Post subject: My theory on the song 'Bohemian Like You'
'Bohemian Like You' was a tidy little number given to us in the year 2000. I don't remember a lot which happened that year, I mean there was the Millennium Bug and Kid A and that about it. So yeah 'Bohemian Like You' by The Dandy Warhols was one of the better things to come out of 2000, despite the song not gaining popularity until 2001.
Unless you hate on things lots of people like in an effort to look cool, you probably believe it is a cool song. One of the better from The Dandy Warhols you might agree. In fact, you may love it and give it 10/10, 5 gold stars, a sack of potatoes or whatever it is you give out. You must admit it is a pretty fun song with it's quirky conversational tone and slight pointlessness. The guy likes you and wants to be Bohemian like you( ), that's it.
However... I don't think that is all there is to it. A lot more is going on. Leave this thread now if you want to listen to this song again with a sound mind. We're going in deep. Let me explain:
Starting from the first lines:
You've got a great car
Yeah, what's wrong with it today?
I used to have one too
Maybe you'll should come and have a look
So yeah, starts with a conversation about material wealth. The person he's speaking to has a car while the singer had one like it too meaning he once had one but no longer does. Lets go deeper...
I really love your hairdo, yeah
I'm glad you like mine too
I see we're looking pretty cool, get way
Well that is a nice way to make a new friend, compliment their hair! One time when I had my haircut I came into work and the guy next to me was like "Hey have you had a hair cut? It suits you" and I was all "Aww tha... I digress. This is important, must be said and I shouldn't get side tracked...
So what do you do?
Oh yeah, I wait tables too
No I haven't heard your band
'Cause you guys are pretty new
Their new friend waits tables and plays in a band? This feels a bit of a stretch... something not right here. I mean perhaps they are getting little sleep or none at all. This is the first clue everything is not as it seems.
But if you dig on vegan food
Well come over to my work
I'll have them cook you something
That you'll really love
Wonderfully kind. Looks like someone has a lot going for them. It's at this point the chorus comes in. It's a bit too in depth to post here but I think (could be wrong) the central points of it are the singer likes the person they are singing about and feels so Bohemian like them. Bohemian is fancy way of saying unusual. Remember that.
Wait, who's that guy
What guy?
Just hanging at your pad
Pad meaning residence. So the guy is living with the singers new friend... that much is obvious...
He's looking kinda....
And then there is this weird noise. Very strange isn't it? Nothing like that has sounded until now. Why not make the whole song up with sounds like that? Why does it happen now and not at the start? There must be a reason. Maybe it is just blocking out something some may find objectionable. I don't. I think it is because the awful truth has just been realized in the singers mind. I think the delusion he was under has suddenly been lifted. You want to know what it was?
The singer has just realized he has been talking to a cat.
The person in the house is the owner. He saw the owner in the window and it broke the delusion. With this in mind lets go back to the first verse. It should be quite obvious what is going on now.
You've got a great car
The cat is sitting on the car
Yeah, what's wrong with it today?
Nothing is wrong with the car. It's just parked.
I used to have one too
Maybe you'll should come and have a look
He USED to have one. As in he lost it. Maybe through an event or series of events he lost it along with a lot more including his sanity. That line should be a massive red flag he has lost it.
I really love your hairdo, yeah
Cats have hair. He noticed.
I'm glad you like mine too
And now he thinks the cat is talking. If you are still on the fence with this wait for the next line. This is pretty damning.
I see we're looking pretty cool, get ya
Cool? COOL!? Cool for cats perhaps? That 'get ya' sounds an awful lot like "catcha". Catcha. Cat-cha. CAT. COOL CAT.
So what do you do?
Oh yeah, I wait tables too
No I haven't heard your band
'Cause you guys are pretty new
Wait tables? As in waiting on tables? Through the subconscious mind has he made the connection that cats sometimes lie on tables and ofcourse you haven't heard its band mate your talki... oh god. This guys gone mad. THIS IS MADNESS!!!
But if you dig on vegan food
Well come over to my work
I'll have them cook you something
That you'll really love
Cats eat meat and mice. Never vegan. There is no hope for this guy at all. he is in a sorry state. Anyway, lets go back to the noise. What happens right after the moment the delusion breaks...
Yeah, you broke up that's too bad
I guess its fair
If he always pays the rent
And he doesn't get bent about
Sleeping on the couch when I'm there
Grasping onto the few remaining strands of his delusion, he trys quickly concoct a reason for it all. So his new friend is outside because they were ditched but the man inside "always pays the rent" (ofcourse he would pay for the cat to stay there) and sleeping on the couch... guys in a rough place. I mean you don't sleep on the couch when you're happy.
What follows from here on out is a bunch of repetition, wooohs and ahhhs. Basically the noises you would either hear from a truly broken man or a pop song they play on the radio. Either case the cat is out the bag.
This song is a testament of the modern man sinking within the ocean of an always changing and often frightening world. It's clear what you are hearing are confused ramblings of particularly vulnerable individual. Well... I mean the singer isn't crazy (PLEASE DON'T SUE ME!!!) he's a wonderful writer who has brought us inside a troubled mind. Truly a thought provoking piece of work.
I really like this song. If I remember correctly, several of the songs off that album are some sort of tongue-in-cheek social commentary, including my favorite off the album:
Never did i think I'd see a thread about "Bohemian Like You" but BEA always opens new doors of possibility
Yeah I remember liking this song at about fourteen and for the most part always say it as a jab at yuppie-hipsterdom and an ironic love song, but this definitely gives a lot of interesting old and new takes on a track that probably hasn't had a lot of serious analyization before. Given the only other songs I really remember was that "Not if you were the last junkie" (which covers a lot of similar ground) and of course the Veronica Mars theme marshmellows 4eva.
Well, no matter how well-constructed, it is still a theory... _________________ "And can’t you see you’re in on it?
You were born though you need not
And is that not some cause
For worship, being born among these trees?"
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), that's it.
