The Boy with the Arab Strap

Stuart Murdoch recalled the recording process for this album felt very different than the previous two. The group spent several months working on it versus the previous albums which were recorded in just a number of days. The music itself was somewhat more experimental as well as more collaborative with some tracks written by Stevie Jackson and Isobel Campbell and more members of the group contributing vocals. Stevie Jackson sings lead on both "Seymour Stein" and "Chickfactor", Stuart David gives a spoken word performance on "A Space Boy Dream", whilst Isobel Campbell sings lead on "Is It Wicked Not to Care?" and duets with Murdoch on "Sleep the Clock Around".[1]

The album's cover photo was taken by Murdoch and shows band member Chris Geddes. The photo was taken as the group spent an afternoon near the River Ayr near Auchencruive.[1]

The inspiration for the album's name came from the band Arab Strap, who are also from Scotland and briefly toured with Belle & Sebastian. An Arab strap is a sexual device for retaining an erection, a fact unknown to Stuart Murdoch at the time.[2] Arab Strap were reportedly less than pleased with their inclusion in the title of the album. When questioned about it, Arab Strap's leader/singer, Aidan Moffat, said "They have a sense of humour." Malcolm Middleton, the band's instrumentalist, added, "Because Arab Strap is quite an interesting name. The words go well together. That's why we chose it as a band name. We're friends with them, but there's a limit to putting someone else's name on an album. They're taking away something from us." He also mentioned that the album had been confused as a collaboration between the bands.[3]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[5]
The Guardian	[6]
Los Angeles Times	[7]
NME	8/10[8]
Pitchfork	0.8/10 (1998)[9] 8.5/10 (2018)[10]
Rolling Stone	[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[12]
Spin	8/10[13]
The Village Voice	A−[14]

In October 2011, NME placed the title track at number 130 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[15] The album sold 200,000 units through 2006.[16]

The instrumental of the title track "The Boy with the Arab Strap" was later used as the theme tune for the television show Teachers. Though the title track was not played, it was referenced in the 2009 film (500) Days of Summer, specifically the lyric "Colour my life with the chaos of trouble" which the title character quoted in her high school yearbook.

In the episode "Return of the Shirt" of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, several references are made to Belle and Sebastian, including a shot featuring the CD of The Boy with the Arab Strap

Part of the song "Seymour Stein" is briefly featured in the 2000 film High Fidelity. The track was also in the film Definitely, Maybe starring Ryan Reynolds and Isla Fisher. In 2011 "Sleep the Clock Around" was used in the AMC (an American cable TV network) series The Killing (season 1, episode 4, "A Soundless Echo"). The scene depicted actress Kacey Rohl playing the role of Sterling listening to music from an iPod in a high school hallway.