For twenty years now, Broadway fans have been rocking out in their cars, giving Tony-worthy performances in the shower, and getting on tables at theatre parties thanks to Rent’s “La Vie Boheme” (#NoJustMe ), and while we damn well know every lyric, we may not always know exactly what we are toasting to. In honor of Rent’s 20th anniversary, we dive into what’s really happening in this Act One anthem with the help of GIFs, photos, and Wikipedia.

Mark:
To days of inspiration
Playing hooky, making
Something out of nothing
The need to express-
To communicate,
To going against the grain,
Going insane, going mad

To loving tension, no pension
To more than one dimension,
To starving for attention,
Hating convention, hating pretension
Not to mention of course,
Hating dear old Mom and Dad

To riding your bike,
Mid-day past the three-piece suits
To fruits - to no absolutes-
To Absolut - to choice-
To The Village Voice-
To any passing fad

To being an us for once ... instead of a them!
ALL
La vie Bohème!
La vie Bohème

MR. GREY
Ahhemm
MAUREEN
Hey Mister - she's my sister
WAITER
So that's five miso soup, four seaweed salad
Three soy burger dinner, two tofu dog platter
And one pasta with meatless balls
ROGER
Eww
COLLINS
It tastes the same
MIMI
If you close your eyes
WAITER
And thirteen orders of fries
Is that it here?
ALL
Wine and beer!

MIMI & ANGEL
To hand-crafted beers
Made in local breweries
To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese
To leather, to dildos, to curry vindaloo
To Huevos Rancheros and Maya Angelou
MAUREEN & COLLINS
Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion
Creation, vacation
MARK
Mucho masturbation

MAUREEN & COLLINS
Compassion, to fashion, to passion when it's new
COLLINS
To Sontag
ANGEL
To Sondheim
FOUR GIRLS
To anything taboo
COLLINS & ROGER
Ginsberg, Dylan, Cunningham and Cage,
COLLINS
Lenny Bruce
ROGER
Langston Hughes
MAUREEN
To the stage

BOHEMIANS
To Uta. To Buddha. Pablo Neruda, too.
MARK & MIMI
Why Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow
To blow off Auntie Em
ALL
La vie Bohème!

MAUREEN
And wipe the speakers off before you pack
JOANNE
Yes, Maureen
MAUREEN
Well, hurry back!
MR. GREY
Sisters?
MAUREEN & JOANNE
We're close
ANGELS & COLLINS
Brothers!
MARK, ANGEL & MIMI
Bisexuals, trisexuals, homo sapiens,
Carcinogens, hallucinogens, men,
Pee-wee Herman
German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein
Antonioni, Bertolucci, Kurosawa
Carmina Burana

ALL
To apathy, to entropy, to empathy, ecstasy
Vaclav Havel - The Sex Pistols, 8BC
To no shame - never playing the fame game
COLLINS
To marijuana!
ALL
To sodomy, it's between God and me
To S&M!