Dr. Bogenbroom
Dr. Bogenbroom

Jethro Tull - Dr. Bogenbroom Lyrics

Rock
Oct 31, 1972
3K
Dr. Bogenbroom Music Video

Dr. Bogenbroom Lyrics

I have one foot in the graveyard
And the other on the bus
And the passengers do trample
Each other in the rush.
And the chicken hearted lawman
Is throwing up his fill
To see the kindly doctor
To pass the super pill.
Well, I'm goin' down to revisit Dr. Bogenbroom.
Well, I'm on my way, three cheers for Dr. Bogenbroom.

Well, I tried my best to love you all,
All you hypocrites and whores,
With your eyes upon each other
And the locks upon your doors.
Well, you drowned me in the fountain of life and I hated you
For living while I was dying,
We were all just passing through.
Well, I'm goin' down to revisit Dr. Bogenbroom.
Well, I'm on my way, three cheers for Dr. Bogenbroom.

Writer(s): IAN ANDERSON
Copyright(s): Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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What is the Meaning of Dr. Bogenbroom?

I cannot believe there are so few interpretations available online for this song. The album also contains a song with "Dharma" in the title which suggests familiarity with a Buddhist context. I see the song being about purpose and meaning in life, a worry about being able to carry on in today’s society, and a sub-theme about drugs, either literally or as a metaphor for the wider empty satisfactions of a materialist society. “One foot in the graveyard” refers to death and the pull towards giving up a hollow life, or on the other hand “one foot on the bus” with the rest of materialist society, who are empty of meaning, intent only to get their kicks how they can - useless to look to the “chicken-hearted lawman” as authority for leadership and support when everyone is beating a path to the doctor's door to feel better by taking the latest pill. The second verse may also be implicitly Buddhist in inspiration: trying to love everyone is difficult when the ideals of the 60's have given way to cynicism, materialism and selfishness, Hypocrites still spout the hippy ideals while busy with selfishness, and whores who have sold themselves out; “drowning in the fountain of life” may refer to the attractions of the materialist world, or samsara as it is often called: how can they all be so callous and insensitive to the spiritual suffering of such a purposeless existence where I don’t fit in with all the bullshit; without meaning, life is purposeless and death is attractive, and the only way to cope is to take the damn pill again

Dr. Bogenbroom is life's bookends. The bus is the routine of daily life. People don't treat each other with consideration on the bus and the "man" won't lift a finger to improve the situation. The protagonist of the song tried his best to care but in the end, we all have to visit Dr. Bogenbroom twice (birth and death, hence the "revisit" instead of "visit".

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