Poor Little Rich Boy

PLAY THAT CHAIR, REGINA!!! WOOO!!!

It's about a rich boy that's trying to keep up a good image, but is emotionally distant. He tries to be popular and look smart and have a beautiful girl friend, but none of that really matters to him. He's just keeping up apreances and he feels empty inside.

So I guess it is about Fitzgerald's story, but this is my interpretation.

The first time I ever heard of this song I was looking at the Soviet Kitsch lyric book and I said to my friend, "Wow, this song decribes every guy at my old school perfectly."

At my old school, popularity was the major obsession. Almost everyone lived in a mansion and grew up as cheerleaders and football players. Last year I noticed a definite pattern among most of the rich crowd, especially the guys - they were all amazingly smart and sensitive and tried really hard to hide this from the rest of the world for fear of losing what they had been taught was a perfect lifestyle.

I think this song is about a boy who, like most of my old school, had grown up surrounded by superficial people and things and is afraid to admit to himself and others that maybe his life isn't so perfect after all. I think the chorus is about what he's afraid to hear - that he doesn't really love his superficial mother and girlfriend. I love that line, "She thinks that she’s fat but she isn’t" from a boyfriend's point of view. He's just fed up with all the obsession with appearance and wealth.

I also love the next verse, "The water runs off your skin and down into the drain." It makes me think of him standing in the shower, just staring at the wall, not bothering to wash himself or anything. He's so confused he feels blank and dazed and the water just runs off his skin, not affecting him at all, just like the rest of the world. He's trying to break free from his mold in private, trying to find other lifestyles that seem less empty, like the stereotypical college student in the cafe. He's just unhappy with his life and trying to change it but he doesn't know how.

When Regina tells him he's "so goddamn young" she's reminding him that he's just a little boy, he doesn't need to have it all figured out yet, and that the weight of the world doesn't rest on his shoulders. He can relax.

Oh yeah and in the beginning I picture him at a party his parents are hosting and after everyone leaves he just feels empty and lonely. He was looking at all the couples and comparing them to him and his girlfriend but still couldn't figure out any secret to make himself love her (since it talks about her right after this verse).

Like I said, I think this is really about "The Rich Boy" but this is how I feel about it....and hey, maybe my interpretation actually relates to Anson.

I think this song is about how money cant buy you hapiness. Hense the title.

"But they wanna kiss and they got homes of their own Poor little rich boy all the couples have gone, they’ve gone, they’ve gone"

I feel sad for the poor little rich boy here (and it reminds me of being alone on the beach in Folding Chair sometimes).

I'm not sure I entirely take Regina's word for it on this one. He MIGHT love his mother later, even if he doesn't now.

Although I'd still catch sight of someone reading The Great Gatsby in a cafe or someplace and like them instantly (much like the characters becoming friends over it in Murakami's Norwegian Wood). It's too bad it's a stigma. It's too bad that someone can carry around a popular novel and people assume the guy is reading it to look smart instead of talking about how great it is.

I love that she always sounds like she cares about the poor little rich boy. That's what makes the song great for me. It's the magical happy place where you can say things about your family members and it's always known that you still love them anyway.

I always thought it was "But they wanted kids, and they got homes of their own"--but I like "kiss" bettter cause the couples would then be in thier early 20s, instead of late 20s (when people usually have kids)...And since I'm in my early 20s and don't like to be reminded that I'll be in my late 20s (and then 30s!) soon, I prefer "kiss" and not "kids"...

I love this song so much. Regina is my hero.

Youth...quelle miracle!

I love this song it has such a charm to it piano bashing mad woman!

This song completely reminds me of the Nellie McKay song, the image of the new pretentious intellectual youth. So being and 19 year old college student I find myself slipping into this stereotype now and again. Especially in the line 'You’re reading Fitzgerald, you’re reading Hemmingway They’re both super smart and drinking in the cafés'.