme.

Gotcha. No offense intended. The song is actually just about a girl in a diner. The video, however, is surely what you described, given Goldthwait's love of The Kinks.

I don't know why this video doesn't have over a million views by now, it's a good sing

The thing here is, i dont think hes gay. He thinks as the transgender AS A WOMAN. Just like the transgender feels of him/her self. If in his mind hes sleeping with a woman he is not gay. :)

@Ariel Benedict Does it really matter in the long run? We need to relax our big categorizing brains… if a couple is in love and happy, then that is all that is important.

I usually don't comment on videos but I really feel compelled to on this one.  First of all I love this song and when I first watched this video I thought what an adorable video! The "woman" is so pretty and the guy has the kind of personality that reminds me of my boyfriend (like when he pretended to choke on the breakfast haha). These two seem like such a cute couple! I was about to give this video a thumbs up until I noticed the "woman" take off her shirt to reveal a man's chest. Seriously? This song is centered around a man's obsession with a transvestite? I must say I am quite disapointed. That part of the video should have been eliminated. The title of the song needs to be changed to "Man in the Kinks Shirt." Gross ending to an otherwise adorable video. Thumbs down Matt Nathanson. Sorry.

if you knew anything about matt or his music, you'd know that this song has absolutely nothing to do with transvestites... and i dont think it was a man, i thought it was a woman who just didn't have breasts, probably from cancer or something. dont write him off just because you didnt like the video.

i know this is about a transgender male, but my sister (at the age of 25) had a mastectomy with no reconstructive surgery (so her chest looks alot like the girl in the video). so when ever i hear this song it makes me hopeful that anyone- no matter what life throws at you- can find happiness.

@Pearl Ang Transman would be the slightly shortened, perfectly acceptable term, fyi. Transman / transwoman.


Yes — I have a friend who is a double mastectomy survivor. Identifies as a woman, lesbian. no breasts. Interestingly, she has had absolutely no trouble taking her top off driving around with me in the heat (Oh man — our trip to Terra Haute, IN during July 2011 was insane!).


No one would ever think she is a lady with her looks and “I don’t care” attitude. She’s perfectly happy doing that, or going swimming topless “under the radar” so to speak. It’s me who’s the wimp and flipping out all the time.


…I need to get over that.

This video is funny

Can stop thinking about this song :)

The girl he wrote the song for was actually wearing a Van Halen shirt. For the record. But nothing rhymes with Van Halen. LOL So he changed it.

@Atacama Humanoid Sorry for assuming. I just never know with the people on the internet. Also, if you don't need to hear it, then somebody else who sees it might. Again, sorry man. 

I actually edited my reply to sound less dickheadish and thank you for answering my question apparently after you already read it but before I saw your latest post.

+Atacama Humanoid Actually the girl the song was originally written about is not transgender. However, the video was created to bring awareness/love to the transgender community. Because Matt is a cool human being who isn't afraid to put himself "out there" for the greater good.

@enigmaren I guess I can't argue with that. I don't know for sure what he was thinking about when he wrote it- I was just going off the video. I appreciate and know how important the representation that he's given in many of his music videos, and that's what matters to me.

Also the kinks are famous for their song ‘Lola’ that has kind of similar themes?

WOW this came out in OCt 2013? I only started hearing it very recently. Such a catchy tune. Love it! 

this song plays at my work all the time. I had to look for it since it mentions San Francisco and The Kinks. I just want to go back to San Francisco again everytime I hear it.

I had heard the song only on the radio before and like many others also thought it was called "Pink Shirt" instead of "Kinks Shirt." After watching this video, I wonder if the song and video were partially inspired by "Lola," which is by The Kinks.

I thought the girl was a guy lol

I love this song!  The reference to the KInks song LOLA is amazing. For those of you who don't understand the video listen to the song LOLA by the Kinks and this will make more sense to you all. I am surprised this was not as popular as it should be.

Lost me with kinks shirt .

*spits out coffee when I see the video was directed by Bobcat Goldthwait* that's a random ass actor.

@Brian Johnson I had a similar spit take as well. Thought the mariachi player was depicting a transman, and then I felt so smug and superior to everyone on the Interweb for knowing that. Then I [spit-take] realized it was Bobcat.


WOW did I misperceive reality… but it would have been fun and on point going either way. ;-)


For the record, Bobcat definitely is known more as an actor and a director, but his directorial credits are pretty impressive. Check it out on IMDB, and maybe this link will go through on YouTube to save you some clicks


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001281/

She looks like an angel when she flutters those feather things behind her head.

kinks shirt, kinks sung song lola. lola is a transvestite

When I first heard this song, I though it was 'pink shirt.' So I could never find this song! Lol.

Cool song , found you in my circle and completely forgot how I know you though .

she never wares  a kinks shirt 

This video is awesome

i heard this song in dunkin donuts on sirus satellite radio and i just had to find it, btw i applaud matthews support of the LGBTQA community

@Matthew Blank Simple statement yet brave and fierce.

+Driskell vs Homosexuals damn straight.

@Driskell vs Homosexuals

@Driskell vs Homosexuals lol your username

Sims 4???

I heard this song on my xm pulse channel. I like matt nathanson he is good artist/singer. 

i love Matt Nathanson... such good music!

I can't believe they would show this on basic cable television. VH1, why you gotta be so ballsy? 

Eh. Miley Cyrus's done worse lol.

It does not present nudity.  If you're referring to the "strip club scene," she was not nude.  What she did was called Barlesque* spelling.  I thought she did a great job...graceful and beautiful. 
Sigh, why do guys always have that cute butt and killer legs?  
I'd also like to address the issue of intolerance; you cannot choose who you fall in love with.  Gender is Not what sex you are, it's the sex you identify with.  There are multiple scientific studies that Prove humans are born with the "wrong sex brain for their actual physical sex,"  if one dresses how they like let them be.  Also, being homosexual is not a choice, that has been proven as well.  Don't you think it is difficult enough in this world to live and be happy by actually accepting who you are without fear.  I pity anyone who is insufferable enough not to tolerate people for whom they are and discredit actual scientific studies.  STUDIES are DIFFERENT than SURVEYS.  

@crazyinsane500  I get it now. You aren't intolerant, you're just a prude that's scared of the human body and doesn't want women to be comfortable with their bodies.

@Lexi J. Binkley Prudish, yes. But I'd say women ought be free to be comfortable with how they are and choose to be, pending the limitations of the law. 

Well given the context of the video her nudity seems appropriate.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that this also a reference to Lola, about the lead singer of the Kinks taking a girl home to find out it was a dude. Awesome video

Awwww that's that hurt

@Quinn Lackey Favorite Kinks tune — I cover it now and again, but didn’t make that association with this video until you mentioned it. Awesome catch.

dude... it's a dude
good song but holy shit, that's enough youtube for today

very good song .. 

Does anyone know who plays his girlfriend in this video? I'm curious, and can't seem to find anything on the internet about her/him. (The character is obviously a trans woman, and I would assume the actor is too based on how feminine their body is, but I wouldn't presume to know for certain. There are certainly some pretty femmy guys out there too.)

@***** ...That actually wasn't rude at all. The character in the video is pretty clearly a trans woman, just like Florence says. BUT the character could be portrayed by a trans woman (in which, the "her" is the right pronoun to use) or by a cis man who just happens to have a feminine figure, meaning he could believably portray a trans woman (in which case "him" is the right pronoun to use.) All of which Florence actually said. We don't KNOW how the person who plays Matt Nathanon's love interest identifies, so saying "him or her" is actually what's accurate. Since there's no gender-nonspecific singular pronoun in the English language, if you don't know, you're supposed to say "him or her" (or "her or him," whatever.) Don't assume the character's gender identity, sexual orientation, or anything else matches the actor's. (Look at how well NPH, a happily married gay man, portrayed a straight, single womanizer in How I Met Your Mother.) 

@*****
 Yeah... wow, I just noticed this reply and... I wasn't discounting anyone's gender identity.

As I immediately said afterwards, I don't KNOW what pronouns the actor or actress identifies with.

@Brittany Coker
Thank you, this is exactly it. I can't exactly use someones preferred gender pronouns if I don't KNOW their gender identity.

Personally I will have to listen to this song without watching the video lol..

a great song and a great message. love and attraction are not linear. good on ya matt.

I'm black and I like this song ;)

That's a brave admission.

@maybewise lmao ! Some music is international like Darius Tucker (black country singer)

@imrawbiitch Lol. I understand. I'm eclectic, and black too. This particular song isn't my thing though. I only came here to see if people were being bigots.

Same here buddy

So is this guy saying that he found out he's gay or sumthing, bcuz he loves a transgender :D

Lol this convo is pretty funny, idk y tho XD

@bryland7
The character in the video clearly seems to a trans woman. Trans women are women. What genitals they were born with, or even what genitals they currently have are irrelevant to that.

Ugh god damn, i still dont get it :0, im either stupid, or stupid, bcuz i cannot seem to understand >;:L

@Brian P. It's okay. The woman in the video is a transwoman. That means she was born male but identifies as a woman. :)

@Adrian Lindsey
And he is in a straight relationship because he is guy who is dating a person who identifies as female. He's not gay. :)

does anyone know if they featured a real transwoman in this video, and if so doesnt anyone know her name?

Haha, I just asked the same thing and then I saw your comment. We'll quest for this knowledge together!

Is that Starburns

What a happy song.

Lol I can't stop laughing about the boy girl guy lol

OMG, I finally found this song on YT!  Love hearing this on the radio.  Matt Nathanson wrote this song as a tribute to the waitress he's met on 9th and Irving Street in San Francisco while filming this musical video.  Thus, he mentioned "Take me home to San Francisco!"... 

How could he have written the song while filming the video? Don't you need the song first to film the video to?

Ooops, I neglected to say "while filming a music video" not this particular song.  LOL!  Good point, B Winter!

Cool! I was just wondering, and thanks for not flipping out! It's good to know there's still awesome people on the Internet!

It only shows that you're very "attentive".  :-) Likewise, it takes one to know one. :-)  Good day to you!  And do carry that attitude with you at all times bec it makes someone smile....  

it’s not even necessarily that there’s a trans* woman in the video, it’s that she’s the love interest and there’s absolutely nothing to suggest that he’s surprised or doesn’t want to be with her. the main thing that this video is about is their very happy relationship and this is huge, guys. uwu