Songfacts®:

• Dave Nachmanoff says this song was inspired by his shady past. He earned a PhD from University of California, Davis, and actually taught philosophy for a while.
• René Descartes was born on March 31, 1596; one of the biggest names in the history of philosophy, he spent some time in Amsterdam where he sired a daughter by servant girl Helena Jans van der Strom. The child died of scarlet fever aged 5 at which time Descartes was a lecturer at Utrecht University.
  
  Although while in The Netherlands, Descartes changed his address many times, it is doubtful if he ever slept on a park bench as suggested in this song. Those who know something about philosophy may wonder if Nachmanoff is not confusing him with or more likely incorporating the Greek philosopher Diogenes into the narrator. Diogenes was the founder of the Cynics, and famously lived in a tub. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2