The Boy With the Arab Strap

This is the title track from the third album by Scottish indie-pop band Belle and Sebastian. The inspiration for the title came from the band Arab Strap, who are also from Scotland and briefly toured with Belle and Sebastian. Lead singer and songwriter Stuart Murdoch admitted to Q magazine in April 2011: "It's about Aidan Moffat from Arab Strap. I never really thought about it at the time, but I think he deserves to be a bit peeved that we hijacked the name of their band. But it was an honest thing - I was describing my experiences hanging around with him and the words tumbled out very easily. I remember playing it to Isobel (Campbell, ex Belle & Sebastian) on the piano when I first wrote it and she thought it was ridiculous. She said it sounded like Chas & Dave." What Murdoch didn't mention is that the band Arab Strap got their name from a sex toy. Moffat got one from a catalog which came free when he ordered a dildo for his girlfriend. They named their band after the device, and Moffat would carry it around with his drum machine for good luck.

A lyric from the song, "Color my life with the chaos of trouble," is quoted by the lead character in the 2009 movie (500) Days of Summer.

"The Boy With The Arab Strap" wasn't released as a single but became one of Belle & Sebastian's most popular songs. They play it live at every show, and when they can, they pull audience members up on stage and have them dance along. It's done rather sensibly: Before every show they meet with venue security to make sure it's OK and find out how many people they can bring on stage safely. Belle & Sebastian fans are pretty well behaved so there aren't many incidents. Stuart Murdoch says the track is like "an old British pub song," which creates the jovial atmosphere where everyone wants to join in.