Bhi Bhiman: “Guttersnipe”
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Singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman (pronounced Bee Beeman) has a very American story. He was born to Sri Lankan parents who named him Bhima, the main character in an ancient Sanskrit epic called The Mahabharata. He was reared in St. Louis, the crossroads of America, before moving to the Bay Area in California.
He cut his teeth on the grungy 90s sounds of Nirvana and Soundgarden, but you’d never know it. His tunes are dusty, soulful ramblers in the grand tradition of Dylan and Guthrie. He has a knack for telling stories of the downtrodden. On “Kimchee Line,” from his just-released sophomore record Bhiman, he weaves a tale about how a North Korean man starves while the Dear Leader gets fat over a melody that comes straight from Dust Bowl America.
On today’s almost seven-minute song of the day (“Guttersnipe,” also from new record), Bhiman tells the story of a hobo just trying to survive. Sonically, the mid-tempo song lives in the fuzzy space between folk and soul. Bhiman’s expressive tenor really sells the story of the hobo. A man who “steals his meals when all else fails,” but who, really, only wants to keep on moving. “I jumped the first train I saw, it’ll surely take me home. If I had a mama at least I’d have a place to go. But I’m just a guttersnipe, I got no place to wipe my nose,” sings Bhiman. It’s a very American tale, from a singer with a very American story himself.
