The Bobs are a "new wave" a cappella group founded in San Francisco, Califo… Read Full Bio ↴The Bobs are a "new wave" a cappella group founded in San Francisco, California. The group is known for humorous original songs and avant-garde arrangement techniques. Instead of covering more traditional doo-wop songs, The Bobs started out with songs like "Helter Skelter" (The Beatles) and "Psycho Killer" (Talking Heads). Although two of their albums are dominated by covers, the overwhelming majority of their repertoire is original, with songs discussing diverse subjects like lunar cattle farming, sleepy bus drivers, bumper stickers, laundry, hurricane-related flooding, graffiti, Oliver North, shopping-mall security guards, celebrity autographs, synaesthesia, post office violence, heart transplants, Heaven's Gate, spontaneous human combustion, turtles, rebellious footwear, tattoos, nicknames for genitalia, and felines intent on ruling the world. They are currently based in Seattle.

The Bobs have broken with a cappella tradition several times by including instruments. The majority of the 1995 album Plugged is backed by toy drums. Plugged also made heavy use of studio equipment to make the voices sound more like guitars and bass guitars. Coaster includes a rock rhythm section on one song. But this original "band without instruments" usually uses just their mouths, hands, feet and "other body parts" to fill a room with a sound as big as an orchestra.

Members of the group are always credited with "Bob" as their middle name. The name is often described as an acronym for "Best of Breed," an award given out at dog shows.

The group has garnered a healthy cult following in the U.S. and Europe in the 24 years they've been touring and recording, and has won numerous songwriting and vocal performance honors.

Come Together
The Bobs Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Here come old flat top
He come groovin' up slowly
He got joo joo eyeballs
He one holy rollers
He got hair down to his knee
Got to be a joker
He just do what he please

He wear no shoeshine
He got toe jam football
He got monkey finger
He shoot Coca Cola
He say I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is
You got to be free
Come together, right now
Over me

He bad production
He got walrus gumboot
He got Ono sideboard
He one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knees
Hold you in his armchair
You can feel his disease
Come together, right now
Over me

He roller coaster
He got early warning
He got muddy water
He one Mojo filter
He say one and one and one is three
Got to be good looking
Cause he's so hard to see
Come together right now
Over me

Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah

Come together, yeah
Come together, yeah

Overall Meaning

The Bobs’s song “Come Together” is a cover of The Beatles’ iconic song of the same name. The song tells a story of a man named flat top who is described with peculiar traits such as “joo joo eyeballs” and “monkey finger”. The song opens with the line “Here come old flat top, he come groovin' up slowly”, setting the tone for a laid-back narrative. Flat top is introduced as being different from the conventional and wearing no shoeshine. He is a joker who just does what he pleases.

The chorus of the song is "Come together, right now, over me". This line calls for unity in a non-specific way. It could be taken to mean that the singer wants everyone to come together and be free. But the vagueness of the language is intentional so that the listener can make their own meaning from it. There are various interpretations of the song, and it hints at the idea of social change and revolution.

Line by Line Meaning

Here come old flat top
There comes a guy with a flat kind of hairstyle

He come groovin' up slowly
He walks towards you with some funky moves

He got joo joo eyeballs
His eyes look strange and hypnotic

He one holy rollers
He is known for being religious

He got hair down to his knee
He has really long hair

Got to be a joker
He has a sense of humor

He just do what he please
He does whatever he wants

He wear no shoeshine
He doesn't wear shiny shoes

He got toe jam football
He has crusty toes like a football player

He got monkey finger
His fingers are quite flexible

He shoot Coca Cola
He likes to drink Coca Cola