Little Boys

he's said in interviews that it's about a "schizophrenic hermaphrodite" he knows (don't see the connection at all, but ok).

here's another quote from him about it though which makes me laugh: "I was with this guy from the band Bunny Brains and he was saying, 'I heard your record, man, it's gonna be in, like, Starbucks, whatever.' And I was like, man, I don't want it to be in Starbucks! I'm going to write a song that will 'guarantee' that it is not in Starbucks."

Something that has only been mentioned thusfar in a cursory fashion is the overall surprise of the second part of this song due to the musical genre that DB is employing here. Motown as a musical genre has always concerned itself with love as a core thematic tenant, but that love has always been a heterosexually coded one, where the "man-crooner" spills his pained heart out to the (feminine) object of his affection or any listening bystander in the hopes of turning things around or at least getting a bit of sympathy/empathy.

It's utterly brilliant what Devendra does here by lulling you into that tradition and then smashing it apart in one of the most hilarious and disturbing fashions possible. Great song with a lot of depth; musically, psychologically, lyrically...a lot of defiance and flouting of all kinds of "traditional decency" here.

now i don't know what this is about... sounds a bit sinister.

Time Out New York asks the tough questions to the eccentric folkie...

TONY: Your song "Little Boys" is about wanting to marry little boys... Devendra Banhart: Okay, let me explain myself. When we were recording the record, my friend said to me, "You know, man, they're going to play this record in Starbucks." And I said, "Well, I'm going to write a song that will guarantee that will never happen." Then that night we watched the movie Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys, about NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association. At the same time, swimming in my head was the idea of a song about a schizophrenic hermaphrodite with the male and female physical characteristics in one body, but also the male and female psychologies in one body. So the first half of the song is from the male perspective, and then it switches, and the second half is from the female perspective. TONY: Aren't you worried about getting a reputation like Michael Jackson's? Devendra Banhart: You mean his reputation as the King of Pop? That would be great! Um, even without the song I don't think Starbucks would play it. Anyway, congrats TONY on being the first to compare DB to MJ.

source: stereogum.com/archives/devendra-banhart-not-a-pedophile_001793.html

this song is pretty effing hilarious

i heard he wrote it so that it this album wouldnt be played in starbucks, but who knows?

i like how desperate some people are for this not to be a pedophile song.

it totally is a pedophile song. i like this song. it makes me grin.

It's cause if people acknowledge that it's a pedophile song, and they enjoy it, they think something's wrong with them. Or that they might be a pedophile. It's just funny. How can you not find they lyric:

" And in the shower I get my dreaming done I hold my breath and I wait for the day to come Oh little Billy, little Timmy, little Jimmy, you’re the one"

I like the mindset that anyone, no matter how far beyond 'normal'/'acceptable' they may have strayed, is a fit subject for art, and that it's worth giving their mindscape a serious and compassionate look.

Reminds me of Bruce Springsteen's song 'Paradise', which takes on the perspective of a suicide bomber. Though that's a little more serious in mood than I take Devendra to be here.

Seems to me that Dev is in a good position to be as daring as he is in this song because of the general wackiness of his previous stuff, and the fact that he often takes on a persona for a song that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with himself, but is just something he found interesting.

i love how people who know nothing about music or art think that every song, poem, piece of art is autobiographical. you can make a song from a perspective of a hermaphrodite who likes boys and women and NOT have it be about yourself. is it really that hard to understand?

an artist can make art that is not necessarily about him, but since he made it, it is impossible not to put a part of himself into his own works. this can be a song written on the perspective of a schizophrenic hermaphrodite as devendra stated on interviews. a playful imagination of putting oneself on someone else's shoe (and I thought that is what artist are known for)

but at the same time, putting his own perspective on the song, it can also be about his somewhat frustration of falling in and out of love with women that come and go in his life. and maybe he sees these women like little boys, like him, they dont really know what they want and they cant seem to ever get enough.

i think this song is inspired by his wanting to make a song that will not be played in starbucks resulting to choosing a perspective that will playfully tease an outrage to the people and reflecting how he and most singles live out their lives now adays. like little children, wanting more and more, jumping from one toy to another, wanting too many at the same time and never really seem to ever get enough.