fever dreams

Steely Dan lyric interpretations / shared delusions

"CAN'T BUY A THRILL"
Introductory Notes "Do It Again" "Dirty Work" "Kings" "Midnite Cruiser" "Only A Fool Would Say That" "Reelin' In The Years" "Fire In The Hole" "Brooklyn" "Change Of The Guard" "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again"

Introductory Notes
Roy.Scam (GB, 12/9/98): Reason #235 to listen to Steely Dan: Better grammar. The power, prurience, irony, and wit of Becker & Fagen's lyrics aren't their only good features. They also promote respect for the King's English. Whilst other rockers are saying grammatically reckless things like "Don't Come Around Here No More", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Me and you and a dog named Boo", the Dan only violate the laws of proper structure for legitimate artistically valid reasons. To wit, it was necessary, in the interest of rhyme and meter, to do grammatical downgrades on the following original phrases: "over there in Barrytown, they do things very strangely." "she doesn't remember the Queen of soul" "any world to which I am welcome." fez o'north (GB, 12/10/98): i figured out this morning on the drive in one of the reasons i'm so drawn to SD; it's the lyrics. there's a certain succinctness throughout--or to steal a line from "1776", a felicity of expression--that really pulls the listener in. For a detailed and mindbending take on CBAT, see Breck's Bodacious Broadsides in Hear My Ax Declaim. Daddy G (GB, 2/9/00): Speaking of CBAT, I just hauled out the vinyl and read the words, "Remember this one from college?" on the back cover. The first time I read those words, I actually *was* in college, so my reaction at the time was, "Wha? What do they mean? I *am* in college!" Now I get it. It just took me twenty-seven years to get their little time bomb of a joke, that's all.

offleash (Digest, 10/14/00): I think the hoopla about the lyrics being inscrutable is nonsense. They follow a Rimbaud/Dylan tradition (and owe to Dylan - I don't know if they publicly administer that). They're impressionistic. I LOVE it that their willing to leave things unstated and to occupy the grey zone, to refuse to give the answer.

"Do It Again"
Brian Sweet describes "DIA" as "long and rambling... a story of murder, lynch mobs, and card sharps. The lyrics conjure up cinema-style images (as would many Becker/Fagen compositions) of a Sergio Leone spaghetti Western and could easily be a synopsis to one of his films." (RITY, p. 49) Betrayal; frustration; bitterness; the sense that if you do not learn from your mistakes you are doomed to repeat them.Another turn on the wheel. "A handle in your hand"--a slot machine. There are many gambling references in Steely lyrics. "The land of milk and honey" is of course a reference to the Biblical land of Canaan, promised to the Jews in Exodus 3: 8. It also can be seen as a bitterly ironic reference to twentieth-century America, which promises something other than what it gives. One of my favorite rhymes--"beg us" and "Vegas." Not My Nancy (6/10/98): "Wheel turning round and round" is a nearly explicit reference to the Buddhist wheel of life, which (I think--no scholar on the topic) is what one ascends, incarnation-by-incarnation, through truer adherence to the middle way. Thus, if you fail to get to Nirvana on this go, you..."go back, Jack, do it again." Interesting to think that both CBAT and Countdown start with a nod to Buddhism--the first sincere (though realistic), the second tongue-in-cheek. The Nightfly (8/9/99):This is in my opinion the most dark and mysterious SD song of all. It starts out referring to the obvious literal, and then moves toward a more spiritual connotation. The man oviously commits murder, and is apprehended. He is then released because the executioner is unavailable. The wheel referred to may in fact be an explicit reference to the Buddhist Wheel of Life, in which there are animals in the center, and Nirvana as the outer ring, with all manner of humans in between; or perhaps it is simply another way of saying "what goes around comes around" since the man obviously does evil, and then receives evil. I think the land of milk and honey is referring to the final Judgement Day when all deeds good and bad by every person are revealed. "Land of Milk & Honey" is commonly used by the evangelical Christian sector as another name for Heaven.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet "Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts" by Bob Dylan, on "Blood On The Tracks" reminds me of this Westernthemed romance/ tragedy

"Dirty Work"
Brian Sweet says, "Beneath the sweet and almost sentimental music, there were hidden barbs in the song. The narrator realises he is merely a sexual plaything at the beck and call of his lover, but is so infatuated he is powerless to bring their lusty trysts to an end. In the second verse Becker included a reference to the game of chess ('Like the castle in its corner/ In a medieval game')." (RITY, p. 49) Kim (Digest, 6/16/00): [on hearing The Bare Midriff Section do this tune in concert] I always felt it was a "girls" song!

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Kings"
As quoted by Brian Sweet, Messrs. Becker & Fagen describe this as "a 'vacuous historical romance.' " (RITY, p. 50) Daddy G (GB, 2/10/00): This one always seemed to be the most straightforward to me its about King Richard I (AKA Richard Coeur de Lion), from the late 12th Century. This book on this guy was that he was so busy running around the world fighting the Crusades (remember, the sun never sets on the British Empire), that he was hardly ever home. In fact, he spent only six months of his ten-year reign actually on the island of England. Thats the reference for the line: While he plundered far and wide, All his starving children cried. Interestingly (or not), this was not the only song that came out in 72 that referenced Richard I. Al Stewart, best known for his hit Year of the Cat, had a song on Past, Present, and Future called Soho that also gives a nod to this ambitious monarch. In Soho, Stewart laments the decline of Western civilization thusly: The sun goes down on a neon eon Though youd have a job explaining it to Richard Coeur de Lion Good King Richard was succeeded by John Lackland. (Raise up your glass to Good King John.) When Kings first appeared on CBAT in 72, this track featured the following disclaimer on the back cover: No political significance. Guess D&W didnt want the protagonist confused with the other Richard in the news that year. Luke (8/31/00) I always thought there was resonance with Richard Nixon and John Kennedy in "Kings," but I've never been able to pin it down. Historically tricky as well--John was the bad Brit king and Dick was the good (could the Dan be engaging in *gasp* irony?!?). But I always get that vibe when I hear it. "No political significance" indeed! Dr. Mu (GB, 9/30 & 10/1/00): Richard I Coeur de Lion (The Lionhearted) (1189-99 AD) Born: 8 September 1157 at Beaumont Palace, Oxford Died: 6 April 1199 at Chalus, Aquitaine Buried: Fontevrault Abbey, Anjou Parents: Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane Siblings: William, Henry, Matilda, Geoffrey, Eleanor, Joan & John Crowned: 2 September 1189 at Westminster Abbey, Middlesex

Married: 12 May 1191 at Limassol, Cyprus Spouse: Berengia daughter of Sancho VI, King of Navarre Offspring: None Contemporaries: Philip II (King of France, 1180-1223); Saladin (sultan of Egypt and Syria); Henry VI (Holy Roman Emperor, 1190-1197) Richard I, the Lion-hearted, spent much of his youth in his mother's court at Poitiers. Richard cared much more for the continental possessions of his mother than for England - he also cared much more for his mother than for his father. Family considerations influenced much of his life: he fought along side of his brothers Prince Henry and Geoffrey in their rebellion of 1173-4; he fought for his father against his brothers when they supported an 1183 revolt in Aquitane; and he joined Philip II of France against his father in 1188, defeating Henry in 1189. Richard spent but six months of his ten-year reign in England. He acted upon a promise to his father to join the Third Crusade and departed for the Holy Land in 1190 (accompanied by his partner-rival Philip II of France). In 1191, he conquered Cyprus en route to Jerusalem and performed admirably against Saladin, nearly taking the holy city twice. Philip II, in the meantime, returned to France and schemed with Richard's brother John. The Crusade failed in its primary objective of liberating the Holy Land from Moslem Turks, but did have a positive result - easier access to the region for Christian pilgrims through a truce with Saladin. Richard received word of John's treachery and decided to return home; he was captured by Leopold V of Austria and imprisoned by Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI. The administrative machinery of Henry II insured the continuance of royal authority, as Richard was unable to return to his realm until 1194. Upon his return, he crushed a coup attempt by John and regained lands lost to Philip II during the German captivity. Richard's war with Philip continued sporadically until the French were finally defeated near Gisors in 1198. Richard died April 6, 1199, from a wound received in a skirmish at the castle of Chalus in the Limousin. Near his death, Richard finally reconciled his position with his late father, as evidenced by Sir Richard Baker in A Chronicle of the Kings of England: "The remorse for his undutifulness towards his father, was living in him till he died; for at his death he remembered it with bewailing, and desired to be buried as near him as might be, perhaps as thinking they should meet the sooner, that he might ask him forgiveness in another world." Richard's prowess and courage in battle earned him the nickname Coeur De Lion ("heart of the lion"), but the training of his mother's court is revealed in a verse Richard composed during his german captivity: No one will tell me the cause of my sorrow Why they have made me a prisoner here. Wherefore with dolour I now make my moan; Friends had I many but help have I none. Shameful it is that they leave me to ransom, To languish here two winters long. ... [ Mu continues] ... I'm going to play Devil's Advocate and assert that The King Richard I saga was given a twist. The Kennedy/Nixon analogy is allowed to be assumed, but does not fit the lyrics directly. I think we all know the legend of king Richard I (the Lionhearted) who left England to lead the Crusades while his conniving brother Prince John usurped the throne after a lengthy abondonment. Lord Loxley (Robin Hood) represented (whether real or not) the underground movement against King John's "reign of terror" and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Eventually King Richard arrives back into the country under wraps when he discovers the state that King John has put the country in and that King Richard himself has a price on his head. Steely Dan puts their signature twist on the myth.

"Now they lay his body down Sad old men who run this town" King Richard is laid to rest - did his life live up to the legend? "I still recall the way He led the charge and saved the day Blue blood and rain I can hear the bugle playin'" King Richard left for the Crusades with great fanfare "CHORUS: We seen the last of Good King Richard Ring out the past his name lives on Roll out the bones and raise up your pitcher Raise up your glass to Good King John" King Richard's journey takes many more years than expected. The people and Prince John turn to each other "While he plundered far and wide All his starving children cried And though we sung his fame We all went hungry just the same" Sure, King Richard was a hero, but we peasants are left without leadership, substance. Without that CNN and FoxNews feed every day, can we really continue to celebrate the "victories" over the Moslem Infidels in the Middle East, the Balkans, and modern day Turkey? "He meant to shine To the end of the line" It's the end of the line for peasants as they begin to run out of patience and "CHORUS We seen the last of Good King Richard Ring out the past his name lives on Roll out the bones and raise up your pitcher Raise up your glass to Good King John" King John is here - how little did we know? In a sense desperation of the people often leads to an ascent to power by despots - Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao. The case could be made for Nixon at the height of the Vietnam War. Thus Good King John, not Good King Richard might better represent Richard Nixon...just my late night take...

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Midnite Cruiser"
"Felonious" is a punny reference to Thelonious Monk. If you haven't listened to him, log off and go do so right now. Try "Monk's Dream," "Blue Monk," "Monk's Music," or "Underground" for an intro. Yes, I know this isn't a lyrical comment. So sue me. I think of this as something of a prelude to "Deacon Blues." This song has an interesting literary link: In his fabulous Neuromancer (1984), William Gibson names a bar "The Gentleman Loser." There are numerous other Dan references in Gibson's works; part of what Ursula Hegi calls "unearned pleasures" is finding them as you go. In fact, in Idoru (1996) a group called Lo/Rez is central to the plot--a two-man band, around for decades, who employ various studio musicians in their releases. We see "Lo/Rez in all their Dog Soup [early label--DS<=>SD?] glory. Rez with his shirt open (but entirely ironically) and Lo with his grin and a prototype mustache that hadn't quite grown in" (Idoru, p. 18). In another chapter, the heroine finds in her hotel bathroom three shelves of shrink-wrapped dildos. Coincidence? I don't think so. Reportedly, Gibson and Messrs. Fagen & Becker are mutual fans. There has been some comment in the Guestbook and the Digest on Gibson links, and I'll mention more as we proceed. stevevdan (GB, 6/16/98): For some reason people think this song is about Thelonious Monk... but I never knew why... to me it sounds like a song about someone (a political agitator of some sort, maybe one of Becker's friends in college) who hadn't realized times had changed... Reelin' (9/1/99): I've always seen Felonious as the singer/writers alter ego. The name alone seems to confirm that. It reminds me of my grandmother from Brooklyn. When I misbehaved it was Tommy McGillicuddy who was the miscreant, not I. I regularly thank God that I developed my musical sensibilities before music videos. I still invision a knight in full regalia when I listen to the Moody Blue's Nights in White Satin, though I'm fully aware of the spelling difficulties. Breck (11/5/00): "Midnight Cruiser" is about two artificially-aged pop stars meeting:1) who, past ditched by the industry for being too musically-minded or political in the wrong way 2) are aware that too much "pushing the enelope" might make too many enemies 3) are unwilling to be zombified and mouth whatever "countercultural" phrases are currently demanded 4) and who would still like to play music to some large audiences and possibly make a living thereby. "Felonius my old friend" -"Felonius", a pun combining "Felony" and "Thelonius", as in "Thelonius Monk", legendary be-bop enemy of the top-40 status quo. True art is a felony in the "Art / Empire / Industry" (quoting quote Bill Nelson). "Streets still unseen we'll find somehow" -"Streets" a euphemism for music style; as in U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name", for example. Look and you'll find other examples. "Midnight Cruiser" -Now, to say this briefly, rebellious pop artists often refer to times of the day in regards to how much musical freedom they have. The late 60s and early 70s were a time of great freedom; new and exciting music forms were popping up BIG everywhere; the Beatles saw it coming ("Here comes the Sun -it's alright- Sun sun sun here we come) -but knew that as "Dinosaurs" they'd be forced to sell out completely so they broke up while they could. When "Night" comes to the music scene you'll find many references to the "Moon" [often in very disparging ways -I think "Moon" is the industry forcing artificial roles on the musicians]. Good God, there's many examples of what I describe -look for them if you dare or challenge me for a special email message. But these outcast musicians are "Midnight Cruisers"; like, say New Wavers in today's Rap/Soulless Pop scene. They are "Gentlemen Losers" -They wanted to play music, not fight City Hall; they backed out gracefully from superstar zombiehood. There's a similar concept in Brian Eno's old song, "Cindy Tells Me" ["Cindy", by the way, being short for Cynthia, which means "Moon"] -"Some of them lose and some of them lose - But that's what

they want, that's what they choose -It's such a burden, such a burden, to be so relied upon". "The world that we used to know, people tell me it don't turn no more." WHAT? There is NO LONGER a morning coming?? No more chance of a truly spontaneous "happening"? All musical or cultural events just a product of corporate "Synergy", planning and manipulation? Oh you musicians who thought you would be doing things "your way". Well, morning may never come; the industries who originally used you to make their piles have found other dupes, and you're forever cruising "Harlem" -a dangerous slum now but once a rich international culture spot- yes, Harlem "or somewhere the same."

See above for Monk directions. There are many more. For a great Monk page, go here. "Deacon Blues," on "Aja" Neuromancer and Idoru, (among other works) by William Gibson, who singlehandedly revolutionized science fiction in the year immortalized by George Orwell. If you haven't read him, put your browser to bed immediately, seek out his books, and return when you're done. "Here At The Western World," from "Greatest Hits," in &c. for more Gibson links.

"Only A Fool Would Say That"

This is the song that made me fall in love with the Dan more than two decades ago. it begins with a simple two-line evocation of utopia, and then backhands it with a sarcastic put-down. Who is the "boy with a plan"? I have a montage of the Lone Ranger, John Wayne, and JFK. The next lines remind me of a Zen koan--what is the sound of a gun with no one to fire it on? Then, if this "natural man" is raising his gun-encumbered hands in the air, he's making a fake gesture to us, to the Fool, to life as it could be. He is, after all, still holding it. This is quite an apropos phallic image. Then the singer accosts us with "I heard it was you"--scorning us for considering the possibility of Utopia. And here comes one of the loveliest Steely double entendres: only a fool would say that utopia is possible--or would only a fool say "it just couldn't be"? They've got us coming and going. Then there's a vignette of the average working Joe--see R. Crumb's "Whiteman," perhaps revisited in "Kid Charlemagne." The brown shoes may be a nod to Frank Zappa's "Brown Shoes Don't Make It." Put yourself in this guy's place--many of us don't have to stretch much.... He comes home, clicks the remote, and who's on the screen? THE man with a dream, Martin Luther King, Jr.? An adman pitching a materialist fantasy? An artist with an irrelevant but beautiful vision? And then an (I assume) inadvertent, non-classic haiku: anybody on the street has murder in his eyes. You feel no pain Stands great alone. "And you're younger than you realize" is another line that cuts two ways: is it that you're fresher, more open than you think, or does it emphasize how long a road you actually do have to walk in those brown shoes?

The Spanish at the end is a hacked-up rendition of "only a fool would say that": "Solamente un tonto diria eso," reportedly by Skunk Baxter. Doug (12/11/00): I've always thought the song was about John Lennon and his politics of the late 60's / early 70's. "Natural man" makes me think of the bed-in and the Lennon & Ono naked portraits; "white Stetson hat" makes me think of Lennon's white suit and hat of the period; and "brown shoes" reminds of the Beatles "Old Brown Shoe". Any one else ever raise this possiblity? Any record of Becker and Fagen's relationshhip with, or views on Lennon? Sis Sparki (!/3/02): I think "a world become one, of salads and sun," is a reference to the hippie ideal, and to California, where everyone would sit in the sun and eat natural vegetarian foods and live an earthy and idealistic lifestyle. ( Be sure to check out Sparki's Dan Noir Vignettes) Jazem (4/12/04): New spin on a great old song! A world become one Of salads and sun Jehovah's Witness at door explaining to the home owner the Bible's hope of paradise on earth Only a fool would say that Home owners response A boy with a plan JW explaining Jesus as the Son of God A natural man JW explains that Jesus was fully human when on earth Wearing a white stetson hat JW explains that salvation can only come through Jesus, the good guy in a white hat Unhand that gun begone There's no one to fire upon JW explains his peaceful mission, put away hatred. We are all brothers, all one family, descendants of Adam and Eve. Violence and warfare are not the answer. If he's holding it high He's telling a lie JW explains that anyone professing to be a Christian that carries on warfare in the flesh, still holding onto his gun, is a false religious teacher. He highlights Christendom's blood guilt in the recent wars! I heard it was you Talkin' 'bout a world Where all is free It just couldn't be And only a fool would say that Home owner knows that year after year they call at his door, he wants something better, but just can't believe that God would use this simple man to reach him with this message, and so he dismisses the JW as a fool. The man in the street Draggin' his feet Don't wanna hear the bad news JW musing as he leaves the man's door to go talk to his neighbor. Realizing that the home owner doesn't want to change his life style to bring it in harmony with God's will, so the home owner sees the message as "Bad News" a twist on the gospels "Good News". Imagine your face There is his place Standing inside his brown shoes

You do his nine to five Drag yourself home half alive And there on the screen A man with a dream JW reflects on the life of those he meets in his ministry. Most people work hard all day, come home tired, the last thing they want to do is study the Bible. They would rather turn on the tube and watch a TV evangelizer to tickle their ears. Anybody on the street Has murder in his eyes Home owner distrusts anyone on the street, must have alterior motives, even JW's You feel no pain Homeowner sees their joy, but comes to a conclusion. And you're younger Then you realize Those JW's are immature, They just don't understand the real world.

"Kid Charlemagne" on "The Royal Scam" "Book of Liars" on "11 Tracks of Whack" "Brown Shoes Don't Make It," by Frank Zappa, on "Tinseltown Rebellion" "Brazil," the movie (1984) "Old Brown Shoe," the Beatles, available on the humongous Box Set

"Reelin' In The Years"

The liner notes for "Alive In America" offer a rare and spare exegesis: "Reclaimed juvenilia. 'Infernal woman.' Escape from relationship." diggy (9/17/99): Reelin in the Years has one of the greatest guitar intros in music history. I used to think the narrator was talking to his girlfriend, but now I realize it is a father talking to his daughter. (CBAT sleeve notes: "How's my little girl?") The three verses are in chronological order. First, she is a teenager and doesn't know the difference between reality and a fantasy. Ask a thirteen year old girl is she "LOVES" her boyfriend at school. She will say yes and babble on about him for an hour. But next week she "LOVES" a different guy. To quote from Bread, teenagers "change their partners like they change their underwear." In the second verse, she is a college student and quite full of herself. In the third, she gets married and daddy feels left behind. The song points out that a young girl/woman runs through life at a rapid pace and rarely notices the years reelin' by. But the father watches his little girl and wishes she and time would slow down --they grow up too fast. Daily Steve (4/13/00): The truth is, somehow, Walter and Donald watched as my folks went through their divorce, and expressed all the personal anger in the single best pop-rock diddy ever written. The pain is gone, has been for nearly 30 years (LIAR my therapist yells), taken flight on a riproaring riff and questioning chorus. I've learned my mantra is Paul (McCartney)'s advice to another only child of divorce, Jude (Julian Lennon); hey, I've taken a sad song and made it better. Mamma's remarried, Dad's remarried, even I'm remarried! But a big part of the healing is this bitchslap of a song.

"Fire In The Hole"

Brian Sweet comments that this is "a very strange old song.... The title was taken from a phrase used by American soldiers in Vietnam. When raiding a Vietcong village and uncovering a hidden bunker, the camouflage matting would be lifted and a grenade thrown down into the pit with the comment "Fire in the hole".... The song also alludes to how so many students succeeded in dodging the draft back in the late Sixties and early Seventies." (RITY, p. 49) I don't have a clue as to what he means by that last sentence. What I hear in this song is a young man whose life is exploding, as if he were in a hole with figurative napalm all over him--it doesn't just blow up, it keeps on burning, and he has nowhere to flee. He's full of angst as to his identity and his place in this society, regarding himself from a distance ("am I myself or just another freak?"), and yearning for escape or someone to "open up the door." I love the lines "With a cough I shake it off/ And work around my yellow stripe." (hi jon!) He squares his hunched shoulders and cops to his fears--doesn't battle them but sidles by them; doesn't pretend to be something he's not. Matt D (Digest, 2/21/99): The song always seemed Orwellian to me, despite Brian Sweet. Slither (6/27/00): Does anyone else think the lyrics of "Fire in The Hole" are from the perspective of Winston Smith from Orwell's 1984? The hole being the incendiary "Memory Hole" where Winston throws his doctored newspaper articles. The verses, although sparse, roughly follow the first half of the book. In particular the line "A woman's voice reminds me to serve and not to speak" in remeniscent of the telescreen and "with a cough I shake it off" is almost a line in the book, in reference to the protagonist's persistant cough. Third World Man (1/17/01): Did you know that Fagen tried hard not to sing during the first tour? He hated singing in front of crowds. The song seems to be about Fagen, who realizes the craziness of all around him (fans?), while everyone else thinks he's lazy (not willing to sing on tour?). Fagen acknowledges his fear, his cowardice, his yellow stripe. He exclaims, Fire in the hole, a typical military phrase warning sailors about fire in the sub, soldiers about fire in bunkers, etc, signifying trouble in himself/his band. Then he realizes he wants to leave, but (as co-leader of the band and main lyricist) he has nowhere to turn but to assume the lead singing role. Fagen sings about his own fear and realization about what he has gotten himself into (the record label agreed to cut and distribute the record as long as the band toured). Gabe (4/5/01): Fire in the Hole I decline, to walk the line they tell me that I'm lazy Worldly wise, I realize that everybody's crazy A womans voice reminds me to serve and not to speak Am I myself, or just another freak? - okay, so he turns 18. He gets drafted, but tells everyone he doesn't want to do it, so they say he's lazy. He thinks everybody is insane for going to war, until a soldier (the woman) comes and tells him to get his butt into the army and dont say anything. He starts to wonder if he is still himself, or just a puppet to the military Don't you know There's fire in the hole And nothing left to burn I'd like to run out now There's nowhere left to turn

- He is fighting a war that was over when it started. Throwing napalm into a hole where there is no one to kill. Seeing his friends die around him is too much, so he wants to leave, yet there is no where to go. With a cough I shake it off And work around my yellow stripe Should I hide And eat my pride Or wait until it's good and ripe My life is boiling over It's happened once before I wish someone would open up the door - He merely forgets all his dead friends as easily as a cough. I dont know what they mean by yellow stripe. he then asks himself Should he go home and think about the army himself, or tell others he was the hero and become proud. Later in life, it just all comes down on him. He realizes everything he did on the war. it has happened before. He wishes someone would help him. Don't you know There's fire in the hole And nothing left to burn I'd like to run out now There's nowhere left to turn angel (4/15/01): My Yellow Stripe. Going with Gabe's interpretation of it, that would be that he is a coward or just plain scared. angel (is back) (GB, 8/12/02): I finally remembered what I learned on my summer vacation! We spent a day in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. What a fantastic place to explore. One of the highlights of the museum is a display of a "working coalmine". Of course it is not real, but they actually bring you down an old elevator shaft and show you old mining tools, etc. One of the things they mentioned was that the way you used to dig for coal was drilling holes in the rock face and then placing dynamite into the hole. Just before they set the charge off, they would call out "FIRE IN THE HOLE". I don't know if this applies to the song, but I thought you might like to know. Alan B (3/6/03): I noticed that the various opinions of the meaning of "Fire in the Hole" did not touch on oral sex i.e. cunnilingus. If my memory serves me correctly I read at some point in the seventies an interview with Becker and Fagen where they said that the inspiration for this song came from the exploits of a fellow student who could perform this sexual act with such efficiency that he turned into an art-form and became something of a very minor celebrity. Apparently, he felt that he had transformed himself into something of a freak and later regretted the reputation he had made for himself. Thus the "fire in the hole" is the woman's desire, both virtually literal if you want to be crude, and metaphorical; and "nothing left to burn" the man's inability or unwillingness to satisfy such needs any more. This makes the meaning of "a woman's voice reminds me to serve and not to speak" clear. Of course this metaphor can be taken much less explicitly as the general inability to satisfy a demand that has been created and the millstone around the neck that fame can bring. The oral sex story of course may be just another of Becker and Fagen's deceptions and should be taken with a pinch of salt. I am sure that I did not imagine reading this although I have no idea exactly when the interview took place, who it was with or where I read it. Had I realised at the time that Dan's lyrics would lead to such fascination and frustration I would have kept the article for posterity....

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Brooklyn"
According to Brian Sweet, Mr. Becker said that "the 'charmer under me' was indeed the character mentioned in their cryptic sleeve notes: 'President Street Pete is the beneficiary here.' He and his family had lived in the apartment below Donald Fagen. 'The song is just a bunch of things that the guy and his wife had coming to them, you know, for the indignities that they had suffered living in Brooklyn, living on the stoop and just shooting the shit about the Mets and that kind of thing for twenty years. So as you see the song does yield to a valid interpretation." (RITY, p. 50) This is really a sweet song, with that kind of melancholy melody, a gift to a working-class guy with a lot of dreams and not much wherewithal. Messrs. Becker & Fagen come up with a great catalogue of wishes they would give him if they could. Is "a race of angels" a choir announcing Pete's arrival? Or the group he should be part of? Then they wish him "a dish of dollars, laid out for all to see"--so much ready cash that he can leave it around without a care. In Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March, Augie's relatives with money to spare did just that: "There was always much money in sight, in cups, glasses, and jars and spread on Coblin's desk. They seemed sure I wouldn't take any, and probably because everything was so lavish I never did." (p. 26, Crest '65 edition) And they wish him a suite at Eden Roc, a hotel symbolic of Miami extravagance of the era. And what could be more luxurious than golf--for free--in the middle of the day? Second verse: his wife is always nagging at him about what they should have or be. Mr. F & Mr. B wish him an unfettered, voluptuous evening with "a movie queen." I think the images in the last verse are breathtaking. Another card-playing image (one of many gambling images), for a guy who plays who knows what, a little poker, a little euchre, but might imagine himself a swell at a posh casino with a slick new deck, from which aces leap out for him as from their loosened traces. And the "piece of island"--what urban Northerner doesn't have one in his/her dream life? The last wish is utterly poignant, and a dazzling send-off: all the time in the world, and the power to do anything with it. Roy.Scam (GB, 3/19/98): One of my all time favorites is Bob Seager's "Fire Down Below" a series of glimpses at urban characters and situations interrupted by a catchy refrain about something down underneath; a definite lyrical similarity to Steely Dan's "Brooklyn." I'm wondering if, at least subliminally, the 'fire down below' represents the same entity as the 'charmer under me.' Possibilities: the psychosis that hides in every id, the muse that inspires creativity, man's inhumanity to man, passion, the devil (or as we say in the south, Beezlebubbah), the primitive Altamira man trying to break his civilized shell, or maybe it's that same neighbor that inspired Paul Simon to write "One Man's Ceiling Is Another Man's Floor." Hank Silvers (GB, 3/19/98): It assumes WB was telling the whole truth, but that quote [from Sweet] does sound like a straight answer. (At least we can be sure he's not referring to Mitch Miller.) Roy.Scam (GB, 5/31/98): Did anyone but me think that the line in "Brooklyn" was "..a piece of IRON cooling in the sea." ? as in 'a recently discarded pistol' ? Seems to me that would succinctly capsulize one of those 8 million stories in the Naked City. There is a verse that was edited from the demo:

My sentry trembles, he feels the end is coming His face is scowling, inside he's on his knees If looks and dreams could surely kill He'd long be gone from here Brooklyn owes the charmer under me ... a lovely verse, brought to my attention and corrected from my notoriously bad hearing by minor World. The Nightfly (9/1/99): After reading several other interpretations, and then closely listening to the song again, I have come to the conclusion that Brooklyn is the name of a man, and that he owes his wealth and prosperity to the narrator of the song. Hence "Brooklyn owes the charmer under me." This seems to be a song describing the narrator helping Brooklyn to become a successful individual, and then left out in the cold when he isn't needed any longer. Now Brooklyn has it all, a skyscraper apartment, mid-day golf for free, money enough to throw around (dish of dollars), dating a movie queen, and perhaps even owning his own tropic island. But it seems that all is not well... Brooklyn seems to have a nagging ladyfriend, who is forever complaining that she is not where she wants to be. Perhaps he turns to a mistress (the movie queen) for consolation. I've always had the suspicion this song refers to John F Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, but you never know. Steely1 (GB, 9/7/00): "A race of angels bound with one another A dish of dollars laid out for all to see" do these opening lines of "Brooklyn" remind anybody else of Michael's high-rise commune/compound in Stranger in a Strange Land? just something I mused upon last night as I blissed my way through my favorite 5-disc shuffle: Citizen Dan and 2VN. probably unintentional on the Boys' part, but nevertheless an interesting association.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet "Steely Dan: Forward Into The Past"--much as I loathe the idea of these tunes being out there not under the control (nor redounding to the profit) of Mr. Becker and Mr. Fagen, they are of archival and prurient interest. Check out Mr. LaPage's association of this song with "What A Shame About Me" on "Two Against Nature" Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein. A sixties cult favorite, pedantic but notable for its twist on the Messiah theme and for the origin of the word "grok"

"Change of the Guard"

Breck (11/5/00): Now "Change Of The Guard" ("Remember this one from college?") is profoundly frightening under its bland-as-a-Barbie-Doll surface(GREAT guitar solo, though). Let's examine it line by line. "If you listen you can hear it" [implied: Aren't you listening? Pay attention to what I describe] "it's the laughter in the street" [you do know all about 'the street', don't you? Well I do and it's so happy] "It's the motion in the music, and the fire beneath your feet" [ strange the reference to 'music' -and the insinuation that the listener is affected whether he knows it or not -actually, setting aside the immediate notion of 'dancing', "fire beneath your feet" could be quite dangerous] [from "Mother England Reverie" by Jethro Tull: "There was a little boy stood on a burning log, rubbing his hands with glee. He said, "Oh Mother England did you light my smile; or did you light this fire under me?"]

"All the signs are right this time" [WHAT signs? Do we need "signs" to have "laughter in the street"? Again there is the assumption that the listener is an outsider who ought to be initiated] "You don't have to try so very hard" [to do WHAT? Okay, tell me whatever it is that I can do easily now that once I couldn't {you who know so much more than me}] "If you live in THIS world" [Well DON"T you, poor fool?] [or, to consider it another way, "if you accept this concept of the world that I'm presenting you"] "You're feeling the change of the guard" A guard is a MILITARY concept, someone who either keeps something out or something in. Are you telling me, the ignorant, that there is a change of "the guard" that affects the way people are supposed to view reality ["THIS world"] ? WELL, the Nazis or Communists would have insisted on that. Now it gets specific. "All you cowboys and your neighbors" [Ah! 'cowboys' again. Setting aside the political notions mentioned in "Only A Fool Would Say That" -but in no way simply disregarding them-, let us consider that 'cowboys and {their} neighbors' might represent... say, anachronistic peoples... {in the New World Order Future there will be no 'cowboys' -only 'bovine engineers' :-)} Yes, anachronistic peoples, like the "Guachos" down in South America -where the zombies keep emerging from"can you swallow up your pride?" [ Oh- it might not just be the kind of person you are that makes you anachronistic- it might mean your opinions as well... The insinuation is that 'you' political / anachronistic whatevers have LOST -a Loser would never ask a winner that] "Take your guns off if you're willin' " [Hah! I have friends who, understanding my interp, would say this means the Left persuading America to repeal the second Amendment] "and you know we're on your side" [DO the "cowboys and their neighbors" know that? Sounds too much like an easy slogan to me, for the next line is a thinly veiled threat]: "If you wanna get through the years" [WHAT? Does the singer mean that unreconcilable opponents will not "get through the years"? What would happen to them? Here's a PC phrase: "Cultural Dysenfranchisement"] "It's high time you played your card" [ Yes, all this is a gamble for the cowboys, etc. The person singing is claiming pocession of the whole world and the means to imprision or kick out those who disagree] The stinkin' chorus is a taunt : "Na na na na...." that gets fiercer and fiercer as the song progresses.

"Turn That Heartbeat over Again"

This sounds like another gritty urban drama: the singer is a petty thief who is getting ready to do another job in "stocking face" and with a gun. He bemoans the disintegration of his neighborhood--even the package store has left the sinking ship with all the other rats. To me, the chorus sounds like the guy is with a friend who has o.d.'d, and is praying in his rough way for his friend to come around--"turn that heartbeat over again." He's also trying to absolve himself of blame for the o.d., since he has a "reputation for playing a good clean game"--i.e., not trying to pass off bad shit. I really like "love your mama,... " It's advice from a rough mug: love 'em so hard they run screaming in the other direction. "Turn the light off"--to throw off the cops? Then he tries to calm us down ("keep your shirt on") and lets us cry on his shoulder ("cry a jag on me"). A "jag" is a bout or spell, as a drinking jag or crying jag. Wonder if "Sam" the barkeep is a ref to Sam in "Casablanca." Sounds like the singer's celebrating a successful drug run from Paraguay. I'm stumped by the William Wright part. Some alert listener (identify yourself!) says he's the guy who built the Panama Canal. But see below for a fabulous Mark Twain link! "Zombies" are a recurring Steely theme.

Michael C. Packard (GB, 11/2/98): Wow, the key changes in this song----I think it's one big prayer, sort of...young people, doing everything they shouldn't, then praying at night..."love your Mama, love your brother..." etc., parroting what parents tell you to say...saying that the wrong things they do are never their fault, and they're making promises to be good, but these are mose easily kept when they feel the fear of the consequences, when "their hearts turn over." So, they'll especially keep their promises when God reminds them of his power by scaring them into it. So, the name "Michael", being in the same line as "Jesus", must be the archangel Michael...because that is Michael and Gabriel... Slint (10/4/99): I was just reading about "Turn that Heartbeat Over Again" ... I really felt the meaning of that song when I finally bought the album, because I was having problems with drugs and the law as well...I was shunned by my old friends and in with a new crowd of depraved ones. Someone asked who William Wright was in this song. I don't know why it's so hard to see. He's a cohort who dies early, maybe fast, but certainly not by natural means. He was in this vicious circle with the narrator, who doesn't belong where he is, and most importantly, KNOWS it. I used to listen to this song over and over again when I got Can't Buy a Thrill. It's such a cry for help. I felt they had written it about me. I never started out this way, I just took a wrong turn and ended up in the wrong light, just like the narrator, and found it hard to reclaim myself. There are references here to heroin as well as crime "stir it up nice, I'll eat it right here" .. "This highway runs from Paraguay, and I've just come all the way" ... I had two good friends (I thought they were good friends at the time)... both from good homes like myself, die of heroin overdoses... This is what started bringing me around, as well as a small stint in jail. And then I discovered the electric guitar :] In this song tho, the nararator can't seem to find a way out, he feels guilty, he wants what he once had "Oh Michael, oh Jesus, you know I'm not to blame....you know my reputation for playing a good clean game...." Crime and drugs ... an interesting form of life, if you can turn around and actually gain by the experience...only, what does it take? The narrator doesn't seem to find out in this song...we're left with a feeling of pity for him; he's NOT a real criminal at heart. Super Will (GB, 2/9/00): Fast forward in your minds to the last phase of the song when the speaker is telling of William Wright....."we warned the corpse of William Wright not to cuss and drink all night". It seems as though the speaker and the friend warned this Wright fellow, yet the advice obviously went unheeded--"ticket in hand, we saw him laid to rest"--I take this to mean they saw Mr. Wright die or perhaps attended the funeral. The next line is CRUCIAL; "BUT ZOMBIE SEE and ZOMBIE DO. HE'S HERE WITH ME AND YOU." This is an obvious play on the monkey see, monkey do bit in which one thoughtlessly repeats the observed actions of another. The speaker and the friend must have followed in Mr. Wright's footsteps and performed the same senseless actions and died themselves. That's how, although dead, Mr. Wright is now with them. Am I even warm on this one? Steely Dan DeQuille (Blue Book, 1/14/02): Actually, Walter Becker appears to be a Mark Twain fan. At least he thanks Twain in the acknowledgments to 11ToW. Moreover, on "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" (CBAT) there's an insider's reference to Mark Twain -- the lyric beginning "We warned the ghost of William Wright...".. William Wright was the actual name of Dan De Quille, Twain's fellow reporter on the Virginia City Enterprise in the 1860s. Wright/De Quille was a rather obscure character, so Becker and Fagen would have had to be pretty familiar with Twain's life in order to namecheck Wright specifically. Too bad Ken Burns didn't interview Becker and Fagen for his Twain bio!

"Casablanca," the movie (1943). Unmissable. "Sign In Stranger" and "Haitian Divorce" on "The Royal Scam" for other zombie mentions

"COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY"
"Bodhisattva" "Razor Boy" "The Boston Rag" "Your Gold Teeth" "Show Biz Kids" "My Old School" "Pearl Of The Quarter" "King Of The World" Introductory Comments
For some breathtaking free association on CTE, visit Breck's Bodacious Broadsides in Hear My Ax Declaim.

"Bodhisattva"
The liner notes for "Alive In America" clear it all up with this: "Lure of East. Hubris of hippies. Quick fix. Jokey blues." Edd Cote: One of the best vocal twists I've ever heard appears in Bodhisattva. The title immediately brings to mind eastern references, and when "Japan" and "China" appear in the lyrics it seems all too natural. Except I don't think they're talking about places at all (Well, maybe a bit. If i knew exactly what they were talking about I'd write the songs myself and let you do the analysis while I sat in Maui). "The shine of your japan..." Japan is a glaze used to make ceramic pieces really sparkle. Sparkle like, oh, maybe a piece of fine china ? The song is about dishes. According to Brian Sweet, " 'Bodhisattva' was written by Donald Fagen without Becker's input....'That's sort of a parody on how Western people look at eastern religion--sort of oversimplify it,' said Fagen. 'We thought it was rather amusing--most people don't get it.' " (RITY, p. 59)Don't get the song, or don't get the message of eastern religions? Probably both. So this song conjures up all those gullible guru-seekers of the sixties and early seventies who glommed onto various self-proclaimed avatars and adopted all manner of embarrassing personae in their search for quick enlightenment ("I'm goin' to sell my house in town"--and move out to the ashram). Joe Murtha (6/9/98): Having just recently re-read Siddhartha [by Hermann Hesse], I couldn't help but notice a few choice Dan related items of interest. Besides the obvious Eastern/Buddhism theme of the book - appealling to Fagen's well established fixation with all things Asian - there are these Dan relevant allusions... 1. "Govinda, said Siddhartha to his friend, come with me to the Banyan Tree. We will practice meditation." - Aja 2. "Kamala, the well-known courtesan, she owned a house in town." - Bodhisattva 3/ "Why did Gotama once sit down beneath the Bo Tree in his greatest hour when he received enlightment?" Original Dan penned liner notes reference regarding Bodhisattva This last quote begs the obvious answer... For an illuminating blowing session with Baxter "the Skunk" and Dias "the Bebopper" of course.

Brett Barney (12/8/98): Bodhisattva: The boys desire to appear incredibly "cool" and "beyond" western ideas of success but will not be believable until "Aja"--a reconcilliation and apology of sorts. Truth be known, (and they made no effort to hide it), the dynamic duo was ravaged by drug abuse and profoundly unhappy. Gorzedd (12/9/01): ... my buddy and I have recently "rediscovered" the now legendary Aniton 7/74 intro to Bhodissatvah,which EVERYONE thinks is mere incoherent rambling BUT IT IS NOT !!!! It is a complete rail against studio drumer Bernie "pretty" Purdie (you can tell the little ole "pretty" one that he missed out ) The drummer in concert,Jim Hodder, IS "Mr. Whatever" ,who IS here tonight. Aniton naturally doesn't know HIS name because at the time Purdie was their primary drummer and the late Jim Hodder was a relative unknown. Mr. Whatever (i.e. "the magnificent one" "the one and only one") gets exaggerated praise("he gonna get down tonight " "he gonna get widdit"),as the little ole "Purdie" one is being lightly mocked for not playing live.......With each reference to all this,Hodder plays little drum riffs to indicate his agreement,as a musical"response" to Aniton......This whole interpretation is CRYSTAL clear,when Aniton says Mr. Steely Dan AND whatever AND whatever (read:Hodder) There are all kind of other references too(for example,we have reason to believe Purdie lived in Watts at the time). Oh Wow!...It's Me Again (Blue Book, 12/16/01): gorzedd..... I believe Bernard "pretty" Purdie didn't play with Steely Dan till 1976. Aniton (GB, 12/16/01): Gorzedd, You are sadly incorrect. Upon the completion of my duties with Steely Dan, I went on to finish my Doctoral studies at Yale in Quantum Physics. I was soley responsible for the trajectory analysis culminating in the early success of the NASA Space Shuttle Program. Upon winning the Nobel Prize for Space Technology I retired to my home in the Swiss Alps to write my memoirs. And, as you may already know, Bernard Purdie never calls. Sincerely, Aniton Steveedan (GB, 12/16/01): I don't believe your theory about Purdie holds any water. You see, Bernard Purdie, was never a member of Steely Dan. Bernard Purdie recorded on a few sessions, but this was long after the band had stopped touring. I don't think he did any sessions with Steely Dan prior to The Royal Scam album, which was in 1976. The Jerome Aniton introduction to Bodhisattva was exactly what it sounds like... a drunken rambler. The "purty" ones he refers to are the young girls in the audience. The "musical responses" are merely rim-shots to try to keep this out-of-control drunken introduction from completely tanking. "Mr. Magnificent one" would be Mr. Steely Dan-whatever. He, even though he was employed by the band, for some reason thought that Steely Dan was a "He", like Jethro Tull or Molly Hatchet, instead of the name of the band. Actually, I am amazed he even remembered the name Steely Dan because he sounds like he was so looped that he couldn't even remember his own name. Aniton was one of the band's roadies, and you might find this a little interesting, Aniton was the guy who drove the truck for the band. Isn't this the kind of guy you would want behind the wheel of the truck that holds all of your equipment? Sure, why not? It was the 70's, right? Yeah, sure. Also, during this final tour (of the 1970's), the Steely Dan band boasted 2 drummers live - Jim Hodder and Jeff Percaro. ( Porcaro.) Gorzedd (GB, 12/16/01): Thank all of you all for your interst in my theory....I am now in total agreement that Bernie "Pretty" Perdie didnt join Dan until later (1976/Royal scam era).....I was wrong on that count....HOWEVER,I believe more than ever that my Aniton interpretation is accurate...The band clearly had the famed L.A. studio drummer in the pipeline and he just plain refused to play live.....All I can do is BESEECH you to listen ONE MORE TIME, because he says "BERNIE..PERDIE..Little "Pretty one" missed out... HAW!!!!!!!!!!

Midnite Cruiser (GB, 12/17/01): I was thinking I had read that Aniton was referring to Donald Fagen when he was talking about Mr. Whatevah....Mr. Steely Dan....he either thought that was Fagen's name or couldn't remember it.....the Purdie angle is all wrong for the drunken introductions. Dragon (GB, 12/17/01): And now I give you the transcribed Introduction of Steely Dan by Jerome Aniton: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Testing, one, two, test. [instruments warming up] Good afdernoon laydays and gennelmen... were glad youve made it here tanight becau you gonna miss out... jhou can tell your friend tomorrow that they gnna miss out on a *?-damn good thang that we gonna give you ta-night! [drums] Yeah, right on! WHat we fonna five you ta-night ... itll be down to the nitty-gritty. Yeah! You can tell all your frien ...way over in uhh... Hell, hell I dont care, you can tell em in, over in Watts! $?@%! hahahaha! You can tell em they mit... you can tell em tonight that Sana Monica ha been definily set on fiyahre, and theh meyh, and theat met on a dam good thang. The best thing that ever happened to Sana Monica is gonna be here, to-night! Yeah, and you can also... Awl you little ol burdy, purty, little purty one, nHUNH! If he aint here tonight, HUNH. You can tell him forget it too, you know, because Mr. Whadeva is here tonight. He gonna get down ta-night, brother, he gonna get with it, he gonna give you stumtem that Sana Monica did never had. If it good to ya, it gotta be good for ya. Right on! Yeah, and one thing I can tell you brotha, he is here tonight. Mr. Magnificent One is here... [steely dan] The Beautiful Ones here, ha ha ha, and you little ol purdy one here too, you know, whadeva. Here it is the magnificent one, the one an only one, Mr. Steely Dan and wadeva... ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now as you can clearly see Mr. Aniton states that, "you little ol' purdy one here too". Which would indicate that Mr. Bernard Purdie was in the audience, also playing that evening, or that Gorzedd's theory is all washed up.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet For an illustrious deconstruction of this tune, please visit Edd Cote's home page Not My Nancy's comments in "Do It Again," on "Can't Buy A Thrill"

"Razor Boy"
What is the "song of the past"? Is it a haunting melody from happier days, which nonetheless doesn't seem to affect the woman the song's addressed to ("I see no tears")? Is it an old line she's trotting out yet again, remorselessly, to use on the singer? Whatever, it seems to presage the end of the line--"the last for many years"--either for the relationship or--what else? The singer paints her as a climber; she'll do anything to be one of the Beautiful People--"the better half." So, he asks, how well-connected do I have to be before you'll even find me amusing? "I guess only women in cages can play down/The things they lose": What a brilliant image. Women who are not free, who are in some cage--whether literal, like the cages in topless and strip joints, or figurative, like those who sell themselves out to men, money, fame, addiction, social servitude (does that leave any of us out?)-minimize what they lose because it hurts so much really to look at loss, or because they're so numbed by it. Free women (and other people) are free to feel deeply and fully. The singer is talking to a woman in a cage. She thinks only for today, and doesn't realize that when she has to lie down for Death, she "can't refuse." Enter the Razor Boy. Another brilliant image. We know Death as that bony guy in the musty, ill-fitting hood, with that aggressively retro scythe. Strictly from Poesville. I see the Razor Boy as Death neologized--think John Leguizamo in "Romeo + Juliet": tight black spitcurl, flat, smoldering eyes, black leather and rich ebony jacquard, with a perfectly-honed pearl-handled straight razor. Seeing him will definitely take that song of the past right out of that girl's mind. He will take HER away from her fancy things on that cold and windy day. I find the singer's tone to be bitter, but full of longing and tenderness. He's warning someone he loves (or wants to love) of the inevitable fall at the end of her climb. Brett Barney (12/8/98): Duh...man, this one is hard to figure out. Cocaine, baby. It "takes your fancy things away". Oh, and you're still singing it (craving it) when it's not an option. Did I forget, "You'd gamble or give anything for it"? Didn't think so. Anybody got a razor? Maxine (GB, 3/2/99): The Razor Boy is the piper you have to pay after you've danced, regardless of what the dance was: drugs, sex, lies, etc. Maxine also notes that the Razor Boy may be another incarnation of the Mystery Tramp in "Like A Rolling Stone:" You said you'd never compromise With the mystery tramp but now you realize He's not selling any alibis

As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes And say do you want to make a deal? F#maj (GB, 4/9/99): steelyrics entering my mindscape require night vision. start by focusing too actuely? trip and go bump. in the night. must go for gestalt, kinda sorta gaze out there with vibrisae? yes, like a third eye on either side of frontal lobe. wait. make that four eyes gaze gaze against the... no. just gaze. things spontaneously appear, shapes assume meaning; watch out for tree, that's a big root, look Harvey,a crab. caveat: hot lix and clever trix played; deck may not be full, cards dealt from bottm (what's this inside bushes? '57 Chevy. bastards! inside joke, fuzzy dice and bongos.) some things placed without comprehension intention. other stuph exquisitely reeking with literary value. who nose. my mother still wants to know what he did to his old man in Awrregone. that's another thread. well. after many years, still don't sense guy with scythe and funky robe. wish to point needle at 'voice' singing, the cage [what gots no lock on its door], and to half that's better than the woman who is too fried to even shed a tear for her sorry ass self as she ponders the past while the future goes up in the linear increments of her today [sniff]. but can't make out death hiding anywhere in the bushes. post too long. i gotta pee. diggy (5/4/99): Razor Boy has someone speaking to a woman whom he cares for, but can't help. He warns her of her "crash and burn" future but she can't change. She is addicted to cocaine, razor boy is her dealer and he is taking her "fancy things" for payment. His name comes from the fact that he brings a razor blade to cut the coke into lines. She is a woman in a "cage" because the drug has her captive. She will lose everything because she doesn't have the bank roll to be "in with the better half" and support her habit. She will either end up broke on the streets -- still having withdrawl (singing it) - or dead. Where is your razor boy now? He never was the friend you thought he was. Sparki (3/14/00): RAZOR BOY could be about a guy watching a lady he cares for get hurt by a bad partner The RAZOR BOY is the bad partner slashing away at the lady's hopes and dreams, stripping her of her illusions and pretty fantasies (Her "FANCY THINGS") Lady Writer (4/13/03): i've been reading your site and felt a need to contribute to the Razor Boy discussion. this is with complete disregard to most of what everybody else said, but it's a little different. and i don't think the Razor Boy himself is death at all... this goes line-by-line, so i'll include the original words... i hear you are singing a song of the past i see no tears //i take this one to indicate that she has had to leave something behind... she's brought the song with her, but no tears/regrets/bad feelings about it... i know that you know it may be the last for many years //this is the last time she'll be able to look back on her previous life like this, for a while, at least. narrator and woman are both aware of it, too. (don't know why everybody's so certain it's a woman, but somehow that's all it could be, i think...) you'd gamble or give anything to begin with the better half //she's having to start over now, and while she'd love to start over on top, it's not gonna happen. but how many friends must i have to begin with to make you laugh? //he's trying to make her feel better about the new venture, but he can't actually change the situation. (musical as well as poetic paralellism in the music/words "to begin with" suggests that maybe he doesn't have the kind of "connections" he needs to start her/them off on the upside?) will you still have a song to sing when the razor boy comes and takes your fancy things away? will you still be singin it on that cold and windy day? //okay, so, chorus taken as whole. this is referring the song she was singing, something like that. flashbacklike. it's

talking about before there was this great divide between Past and Now. "that cold and windy day" is "today" and she is in fact still singing it; she's the kind of girl that doesn't let things like a complete insideouting of her life mess her up. so the razor boy came and took her fancy things away-- and she is still singing, in fact, tho she won't be for much longer. you know that the coming is so close at hand you feel all right //"the coming" i think is somebody coming to get (ie retrieve) her... the obvious connection would be the second coming of christ or what ho, but that's not it. "the coming" will signal the complete separation of Then and Now, the beginning of the identified period that'll last "many years." she's at peace with this. she's cool with it, pretty much. i guess only women in cages can stand this kind of night //okay, so, some serious deviation from everybody else now. the woman he's speaking to is the woman in the cage; it's him that's not standing through everything. almost like he wishes he were in the cage with her. i guess only women in cages can play down the things they lose //oh, he is jealous now! he sees that she's taken the hits and moved on. he hasn't managed to do that. he's always been rather contemptuous of her way of always being cheerful and musical and stuff-- "Will you still have a song to sing, when the razor boy comes and takes your fancy things away?" i know, i've ignored the cage: what it speaks to me (with my love of adventure and fantasy) is a slave wagon. the Razor Boy came through and sacked the village or whatever and took all the women and put them in cages, took all the fancy things, probably beat all the men up. the razor boy now being a militant group sort of thing. you think no tomorrow will come when you lay down you can't refuse //aha, but she isn't cheerful all the time! she realizes that she's gonna be raped or similarly abused and it's gonna kill her-- but she can't say no 'cause she'd die sooner and in an uglier manner if she did. repeat chorus //okay, so some thoughts on the most obvious element i skimmed over. The Razor Boy isn't death, in my version. first, thoughts on the name. Razor immediately brings to mind two things: cutting and shaving. cutting as in slitting, bleeding, suicide, yeah. those things. violent images. shaving is a little nicer; it suggests a rite of passage, getting your first razor (as a guy, anyway) and being able to grow a beard and all... so set this against the other part. boy. young human male. not having grown a beard yet. so the razor boy could be a kid who's been forced to grow much older faster than he should have been-- he's taken up his dad's razor as a status symbol even tho he ain't got no beard yet. or he's... a highschool age kid who's gone all depressed and suicidal and cuts himself so often he carries a razor around with him. something like that. I will confess it's not exactly exhaustive, but i thought it was worth sharing, i guess.

"Romeo + Juliet"--the movie "Black Cow," on "Aja," and "Dirty Work," on "Can't Buy A Thrill," for similar themes--girl trouble and girl, troubled "Like A Rolling Stone," by Bob Dylan, on "Highway 61 Revisited"

"The Boston Rag"

According to Brian Sweet, this song " 'has my chorus and verses by Walter,' said Fagen, attempting to explain [sic] how the song came to feature the lyric 'You were Lady Bayside.' Bayside was a community in Queens

where Becker once lived and where he formed one of his first rock and roll bands. He included it for no other reason than he liked the sound of it in the song.... The lines in the song 'Lonnie was the kingpin back in 1965' and 'Lonnie [sic] swallowed up all he found/ It was forty-eight hours till Lonnie came around' refer to Lonnie Yongue, Fagen's room-mate at Bard. Strangely enough Yongue had never been to Boston, but Becker later commented: 'The nice thing about "The Boston Rag" is that it took place in New York.' " (RITY, p. 58) Huh (GB, 5/12/98): Come on guys! It's LAID at Bayside. Brett Barney (12/8/98): Fevered withdrawal. Not the first time. Lonnie is the "Id". Still the Kingpin. Archangel Thunderbird (11/15/02): The Boston Rag %Free Misinterpretation %Let the Boston Rag image refer to Old Glory, the US Flag. (1973) %(Say the song was written in ~1970 to 1972. (I dunno, but say it was.) %Think back to what was on those dim blue tubes 30 years ago!) Any news was good news, and the feeling was bad at home %1970: The US was rife with dissent and misinformation. % Richard Nixon announced the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. % Four students protesting that invasion killed by National Guard at Kent State. %http://www.may4.org/vietnam.html I was out of my mind and you were on the phone %Nixon was inattentive to domestic concerns. Or maybe the authors girlfriend was %inattentive (perhaps also to domestic concerns). Lonnie was the kingpin back in nineteen sixty five %Lon Nol, the (quixotic & often-deposed) nationalist ruler of Cambodia. I was singing this song when Lonnie came alive %Ok, this can probably be forced to fit current events of those times, if %only because there seem to be so many different accounts of so many events. %I have just shamelessly cut & paste some Google search results far below*. CHORUS Bring back the Boston Rag, %Get the USA out SE Asia, it sucks over there. Tell all your buddies that it aint no drag %Peace with Honor! Declare Victory! Whatever! Bring back the Boston Rag You were Lady Bayside, there was nothing that I could do %Well this certainly weakens my case for you being the fed. gov. So I pointed my car down Seventh Avenue %There certainly was nothing anybody could do about the war, Kent State, %Agnew, Nixon, etc. etc. So lets go score. Lonnie swept the playroom and he swallowed up all he found %Lon Nol in fact did run wild, albeit with diplomacy & guns rather than (or at least in %addition to) drugs. It was forty eight hours till Lonnie came around %But the Cambodian leaders binge was not without personal consequences. %(In fact though still in the future when "The Boston Rag" was released Lon Nol %was deposed in 1975. He fled to the U.S.) *News Events related to Lon Lonnie Nol, 1965 1972. %Act One, Circa 1965. (http://www.embassy.org/cambodia/press/chronology.html)

%Oct 27, 1964 - The Royal Cambodian Government and the National Assembly warn the US that diplomatic %relations might be severed should the United States continue to violate Cambodian airspace. %May 1, 1965 - Bombardment by United States airplanes of villages in the "Parrot Break," Cambodian border area %with South Vietnam. %May 3, 1965 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk breaks relations with the United States Of America. %Sept 11, 1966 - Cambodia's first General Election, in which Sangkum Reashniyum leadership did not pre-select %the electoral candidates. %Oct 22, 1966 - A new Government under Lon Nol was approved by the rightist National Assembly which had %emerged from the general elections. %April 30, 1967 - Lon Nol resigned as Prime Minister, ostensibly due to injuries during car accident. %Act Two, Circa 1970-72. (http://angkor1431.tripod.com/index/id26.html) %"Abandoning Prince Sihanouk's policy of neutrality in the Indochina War, Lon Nol staged a coup d'etat on March %18, 1970, which ousted Prince Sihanouk (Cambodia Head of State) from power; he established close ties with the %United States and South Vietnam, permitting their forces to operate on Cambodian territory against Vietnamese %communist and Vietcong. And on October 9, 1970 he proclaimed Cambodia as a republic, Khmer Republic, %ending the country more than one thousand years-old monarchy, which was established with the ascending to the %throne of King Jayavarman II in 802 A.D."

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Your Gold Teeth"

Roy.Scam (GB, 2/21/97): YGT=gambling. I picture Sharon Stone stalking the Vegas floors in "Casino." When you gamble everything else away, you take the gold out of your fillings and bet that. The bridge (tobacco...Peking) says that if you rely on the same crop time after time, one year the locusts will come around and you're screwed. But then I could be wrong; I don't even know if they grow tobacco in Peking.... Gambling makes sense: this could be a film noir encounter in a down-and-dirty, dangerous gambling hall/casino. Starts with a creepy deja-vu feeling in a guy down to the bottom of the barrel (gold teeth rolling; is "gold teeth" also slang for dice?). But it could also be about a failed, bitter love affair with s&m undertones--with, of course, Lady Luck in her beaded gown. You need her, but she tortures you with her fickleness, takes everything--and makes you like it. "I have seen your iron and your brass"--her enforcers, packing heat and brass knuckles behind the two-way mirror. "You don't have to dance for me; I've seen you dance before"--he knows this game so well, but can't stop playing. The way he describes her is one of the most riveting lyrics in the song: "Your fortune is your [at least as I hear it] mouthy legs, your gift for the runaround." Just think of the image! Wow! Legs that say it all and more, and won't shut up! Think Tina Turner! Julia Roberts! Then, at the end, in harsh monosyllables, he says, "Dumb luck, my friend, won't suck me in this time"--but we're not ready to believe him. The "killin' floor" is an abattoir, a slaughterhouse. You can find it in Howlin' Wolf's song of the same name [by Chester Burnett a.k.a. Howlin' Wolf, 1966, from Real Folk Blues (MCA 9273), copyright notice] [for the record, Electric Flag also covered this] I should'a quit you, long time ago I should'a quit you, baby, long time ago I should'a quit you, and went on to Mexico

If I ha'da followed, my first mind If I ha'da followed, my first mind I'd'a been gone, since my second time I should'a went on, when my friend come from Mexico at me I should'a went on, when my friend come from Mexico at me I was foolin' with ya baby, I let ya put me on the killin' floor Lord knows, I should'a been gone Lord knows, I should'a been gone And I wouldn't've been here, down on the killin' floor Here are some intriguing comments on the "killin' floor" from Bluesman Harry's fantastic glossary of blues expressions: [you MUST visit. He also has a massive collection of blues lyrics] ... Particularly in the Chicago Stockyards area many black newcomers from the South found jobs during the 20's, 30's and 40's working on the killing floors. Metaphorically being on the "killing floor" means being in trouble with little way out or being so depressed (primarily by the loss of a lover) that he (generally) feels like he is going to die, having hit rock bottom and with nothing left to lose.... Jack King suggests: "When a woman gets over on you and you just can't seem to do anything about it, and you can't stay away from her even though you do your best, and your mind is all a mess from it. You promise yourself to never see her again and wind up at her door a minute later. She has you on the Killing Floor." Thanks to Jack King for this contribution to the list.... So in "YGT" the narrator watches this woman cross the killing floor--what an image--dressed to the nines, she saunters across a scene of carnage, immune to it, above it.... I wonder if "the year of the locust" might refer to Nathanael West's The Day Of The Locust, which I've mentioned elsewhere, and which is simply gemlike. According to Brian Sweet, Kathy Berberian is a singer from New York who "studied at the Milan Conservatory and adopted a singing style that required her to moan, snarl, snort, squeal and scream in imitating electronic sounds. She later said she was 'terribly flattered by the tribute from Steely Dan,' and bought several copies of 'Countdown To Ecstasy' for her immediate family." (RITY, p. 59) A roulade is "a quick succession of notes, properly as sung to one syllable" (OED). I take this line to mean that you're not invincible; there's always one thing that remains beyond you. Also according to Sweet, Mr. B. & Mr. F. quoted Count Basie and Joe Williams' version of "Going To Chicago Blues" in the "monkey woman" line. According to the abovementioned Bluesman Harry, "monkey man" can mean an outside lover--backdoor man, or candy man--cf. the Stones' "Monkey Man" on "Let It Bleed." This line also makes me think of Portnoy's Complaint, since the ambivalent Portnoy called his girlfriend "Monkey." Ida Cox recorded a ladies' version of this idea in 1924 [from Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2 (1924-1925) (Document 5323), copyright notice] [For the record, she it is who sang "Wild Women Don't Have The Blues"] : Chicago Monkey Man Blues I'm goin' to Chicago, sorry but I can't take you Yes I'm goin' to Chicago, sorry but I can't take you 'Cause there's nothin' on State Street, that a monkey man can do

I've got a monkey man here, a monkey man over there I've got a monkey man here, a monkey man over there If monkey men were money, I'd be a Chicago millionaire I've got fourteen men now, I only want one more I've got fourteen men now, and I only want one more As soon as I can get one, I'll let these fourteen go Now I'm goin' tell you, like the day goes so must you Now I'm goin' tell you, like the day goes so must you When you nobody no money, mama can no usin' you I can take my monkey men, and stand them all in line I can take my monkey men, and stand them all in line Anybody can count them, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times kashi (GB, 5/8/98): About Gold Teeth 1, I had to findout every little detail about this song (my own interpretation), and the people mentioned Cathy Berbarrian (sp). This song is about a drug woman who has to suport her habit by performing sexual actions; they are pure S&M acts. The person singing is there to collect a debt, and the woman offers to "perform" to offset paying the debt. "you got to pay today, of pay tomorrow...then you try to tie me down, do we work it off one by one or play the combination." The narrator describes the fine product that he peddles, where it comes from and how the seasons affects the harvest. When a crop fails he compares it to a very difficult and complex roulade (a very difficult vocal piece in which a singer cannot take regular breathing beats, slightly harder than opera, for you never stop until the entire piece is done they can be as long as 45 min.), being sung by the worlds greatest roulade singer Cathy Berbarrian (sp), inwhich she cannot do it and she fails in her attempt to sing it. After the explaination, he helps her to gather her things so she can clean her debt. she trys to talk her way out of it but to no avail. "..all you need to use is your silver shoes, your gift for the run around, use your knack darling , take one step [back] darling, there ain't nothing in Chicago for a monkey woman to do...." steve v dan (GB, 5/9/98): YGT II: possibly inspired by Burroughs early '70's novel 'The Wild Boys'...and I think the term "gold teeth" is in Naked Lunch, although I haven't looked at that weird book in years......I think there is a lot of Burroughs influence in the early stuff, although I am sure B/F would deny this.... gordy (GB, 5/10/98): Kashi, Well thats as good as anything. I dont know if you got it or not, but Cathy Barberian is a REAL porson, she lives outwith the scat. She was married to Luciano Berio, a chum of Stckhausen et al and composer of a series of works called the "sequenza" on horn not to play musical intruments eg hitting trombone of cookie barrel, porking trumpet etc. Number two was the vox humana and the Cath performed it like a women on the verge of a nervouse breakdown - two voices, two mindsets. Erie or what? Check it out. Brett Barney (12/8/98): Hey look at me! I'm the 4th song! You played the combination! If I'm ever weak again I can always look at Cathy Berberian for an excuse. "What do you mean I'm still grinding my teeth? Ooops! There goes another molar!"

"Home At Last," on "Aja," for another deja-vu Other gambling references: "Hard-Up Case," "Jack of Speed," "Do It Again," "Glamour

Profession" Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet "Casino," the movie, directed by Martin Scorsese Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth--a landmark sixties novel with what has to be one of thebest last lines in literature "Your Gold Teeth II," on "Katy Lied" Rolling Stones, "Let It Bleed" (1969)

"Show Biz Kids"

Brian Sweet says, "Strangely enough, critics and fans alike... had great difficulty figuring out the incessant vocal vamp beneath the song. One ridiculous music press suggestion was 'We're gonna love sweeties.' In fact, the girls were singing 'You go to Lost Wages,' a Fagen/Becker pun on Las Vegas." (RITY, p. 60) People hear "Lost Wages," "Las Wages," "Lots Wages," "Out-rageous," and all this close listening has spun me out into a loopy fever dream: Everybody put on your headphones, and listen closely to the backup singers--they're not singing "los" or "las" but "lots." Now a linguist would tell you that when you move from an "ah" to an "ess" your tongue elevates to your hard palate, almost inserting a "t"--say "mas matzoh" five times fast & you'll see what I mean--but I think this "lots" is premeditated. Each voice, all through the song--I defy you NOT to hear it! So if they're saying "Lots Wages," I have 2 interpretations: One, "Lots Wages," short for lots of money, which is what Vegas is built on, and the thrill of winning and losing it. A pretty good pun. Two, my favorite: "Lot's Wages." Roy.Scam is the only other person who will admit to hearing this aural hallucination too. Now forgive me for getting Biblical, but you all remember Lot's wife from Genesis (the book, not the band), the one who turned into a pillar of salt. Well, Lot's story is actually very interesting: he tagged along with Abraham, his uncle, but his guys and Abraham's didn't get along, and Lot moved on up the Valley to just outside the town of Sodom. Next thing you know, God has decided to investigate Sodom for possible destruction because of the dissolute habits of its citizens, and sends two angels undercover to check it out. Well, Lot is sitting in the gate, drinking in all the gambling, traffic in human flesh, etc., when he sees the angels coming and recognizes them. He sees the writing on the wall, and hastens to invite them into his house. (By this time, he and his family have moved plumb into Sodom.) But then the lustful Sodomite men surround his house, shouting, "Send out those good-looking guys so that we may know them in a Biblical sense as a group!" Brave Lot replies, "No way! These men are my guests and have sanctuary here--but you can have my two daughters, and do whatever you want with THEM." The Sodomites apparently are not bi, and start to force their way in. The angels intervene and tell Lot they've seen enough--he'd better pack up his family & stuff and split before they make with the fire and brimstone. Lot lingers lovingly, apparently having got quite used to the ways of Sodom, and almost doesn't make it out. In fact, his wife, with her ill-advised last glance, doesn't. (The story ends with Lot & his two daughters living out their days cowering in a cave above the nearest town, afraid "the disaster" will catch up with them. His daughters, desperate for offspring, take turns getting him drunk and getting pregnant from him. Then we hear no more of Lot.) Now what could evoke a richer image of Vegas, that latter-day Sodom, than to call it "Lot's Wages"? Especially with LA/ Gomorrah right down the road? I tell you, these Dan guys are brilliant. Even if they didn't mean it that way. bunny lood (11/19/98): El Supremo to me is sort of an infinity...If you think you've reached the top of the stairs, you missed it. So el supremo is potential. Always pushing our thoughts out there... on stage... I think that Show Biz Kids are those who choose to risk it and pull the shade off the light...or maybe don't allow for a shade at all...Lot's...Lost...not too different, methinks. Lot lost lots, but escaped with himself and the rest of his family. His wife thought she'd reached the top, and dared glance back...she wasn't pushing on, she was sucked in. But he had already seen the rape of the world, the "abomination before God", had no need to look back.. Show Biz

Kids throw the dice, bet on the number.. risk their gold...don't look back. see, I really think these guys' music is one long piece. eack album an opus.... If you listen to each album...back to back, they all flow. Brett Barney (12/8/98): Donny's not very happy with Chevy--or anyone for that matter. Daniel J. Kelly (Digest, 2/23/99): From the very first time I heard this song I heard CLEARLY, "She owed her life's wages." diggy (5/4/99): Show Biz Kids is as obvious as it seems. It is the contrast between the overly rich and the very poor. Dan picks on the show biz movie "stars" who are "making movies of themselves". But they could have also slammed on professional athletes, powerful politicians, or themselves (wealthy musicians) who "got the Steely Dan T-shirt." Poor people stay home at night sleeping and cover bright lights with shades. Rich often want to be in the spotlight. These "stars come out at night", go to broadway openings, go to award shows for themselves, walk on red carpets, smile for the cameras, and perform their acts. And later, after the "show", they smoke their "El Supremo" (a very high grade of dope) in a quiet room away from the public. I believe the "Washington Zoo" is a reference to the insanity of that town. Crooked politicians infest that city -- making their huge incomes and riding in black limos. Meanwhile, Washington DC also has one of the highest povertyrate in America. Here, the rich and poor are face to face daily. By the way, I think it is "lots wages" but not a reference to Lot of the bible. It is lot as in "our lot in life". Meaning or place or job in society. Sparki (3/18/00): I detect the El Supremo from the room at the top of the stairs -- recording agent or music-biz honcho in his lofty office And I make it out to be -- Poor people sleeping with NO shade on the light -- in contrast to the wealthy and famous partying all the time, there are disadvantaged folk sleeping under bare light bulbs in tenement apartments And "they've got the shapely bodies" cuz they can afford to go to gyms and health spas. And it is Lost Wages, a pun on Las Vegas -- the musicians play Vegas As a teen, i thought it was "You know you're not Swedish" or "You know that that's the way it is." Dogmatic Dave (GB, 7/7/00): As for what the background singers are saying, I think it rotates from Lost Wages to Outrageous (they sync up with Donald in the end; "and for the coup de grace, they're outrageous). But I always thought the song was about making porn movies in the Hollywood Hills. The shapely bodies, the Steely Dan (a dildo, remember) T-shirts. As for the poor people, if you read the lyrics, they're sleeping 'neath the shade of the light, not without a shade, not a bare light bulb. My original record has a lyric sheet. Also under the musical vamp at the end, it sounds like the police are making a bust. SoulMonkey (1/8/02): In an effort to further fuel the Lost/Las/Lots Wages/Vegas lyric quandary, even Donald's pronunciations are suspect. Listen when the background singers sync up with him on the line, "and for the coup de grace, they're outrageous." Only Donald is clearly (at least to my ear) singing "odds-rageous" not "outrageous." Clean Willy (4/16/03): On the line "show business kids making movies of themselves you know they don't give a fuck about anybody else": This album came out in 1973, which was the height of the American Auteur movement and L.A. (where the Dan were living) was the apex of that movement. Part of that filmmaking philosophy is "world view" or depicting the world through the eyes of a director.

Genesis, chs. 13, 18, and 19. Reelin' In The Years by Brian Sweet

"My Old School"

Is this one of the greatest songs ever, or what? This is Roy.Scam's all-time favorite Steely tune, and if pushed really hard I might have to second that emotion. "My Old School" is widely thought to be a kiss-off song to the Steely alma mater, Bard College, in Annandaleon-Hudson, NY. According to Brian Sweet, "the Wolverine [was] a train that ran up to Boston... from New York and Bard was compared favourably with William And Mary, one of the oldest colleges in America." (RITY, p. 59) However, Roy.Scam & I both hail from northern Virginia, and were both convinced for many years they were referring to the Annandale that is a D.C. suburb--especially since The College of William And Mary is a Virginia school. There was an unpleasant drug bust at Bard in May of 1969, according to Brian Sweet, and both Mr. Becker and Mr. Fagen were apprehended (RITY, p. 15)--thus, presumably, the reference to ending up "with the working girls in the county jail." Historical note: G. Gordon Liddy was the assistant D.A. Again according to Sweet, "Bob Dylan had earlier made his comment on the predictability of the Bard drugs [sic] raids ('Must bust in early May/ Orders from the DA') in his song 'Subterranean Homesick Blues.' In the same song the couplet 'The pump don't work/ Cos the vandals took the handles' also purportedly refers to an incident at Bard." (RITY, ibid.) This song has one of my favorite Steely rhymes--"oleander" and "can't stand her." Incidentally, oleander can't grow outdoors in upstate New York--it's a Zone 7 plant. This humble shrub was mentioned in Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust, which, if you haven't read it since freshman English, is a superb, dark novella, well worth rereading. It absolutely nails the ugly Hollywood ethos of the thirties. See "Deacon Blues" for more about Day. Pardon my personal interest in this plant. Brett Barney (12/8/98): The university of abortion. Such an easy decision for the aristocratic brats 1967 - 1971. On a better note, the boys seem to have learned something. "They're never going back." I wonder who drank the hemlock? diggy (9/3/99): My Old School - A great song -- must be heard LOUD. The way I see it, he leaves for Bard college on the wolverine train and she (girlfriend I assume) gives him a "sweet goodbye". Soon thereafter, in September she is busted - probably for dope and daddy had to pick her up from jail. For one reason or another, (possibly a bad break-up) she squeels on the boys at Bard and the entire dorm is busted in May. He swears he will never go back to Bard and is pissed off at her. Years later, he's still pissed at her and the fact that she is still "doing what she did before". I assume she is still growing dope and dealing it. Oleander, you mention that the oleander flower doesn't grow in NY, but it would if it was under a flourescent plant light which also may be growing her weed. The boys now live in LA - and the day that California tumbles into the sea they will go back to Bard. Obviously - this won't happen and if it did --- they would be dead anyway. I believe Chino and Daddy Gee are NY dealers that don't like small timers taking some of their business. The boys get some revenge by telling them of her dope operation on their turf. They sarcastically mention that they tried to warn her through the mail (a very slow process - and I doubt a letter was ever sent.) A classic love story.

The Day of the Locust, by Nathanael West "Deacon Blues," on "Aja" "Everyone's Gone To The Movies," on "Katy Lied" Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet, for an account of the bust (buy & read!) "Pearl of the Quarter," for another choice rhyme "Working Girls," a good Canadian film about a prostitute "Subterranean Homesick Blues," by Bob Dylan, on "Bringing It All Back Home" (thanx Joe)

"Pearl Of The Quarter"

...has one of my favorite Steely rhymes, "quarter" and "Martyr." Brett Barney (12/8/98): ...aka, Red Beans and Rice for a quarter: The boys reconnect with their simple, sensitive side and contrast their new sparkling selves with the dirt and sordid reputation of N'Oleans just in case their parents don't believe they really mean it this time. Louise is the new, improved Lonnie that can never be exorcised from the "self". "Won't you tell her I love her so", and "She got a place to go" speak of acceptance and perhaps mastery of addiction. Dogmatic Dave (GB, 7/7/00): The "miracle mile" referred to in "Pearl of the Quarter" is a small section of L.A. near Century City/Beverly Hills. [ --however, "Pearl" is set in New Orleans. Think they were mixing refs for lyrical purposes?] Dan Fan (5/31/02): I read a comment regarding "Pearl of the Quarter" which questions the reference to Miracle Mile to an LA subsurb. Canal Street, the main street in downtown New Orleans which seperates the old (French Quarter) from the New (Central Business District) has been referred to as the Miracle Mile. It was also the name of a bar across the street from the Criminal Courthouse where defense attorney, prosecutors and judges hung out after a tough case. Take you pick but chances are it was simply a reference to Canal Street.

"King of the World"

Brian Sweet relates: " 'King Of The World' was written after Becker and Fagen watched the 1962 film 'Panic In The Year Zero,' starring and directed by Ray Milland. 'Typical devastation,' said Becker. 'Like, what you do at the end of the world. The sense of doom is overwhelming.' The film focused on a family on a fishing trip in the mountains when Los Angeles is blasted by a nuclear attack. 'King of the World' examines the behaviour and predicament of a survivor after a nuclear attack and asks whether he would be better off dead anyway." (RITY, p. 58) Brett Barney (12/8/98): A backlash of guilt. Santa Fe was and is symbolic of spiritual rejuvenation. It is in "ruins". Interestingly and befitting enough, Marigold means "virgin". No virgins in the promised land? Amazing how drugs can make even our heros the lords of nothing. aja (GB, 2/11/00): The song I think Donald sings especially masterfully is "King of the World". The lyrics on paper look like they're about the apocalypse, but what I hear conveyed in the song (through Donald's voice/interpretation) is more a devastation of the soul, as in someone facing the daunting task of putting their life together after a devastating loss. When he sings "I'm alive and doing fine" rhymed with "share my poison wine" I hear someone ironically reflecting that they've survived their loss physically intact but are facing a bleak period of rebuilding. The line "might as well die" (with "die" amplified and distorted) then having the vocals go back to the normal tone of the song with "When you come around, no more pain and no regret" sounds like he's hitting the nadir of despair, then picking himself back up and getting on with his painstaking recovery. MizDucky (GB, 8/28/00): my take on the "cobalt cigarettes" line is that it's part and parcel of the whole survivor-ofnuclear-holocaust subject-matter of "King of the World." Here's this poor shnook who somehow survived the nukes, he's met no other survivors, he's desperately broadcasting away on his ham radio trying to find even one other human being out there, and he's getting NO RESPONSE WHATSOEVER except static ... and so for lack of anything more constructive to do to stave off the Big Despair, he's ditzing around on the air about what what fun things he and some yet-to-be-located buddy could do while they wait for the nuclear winter to set in or whatever. And in this vein he throws in an additional gallows-humor line about smoking "cobalt" (i.e. radioactive) cigs. ("Oh yeah, and by the way my face happens to be on fire, no biggie, just a flesh wound ... "). Sorta the musical sequel to Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove," IMO--waddiya do *after* they drop the Big One? Or perhaps a really weird-ass precursor to "The Nightfly's" title track--all alone, broadcasting into the Great Unknown, wondering if there's any intelligent life out there to receive the message ...

Gentleman Loser (GB, 8/28/00): I like the Nightfly connection. Lester is by far my favorite character dan man. Forever spinning late night jazz to the lonlies who will never call and the crazies who always do A race of men in the trees definitely; ferral after so many years and a forgotten world, wearing leather clothes that will last them the rest of their lives, hunting caribo and wild dog through the decimated shells of metropolitan centers Dr. Mu (GB, 8/28/00, from the runes of Santa Fe): The cobalt in KOW refers to Cobalt60 which is a radioactive isotope and a breakdown product of plutonium - a common fuel for A- bombs and nuclear power plants. Isotopes are variations of an element (carbon or cobalt) which have less or more neutrons. The number of proteons actually determine whether an atom is oxygen or nitrogen. Stable isotopes have a similar number of protons and neutrons. Most isotopes are actually stable (oxygen 18 for example or deuterium: H2), but fewer or greater neutrons than an element can handle makes it unstable and radioactive. That is it emits radiation as it breaks down to other elements over time. Radiation of different types and far different intensities can be alpha (2 protons and 2 neutrons - not so nasty usually), beta (electron-the intensity can vary greatly: C14 is not so bad but those in a nuclear reactor are very powerful); gamma - electron radiation, X-rays - high frequency radiation. Cobalt60 in the cigarettes is an allegory of a post-holcaust (nuclear)decaying world. Cobalt 60 interestingly has a half-life of 5.5 years turning to nickel. theoreticaly, in 33 years (6 half lives) all of the cobalt would be come nickel if all were produced at the same time. Cobalt 60 is a "waste product" of nuclear power plants and is used for cancer radiation treatment instead of being dumped. Cobalt 60 is a pretty strong gamma emitter which means it penetrates tissue pretty well allowing targeting of tumors. The "glow in the dark" thing. This is a really cool effect called Cerenkov light. It happens when a powerful beta emmitter spews radiation from a "light medium" like air into a denser but clear medium like water. The speed of light is actually greater in air than in water which has a higher index of refraction. Now the beta particles hit the water at a speed higher than the speed of light in that medium. The electrons radiate that extra energy as a beautiful blue glow - electron "skid marks" if you will. Ir can be seen big time in nuclear reactors where water surrounds the core for cooling. Unfortunately, it means that non-transluscent solids can't really glow in the dark even under the influence of a beta emitter, but it's neat poetic license anyway.

"War Games," the movie, not the Matthew Broderick one, though I liked that too, but a pseudodocumentary from the sixties which portrayed the aftermath of a nuclear attack in ruthless detail There are any number of post-apocalyptic novels and films of interest, such as A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter Miller, Jr.; The Postman, by David Brin; "On The Beach" with Gregory Peck (from the book by Nevil Shute); and the "Mad Max" films with Mel Gibson. "Wooden Ships," by Jefferson Airplane, also recorded by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"PRETZEL LOGIC"
Introductory Notes "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" "Night By Night" "Any Major Dude Will Tell You" "Barrytown" "East St. Louis Toodle-oo" "Parker's Band" "Through With Buzz"

"Pretzel Logic" "With A Gun" "Charlie Freak" "Monkey In Your Soul" Introductory Notes
"If you're still here with me/ If you've got this far...." I feel that it'stime for another caveat and disclaimer. You may be getting used tomy blathering, and I'd like to remind you that whatever I say, I AM TOTALLYMAKING IT ALL UP, except when I reference other people who are also totallymaking it all up, or the authors. If I forget to add "I think..."or "It seems to me..." I'm sorry. It's implied. And if youand I have had the same thoughts, well, Steely waters run deep. Andif you think it's absurd to dig this deep into the lyrics--that's whatyour mouse is for. This is my own little personal compulsion, andI'M okay with it. That said, "I hope you're smiling...." SteveV (GB, 5/29/99): re: Pretzel Logic lyrics interpretations (in my humble opinion)... 'Rikki'-obssessive Prof. typeof upstate NY college eyes young student.. 'Barrytown'-college band (inupstate NY) plays gig near cult based town.... 'Through With Buzz'-guy triesto swear off his 'habit' 'Petzel Logic'-nerdy student(from Passaic) reads up on Hitler and the occult.... 'Charlie freak'-Burroughsiantale of a street person who pawns his ring for a fix 'Monkey In Your Soul'-Fagenand Becker zing their record co. 'I've got one (album) and you want four.....' lyricalsequel to 'Show Biz Kids'....... Ram (GB, 10/4/99): *** PRETZEL LOGIC *** I dont think it's too much of a strech to say That PRETZEL LOGIC is the ultimate concept album based on the life and times of Charlie Parker....the supreme symbol of post world war 2 alienated hipster junky living in an isolated worldthat exists when the wolves come out to play. James Dean had nothinon this cat as the real rebel without a cause...and if the late 40's/ early50's had a face to represent this time...it would be Charlie Parker, andDon and Walter created a masterpiece that embodied this time with frighteningprecision and clarity. Nevermind The Beatles...this is Seargent Parker'sLonley Hearts Club Band. 1.) "Rikki Dont Lose That Number"- yeah this is his number to score, and its all he has to keep goin. Theozzie and harriot folks dont like his kind, but hey are clueless to thefact that he doesnt care, and they dont even know what he's about. 2.) "Night By Night"- yeah he's slowly killing himself for every thrill.....and he knows all too well that his ship wont come in...its been shipwrecked since his ancestors arrivedfrom West Africa. 3.) "Any Major Dude"- a fleeting glimmer of hope to get him through those dark hours of the night....buthe'll never hide from the demon that's inside of him. 4.) "Barrytown"- he's no monster and he aint lookin for enemies, still his sensiblities are above Eisenhowers America.....maybe in the back of his mind he'd like to find a place tofit in....but man look at the fashion sense of you squares...hahaha. 5.) "East St. Louis Toodle-oo".......yeah Duke knows where it's at...he's a friend.

6.) "Parker's Band"- you wont believe what the boys are blowin....but who's really listening?... I guess Monk is... but man he's dancing in circles again, so who knows whats goin on inside that pork pie hat. 7.) "Through With Buzz"- no...it's not very funny at all 8.) "Pretzel Logic"- dreaming of romatic times long ago....was it better back then ?(Napolean)...willit be better in the future? (The TV).....no probably not....just catchthe wind in your saxaphone today...because these things are gone foreverover a long time ago.....you could read Kierkigard, but "Ornithgogy" saysit better. 9.) "With A Gun" - desperatetimes indeed.....the end is so close at hand. 10.) "Charlie Freak"- down in his plot of frozen space and out...I'm not sure who takes his hand andtakes him home...I would like to think it's the sweet chariot...Don andWalter hate happy endings...but they could have a change of heart? 11.) "Monkey In Your Soul"- the epitaph...turn that Be-Bop down indeed....... Stranger (GB, 10/6/99): No, I don't agree Pretzel Logic is about Charlie Parker. I just enjoy looking at the interpretation. Actually, Pretzel Logic is all about Tricia Nixon's unrequited love for Frank Zappa. KD (GB, 11/7/99): Pretzel is the first band's swan song, and the order fits that. 'Rikki'leads off with a tasteful Skunk solo, three words that never seemed tofit earlier on. 'Night by Night' lets the orginal band get funky; looseand tight at the same time, almost like the band was trying to convinceD and W of their R+B chops. 'Any Major Dude' is beautiful, with Denny andSkunk playing off each other and letting the unspoken chemistry dothe talking. "Barrytown" is the real swan song, and I was cryingthe first time I came to this realization. Two rhythm guitars startingoff, piano and tasteful drums pushing the hook through. The lyrics, writtenbefore the boys had even considered some Ultimate Spinach, seem very fitting.Snobbiness. Shallow put-offs and ironic/sarcastic dismissals of peopleby way of clothing and beliefs. The Dylan aspect is well documented, butthis goes beyond. Background vocals go high. Higher. "Skunk, Denny, Jim, the studio guys are laughing at your shoes, your facial hair and the gear you play through. It's embarrassing. No, you can't come." the "don't you scream or make a shout/there's nothingyou can do about" line brought the tears. Skunk's pedal steel followingorders, knowing the score but still playing till the final buzzer sounded.The last song by the first band. "East St. Louis," the throw down of the jazz scent, "this is where we are coming from, healing regression rather than sliding intodecadence. The Eagles started coming from C+W but lost their sense of homein a cloud of kilos and white man afros. We'll stay with what broughtus here." Dean Parks helps out on banjo and D plays that damn sax, duetingnote for note with Walter on guitar. 'Parker's Band.' We might dump our touring band, but we'll still rock. Words about the man who started the bop and two drummers making our balls shake. 'Through With Buzz', mixing the bebopish words and the rock and roll words and licks, coupled with the ELOlike strings. A lotof ishes and -likes. 'Pretzel Logic,' what can you say? This is how thesetwo create an epic. R+B keys and blues shuffle bloom into an out and outmasterpiece. WB's note perfect guitar solo and shoeful bridge prove to us that these boys cando wonders with just an idear and a melody. No expensive help needed here.

tom (GB, 12/30/99): Pretzel logic a concept album alot of the tracks have Parker's direct inference for sure: PB, TWB, WAG,CF, MIYS but Ithink alot of the tunes are period pieces and not directly tied to Charlie:RDLTN, NBN, AMD the title track seems to be set in the era with words like "minstrel" and "phonograph", but then again "seen them on the tv" sorta sets that off, unless it's alater in life look backwards I've always interpreted the view from one of the local hipsters, Bird's contemporary's pleas formeaning and substance and a longing for something lost "stepped up on the platform" - time machine? sounds like Donald pulling the leg,I thought the platform signified his recalling when he was playingfor his croonies - yet he's not quite accepted or measuring up here "wheredid you get those shoes?" anywaythe neatest line "well I've never met Napolean, but I plan to find the time" could be his laid back comment on self significance, like I'll meet him (an inherent impossibility) when I can get around to it (more important things fillthis cat's agenda) the pretzel logic part of it? perhaps the hipster is living in a past that he neverquite measured up to, a circular tension with a present that's passinghim by as well F#maj9 (GB, 12/30/99): first tv broadcastwas A.Hitler at Games. pretzel logic? twisted corporal becomes body politic.traveling minstrel show- zeig heil, baby! everybody into the tent. thisholy roller is very convincing. [cue Guido's presentation on the masterrace from Life is Beautiful. Que Bella] the man gave me the news-maybea junk line to set up the rhyme. but the platform [well, in NYC you step*down* to the subway platform] refers to the shoes. platforms for trains,platforms for shoes- and maybe storm trooper boots [platform politico]i said freely associating. put down the flame thrower and take twosteps back. love your "circular tension with a present that's passing himby". nice line! the protagonist has a Napolean Complex and aspirationsof killing a lot of people who make him feel smaller still. he's no hipster.he doesn't even have the right features for his master race. go figya.so how does one convince a major population that it is entitled to executea moral imperative to execute? with pretzel logic. and,we share this gene pool.each and every one of us. heavy year-2000 sigh. [well, probably each andevery one of us...] Yusi (8/29/00): Now most Steely Fans know full well about the N.L. - S.D. connexion. But howmany have actually read the book? Turns out, even a cursory readthru lightsup one's eyes like a pinball machine, with damp references exploding fromthe dead paper. N.L. is a book that could conceivably've been written AFTERthe Dan's corpus was established, it smacks so strongly of their dark demonworld. Alright, timefor some real stuff you mightn't a known. "John and Maryin hotel room (music of East St. Louis Toodleoo)." This passageis found near the end of the chapter/jagged book division titled "A.J.'sAnnual Party". A trippy porno cavalcade, this is a fun section to readwhile playing the proper songs in the background. I also recommend BlackCow. I am also certain of (yet unable to refind) a bit about poor boys "throwing their gold teeth". The entire workhas the feel of Showbusiness Kids, what with 'waiting for the Man' andall. The effect of that

song is very comparable to reading the book piecemeal. During the biennial Panics, Dream Police chase down Mugwumps (read, don't ask). Dream Policesmack of the Dawn Patrol (featured in Night by Night). And no, Mugwumpsdo not carry shotguns. Weird finish. "Recollect whenI am travelling with the Vigilante, best Shake Man in the industry. Out in Chi . . . We is working the fags in Lincoln Park. So one nightthe Vigilante turns up for work in cowboy boots and a black vest with ahunka tin on it and a lariat slung over his shoulder. "So I says:'What's with you? You wig already?' "He just looksat me and says: 'Fill your hand stranger' and hauls out an old rusty sixshooter and I take off across Lincoln park, bullets cutting all aroundme. And he hangs three fags before the fuzz nail him. I meanthe Vigilante earned his moniker. . . ." Sounds vaguelylike another unwelcome cowboy-dude type. Mr Gaucho. That's all fornow, I hope you're inspired to read or reread the book from all this.

"Rikki Don't Lose That Number"

In Reelin' In The Years, Brian Sweet quotes Mr. Fagen: " 'That's a verysimple love song to a young lady. I always thought it was a rather erotic, decadent sort of thing. Here you find a guy, a rather rich gentlemen [sic] living in a resort and he somehow manages to capture this young lady.' " (RITY, p. 71) Sweet continues, "One interviewer in America was convinced that the 'number' referred toin the single was a marijuana cigarette. Becker denied this was so,or even that he and Fagen knew of this usage for the word number. 'I think that's San Francisco slang,' he said, 'but we didn't know that.' Fagen picked it up from there: 'The fact is we were simply referringto a phone number, so I think people should take the lyrics more literallyand [it'll] be on the safe side.' "The realitywas really quite simple: there had been a student at Bard College called Rikki who had made quite an impression on Becker and Fagen and they decided to utilise her name for the opening song of the album." (RITY,pp. 71-72) Mock Turtle (GB, 8/5/98): "Rikki" is about a damn phone number. KD (GB, 11/7/99): ... could be the most bitter and angry song of all time. It's right upthere with 'Like a Rolling Stone.' KD (GB, 2/28/00): Until I was 17, I used to think the bridge lyric in 'Rikki' went: "you tell yourself you're not my kind/but you don't even know you're mine." But thatcould never work, the fella in the song never had that sort of confidance.He had game enough to know that Rikki needed his number, needed him andwhat he could offer her, but didn't have enough faith to swear that- regardlessof what she thought or said, she was already his. He just blows that she'sof no clue of her own brain. When Iactually saw the real lyric a few years back, I was sad..because the songwas so sad. But it wouldn't work any other way. Roger D. Friedman (New York Observer, week of March 6, 2000): By the time Mr. Fagenand Mr. Becker split up in '81, Steely Dan had turned out seven platinum albums and a dozen or so hit singles, including the sarcastic "Reeling in the Years" and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." What is that latter song about, anyway? Mr. Fagen: "We always thought of Rikki being a girl and the number being a phone number. He [the narrator] was a desperate guy." Mr. Becker: "The idea that this girl has stumbled into some kind of debauched situation

and has momentarily recoiled from it." Mr. Fagen: "In the 70's, linear lucidity wasn't that big a priority." Slither (7/11/00): In reading people's views on Rikki here, I am surprised that nobody isof the opinion that it is simply a silly ode to Rick Derringer. Perhaps it relates an episode from one of Derringer and the Dan's earlymeetings. That's what I've always figured. After all: 1) Derringerplayed guitar on RDLTN, one of a few songs with a prominent guitar near-solo 2) The coverof the RDLTN single (I think it's the cover, in any case its some promotionalitem associated with the single) features a 'woman' tucking a business card into her garter. Upon close inspection thewoman is revealed to be a man in drag, and I have heard that this pictureis in fact of Rick Derrringer himself. 3) the title 4) It seemsto me that coming from the Dan, this song is too sincere to be a simplebroken heart song, as many have advocated. I think it would be justlike Don and Walt to guise lyrics about attempting to set up a gig as a'love song.' I imagine anepisode in which there was some friction between Derringer and the Dan,and he storms out of the room, only to get in touch later to record thesong. Seems straightforward to me CrayZee (GB, 5/14/01): This song just doesn't work as a typical relationship break-up where the guy's heart is broken and he really wants the girl to keep his number and call him later. Something else is going on here. To be supportable, an interpretation must answer or at least account for some nagging questions raised by the lyrics. For example: Why did Rikki get scared? Why is this phone number the only one Rikki owns? How do you make sense of the bridge: You tell yourself you're not my kind But you don't even know your mind Consider the song in light of the following scenario. Rikki is a young man frightened and confused about his sexuality. [Note the gender ambiguous name (at least in the way it sounds) and that, other than the way the name is spelled, the song does not contain any real indicators of Rikki's gender (i.e.,"Honey", or "Lil' Darlin'") so often used by The Dan.] Rikki had his first homosexual encounter with the Singer (and perhaps others), and freaked out. The phone number is either the Singer's or some other number through which Rikki hooked up with the Singer. The Singer, knowing that Rikki's fear and confusion is not unusual for a young man first coming to grips with his homosexuality, tells Rikki to hang on to the number. The number is Rikki's link to the gay world, and the Singer's link to Rikki. The first verse sets the scene: We hear you're leaving, that's OK I thought our little wild time had just begun I guess you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run But if you have a change of heart Note that Rikki scared himself, as opposed to the Singer causing Rikki to be scared. In the chorus, the Singer, knowing Rikki will eventually calm down and once again want to explore his sexuality, tells Rikki to hang on to his only link to the gay world: Rikki don't lose that number You don't want wanna call nobody else Send it off in a letter to yourself

Rikki don't lose that number It's the only one you own You might use it if you feel better When you get home The Singer, of course, also has an interest in Rikki calling him when he feels better. In the second verse, the Singer tries to calm Rikki down by offering some suggestions of "activities" that might be less "scary" than what went on during their "little wild time." I have a friend in town, he's heard your name We can go out driving on Slow Hand Row We could stay inside and play games, I don't know And you could have a change of heart Rikki don't lose that number . . . The bridge is critical. In a "normal" relationship, if Rikki were breaking up with the Singer, Rikki would say "He's not my type." But here, The Dan has bastardized the cliche to fit the song: You tell yourself you're not my kind In other words, Rikki tells himself that he's not like -- that he's qualitatively different from -- the Singer. The Singer responds by telling Rikki not to be so sure because Rikki's confused: But you don't even know your mind And you could have a change of heart Dr. Mu(GB, 5/14/01): "You don't want to call nobody else" I guess the number then is a 70's version of Maxwell Smart's shoe-phone... oleander (GB, 5/14/01): Re: Slow Hand--were they into Clapton or something? The Pointer Sisters hadn't yet come out with their paean to slowhandedness. CrayZee (GB, 5/15/01): Don't know about Clapton or Pointer Sisters. The impression in my mind created by Slow Hand Row is more of an up and down stroking thing. Rikki (GB, 5/15/01): Is that a skeleton in your closet or are you just glad to see me? Cray's take is very interesting, considering this cyber-art interp of "Rikki...." Can you say frisson?

Blake (2/8/02): I have long thought that this was a song to a girlfriend/girl friend who has crossed the line into full scale addiction. She is on her way to rehab and he gives her instructions to just mail his phone # so it will be there when she gets out. A silly way to do it but normal rules do not apply here.She has kind of freaked about her own behavior in retrospect and is scared. She must say, at some point, that he is to good for her, go forward,(you tell yourself your not my kind} etc. He counters: you are only telling yourself (in this state of DT's) you are not my kind. The problem is that at this moment you are to confused to "know" what you are saying or "your mind". The referance to slow hand road seems to possibly mean "steady hand" as in no shakes, however it may just be a referance to life in the slow lane. Upon her return from rehab when she gets "steady" they can just stay in or drive away from the same traps and trappers of the past.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet "Like A Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan, on "Highway 61 Revisited"

"Night By Night"
Clas (GB, 8/12/01): I watched Alice doesn't live here anymore (is that the right title? Anyway, great movie) She says something like -I live like this until my ship comes in (meaning a good man, who can make her happy and safe). I thought the meaning in Night by Night; ...when my ship comes in... meant when the end is coming, death or something. You know, stepping out in the big nowhere. Paige (GB, 8/13/01): Recently, posters were asked what their least favorite Steely Dan songs were. I was surprised that a couple of people mentioned the song Night By Night. I had always considered this cut to be one of my favorites. Not just due to the edgy musical style (the rock n roll Steely Dan) but also because of the edgy lyrics that reinforce the ambiguity we see in many of their songs. So, I went... to see what others had written concerning Night By Night. I was interested in how others interpreted the lyrics and what possible storyline(s) existed behind the song. To my amazement, there were no interpretations posted for this song. For years, I had listened to Night By Night and did what I think most people do with any song they hear over and over again. We establish in our minds a certain setting and cast of characters that are mostly born of our own experiences. It could be a word or a whole line that triggers a scene that reappears every time we hear the song. Of course, this may reinforce a storyline that was never intended. But, this is not necessarily a bad thing. I think that we can agree that music, like all forms of art is open to a wide spectrum of interpretation. I have to remind myself that there really is no such thing as a bad take on a song. It is in t he ear of the

beholder. That being said, I can think of few other songs that better represent the typical Steely Dan painting. Broad and dark brush strokes that are at once impressionistic and yet surgically specific. This song IS quintessential Steely Dan. When I think of Steely Dan lyrically, I think of subjects like: drugs, prostitution, sexual perversion, gambling, ill-conceived relationships, mental illness, etc.etc. In Night By Night we see a mixture of these same dark conditions dabbed in what appears to be random association. This makes the bigger picture represented by the song, the subject and meaning in and of itself. It is self-sufficient as a generic Steely Dan image. The specifics (of the story) are less important when compared to the imagery of the entire song. But first, a word about the music itself Of course, I know nothing about music. So I cant do music speak to all you talented musicians out there. But then again, this may actually give me an advantage. (Lets talk) The music to NBN seems to fit the lyrics to perfection. This is not one of their simple tunes. There is a lot going on here. Night By Night seems to mix the horns with the harder rock sound better than other SD offerings. They mix the raw guitar sounds so well with the fluidity of the horn section. Even the violin (like) sounds fill the song with atmosphere. When I hear the complexity of this song (musically), I know that the boys did their homework (so to speak). You can hear the effort that was made to combine everything into a cohesive sound. The music is angry and forceful. The vocals reinforce this anger throughout. The guitars are raw, crisp and biting and contrast beautifully with the fluidity of the other instruments. Just before the guitar solo (by the way, who is this guy?), you hear the muffled (covered) strings that set up a repeat of the intro. Wonderfully done. There is anger in this song. Back to my theory that Night By Night is more a general statement about the misery of the human condition (on the streets) than a specific story. The cryptic lyrics allow for the widest of interpretations. We are left to speculate what is going on hereto see beyond the imagery to find a storyline that might have inspired the songif one exists at all. Is this about gambling? Drug sales and distribution? A (serial) killer on the streets? The misery of the downtrodden? Police control in a small town? Or all of the above? NIGHT BY NIGHT Its a beggars life, said the Queen of Spades But dont tell it to the poor man I get the impression that the scene is set in a small city community, which has a thriving bad side of town. This side of town is typical of the decay-like conditions of your average dying inner city. There are drugs, prostitution, roaming dogs with no tags, old men standing around a burning 50 gallon drum, their gloves missing the fingers, trying to stay warm. In this scene we have a drug dealer. The addicted are poor having lost all of their income to their demons. The Queen of Spades seems to refer to fate of the cards. You must do the best you can with the cards youre dealt. The poor man DOES live a beggars life and therein we find the contradiction. The Queen of Spades appears as the holder of the cards (or the controller of mans fate). No need to tell the poor man. He is already aware of his fate. Cause hes got to kill for every thrill, the best he can. Note that the first three lines are spoken by the Queen of Spades. She continues. The addicted need their fix and will do anything to obtain the money for their self-destructive habit. Inner city murders during the commitment of robbery. They do it for the thrill. Not the thrill of killing but for the thrill of the high they receive from their addictions. So, they kill (rob) for the thrill (high).

Everywhere around me, I see jealousy and mayhem Because no men have all their peace of mind, to carry them I love the line all their peace of mind, to carry them. This line is almost like a life lesson or philosophical axiom. Complete and total peace of mind is never achievable. True contentment is somewhere out there just beyond our grasp. This results in the mayhem of our existence. It is the drama of life. Jealousy exists when we are not content or have peace of mindwhen we are full of self-doubt. Self-doubt is as much a part of our existence as breathing. The misery of our human condition is really born from within. I think that this line is saying that if we could (in some perfect world) have total contentment and peace of mind, we could carry ourselves through this world. (Chorus) Well, I dont care if its wrong or if its right But until my ship comes in, Ill live night by night. Well, heres our first look at the dealer (the narrator). Its pretty straight forward. He is selling drugs. He is contributing to the decline and destruction of the downtrodden. He cares only for the monetary return he receives from the addicts. Yet, there is a hint of conscious. The fact that he mentions that he doesnt care in and of itself indicates that he thinks about it. The night by night line seems to refer to the term day by day. We all go to work everyday in search of legal tender at whatever cost to our self-esteem. It is the drudgery of our lives as we wait for our ship to come in. This is no different than our narrator. This is HIS job, night after night. He too is waiting for his ship to come in (to hit the big time) when he will not have to sell drugsalways on the run. When the joker tried to tell me, I could cut it in this rube town The joker here probably refers back to the Queen of Spades again (cards and fate). But beyond thatthe joker could be the dealer above him (in as much as he is the middle man). He is encouraging him that he can make it (as a dealer) in this town. He could build his own little empire of addicts and dealers just as he has done. The rube town seems to refer to the unnecessary complexities of drug dealingan overly intricate system necessary in insuring the dealers safety. The joker is trying to tell the dealer (narrator) that he can fit within the system When he tried to hang that sign on me I said, take it down. The narrator hates what he does, but he does it out of necessity. The higher dealer (joker) laughs at him as he (the narrator) denies what he isa purveyor of drugs (and destruction). Still, the narrator justifies his trade, convincing himself that his ship is about to arrive. So, dont call me a dealer, this is just temporary. When the dawn patrol got to tell you twice They dont do it with a shotgun I think that the local authorities are on the take with the dealer(s). They go through the motions of patrolling the streets but do little to combat the scourge of drugs. Yes, I'm cashin' in this ten-cent life, For another one

I love this line. It seems clear that the narrator has succumbed to the realization that he cannot escape his fate. He is fully entrenched in this lifestyle of drugs and crime. He can no longer see his ship on the horizo n. He sees his life a cheap (without value)ten cent life. The players may change, but the game remains the same. Thus, even when he attempts to trade in what he is doing, he winds up doing the same thing for someone else. Well, I aint got the heart, to lose another fight So until my ship comes in, Ill live night by night The narrator is completely defeated. He fights to leave behind what he is doing to himself and othersbut it is a fight he will lose yet again. And so he stares off towards the horizon, waiting for his ship to come in. I saw where there was a Dan fan that created paintings based on his interpretations (or impressions) of SD songs. I dont think that this is any different. This is simply a paintingan impression. angel (GB, 8/13/01): Paige: Weighing in on Night by Night, I see. Somehow commenting on this particular song at 1:30 in the morning seems appropriate to me. Ok, first off. The line is "It's a beggars life said the Queen of Spain" not Queen of Spades (As much as I wish that was the case, since I always had heard it as it's a Vegas life and that works much better with a Queen of Spades.) I got yelled at for that mistake several months ago. :-) In that vein, there was also talk at the time about who that Queen of Spain might be. Isabella being right up there as a candidate. You might want to try searching the archives for Queen and see what you get. I remember quite a discussion, with research on queens, etc. Dan Fan (5/31/02): I have two SD chord books both referencing this song. One has Queen of Spades and the other has Queen of Spain. Interesting.

"Any Major Dude Will Tell You"

So what IS a "squonk?" Brian Sweet relates: While recording 'Any MajorDude' some of the musicians were wandering around the studio furtivelyasking each other about the line 'Have you ever seen a squonk's tears?' 'What the hell is a squonk?' they inquired. Being unfamiliar withliterature, they were all reluctant to ask Becker and Fagen directly forfear of ridicule, but a squonk, they later learned, is a mythical woodsanimal that has the ability to cry himself into a bag of tears." (RITY,p. 71) Sounds like Lewis Carroll to me, but I've been unable to find it in his works. Anybody have a source for this description (besides Gary Katz?)? thom (8/16/99): You may wish to check out A Trick of the Tail by Genesis and their song "Squonk." It's postPretzel Logic, yet seems to be of the same mythos, with its lyrical mention ofcapturing the squonk and being left with nothing but "a pool of tears." lucky henry (GB, 5/26/99): Any Major Dude = Any M.D. "When the demon is at your door, in the mornin' he won't bethere no-ooo mo-ore...." wormtom (GB, 5/26/00): Allright - yet another (actually 2) one word twists that define a dan song Here goes"Any Major Dude" any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you my friend Any minorworld that breaks apart falls together again. When thedemon is at your door, in the mornin' it won'tbe there no more.

the two words you ask? simple "falls" and "it" his situation is so bad that it can't come together but rather out of shear desperation it "falls" together out ofthe total chaos and dispair his life can then mend "it"?yes. the demon isn't literal but rather the hangup that has you down forthe count. An object or obstacle that keeps you downand fearful

The Squonk, Himself

Luke (9/1/00): "(Lacrimacorpus dissolvens) The range of the squonk is very limited. Few people outsideof Pennsylvania have ever heard of the quaint beast, which is said to befairly common in the hemlock forests of that State. The squonk is of avery retiring disposition, generally travelling about at twilight and dusk.Because of its misfitting skin, which is covered with warts and moles,it is always unhappy; in fact it is said, by people who are best able tojudge, to be the most morbid of beasts. Hunters who are good at trackingare able to follow a squonk by its tear-stained trail, for the animal weepsconstantly. When cornered and escape seems impossible, or when surprisedand frightened, it may even dissolve itself in tears. Squonk hunters aremost successful on frosty moonlit nights, when tears are shed slowly andthe animal dislikes moving about; it may then be heard weeping under theboughs of dark hemlock trees. Mr. J. P. Wentling, formerly of Pennsylvania,but now at St. Anthony Park, Minnesota, had a disappointing experiencewith a squonk near Mont Alto. He made a clever capture by mimicking thesquonk and inducing it to hop into a sack, in which he was carrying it home, when suddenly the burden lightened and the weeping ceased. Wentling unslung the sack and looked in. There was nothing but tears and bubbles." - William T. Cox, "Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts" When I first heard this song, I thought of Lewis Carroll and then Jorge Luis Borges' The Book of Imaginary Beings. I hunted high and low in Carroll with no luck, and spent a desultory couple of years trying to find a copy of Borges' book in your average bookstore with equal success. Then, as I was poring over my surreally disorganized bookshelves one day, I found my quarter-century-old copy, which I thought I'd given away--and there it is, on page 213, between the Sphinx and Swedenborg's angels, the above quote.

Reelin'In The Years, by Brian Sweet (buy & read!) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ,Through The Looking-Glass, The Hunting of the Snark, Sylvie and Bruno --allby Lewis Carroll, the pseudonym of Charles L. Dodgson, a very clever and subversive fellow indeed. If you haven't read his works since you were a kid, suspend your adult prejudices and go read them again now. They are just as creative and astonishing as ever. Also, if you're into annotation, try Martin

Gardner's The Annotated Alice or More Annotated Alice. FEARSOME CREATURES OF THE LUMBERWOODS With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts by William T. Cox ; #1037 Judd & Detweiller 1911 hand stamped over printed 1910. illus by Coert DuBois. [ The astute Luke found this on Bibliofind.] Lots of other fanciful beasts and loving depictions thereof from Greece Jorge Luis Borges, The Book of Imaginary Beings, 1969. A favorite quote therefrom: "As we all know, there is a kind of lazy pleasure in useless and out-of-the-way erudition."

"Barrytown"
According to Brian Sweet, this song is named after a town near Bard College "whichBecker and Fagen used as a target for denigrating small town America."(RITY, p. 72) Expanding Man (GB, 5/29/98): "Barrytown" -- neither Bigotry, Fundamentalism, or Right Wing Conservatism. Rather, it is Prophecy! Think about Washington, DC mayor Marion Barry, his arrest for smoking crack ("I can tell by what you carry..."); the distinctions made by locals between those who live in VA, MD, and DC(trust me on this one; lived there for 10 years); the steady depopulationof the city itself ("I know you'd like some company"); the class distinctionbetween the politically-connected elites and the working stiffs who makeup the federal and local bureaucracies ("Barrytown people got to be fromanother world", "a special lack of grace"). The song was written about thetime DC got Home Rule ("I'm not one to look behind, I know that times mustchange, but over there in Barrytown they do things mighty strange. Though you're not my enemy, I like things like they used to be.") and expressesthe misgivings felt by many at the time about the change. Roy.Scam (GB, 6/1/98): When I heard "Barrytown", I assumed there was a reference to Barry Goldwater (R.I.P.); perhaps some built in irony about bigotry and prejudgingworking both ways (i.e., what if the accepted ones were the outcasts?).I've listened carefully to the bridge of this song, both the demo and thePretzel Logic version, and he definitely says "..the WORD was hurled..",which gives somewhat of a fundamentalist turn to the narrator's point ofview. Had he said "..the WORLD was hurled..", then we've got theBig Bang, scientific side. Close mindedness could go either way,I guess. Anyway, it's one of their prettiest tunes, IMHO. Lotion Charlie (Newsgroup, 2/11/00): There is a town in Westchester County, NY (just about NYC) called Tarrytown. Supposedly, the Moonies had a major commune there: "theway you cut your hair" - get it? The song is hilarious when observed fromthat ta Jon Stone (Newsgroup, 2/11/00) (hi jon!): Barrytown is a small burg located near Bard College (where the boys schooled, or attempted to). The song poked fun at small-town intolerance. Adamnoir (Newsgroup, 2/12/00): Over there they still do things mighty strange.I live about approx. 5 miles to the east, just adjacent to another Westchester hamlet to where the sweet things from Boston go when they slide on down. Al (Newsgroup, 2/15/00): Gary Katz denied in an old radio interview that the song is about the Moonies; he said that it's just about a small town. I'm from the New York area and I can attest to the fact that both Tarrytown and Barrytown exist.... Vancouver Murph (7/23/00): I always assumed Barrytown was about Moonies, not just because of the geographical clue, but because anyone who had to pass through U.S airports in the 70shad to run a gauntlet of ostensibly wholesome-looking (Jesus freaks tartedup with bowl haircuts and cheap polyester "business suits") who would waltzup to tired travellers (B&F? See Dias on "Buzzingthe Field", Official SD Site) and say, "You look like you need a flower!"with a big smile. When you accepted the flower, they'd smile even widerand say

"That'll be five dollars, please - it's going to a good cause." The first time around for this nonsense, most people would fall for it,and rather than telling the jerk to frig off when he or she asked for themoney, would curse inwardly and hand over the cash (part of the sales pitchoften involved a few commiserative sentences to establish a pseudo-friendlyrelationship ("Missed your flight?" "Yeah." "Gee, I know what that's like.Hey... you look like you need a flower today!"etc.). Experienced air travellerswould learn to avoid these clean-cut zombies by their very appearance (thatcult-member glassy-eyed stare & blissed-out smile) & the fact thatthey always carried flowers - not unusual in airports, where folksare often meeting people they haven't seen for a while but the combinationgeek-look with the flowers was a dead giveaway. Thus, "I can see by whatyou carry (i.e. flowers) that you come from Barrytown (nearby a big Mooniecompound)" - a very prescient song in view of Rev. Moon's later legal problemsre being a scam artist. Burned-out road musician finally blows up at Moonie& the lyrics are his rant. Altamira (GB, 7/25/00): I've been to Barrytown (as part of a Dan pilgrimage) and it's a tiny little place, about five houses and an abandoned train station, only marginallysmaller than the nearby Annandale-on-Hudson, in an isolated, rural, butsupremely beautiful part of upstate New York (during my visit to FDR'sestate and library in Hyde Park, about 20 miles south of Annandale, I learnedhe was named for an uncle who was from Barrytown - according to a bookI bought about old houses in the area, Barrytown was once quite an impressiveplace, and is much older than Annandale). Sis Sparki (5/31/02): My take is the "Barrytown" boy is a gay guy and the narrator is a homophobe. "What you wear" and "the way you cut your hair" = the stereotype that gay gents wore fancy clothes and went to frou-frou styling parlors. "Go play with someone else" = the man is saying to the gay guy, "leave me alone, I like girls." "What you carry" = the Gay Pride insignia or the stereotype of a gay man being effeminate and carrying a purse "Over there in Barrytown, they do things very strange" and "Barrytown people got to be from another world." = Barrytown is a gay community, and the narrator can't see why people would choose same-sex partners "It was there when you CAME OUT." CAME OUT. Those two words are the reason I think this song is about a gay guy, and the "it" that was there was homophobia and predjudice. William Gibson gives one of his many Steely nods in reference to "Barrytown" in Count Zero. For example: "It was such an easy thing, death. He saw that now: It just happened. You screwedup by a fraction and there it was, something chill and odorless, ballooningout from the four stupid corners of the room, your mother's Barrytown livingroom." (p. 17)

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet Count Zero by William Gibson (Ace 1986). Yet another of Gibson's unmissable works. Then again so are they all.

"East St. Louis Toodle-oo"

I know, IKNOW! It's an INSTRUMENTAL! Just want to keep you on your toes! Roy.Scam (GB, 11/24/00): In my historical studies (Don't ask.), I recently discovered that 'EastSt. Louis Toodle Loo' was a reference to the way field hands walked while on the job. Why did you people never tell me this dialectic tidbit? I thoughtit was just a song about a guy leaving a town. Curt (5/8/03): I was impressed, even for Steely Dan, when I first saw the album cover for Pretzel Logic and saw that they were doing East St, Louis Toodle-oo. I have always liked it in a great variety of Duke's arrangements. I was even more excited after I heard Steely Dan's interpretation because I thought that they really caught the essence of the early sound of the Duke.

East St Louis Toodle-oo was originally called East St. Louis Toad Low. It was written about a man the band saw walking down the street one day (in East St Louis of course) who was so stooped over with age that they thought that he looked like a toad. This tidbit was in a book by Stanley Dance about the Duke and also in the Smithsonian collection of classic jazz liner notes.

"Parker's Band"
This song is a loving tribute to Charlie Parker. If you haven't heardhim, close me out immediately, go buy anything he's done, and when you're saturated meet me back here. "Savoy sides" refers to one of Mr. Parker's record labels. "Groovin' High" and "Relaxin' at Camarillo" referto Bird tunes, the latter also to a California institution in which hespent some time. Fifty-second Street in New York City was a hotbedof innovative jazz in the fifties. "A bird in flight that just can'tquit you" refers to Mr. Parker's handle, "Yardbird." "A dizzy weekend"probably refers to Dizzy Gillespie, who played with Bird. "Smackedinto a trance" refers to the unfortunate prevalence of heroin and othersubstance use among the contemporary jazz community. Tony (1/5/01): Onething you might wanna mention that I didn't see noted in the Dictionary. The point about Camarillo wasn't used just as a geographical reference. Until a coupla years ago, there was a California State Mental Hospitallocated there -- a place where Charlie Parker was once sent. Hence, theold jazz tone "Relaxin' in Camarillo"... it's a reference to cooling your heels in the mental hospital in Camarillo. Fagen and Becker were no doubt refering to the mental hospital, not justthe town. There's not much in the town besides that. It's a bedroom community. I am a newspaper reporter who used to live and work in Camarillo. The mental hospital there, until it was shut down, was old and kinda scary. They didn't send the criminally insane there,only the real doozies. It looked kinda like one of the Spanish Missionsin California ... long green lawns, quiet, white plaster buildings, nicegardens, etc. Blaise (GB, 1/29/02): Caught a little of the French translation of Jazz on the tube last night. An episode I had missed about Charlie Parker. "Grooving high or relaxing at Camarillo (State Hospital) Spending a Dizzy (Gillespie) weekend Smacked into a trance..." It's all spelled out right there. There's no room for debate on that one.

Try "Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Charlie Parker Collection," on Rhino Records, as an intro; it includes a wide variety of his most magnificent tunes,and lots of biographical info .

"Through With Buzz"

Brian Sweet quotes Mr. Fagen: this song is about " 'a more or less platonic relationship between two people. There's nothing really sexual about it until one of the young people realises he's being used and starts having paranoid fantasies and breaks off the relationship. There's no symbolism or anything, we never use puns. It's a very saccharine sounding track with a very cynical lyric. We often do that for an ironic purpose. That is, to juxtapose a rather bitter lyric against rather sweet music.'" (RITY, p. 70) As an incidental note, I find it very interesting that with all the other literary techniques they use--alliteration, assonance, double entendre, literary reference,rhyme, glossolalia--they don't pun. I would love to know why. (And isn't "Lost Wages/ Lots Wages/ Lot's Wages" a pun?) KenRobarge (Steely Mailroom, 4/22/98): You gotta love a lyric withone line per verse!

Roy.Scam (4/9/99): My spin on "Through With Buzz", a much maligned Steely Dan song that I like a lot: when we're forced to confront the ugliest aspects of our own behavior, we like topersonalize them, make them a separate entity, and even give them a name. This gives us someone to blame and takes a lot of the scary responsibilityoff of our own shoulders. Don't most religious belief systems havedevils and evil spirits to serve this same purpose? This guy Buzztold me he was my friend then he took my money and my girl; he'sprobably a fairy too. Remember Richard Pryor's routine about talkingto his freebase pipe, or Anthony Hopkins arguing with his ventriloquistdummy in "Magic", or Flip Wilson and "The Devil made me do it."? ... I've had a few relationships with this Buzz character myself; maybe that's why I like this song. Miz Ducky(Newsgroup, 7/29/00): As to "Through with Buzz," I can read some unaddressed homoerotic tension into this brief gem. Protagonist, pissed off at his ex-friend Buzz, accuses him of all sorts of semiparanoid things. In this vein, he resorts to making (what is in his mind) a derogatory remark about Buzz's sexual orientation, which remark is obviously bogus given he also accused Buzz of stealinghis girlfriend; so the insult sounds more like the kind of schoolyard taunting in which terms like "fairy" get thrown around to the point of meaninglessness. BUT--note also that protag misses Buzz in a most poignant way: late atnight when he's all alone. Makes me wonder what kind of unacknowledgedfeelings he might have had going on for his exfriend all along. Ti Bone Ange (Newsgroup,7/29/00): To expand upon your idea, when I hear the narrator lobbing bombs at Buzz, I hear envy, and lots of it. So his "maybe he's a fairy"comment even seems like erotic jealousy to me&mdash;Buzz always wins, alwayscomes out on top <insert your favorite gay "bottom" pun here>, includinghis sexual adventurousness, leaving the narrator in the dust. Kyle inadvertently raised a good question with his post: how do songwriters write? Any rudimentary study of B&F 's backgrounds reveals that they are not dummies, but well-read and diverse, curious to the point of probing and fascinated by everything weird or once found on the margins of society. Especially in literature,it's not possible to partake in a steady diet of Boy Meets Girl Etc. Andit is in literature where homoeroticism is most often balanced on the razor's edge, where we are made to wonder without always getting a straight answer. My first exposure to homosexuality happened in Sunday School, studying the friendship of David and Jonathan in I and II Samuel. David wrote: "...greatly belovedwere you to me, your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women"(II Sam 1:26). These two men seemed to fall in love at first sight: "...whenDavid had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul" (I Sam 18:1).Jonathan's response to David, his soulmate, was immediate and dramatic:"Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. Then Jonathan stripped himself of his robe that was upon him,and gave it to David, and his sword, and even his armor and bow and girdle.(I Sam 18:1-4)" Sure, my Calvinist Sunday School teacher made a point of downplaying Jonathan's display ofsudden nakedness, not to mention all the other soap-operaish twists inthe tale including Saul, Jonathan's father being homophobic and blaming his son's condition on the kid's mother, still a standard today. But I knew better. Homosexual love fares much better in literature than it does in conservative society. Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" still makes it to the top of intelligent people's booklists. Male friendship and how far it can go is also a hotly debated topic in the BeatLit world--the Beat Triumvirate being composed of two homosexuals and one guy who claimed to be straight but apparently loved the occasional blow job (Burroughs,Ginsberg and Kerouac, for those of you who don't know). In this milieu I've been frequently exposed to a certain philosophy: that most men are sexually opportunistic and very easily turned to homosexual acts, given the right circumstances. Here's what someone said about that almost 100 years ago: There is no friendship between men that has not an element of sexuality in it, however little accentuated it may be in the nature of the friendship, and however painful the idea of the sexual element would be. But it is enough to remember that there can be no friendship unless there has been some attraction to draw the men together. Much of the affection, protection, and nepotism between men is due to the presence of unsuspected sexual compatibility. [ Otto Weininger, Sex and Character(1903) ] On and on it goes. The slaving meatwheel keeps turning round and round, you go back,Jack, safe in heaven dead... and 30 years after the beginning of Steely Dan, people are still trying to reconcile obscure lyrical

references. Walter addressed the allure of this recently: WB: I think there is something to be said for the idea that something can retain some element of mystery. That is very likable. And I think our new songs, generally speaking, are less obscure than they might have been at other times earlier in our career. [ PERFORMING SONGWRITER magazine, March/April 2000 ] "....element ofmystery." Yep. And this element makes for fascinating and endless discussion about lyrics among the fans. In RS837 [ Return of the Dark Brothers ] Donald gives us deep background on himself and Walter as a songwriting team: "[At Bard College] We clicked on every level as far as the kind of stuff we liked," Fagen says, "the way we defined ourselves--the way we were trying to, anyway. We listened to the same jazz stations. Weliked the same books. When he got there, I was writing essentially comic songs that combined pretty much all the elements that ended up being the elements, and Walter was doing the same sort of things. He was a little bolder maybe than I was in what he was willing to address in a song. Bolder in the sense that maybe my attempts were more in a fantasy realm, and he addressed things that maybe started from a more precise observation, even though they might veer into fantasy. I tended to be a little more insular, left to my own devices." Sometimes Steely Dan lyrics just seem random to me--in the same way a Burroughs cut-up seems random, while making perfect sense and creating powerful images. In the PERFORMING SONGWRITER interview, Our Heroes reveal part of the process they sometimes use to arrive at what seems like a predetermined or actual meaning: It's a stunning level of accomplishment they've achieved by being intricately involved with every aspect of the creative process, as consciously careful with each word of every line as they are with each beat of the kick drum and the snare. Though the ongoing brilliance of their seamless and soulfully singable songs might often seem to be the product of some kind of spontaneous genius, it's actually the result of a lot of hard work, as B&F explained. Take the flowing chorus of "West of Hollywood," for example: I'm way deep into nothing special Riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of Hollywood It's a singlesentence that evolved through a profusion of lyrical permutations beforethe ideal form was discovered. "One trick of writing is to use the mechanics of typing things over and over again as a way of exercising and developing an idea," Becker said. To illustrate this technique, he shared some ofthe variations he and Fagen generated for this line: I'm way deep into nothing special... ...coming from a place of power just west of ... ...with a base of support located just west of ... ...in a matrix with its nexus just west of ... ...situated as I am in the crescent just west of ... ...having as my target the citizens just west of ... ...in a cluster franchise operation just west of ... ...and business is booming in the triangle just west of ... All the songs on the new album went through this lengthy process of thought and revision, each the result of many pages of notes, character development, and explorations into the best ways to compel and conclude narratives. Each character emerged only after sessions of abundant B&F banter and discovery, resulting in a rich emotional subtext that serves as a foundation for all these songs. <end excerpt> So in other words, the characters often emerge, rather than being fully formed and all growed-up before a single word hits the page. This Rubik's Cube they then toss out to us, challenging us to make all the elements match up somehow. And most of us have to ask others and discuss and read up on obscure stuff, because when it comes to knowing what lurks in the hearts of men, really, only the Shadow knows.... Curt (5/8/03): Through with Buzz of course to me seemed to be about drugs. I am through with my buzz, I am not going to use them anymore, followed by a long list of bad things having happened to him through their use.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Pretzel Logic"
Now, is this one of the best songs ever, or what? Brian Sweet reports: "On one occasion... Fagen was induced into explaining that the title song on'Pretzel Logic' was about time travel. 'When it says, "Istepped upon the platform/ The man gave me the news," we conceived the platform asa teleportation device. And there are other key lines like, "I havenever met Napoleon/ But I plan to find the time." What we're actuallysaying is that I plan to find the time that he lived in,' said Fagen. It was a logical explanation, but then again Fagen would easily have beenmaking it up as he went along." (RITY, p. 71) I think the title refers to a Moebius strip, a one-dimensional figure you can makeout of a two-dimensional piece of paper, which occupies three dimensions. I once saw a wonderful stone sculpture of a Moebius strip by the mathematician/sculptor Max Bill. This song also makes me think of the amazing graphic artist M. C. Escher. Has anyone read The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester? In it, teleportation ("jaunting") (through space, not time) becomes commonplace, with travelers stepping up on specified platforms to make their hops from one place toanother. This is a fifties sci-fi classic which holds up well. I also think of an early A. E. Van Vogt, The World of Null-A, whichrevolves around the foundation of society on the use of non-Aristotelianlogic, and a very interesting civil service system. David (alt.music.steely-dan, 1/14/00): I still think Pretzle Logic (the song) must be one of the best 'I almost heard it right' blues songs. "He said, 'you must be jokingson, where did you get those shoes'" seems like a mondegreen of 'where did you get the blues'. Anybody withme on that one? Roy.Scam (GB, 1/17/00): The platform in 'Pretzel Logic' is a guillotine platform. The narratorhas made an unfortuitous time-travel landing circa the French Revolution(just missed Napoleon by a hair). Since he's still wearing his clothesfrom another time period, he not only has to suffer the indignity of decapitationbut has to suffer his footwear being dissed. Vancouver Murph (7/23/00): Pretzel Logic also refers to the D/E E/A C/D D/G changes to the chorus,where you wind up on the same chord where you started, but in a completelydifferent place due to the changing bass notes (this ties in w/Einstein& quantum physics/time travel stuff). Mexuine (3/1/01): "Istepped up on the platform, Theman gave me the news..." isthe way it's usually transcribed, but I always heard it like this: "Istepped up on the platform, Theman gave me the NOOSE..." Inthe first version, the lyric seems to be just three verses with no real story, sort of quasi-surrealism, but insert the word 'noose' for 'news'- and Boppo! the song describes the regrets of a man about to be hanged.And how about those shoes? Well, they may or may not save the poor guyfrom an untimely death - the use of the present tense in the first twoverses suggest that he indeed lived to tell the tale, and is now determinedto make

his surreal dreams come true. On the other hand, if he is everto meet Napoleon, it would have to be in the Hereafter, as he (N.) is -as we know - long gone from this earth. Cornelius Eady wrote a poem to Thelonious Monk which gives me a frisson of recognition with this song: Thelonious Monk I know what to do with math. Listen to this. It's Arithmetic, a soundtrack. The motion Frozen in these lampposts, it Can be sung. I can lift away Its logic, make it spin Like an orbital satellite, find Gambling's true pitch. It can be played: Adventure, the trying of Patience, holding back, holding Up, laying out, stop-time, Slow motion, time travel, Space walking. It can be Splintered, strained Through the fine mesh Of a second. Now I try A few bars of what's next? Run It over my hands, ignite it, Make the fire sound like April in Paris. (from "The Gathering Of My Name", 1991) Blaise (GB, 8/24/01): Again, in my book, Pretzel Logic, for the most part, refers to Hegel's Logic, you know, the "sight of Napoleon entering Iena on horseback" reference used by Hegel to illustrate the concept of the end of History. That is, if you consider the admiration felt "he looks so fine..." echoing Hegel's own and also the multiple references to "time" in there such as "find the time", "times are changing but I just don't know" I've talked about this before but you know how it is... "these days are gone forever, over a long time ago".... It doesn't apply to the question as to where he got those shoes, for example. He (whoever wrote the words) could have been reading it at the time as it was fashionable to do so - it was before the advent of cable TV and cable modems, people still read philosophy's major works or at least planned to find the time - and it somehow reflected in his/their songwriting. The philosopher's town had just been invaded by the French troops and all Hegel could feel upon meeting the man in charge was this admiration instead of the hatred one would assume he would have felt at the time. There's a famous passage from his correspondance to a friend illustrating this: "I saw the Emperor -- that World Soul -- riding out to reconnoiter the city; it is truly a wonderful sensation to see such an individual, concentrated here on a single point, astride a single horse, yet reaching across the world and ruling it..."

He looks so fine, that individual (lonely still and the emphasis on "single", repeated in the text)... I don't know. It's a personal thing, I guess but the reference just speaks to me. I see it as coming into play, regardless of the authors initial intentions. Dan Fan (12/16/02): As I was listening to Pretel Logic recently, I began to believe the song is actually a comment on the trappings and inconsistencies of the entertainment/music industry. In the first stanza, the singer longs to tour in a musical show, record and be a star. When are you first drawn to the music industry, many artists believe they have a vision, intergrity or something to say even though you and your band may just be hacks. Those feelings tend to subside once you understand the music business, and after a while you long for the days gone by. It is noteworthy that Fagen and Becker use the word "love" in describing the singer's affection toward his/her desired musical careeer in a "traveling minstrel show." The reference to making a record and being a star which "makes them laugh" or entertains the crowd is what attracts many to the business and feeds the ego. The next stanza regarding Napoleon seems to be a comment upon the attitude music stars suffer from after reaching stardom. These types develop a Diva mentality or "delusions of grandeur" when they are overcome by stardom. The line about meeting Napoleon could be a reference to the "stars" ego about himself, placing himself in the same category of Napoleon even though the star is only a little man in the big picture. The singer's importance is shown in the line about not knowing (has never learned) about Napleon, but he plans to find the time. As if he plans to find the time!!!! He is too self-important. Looking fine on the top of the hill (acheiving sucess) is great but being on top the hill is a lonely place. Lonely still for Napleon given the way history now views him in a gegative light. In acheiving stardom in conquering the workd, the singer is no in the limelight, but wants to separate himself from everthing he yearned for in the early days and be left alone. The chorus sees the now past-his-prime star approaching the platform (not a stage anymore because he is over the hill) and the announcer giving him to news (or Noose) about his shoes (clothing). After a time in the limelight, the star is no longer relevant and attempts to keep up with the times by dressing in tune with the times (what he sees on TV and the movies). But clearly the time has passed on our aging musician, which for him/her "Those days are gone forever" and were "over a long time ago." I recently watched a TV award shows which had actors/musicians dressing outrageously in an attempt to keep in the limelight or try to appear hip or cool, but in fact come across as out of touch or pathethic. They complain about the tough road it took to get where they are, but now they have acheived it, they complain about wanting to have a normal life and be left alone. And that's the Pretzel or convoluted Logic referred to in the song. You can't have it both ways. It is extremely difficult for an artist to maintain the integrity of the craft without selling out or getting lost in the trappings of stardom and becoming a Little Napoleon. You want the adoration of fans but want to be left alone. Given Becker and Fagen's adversity to publicity and outsider attitude within the music industry, it seems the song is their ode to the craziness and lunacy that is the music industry. As WC and Grocho put it, Becker and Fagen probably would not want to be members of any club who would have them as members. To think this song was written in 1974 and is as relevant today as it was then is just amazing. Great song.

Reelin' In The Years, byBrian Sweet M. C. Escher: there are numerous collections of his work around,and you can barely buy a tie nowadays without an Escher print Max Bill: If anyone can find me a book of photos of his work, I'dbe much obliged The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester The World of Null-A, by A. E. Van Vogt, long out of print, I believe Virtual Light, by William Gibson. In which one of his characters asks,"Where did you get those shoes?"

'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy , the first of a series of hilarious compendia of misheard lyrics, called "mondegreens." Read it to see why.

"With A Gun"
AM Rush (11/9/01) ( THANK YOU for posting about this song!): This may be a reach, but this song may be the Dan's statement to the occasional musical act contemporary (mid-70s) and earlier that had plagiarized/were plagiarizing The Beatles, both in sound and in style. Potential references include - the title (a nod to Revolver?) - the chorus ("...leave him lyin' in the rain" - how is "he" left lyin' in the rain if the shooter was seen runnin' from [presumably inside] the store?) - the line in the chorus "You will be what you are...just the same" (From the rest of the tune one can't necessarily deduce what the shooter IS to begin with, other than "...the founders of the clinic in the hills..." the word "clinic" perhaps being a contemptuous reference to the act of plagiarism) - the line in the bridge "...war to the one who does it wrong...", implying a disdain for unoriginal Beatle knockoffs - along with their afforementioned "fingers in the till", capitalizing on the success of the Beatles And all presented in a 'Rocky Raccoon'-like storyline and country-western music aesthetic.

"Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More" for another Beatles-related take

"Charlie Freak"
Daddy G(GB, 3/31/00): such a great song. Reminds me of John Steinbeck's Winter of Our Discontent, where Danny Taylor trades Ethan Allen Hawley his family property (suitable for an airport) for $1,000, with which Danny can either buy a cure or enough booze to kill himself. Both men know which choice Danny will make. Gabe (4/5/01): Charlie Freak Charlie Freak had but one thing to call his own Three weight ounce pure golden ring no precious stone Five nights without a bite No place to lay his head And if nobody takes him in He'll soon be dead - A man out on the street, who only has one possession left because he sold everything else just to keep himself alive. He hasnt eaten in 5 days, and if no one takes care of him, he'll die. On the street he spied my face I heard him hail In our plot of frozen space he told his tale Poor man, he showed his hand So righteous was his need And me so wise I bought his prize For chicken feed - while wondering the streets, he saw a mans face and called him over. By his 'house', he told the man of how he lost everything. Charlie then showed the man his ring and asked if he could get some cash for it. The man said okay, and bought his ring.

Newfound cash soon begs to smash a state of mind Close inspection fast revealed his favorite kind Poor kid, he overdid Embraced the spreading haze And while he sighed his body died In fifteen ways - As soon as charlie got the man's money, he went to buy wome weed. He kept using it and using it, until he got to the point when he got extremely high. Every puff he took of it, his body died in 15 ways. When I heard I grabbed a cab to where he lay 'Round his arm the plastic tag read D.O.A. Yes Jack, I gave it back The ring I could not own Now come my friend I'll take your hand And lead you home - The man heard about charlies death someway or another, so he took a cab to the morgue. There, he found charlie with a D.O.A. tag on his arm. Feeling sorrow, the man gave charlie his ring back that he shouldnt have bought in the first place. Curt (5/8/03): On Charlie Freak, I have always felt that the meter of the song somehow reminds me of Charles Dickens. I don't know why, but it seems appropriate to a song about poverty, desperation and degradation and death through alcoholism.

"Monkey In Your Soul"

Okay, this is pretty left-field, but when I listen to this song, I feel like a flyon the wall of a Steely recording session, where a hapless musician istrying to keep up and figure out what his taskmasters want of him. He complains, "I got one hand, you want four"--how can I play somethingso complex with only one hand? "I can't keep up with you no more/And have you treat me like it's a sin...." He says, you can't forceme to stay here forever and do this--"no thank you, my friend!" Isee the "monkey in your soul" as Messrs. Fagen & Becker's inimitableobsession with the perfect sound; "monkey" is often used to referto an addiction. The singer's (funny infolding, with the culpritsdoing the singing) a little scared of the intensity of their vision, andafter complaining about various aspects of the music, including how hisown contributions are sloughed off, he decides to call it quits. stevevdan (GB, 8/5/98): "I got one and you want four" i.e. the 'Dan had one album complete whileABC Records still demanded 3 more... PretzelLogician (GB, 5/31/99): Monkey InYour Soul's about philistine taste. Wyvern Rider (4/13/02): Just thought I'd post a quick interepretation of "Monkey In Your Soul", since it's one of my favorite SD tunes and it's been virtually ignored on the site. I think that directly the song refers to F & B 's quarrels with the recording company, but in a broader sense I think it refers to any time when an activity begins to overwhelm you. Just as a short example, I used to play basketball for my school. I was a pretty good player, and everyone in the organization expected me to play throughout my high school years. However, you can't just play a sport during its season now, you have to go to camps, clinics, leagues, etc. Basically, I was forced to practice basketball year round, and after a few years I was getting really sick of it. About that time I first heard "Monkey", and it immediatly struck a chord.

"I got one and you want four" - For me, I wanted to devote one season to the sport, and the institution wanted all four seasons. Describing any activity requiring more time than you want. "It's so hard to help you" - Even if you work hard, you still can't please your superiors. "Can't keep up with you no more" - It was fun when you got involved into it, but it's gone now. "And you treat me like it's a sin" - You're giving your best, and you still get treated like dirt. Now is when the narrator takes his stand . . . "But you can't lock me in" - Asserting than you can go against the grain and quit. "You want me here with you right to the end- no thank you my friend" -For my situation, they wanted me to play all through high school, but I realized that I was done with it. "My friend" shows that you're trying to part on good terms, even though you know it's unlikely. "I fear the monkey in your soul" - You're afraid of whatever it is about this activity that once attracted you but now sickens you . . . "Won't you turn that bebop down . . . I can't hear myself think" - Bebop is characterized by extreme randomness and unpredictability. You're trying to get your priorities straight and this dominating activity keeps clouding your vision. "Where's that fat back chord I found?" - The "fat back chord" is what you're looking for, some satisfaction in your life, but you may have temporarily lost it. "Honey don't you think it was wrong . . . to interrupt my song?" - Trying to reason, don't you think it's unfair to keep me so busy, interrupting my life [song]? "I'll pack my things and run so far from here . . . good bye dear" - A final reminder that this is it, you're quitting, leaving, whatever. Again, you're trying to be friendly, but in that way when it's easy because the other party has no say. Well that's it . . . sorry for delving into junior high memories, but I do have a certain fondness for these lyrics. (Not to mention some sweet funk riffs) Hopefully that sheds some light on this gem of a song.

Pleasevisit Edd Cote's illustrious deconstruction of this tune

"KATY LIED"
Introductory notes "Black Friday" "Bad Sneakers" "Rose Darling" "Daddy Don't Live In That New York City Anymore" "Doctor Wu" "Everyone's Gone To The Movies" "Your Gold Teeth II" "Chain Lightning" "Any World" "Throw Back The Little Ones" Introductory notes
Quoted by Brian Sweet, Mr. Fagen said about "Katy Lied": " 'Each song is seen from a different viewpoint. Some, I imagine, have an idealistic tone to them, while others are someone who's obviously suicidal. Obviously the narrator, if you will, is really in the deep stages of severe depression. And, of course, I probably was when I

was performing them. Everybody's personality is just a symptom of the times. I always seem to see both sides of things simultaneously, for which reason I never have an opinion about anything.' " (RITY, p. 89) You will NOT believe this one: a Zappa megafan who has done an interpretation of "Katy Lied" as a concept album-nay, as an epic bardic saga. I can hear the lyre resounding. Go immediately to visit turtlestew.(Major props to the late budie holie for this link.)

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Black Friday"
Brian Sweet reports, "In US history the first real Black Friday occurred on September 24, 1869, a day of panic in the securities market which was repeated nine years later. The term is often used on both sides of the Atlantic for any day of crisis, financial or otherwise, but there is no evidence to suggest that Becker and Fagen were referring to any particular occasion. They had simply used their collective imaginations to create a fictitious incident. "Becker and Fagen's tale is of a crooked speculator who makes his fortune and absconds to Australia with the proceeds to live in the lap of luxury and seek forgiveness for his sins.... They chose Muswellbrook, a town in New South Wales, Australia, for the lyrics of the tune. 'It was the place most far away from LA we could think of,' explained Fagen... and, of course, it fitted the metre of the song and rhymed with 'book.' " (RITY, p. 93) In the Digest of 5/24/97, Bruce Buckingham noted that many buildings traditionally skip thirteen when they number floors, so that the fourteenth floor is actually the thirteenth. diggy (5/4/99): One of the greatest thing about Steely Dan is that the music often reflects the message in the lyrics. The lead guitar through-out this song is fantastic to listen to, but very obnoxious. It is as if the narrator is rubbing everyone's nose in the fact that he is set for life living in Australia, and you are screwed. He has made his money with the inside info before the market crqashes and flees town. He tells you how he did it in the lyrics, and makes you feel his self pride as he abuses his guitar. During the guitar lead to the end of the song,I can almost see him putting his thumb on his nose - fingers extended - saying Na Na Na - Na Na - Na. tom (GB, 1/23/00): Gonna strike all the big red words from my little black book. been puzzled on that line? the little black book is the Bible, and Christ's words are commonly printed in bold Red Large Type. He probably has a pocket size (little black book)- New Testament only So the advantageous protagonist of the song is dishing on God amidst his new reclusive modus operandus. Look, I pulled it off, don't need you any more. funny but he just can't seem to seperate his escapism indulgences from a guilty laiden conscience, so later in this uppy tune he turns to self righteous religiosity... When Black Friday comes I'm gonna dig myself a hole, Gonna lay down in it till I satisfy my soul (a sort of self dervived purgatory of asceticism?) Gonna let the world pass by me, the Archbishop gonna sanctify me And if he don't come across I'm gonna let it roll. ~ if you are gonna go all out, why hold back. Why need the blessings of another mere mortal? An agnostic hedonist with an opportunistic motive and the weight of the world on his back gets just about nowhere fast. He can't strike too boldly when he's worried about the consequences. No assurance is no insurance Luckless Pedestrian (GB, 8/22/00): Glamour Profession - a song about excesses (but really fun ones) - fly to Barbados just for the ride (best line)

The Royal Scam - a song about excesses that hurt Black Friday - when excesses get the better of us and we get out Turn that be-bop down, I can't hear my heart beat.... Hank Silvers (Blue Book, 10/16/03): History, just for the record.... "...[the] crash of the gold market on September 24, 1869. "Black Friday," as it became known, was the result of an attempt by financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk to corner the gold market." [NYT, 10/16/03]

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Bad Sneakers"
diggy (5/4/99): Bad Sneakers is a story of a law breaker (pimp, gangster, molester, killer) that gets caught. He can see the outside world through his prison cell bars. He sees the ladies talking, the "fellah" in the white tuxedo, and the "ditch" they're digging. All of these things make him regret his life and his current situation. He may be on death row - the excavation - the ditch they are digging for him. Or it may be him wishing they would kill him, "when they gonna send me home". Either way, he is not taking prison very well. He is going insane. When he can't relate to reality anymore, he drifts back to a time with his friends when they wore "bad sneakers", drank pina coladas, and stomped down the avenue with cash in hand. The second verse is a warning to others like himself. He couldn't "beat the heat" (the cops finally got him) and he points out the grave that is being dug for him. Roy.Scam (GB, 7/6/99): Check out Randy Newman's 1974 tune "Back on My Feet Again" as a possible inspiration for the 1975 "Bad Sneakers": an incarcerated mental patient trying to talk his way out while jumping from memory to delusion to fantasy to paranoia while getting them all a bit confused. tom (GB, 12/16 & 17/99): I always felt that the line from Bad Sneakers "five names that I can hardly stand to hear, including yours and mine and one more chimp who isn't here" referred to the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Ghost) to round out the "mysterious" 5. certainly from the vantage point of the unstable jailed protagonist in the song, I'd have my doubts too under those conditions. As with many Dan songs the characters vantage point reflects certain sentiments that may not be the artists actual guarded views. D&W always seem to do a great job of getting inside the head of their characters - elusive social commentary light years above the typical derivative lyricist.... I used to interprete the line as the delusioned prisoner's comment to a cell mate mentioning other cell mates and one chimp who isn't here (no longer in prison or no longer living). I always thought it was neat how the lyric leaves you dangling for the unmentioned mysterious other "two". Then one day the "Trinity" slant on things came to me, probably inevitable as I'm a Christian. Wow, this takes on a whole new possible meaning! The song's protagonist is venting to a fellow inmate on a God he doesn't believe in ("who isn't here") seeing the messed up circumstances he's currently in. fezo (GB 12/17/99): that's one of my favorite lines but I never can remember it well enough to post. i never gave it the trinity interpretation though. it always sounded more like the off heard rant of someone with too much time on their hands thinking of the people who bug the shit out of them. your interpretation is cooler.

Hutch (GB, 12/17/99): The "Steely Dan Song Book" (the notorious Hal Leonard publication with wrong chords) has the line from Bad Sneakers as: "... and one more Champ who isn't here." also: "... and that fearsome *explanation* on Magnolia Blvd. That book cracks me up! Dr. Mu (GB, 12/17/99): I'm going for the prison analogy for Bad Sneakers - BUT an interlaced recording studio claustrophobic semi-hallucination: Five names that I can hardly Stand to hear Including yours and mine And one more chimp who isn't here (all 3 are "chimps," but since the word "including" is used, the other two are NOT part of that group...remember, Fagen was an English major. Perhaps the chimps are the core studio rats. Katy Lied was the first Dan recording which was a true studio/non band effort. Could the other 3 be part of the original group? ...or could they be referring to Dias, McDonald, and Porcaro - the ones who stayed from the '74 tour ensemble. Young Jeff Porcaro was often on the prowl and MIA.) I can see the ladies talking How the times are getting hard (Imagine the close to broke Dan members peering out a studio building window where they could *see* the goings on of the outside world. Observation of the outside world is a recurrent Dan theme. A prison with bars has no direct line of sight to the outside world for many reasons. Occasionally, a small window at a local lockup is present but way above eye level) And that fearsome excavation On Magnolia Boulevard (no prison nearby, but could be near the studio) CHORUS: And I'm going insane (claustrophobia) And I'm laughing at the frozen rain (don't have a clue here as in the next verse the heat is on - unless the heat is the cops) And I'm so alone Honey when they gonna send me home (externalizing their "predicament" to The Record Company Formerly Known as ABC-Dunhill) Bad sneakers and a Pia Colada My friend Stompin' on the avenue By Radio City with a

Transistor and a large Sum of money to spend (Brief period of fun following bonus payment, which looked large at the time, following their first hits for CBAT) You fellah, you tearin' up the street You wear that white tuxedo How you gonna beat the heat Do you take me for a fool Do you think that I don't see That ditch out in the valley That they're digging just for me (taking another observation out the window at a man in a white safety suit wielding a jackhammer, then turning the image around and imagining the man diggin a large grave where the chimps will rest their weary bodies after finishing Katy Lied. Life imitated art, as the technical snafus with the noise reduction system almost caused the finest album ever recorded to disappear from the earth) tom (GB, 12/27/99): I always imagined the song set in a minimum security prison / mental hospital. The fellow isn't particularly violent and "I can see the ladies talking... fearsome excavation" line as either viewable from his cell window or his vividly picturing the outside world and it's colder realities. In the chorus section he remembers the more positive freeing memories "on the avenue". kevin (2/24/00): I think this song has something to do with mobster types.... Magnolia Boulevard refers to where bodies are 'planted' (like a flower, hence magnolia). This burial site probably includes the "chimp who isn't here" The "fearsome excavation" refers to an attempt to hide dead bodies from authorities (then again, maybe it's the authorities who are conducting the excavation?) Either way, our main character has knowledge (perhaps first-hand knowledge?) of the bodies. His knowledge makes him dangerous to the mobsters, and he awaits his death at their hands. As a result, he is "going insane" as he asks himself "when they gonna send me home" "frozen rain" refers to the waiting period before the main character's death "You fellah, you tearin' up the street" ..is this another reference to the 'excavation'? If so, who is 'tearin up the street'? Is the main character talking to himself or someone else? Hmmm And once again the main character refers to the mob's intentions when he says: "Do you take me for a fool Do you think that I don't see That ditch out in the valley That they're digging just for me" And considering the last line-and-a-half of the chorus... "...a large Sum of money to spend" Haha I guess we all get infinitely richer when our time is shortened

kd (4/26/00) It hit me hard watching the VH1 version of 'Bad Sneakers.' I learned to take a step back and take the song for what it was really worth. Don't complicate things, man. It was really about The Two, or, at least, parts of them. No drug dealers left without a job after returning from 'Nam. No record company execs. It's not about David Geffen, it's not about Walt, it's not about me. The Men are just commenting on the fools (as Mike M) would say that seem to circle the whole of El Lay, and Don and Walt might be feeling a bit homesick. And, after that guitar solo, who couldn't? When the roomie came in, mid song, I had to hide the tears. Dr. J (Newsgroup, 8/29/00): Dali was a remarkable painter [as well as those other things]. he coulda been a photo realist if he chose. but he was fruggin to the beat of a different drummer for sure. i love this analogy. Imagine Dali's surreal masterpiece called "Bad Sneakers". the first time i heard BS i got images of clocks melting over the edges of some ditch out in the valley. Jimmy the Bat (1/13/03): This song has Mafia (organized crime) written all over it. I have read the other responses to these lyrics, and some are on the right track, but some are way off. First of all, the man in the song is not in a prison or a halfway house. He is in the witness protection program (WPP) set up by the government. He's in the WPP because he squealed on his people. He broke Omerta. If he was in prison or a halfway house, he wouldn't have to ask, 'Honey when they gonna send me home?" He'd know when, or he'd at least have a pretty good idea. Witness protection is very secretive and lonely. A person in the program can't talk to anyone from their past (even their own parents). That's why the man in the song is "so alone'. He's "laughing at the frozen rain" because to him it's a joke to have to deal with freezing rain. When he was still in the Mafia, they were always in a warm climate, drinking Pina Coladas, a large sum of money, etc. Now he's in a cold climate (WPP) and it makes him irked. He's not used to it. He's going insane because he's lonely, he paranoid, and tired of looking over his shoulder. He knows he can get whacked at any time. The "fellah" in the white tuxedo is a fellow Mafia made man. He is trying to hide all the "stuff" (probably bodies) that was squealed by the man in the WPP. He is trying to beat the "heat" (FBI), but probably will not according to the man in the WPP. That "fearsome excavation" will be their entire downfall. The ditch in the valley is where he'll be buried when he's whacked. He's no fool, he knows. Again, that's why he's going insane. There's nothing he can do about it now. The "ladies that are talking" are the ladies on the evening news. That's how he keeps up with what's going on. The nightly news. The only thing I remained puzzled about is the five names. Curt (5/8/03): I liked the idea of Bad Sneakers being about a drug dealer in prison and simultaneously about the band trapped in a recording studio.

"Rose Darling"
Brian Sweet calls this "yet another example of a Becker and Fagen tune with all their characteristic elements of deceit, an illicit affair, drugs, and even murderous intentions. As usual, not enough of the story details are filled in to allow an accurate assessment of the plot and, indeed, Becker and Fagen's structure allows several vastly different interpretations to co-exist alongside one another." (RITY, p. 91) Let me just give you this Guestbook exchange on "Rose." It's a guy thing.

Clas (GB, 3/31/97): I think I have something here. I guess Ive decoded the lyrics of Rose Darling.--The woman who is "sleeping" next to Fagen and wont be disturbed by all steamings sounds of love, SHE IS DEAD! Donald has her ashes in bed, and Rose and mr. Fagen can have a wild sex going on, snake Mary will never wake up! Roy.Scam (GB, 4/4/97): Regarding your theory on Rose Darling (Mary's dead.), do you perceive that Rose and her gentleman friend killed her? I guess being in Detroit with lots of money wasn't just a dream, but Mary's final reward in the afterlife (or since it's Detroit, it could be her final punishment). I can see a Brian DePalma or Clive Barker movie in the making:.......ROSE DARLING.....she'll make YOUR wildest dreams come true! Shindig (GB, 5/1/97) says that RD is a lesbian reference, which gets things going again: El Supremo (GB, 5/12/97): I always thought that Rose Darling was a song about masturbation, kinda in the same vein (ugly pun) as Rosie by Jackson Browne. I thought Rose was just slang for his hand and he was having to rough up the suspect because Mary just wasn't getting the job done for him anymore. "All I ask of you is make my wildest dreams come true"--little bit of fantasy "No one sees and no one knows"--a little under the cover action? "The spore is on the wind tonight"--If it is "on the wind" then there is no partner "We'll wear the weary hours down"--I'll let that one speak for itself... George (GB, 5/13/97): I always loved the idea of the concealed love scenes (yes, Snake Mary, the chaperone) between Rose and her lover. "...with only you and what I've found...". While "the spore is on the wind tonight," she certainly "won't feel it 'til it grows," but then?! Roy.Scam (GB, 5/13/97): If this interpretation of "Rose Darling" is correct, i.e., that Rose is actually Rosie Palm and her five daughters (aka: Minnie Fingers) and if Jackson Brown's "Rosie" is also about self-gratification, then perhaps 'Rose' is actually a pop-music code word for choking the old chicken. In that case we've just nailed down Neil Diamond and his Cracklin Rosie (and all this time we thought that was about booze). Not to mention Barbara Streisand and her "Second Hand Rose" (when one hand just isn't enough). I guess even Nat King Cole did a little Ramblin' with miss Rose. El Supremo (GB, 5/13/97): A code word conspiracy? I like that! While "Rosie" by Jackson Browne is blatant: "You wear my ring," "When you hold me tight, that's my thing," "When you turn out the light, I got to hand it to me/Looks like you and me again tonight, Rosie," I never even considered the ramifications of the other two you mentioned. Living in Louisville, you have given me new reason to second-guess "Run for the Roses"... :) Mr. LaPage (GB, 5/13/97):"With only you and what I've found"--a boy whose just learned the secrets of selfgratification? Shrug, either way, I'll never listen to it the same way again. Roy.Scam (GB, 5/13/97): 11 tracks of what??! You naughty boy. And don't try to tell us you'll quit as soon as you need glasses. Now go to your room and don't be spanking that Monkey in Your Soul. Dr. Mu (GB, 5/13/97): Talk about a "bogus persona!" Hilarious! I've been slapping myself silly...er, wait, I didn't mean that... rabbit (GB, 5/13/97): re the 'rosie palmer darling' thread here--that line 'the spore is on the wind tonight' always makes me think of a carnal scene with the smell of sex in the air. I think the guy is just assuring the girl that there's no way the chaperone lady will wake up. 'all our steamy sounds of love cannot disturb her in her night, or raise her sleeping head' or whatever it is. Anyway 'snake mary' sounds to me like a nun who's in charge of a dorm at a catholic girls' boarding school.

maj (GB, 5/13/97): "...with only you (hand) and what I've found (skin magazine), we'll wear the weary hours down..." I always liked their play on words here with "wear the weary." Try saying that ten times fast. And last, Teresa (GB, 5/19/97): Pah! It's some horny little adolescent copping a bit of nooky while the chaperone to the object of his desires sleeps nearby. Hey, girlfriend! Told you it's a guy thing--"buffing the happy lamp," according to Stiff. Stranger (GB, 8/12/98): i just see a guy with snake mary who would rather get it on with rose darling. my one word tag for this song: longing. Libido (8/17/99): Possible inspiration for Rose Darling...... The Sick Rose O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy. William Blake (1757 - 1827) F#maj (GB, 8/ 17/99): listen: what has the voice in Rose Darling found? to wear the weary hours down? a vibrator. get it? tom (GB, 12/29/99): Rose Darling - the setting is a boarding school and "Snake Mary" is the woman assigned to watch over the boy's after curricular activites. She's a real killjoy, hence her nickname by the boys in tow, but thankfully she sleeps through his night time visitations with dear Rose. the rest as other's have aptly stated is a little hand of fate gesture. Hoops! McKay (Digest, 3/2/00): ... I was--and still am--so angry that no one agreed with MY interpretation of "Rose Darling." Here it is: "Rose Darling" is about a horticulturist with this really bitchy wife. So when they are in bed at night, after she falls asleep, the protagonist, gets out his color glossy mags, you know, the latest Jackson & Perkins catalog, and gets off fantasizing about his true love. Of course, my evil twin and pretty much everyone else thought "Rose Darling" was about some loser who, after his wife Mary falls asleep, gets it on with his "lover," "Sister Rosy Palm and her five fingers." In other words, it's like that situation in "American Beauty" where Kevin Spacey's character starts jerking off in bed, although there his bitchy wife, played by Annette Benning, calls him on it. According to last vignette, Steely Dan was again ahead of their time by 24 years. "Dan rules!"

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Daddy Don't Live In That New York City Anymore"

I think one of the funny things about this song is the difference between the title and the lyrics. You can hear the thundering primeval struggle between proper grammar and vernacular. Clas (GB, 5/1/98): "Daddy don't need no lock and key For the piece he stowed down on Avenue D" Maybe Daddy is Donald Fagen! The "piece" , is it a revolver? Yes, Donald have a bad conscience for steeling (steely = steeling) parts from Beatles music! Revolver! So he stowes his bad conscience and throws away the key! And the fact they stow it out in Alphabetic City is, noone dares to look for it there! Not even streetsmart guys from Brooklyn. Not My Nancy (6/10/98): Really funny lyrics, among the best of which is "Drinking his dinner from a paper sack"--a line that is lifted from an earlier Becker/Fagen tune, "I Can't Function" (my personal favorite tune from pre-Can't Buy A Thrill). There's a Thelonious Monk tune called "Hackensack." And PATSJAZZ (GB, 8/5/98) points out that Rudy VanGelder's "first studio was located in Hackensack. He recorded Monk, Rollins, Coltrane, Blakey and Jazz messengers, Horace Silver, and many others." (See Pat's comments on "Black Cow.") diggy (5/4/99): Daddy don't live in that NYC anymore is about a deceiced, neglective, crooked, and alcoholic father. He can't do these things "no more" because he is dead. The narrator tells the story of his daddy's demise in one of his crooked deals with his "piece." But my favorite line is, "daddy can't get no fine cigar, but we know you're smoking wherever you are." He's smoking - without a cigar - after his death. Sounds like a burning hell to me. And the narrator cares so little that he can make jokes about it. tom (GB, 2/9/00): He don't celebrate sunday on a saturday night no more he's a catholic and attends mass saturday night to get it over with before his drinking binge starts - less guilt in the morning

Visit Howard M.'s bodacious Monk page

"Doctor Wu"
Brian Sweet quotes Mr. Fagen: " ' "Doctor Wu" is about a triangle, kind of a love-dope triangle. I think usually when we do write songs of a romantic nature, one or more of the participants in the alliance will come under the influence of someone else or some other way of life and that will usually end up in either some sort of compromise or a split. Okay, in this song a girl meets somebody who leads another kind of life and she's attracted to it. Then she comes under the domination of someone else and that results in the ending of the relationship or some amending of the relationship. When we start writing songs like that, that's the way it usually goes. In "Doctor Wu" the "someone else" is a dope habit personified as Doctor Wu. In "Haitian Divorce" it's a hotel gigolo. The details of "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and "Through With Buzz" are vaguer but the pattern is the same.' " (RITY, pp. 91-92)

A piaster is an old European and Turkish coin. Sweet again: "The violin-playing monitor mixer was named Jim Jacobs and he had a habit of incessantly playing a tape of Bob Dylan's 'Visions of Johanna' through Steely Dan's sound system before gigs, a custom Becker and Fagen would refer to in 'Doctor Wu'.... 'All night long/We would sing that stupid song' referred to Dylan's 'Visions of Johanna.' (RITY, p. 66) Ruby Baby (GB, 9/14/96): I've always liked the way [Mr. Fagen] pronounces his Rs. And Os.... But who is this Dr. Wu? He is the narrator of the song. You see, some women tend to destroy the men who fall in love with them. The poor guys never find out 'till it's too late. Anyway, Katy tried....And I strongly suspect Dr. Wu is now using. But there is a 3rd person, the one to whom he is talking. She's a woman from his past that has come back into his life somehow. She adores him, but she is like Eponine to him. She's there for him if he would just open his eyes. His eyes, however, are too full of Katy so he doesn't really notice her, which is why we can imagine his surprise when he saw her just as he woke up from his Biscayne Bay dream. And for once, she's come at a time when he realizes he needs her (for now). So it's she that is always singing to him, "Are you with me Dr. Wu?...Has she finally got to you.....Can you hear me Dr.?" BTW: Dr. Wu isn't his real name. It's a nickname she gave him a long time ago. Dr. Mu (GB, 9/15/96): I am intrigued by Ruby's theory. Dr. Wu was a detective in the movies. He lost this case. Countzir0 (GB, 7/22/98): Listening to Dr. Wu.... In my mind I picture a couple of guys who are regulars in some darkly lit bar, getting obliterated. And Dr. Wu's been having trouble with a bad breakup with one of his girlfriends, and Wu is drunk to the point of falling off the barstool. Fagen sorta slaps him on the face and says, "are you with me doctor? are you with me doctor???" But I can't tell if the lyrics are written from a male or female perspective. It just presents such a vivid picture in my mind.... David Arnold (Digest, 2/21/99): Quintessential Dan admixture of cynicism, despair, hope, and ultimate redemption. diggy (5/4/99): This story is in chronological order. First, a man is down on his luck, "almost crucified", and Katy tries to help. She lifts him up. They sing a song of joy and love. Katy falls for dope (Doctor Wu) and her man becomes just a shadow now - not so important to her anymore. Her love is now for dope. Man waits for Katy. He doesn't know about her new "love". He searches the city looking for her. Even looks in the slums (the bay). He longs for the fun, "tastes", and songs of love they used to sing together, but she never comes. He finally finds her. Katy lies, because she never intended to meet him. She is with Doctor Wu and is "high" on him. The man is surprised to see her in that condition and not caring enough to even meet him. The last verse flips back and forth with perspective to who is talking. "Are you with me Doctor Wu......" is her talking to her dope. But "she is lovely yes she's sly......" is probably the man's friend consolling him and saying that she got to him and that he is only human. The last line is Katy repeatedly talking to her new love. It is a story of new love broken apart by a drug addiction. He has to go on with his life -- and she falls deeper and deeper into her love for Doctor Wu. fezo (GB, 7/31/99): ...The angst in Dr. Wu sounds real. As real as any emotion in 11TOW. I haven't heard Wu in awhile so this interpretation may be tainted by time lapse but that whole song almost aches with failed redemption. At the beginning there's hope for the nararrator; he'll get the girl, he'sget the drugs, whatever it is he needs to feel redeemed. But at the end Katy fails him. Fagen "could see it in her eyes" and his vocal on that line alone sounds like actual pain; not an actor simulating it. David (Newsgroup, 1/14/00): I remember hearing as a 16 year old "I was waiting for the taste you said you'd bring to me." That suddenly explained so much to me about both the joy and pain of loving someone.

tom (GB, 4/26/00): Tom Robbins - Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas now the story is about coincidences out of control in the life of one young femme fatale stockbroker when the market crashes right before Good Friday (I know it happened a week earlier but hey, run with me) anyway on page 51 the illustrious writer of the Northwest dispells meaning or pulls one's chain on the meaning of the word Wu. straight from the asian Dr Yamaguchi speak ing in his foriegn tongue here goes ... "does a dog have a Buddha-nature?" To that, Master Joshua was said to answer, "Wu". "Now, please, wu is in Chinese language a negative response. Negative. "No," yes? But the word have many fine shades of meaning. Many nuance. So, depending upon inflection, subtle nuance in pronunciation, wu could mean 'absolutely not' or 'probably not' or 'possibly not' or 'usually not.' Could mean emphatic 'no' or could mean 'Am rather inclined to doubt it.' "so, for 1200 years, scholars have argue. Exactly what did Master Joshua intend by wu? What inflection, what shade of meaning? Twelve hundred years, they argue and argue. But I am here to tell you." Lang Pause. No tap. Dr Yamaguchi is, in fact, gripping the Bic with both hands. "when ask if dog have budda-nature, master did not answer 'Wu'. That is big misunderstanding. When ask if dog have Buddha-nature, master answer 'wuf.' the inimitable Hoops! (Digest, 5/21/00): A popular interpretation is that Dr. Wu is a Coke dealer (diet and classic, is there any other kind? Oh, Cherry!) and Katy is Coca Cola incarnated as a seductive woman who ultimately is untrue. The character singing the song is a caffeine addict and popaholic. He can't stop his Coke habit! However, personally, I think "Dr. Wu" was the orginal theme from the pilot for the sequel series to "Kung Fu." Now a sitcom, "Dr. Wu" features Keith Carradine as Dr. Caine "Grasshopper" Wu, a western small town Doctor who cures his patients using strange and unusual Kung Fu moves, and, who else but Betty White, as his compulsively lying and always sarcastic nurse assistant, Katy. Laughs galore! Thursdays at 8 This Fall--on CBS after "Diagnosis: Murder." Dogmatic Dave (GB, 7/7/00): No matter what B&F say Dr. Wu is a real person. I always interpreted the song to be a about a guy dying in a hospital and being revived by Dr. Wu. (I was on the other side of no tomorrow. You walked in and my life began again.) However, as he starts to recover he feels that Dr. Wu is falling for his wife (has she finally got to you?) and begins to wonder if Dr. Wu is really trying to save him (have you done all you can do?) or is going to let him die so he can get at his wife. Listen to the fade out as Donald screams "can you HEAR me doctor" he's dying. wormtom (GB, 7/10/00): Dr WU a real person? I always thought he was an alter ego of the protagonist. Dr Wu being his alter personality when he finally lets go to all he is clinging to or when he is mildly altered on drugs (the boys left it nicely vague) The "you walked in and my life began again" refers to the woman that has so whooed (Wu'd?) him. One of only a few women portrayed positively in Dan tunes steviedan (GB, 8/12/00): like many of you, dr. wu is probably my all time favorite sd tune (wasn't it no. 1 in st. al's poll ?). we used to do the tune alot, not as often lately as our playing circumstances more often call for ten minute versions of "Strokin'". Musically, the feel of it to me has always been a love song. love of SOMETHING. Heroin ? Chinese takeout ? A woman? An asian proctologist ? I'm apparently just not sure but you know ? It does not matter. It's monumental in it's vagueness. The musical content, however, is totally deliberate and defines the compositional traits of B&F. Nat & Al Enquirer (newsgroup, 1/13/01): We always assumed that the name had the double meaning: 1. Katy said something that wasn't true. 2. Grasshopper Song (lied is German for art or folk song) We thought the cover made it pretty blatant.

DrJ (2/5/01): katy ends up in a place that she didn't intend to be at the start when her intentions were romanticized naivet > Katy tried > I was halfway crucified > I was on the other side > Of no tomorrow i get that Katy initially helps the "voice" through short-term withdrawal [half-way crucified...] along the lines of 'just one more hit for now and i'm gonna kick first thing tomorrow'?, but- she is not a junky herself as the tale begins. she approaches with an experimental nature, flirting with the dark side but not necessarily aware of the dangerous dance with dr wu who is not only the dope personified but the "relationship" one has with the dope, with others, AND with others who do dope!... intensified to what i'll call "interpersonification". > You walked in > And my life began again > Just when I'd spent the last piaster > I could borrow > All night long but he's broke. so who buys the dope???!!! some wonder waif in her experimental phase, maybe? i think ya. > We would sing that stupid song > And every word we sang > I knew was true not so. he's telling himself the same lie over and over and somewhere in there he *knows* it but doesn't care. self-absorbed like a good self-loathing junkie, destructive [but what a great way to go, the pomp, the circumstances, the ritual of hitting up] he is not in control, though the song they sing might suggest otherwise... can this be the perfect relationship? the junky has the shit he needs [today] and he gets the girl, too? and she isn't giving him grief... to kick, to choose between them... come on Robbie, tell me who do you love? Are you with me Doctor Wu > Are you really just a shadow > Of the man that I once knew > Are you crazy are you high > Or just an ordinary guy > Have you done all you can do > Are you with me Doctor dope is "interpersonified". his pal the dr may not be the be all end all after all if he can be stolen away by katy > Don't seem right > I've been strung out here all night > I've been waiting for the taste > You said you'd bring to me > > *Where the hell's Katy?*

bingo, table 4! where the hell is katy indeed... could she be out 'cheating on him'?!!! > Biscayne Bay > Where the Cuban gentlemen sleep all day > I went searching for the song > You used to sing to me > > *Direct reference to the "serenade" of the fix* lovely, ya. i see a little white boat bobbing around in the cuban breeze like an opiated lullaby... a pipe dream with a flaccid spinnaker? > Katy lies > You could see it in her eyes > But imagine my surprise > When I saw you > > *I can't trust Katy - but what's this?* where has she been all this time i've been here fondling my works, chewing on the the end of a rubber tube between my teeth, hitting my outstretched arm all night to ready that thin blue line... and more importantly... why are her eyes like little pin holes??? > > Are you with me Doctor Wu > Are you really just a shadow > Of the man that I once knew > She is lovely yes she's sly > And you're an ordinary guy > Has she finally got to you > Can you hear me Doctor you say she has "stolen" Dr.Wu from him... maybe "deprived" him is more accurate... undertones of the spoiled relationship he had with his own Dr... and now Katy returns with parasympathetic evidence [that's doogie howser talk]. She has cheated on him! She's gotten off with the Dr, who [interpersonified] has been faithful... and he has fallen for Katy! sick, ain't it? But, bottom line- i think that Katy is into the shit now; she is through feeding off of the strung out 'voice' and now could really care less about him to spare even a little taste like the ones that introduced her to the doctor to begin with She's been out all night getting fucked up without him and there's nothing left ... he can't believe it's true. He wails at the personified Dr Wu as though Katy's allure affects the relationship they had... like she got between him and his best friend and the best friend ain't interested in him no more... oh, i could go on, but there it is.i think she'd rather shoot him up with crushed aspirin at this pooint so there would be more for her... she hasn't "gotten to" the doctor at all [that's his interpersonified delusion]. it is very, VERY much the other way around. finally, katy's lie goes like this: "i wasn't able to score".

she's a junkie now and would lie to/sell out her own mother in a heartbeat. you can see it in her beady little opiated eyes. Nat & Al (newsgroup, 1/17/01): We think you are splitting hairs and that the meaning was implicit in the statement we made, but we will conceded the point and amend further the first of our two superficial observation: 1. Katy said something that she knew was false, with the intention of deceiving.... Actually, Dr. Wu is informed that Katy LIES, so it is an ongoing condition. Also, you could see it in her eyes, so she isn't very good at it. Sounds like she has a "tell." Does the past tense of the album title suggest that it is all in the past? When they say: "Katy Lied" are they including all her past dishonesties? Is she reformed....or dead....or no longer in communication with the protagonist? We know that at the time of the song, she was lovely, yes, she was sly. You think YOU'RE overanalyzing? THAT'S overanalyzing, mate! (apologies to Paul Hogan). The Charmer (newsgroup, 1/17/01): well now doctor... my interpretation is that it isn't a singular lie, per se... in the song, he says. "katy lies", if i hear it correctly.... so i believe that katy has a predeliction to lying all the time. and if you know what to look for, you can see it in her eyes every time she does. LabDude (newsgroup, 1/21/01): Hell...it dont take a rocket scientist or a Heroin junkie waiting for his lady to bring that "taste" she promised, to figure out this beautiful piece of prose! Wyvern Rider (7/29/01): I know this goes against basically all other interpretations of this song, but it came to me after listening to "Dr. Wu" for the umpteenth time. I don't mean to suggest that D&W intended this meaning, but it is interesting. The main idea is this: "Dr. Wu" can be interpreted as a retelling of Arthurian legend. The narrator is King Arthur, "Dr. Wu" is Launcelot, and "Katy" is Queen Guinevere. In the beginning, Arthur's kingdom of Camelot is in jeopardy of being wiped out unless he gets more military help."I was halfway crucified . . . I was on the other side of no tomorrow." Guinevere tries to help her husband, "Katy tried", but what Arthur needs is a warrior. Enter Launcelot. Traditionally he was Arthur's greatest warrior, and he helps revive Arthur's army. "You walked in, and my life began again. Just when I'd spent the last piaster I could borrow" Piasters- maybe Launcelot has helped financially as well. Not mentioned in the legends but possible. As a side note, in many myths Launcelots first act upon entering Camelot was to save a dying man's life. Hence, a literal interpretation of "You walked in, and my life began again", although use of "my" means it's probably Arthur speaking figuratively. Now comes the "Golden Age" of Camelot. Things are good, Arthur, Guinevere, and Launcelot are all best friends "All night long, we would sing that stupid song". It's some worthless minstrel tune, but they are such good friends that everthing seems wonderful. And now of course, the fall into darkness. Arthur begins to suspect that Guinever and Launcelot are more than just good friends, and he questions Launcelot's priorities. "Are you really just a shadow of the man that I once knew?" He is initially angry "Are you crazy, are you high?" this is not a literal question, he's just insulting Launcelot, but soon Arthur calms down when he remembers his own failings. "Or just an ordinary guy" - i.e. his sins are no worse than Arthur's. The next line "Have you done all you can do" is eerily similar to dialogue in an Arthur book I have, where Launcelot is confessing something to the extent of "We have tried our hardest, my lord. We have done all we can do, but we cannot keep away from each other" The lovers of course promise to end the affair immediatly, and in the aftermath Guinevere finds great enjoyment in hawking, going out to hunt with her trained hawk. Although Arthur waits for her back at Camelot "I was waiting for the taste you said you'd bring to me" -of whatever she hunts- , he may be waiting a while, i.e.

"strung out here all night", because Guinevere and Launcelot are trysting in the forest. Don't ask me how the lines about Cuban gentlemen and Biscayne Bay fit in, because they don't at all. For the record, I personally don't even really like those lines within a more standard interpretation. Of course in the end everything comes out. Arthur reminisces of good times "I went searching for the song you used to sing to me" - this is him remembering the good old days. In reality, however, he is faced with brutal truths that his best friends have betrayed him "Katy lies, you can see it in her eyes". Arthur sentences her to burn at the stake, but Launcelot and his brothers, now outlaws, ride up, save the Queen and ride off. "Imagine my surprise when I saw you" - when he saw armed horsemen charging through the gates. The final verse tells of the final battle between Camelot and the forces of evil (Mordred, for anyone who cares). Arthur is outnumbered, but former friend Launcelot has pledged to send his newfound French army to assist Arthur, which will not arrive to the site, however, for two days. Of course, battle is provoked that day, and the song ends with Arthure lying on the battlefield, wounded, in a delirium of sorts, crying out to his former best friend, forgiving his adultery "She is lovely, yes she's sly, and you're an ordinary guy" and then crying out to ask if he and his army have arrived yet. "Are you with me, doctor?" Camelot is destroyed, Arthur is taken away to Avalon, an island place out of time (hmmm . . . Time out of mind?). Launcelot's forces arrive too late to do any good, Guinevere becomes a nun. Go figure. Anyway, just thought some of you might be interested in this new interpretation. Liu Chang (her brother) (10/23/01): In the video game Fallout, a post-apocalyptic adventure, you have to storm the stronghold of a nutty nuclear cult. In the infirmary is a man in a monk's robe, flipping a knife in the air. If you talk to him, he is revealed to be 'Dr. Wu.' Further conversation reveals that not only does he have control of the pharmaceuticals, but he performs euthanasia on troublemakers. I've never seen a video game character call you an asshole so much! Henry (4/26/02): Katie is the addiction of you choice - drugs, gambling, liquor... (Katie tried - to kill me, I was on the other side...) Wu was the shrink (or friend or clergyman or teacher) that helped this guy back to some "normalcy" (You walked in, and my life began again). Guy buys into the program. We sang the stupid song (all the stupid sounding mantras chanted in the 12 step groups - "My name is Jorge and I'm an alchoholic.") The twist (required in Dan tunes) is that our protagonist runs across the Dr. hooked on the above mentioned poison. (Imagine my surprise... Are you really just shadow... has she finally got to you). So anyway, the patient hooks up with the Dr. for a binge. The Dr. has gone a little futher than the patient this time 'round. (Are you with me Dr. ...) I can see the scene now -"Hey man wake up - this don't look good... oh shit... man are you breathing... fuck... hey man snap out of it... If you don't wake up I'm gonna leave your ass right here in the street.) Biscayne bay is visible from at least four drug and alchohol treatment centers. last visible dog (10/30/02): It occurred to me yesterday that "halfway crucified" means: with a spike in one arm ... Si Non (1/15/03): Hmmm methinks "Dr. Wu" is heroin personified. The alter-ego the narrator reaches for when under its influence. Similar to, but not quite in the same vein (sorry,bad pun) as "in the night you'll hide from the mad amn you're longing to be..." (hatww) Intersting also,the quasi-religous messages which seem to float amorphouly around the edges of a lot of SD songs. ( "I was halfway crucified) IF so,"son,you'd better be ready for 'love' (panacea to all of lifes ills? the ultimate seductress perhaps?) Mebbe so Mebbe!

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Kings"

"Everyone's Gone To The Movies"

This is a superb example of the Steely technique of weaving warped or surreal content into a perky, upbeat tune. Mr. LaPage seems to be a rank and evil guy who seduces naive young teens by showing them ratty porn on his home Super 8 projector (many of you may not even remember those noisy little things)--thus "sorry we only have eight" millimeter frames, rather than sixteen. He waits until responsible adults are out of the picture, then invites you to "take off your cheaters" (glasses). Now why would you take off your glasses to see a movie? Duh.... Unless you're over forty. fezo north (GB, 6/9/98): I thought the line... was "take off your sneakers" thus making it easier for the chinos to come off later. I especially love the "Come on..." interplay with that beckoning sax--makes me think of a snake's tongue flickering. I wonder if the locution "projection machine" is another nod to Nathanael West. In The Day Of The Locust, the protagonist tags along with some Hollywood swells to a brothel ("nautch joint") where they watch a soft-porn film on a balky "projection machine." This, along with "cheaters," is old slang dating from the '30's. Any ideas on Mr. LaPage's name? Twist on Anton LaVey, the well-known Satanist? stevevdan (GB, 8/11/98): It is definitely about some pedophile...and I think it was originally intended for 'Can't Buy A Thrill' which was to have an album cover that tied in with it (i.e. a pedophile leering at a little girl) [see 'New Times' interview from circa 1976 where Becker and Fagen mention original CBAT artwork}.... Myra Eyefull (GB, 8/11/98): Well since I investigate sexual abuse for a living, the song... really drops alot of suggestive remarks that gives me the impression that Mr. LaPage is a pedophile. Many pedophiles are likable fun people who engage their prey with fun things to do. They call their sexual acts "games" that are not to be shared with other adults. Mr. LaPage seems to be saying, he will show these porno films and then while the others are out, he will teach the child a "new game" to play. In other words, he will molest the child and perhaps tale his own movies of the acts to be sold for a child pornography ring. Rose Darling (GB, 8/11/98): (hum to "Just a Gigolo") "Just a pedophile, always wears a smile, but Dan fans know the game he's playing..." Mock Turtle (GB, 8/12/98): I have always interpreted Mr. LaPage as a full-blown child molester. Are you sure it's "soon you will be eighteen," and not "soon you will be a teen"? Also, the "sixteen or more" fits in with this; while most people are attracted to people 16+, LaPage goes for eight-year-olds. Roy.Scam (GB, 8/19/98): We seem to have forgotten that the focus of the song is on the two people left in the room ("..now we're alone at last.") Mr Lapage and the movies are just an excuse to clear out the other youngsters so that some love-prone guy can put a move on his 17 year old object of admiration, a la Billie J. Kramer's "Little Children". The narrator may even be underaged himself. With all apologies to my favorite social worker, whether this is sleezy or not lies in the perceptions of the listener.--The fact that we don't have enough apples to stage a decent apple bob is a quickly improvised lame excuse to disperse the crowd.* Those movies might be about trout fishing in Quebec. ...* In all honesty, "I know you're used to 16 or more; sorry I only have 8." doesn't sound like a very effective pick up line.

Deanoooooh (1/16/99): I feel it's really about "everyone's come to the movies". That is to say all of Mr. LaPage's "friends" have come over. "Now we're alone at last," we being Mr. LaPage's secret little group, himself included. the we suggests that they all share a common bond, in this case a sick one. There is no daddy and mama in this little game, only we. I appreciate all you "well-wishers" who are trying to find an innocent meaning in this song, but I think deep down we all know that this song's subject matter is every bit as disturbing as it appears on the surface. And yet I can't stop singing it. tom (GB, 2/9/00): is the narrator of the song really one of the participants (actually female) who has the hots for one of the young studs? the boys always take an interesting angle in the bigger picture Daddy G (GB, 2/11/00): On Cheaters: Cheaters, is another word for glasses but you dont hear it much anymore. I always wondered why you would take off your cheaters if you were going to see a movie. The only thing I could come up with was that it might be a metaphor for take off your rose -colored glasses, in other words, let me show you how things really are. wormtom (GB, 5/3/00): the "soon you will be 18" refers to of legal age then to work professionally in cheap porn the "16 or more, sorry we only have 8" refers to milimeters of film. The cheap porn was shot on 8mm and 16 mm handycams NotMyNancy (GB, 5/3/00): Isn't there a double entendre about "used to 16 OR MORE...sorry we only have 8"? Apropos of a decadent porno motif? Like, the last scene in Boogie Nights? ...inches? ...get...it...? SD Bob (5/10/00): While reading others thoughts on this song, something triggered a long-lost memory. I was in high school from the mid to late 60's. In those days, the girls wore skirts or dresses, pants were not allowed. Under those skirts, many girls wore what I think are called Pettipants. Think of bicycle pants, but made of a silky or nylon material and you'll get the idea. I presume they were worn to prevent exposure of their panties on a windy day or during an "accidental" pencil drop by one of us guys in the classroom. Anyway, the guys didn't call them pettipants; they called them "beaver cheaters", for obvious reasons. I think since Don & Walt are about my age, that this is probably what they had in mind when they came up with the line "take off your cheaters and sit right down". Jim B (Digest, 5/19/00): > Soon it will be too late > bobbing for apples can wait > we know you're used to sixteen or more > sorry we only have eight I've interpreted it to be the message of a sleaze-ball supplier of child-porn to some customer saying "'sorry we only have eight' kids for you to survey." Now THIS is dastardly. But what a great hook. That's the Steely conundrum. Earl Reed (Digest, 5/19/00): My favorite interpretation (and possibly the right one) is inches of a certain body organ. It probably makes the most sense Steelywise, since it seems that there's a lot of funny business going on at his place. The more traditional thought would be apples in the tub. But would D+W be so straightforward? I don't think so:)

BADsnkrs (Digest, 5/19/00): Mr Lapage was the known source where adolescent curiosity met celluloid reality. The Fez (12/27/01): I believe that the reference to 'Mr. LaPage' is to LaPage airplane glue that kids in the 60's and 70's used to build plastic models. Some brilliant person realized that you could get a cheap high by inhaling the stuff. The pedophile in the song is going to get the unsuspecting child high on the glue before the fun begins. Oh, and by the way, cheaters are another name for sneakers. Once off, the pants can be easily dropped. Rajah (GB, 1/14/04): .... Now I was told another defintion of "cheaters". The lady who faux-finished my kitchen a few years back was also a stripper at an oldtime place in Hollywood called, "Jumbo's Clown Room," a venue which offers a decidedly satiric presentation of the striptease as we used to call it in gentler days before the ladies commenced displaying their nether regions in a manner more reminiscent of an OB/GNY exam than a piquant enticement and she informed me that the tiny little short-shorts' style underwear/pants which are ubiquitous if you go to a club or if you open a ladies' lingerie catalogue (Victoria's Secret is the standard) these days used to be known in the old days, she being a lady of a certain age shall we say, as "cheaters". Before the thong, before the bikini bottoms came the "cheaters". So taking off your cheaters and sitting right down to watch a movie would seem to lend a whole new shade of meaning if viewed in this light to "Everyone's Gone to the Movies". Yes, the Rajah is also a scholar of the history of ladies undergarments. Was there ever any doubt?

The Day Of The Locust, by Nathanael West. If the last time you read this was in freshman English, try it again; it's amazing. For other West links, see "My Old School" and "Deacon Blues." "Less Than Zero," by Elvis Costello, on "My Aim Is True"--similar theme on a much later release.

"Your Gold Teeth II"

To me, this is the reprise to "YGT" of a man (/two men) who has (/have) lived twenty years in the two between "Countdown To Ecstasy" and "Katy Lied." He's been rolled and played a few times himself, but has come out with a little more perspective--"YGT" was a cynical vignette, but "YGT II" has become anthemic, in the company of "Sign In Stranger" and "Deacon Blues." It starts with a soaring observation of youth's exuberant mystery, maybe a reference to Burroughs, but it could just as well be the Dharma Bums, hippies, or any counterculture. And with an eerily prescient "why do you tremble each time they pass by?" which describes the Whiteman's discomfiture when passed on the street by some underachieving hoodlum (you know who you are), but can conjure up any inner city street where a cruising car is a signal to take cover. Then, the narrator goes on to take a detached view of the gamble: "Who are these strangers who pass through the door/ Who cover your action and go you one more?" Someone's always pushing you a little harder than you're ready for. "If you're feeling lucky you'd best not refuse/ It's your game, the rules are your own, win or lose": he's no longer a victim in a tawdry drama, but has realized his own power--and obligation-- to play the game his way. He's become a rueful commentator on life's lessons: "the answer they reveal/ Life is unreal." For me, the image of the gold teeth also evokes the barrels of gold fillings and jewelry collected by the Nazis in the Holocaust--a gamble the Jews lost in a horrific way. Little Cringemaker (6/30/00): Heres my interpretation of Your Gold Teeth II. Who are these children Who scheme and run wild Who speak with their wings And the way that they smile

What are the secrets They trace in the sky And why do you tremble Each time they ride by When I hear Your Gold Teeth II, I think of the autistic, aphasiac, and developmentally disabled kids I knew in high school riding the short little school bus along with them when I was on crutches during a long recovery after a car accident. I also think of emotionally disturbed children living in group homes who go just about everywhere in vans. These kids scheme and run wild. Their schemes are very superficial "I want toast, a ball, those shoes," for the former and the later are continually seek opportunities to go AWOL or engage in "inappropriate" behavior that the supervising staff are always on the lookout for i.e.. "cutting," "acting out sexually," "provoking behaviors," "fighting," "smoking,"etc. The children in the former group speak with their wings as some often cannot speak and make vigorous movements with their arms or just smile. The latter group tends to be subdued as they are often heavily medicated and smile more than exert themselves and generally lack the ability to verbalize their feelings in socially acceptable ways. The secrets they trace in the sky are the mysteries of their impenetrable thoughts and brains. And why do you tremble each time they ride by? (The operative ride is that they are riding by in one of those short school buses or vans) You tremble because you think "What if that were me?," "Could that be me?," and is yet another example of what a crap shoot life is. CHORUS: Throw out your gold teeth And see how they roll The answer they reveal Life is unreal The gold teeth are metaphorical of die and gambling, and perhaps are figurative of the last possessions of value one may have left when one has nothing, but for the thin gold coverings on one's teeth. And, indeed, what is real is perceptually relative depending on the state of one's brain/mind, whether temporarily or permanently. Who are these strangers Who pass through the door Who cover your action And go you one more If you're feeling lucky You best not refuse It's your game the rules Are your own win or lose This verse strikes me as observations made by a of psychiatric patient. This individual observes the staff & doctors coming and going, who, in turn, observe the patient and nudge him gently along in regaining his bearings and functioning. The patient then realizes that the rules of life are his to make and that success and failure again are relative and dependent on perception. The patient simply intuits that what is most important is that one engages in the game of life real or not. f#maj (GB, 1/3/01): on first listen to ygt2 i recall visions of "Childhood's End" dancing on the synapses in my brain.

lp (GB, 1/3/01): i thought of The Hobbit myself on ygtII Fretless (GB, 8/24/01): Analogies YGT:YGTII as a) we are so real:life is unreal b) dental floss:mental floss c) ballah:yoda d) peer pressure:pressured peers e) stalactite:stalagmite Doc Gonzo (10/28/02): Just some random thoughts while waking up on a freezing Michigan morning and mulling "Your Gold Teeth II" ... to me, this sounds like someone who once lived near an Air Force base ... they watched daredevil young pilots "speak with their wings" and "trace secrets in the sky" ... and looked at up at the sky to "tremble each time they ride by" in their supersonic jets (sound barrier being broken?). Obviously, jet pilots are daredevils with a penchant for gambling and reckless fun, hence the tossing of "gold teeth" or dice. Fagan and Becker get off on their 1950s reflections of life, so it's possible one of them hung around a base somewhere during the height of the Cold War (an issue explored in depth on "Night Fly").

"Sign In Stranger," on "The Royal Scam" "Deacon Blues," on "Aja" "Your Gold Teeth," on "Countdown to Ecstasy" Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

"Chain Lightning"
Lots of fever dreaming around this one. Brian Sweet quotes Mr. Becker as saying, "No one will ever touch 'Chain Lightning.' " (RITY, p. 92) However, the authors didn't just close the door. Later, Sweet reports, Mr. Fagen said that he had considered putting in a clue, but " 'even the clue wouldn't have helped.... I'll tell you what the clue was. In the guitar break just before the second verse, I was gonna say, 'Forty years later,' but we decided it wasn't a good musical idea.' " (ibid.) And then, several years later, Mr. Fagen "finally admitted that 'Chain Lightning' in their minds described a 'visit by two guys to a fascist rally.' Given Fagen's supposed fascination with Hitler, it came as no surprise--and they had talked flippantly several times about composing a song about his beer-hall putsch in Munich in November of 1923." (ibid.) So as you listen to the picture unfold, you can see the two characters exulting in a huge turnout at a rally ("a hundred grand"), trying to keep their cool as they approach their hero, and in their blind zeal admonishing each other not to "bother to understand" or to "question the little man," who could certainly be Hitler or any of a number of short famous fascists. "Be part of the brotherhood" could refer to Hitler's Aryan Brotherhood. After the guitar break, the pair have returned to the site of their erstwhile glory, to stand "just where he stood," in a later era when fascists are no longer in their heyday. This time they have to be careful not to draw attention to themselves. What's even better about these lyrics, despite the hints that Messrs. Fagen and Becker eventually gave, is their timelessness and the associations listeners derive. They take a sharp dig at any political movement which strives to turn its followers into sheep (Let's see.... Are there any that don't?).

I used to think that "the little man" was the narrator's jazz hero, whom he was approaching after a concert. Here are some other resonations, including a brilliant take on the "chain lightning" image: Richard Baird (Digest, 12/22/97): Images come to mind of Nazi parades, the un-thinking masses, believing the propaganda without questioning the little man (Hitler) and wanting to be part of the master race "brotherhood." The imagery isn't nearly as clear with... [the second] verse, but I take it maybe [as] a statement on how... anyone could possibly think that what went on in Germany during those dark years could now be considered cool--i.e. the current growth in popularity, both here and abroad, of neo-nazi groups. One last image--Chain Lightning--think of the emblem worn by the Nazi SS troops--two lightning bolts. John Moore (Digest, 12/26/97): I think you're right, Rick. I came to much the same conclusion, with one other idea. Critics interpreted Pretzel Logic as being about Hitler (who idealized napoleon), and DF and WB vehemently denied it. The first few notes of Chain Lightning and Pretzel Logic are, to my non-musician's ear, identical--even the same key. Maybe Donald and Walter thought, "They think Pretzel Logic was about Nazis, we'll give them a real song about Nazis," and write one not just about the rise of Nazism in the Thirties (the 100-grand turnout at the National Socialist party rally documented in Triumph of the Will), but in the final verse, the resurgence of it in Germany 40 years later, with twisted pilgrims "standing just where he stood." diggy (5/4/99): From a scientific point of view, a "chain" reaction is a rapid series of events - each initiating the next. I view chain lightning as a constant and rapid series of flash bulbs going off in the crowd of a Hitler rally. What captures the image of fame and power better than a massive volly of flashes directed at society's famous elite. I don't know if there were a lot of cameras at Hitler's rallies, (I doubt it) but the chain reaction of lightning flashes drives home the realization that Hitler was a famous and powerful man in his era. and you know he loved it, "chain lightning it feels soooo gooood." sooutrageous (4/14/00): this song IS cryptic and does indeed have some kind of pseudo-message not freely evident in the narrative. i think this song is about "the manhattan project" where oppenheimer, einstein and their minions worked feverishly on the "Bomb". ~"some turn out, a hundred grand", speaks to the crowds amassed to watch the plume-like spectre of the first nuclear-detonation. there are picture in las vegas of miles of spectators lined along mountain crests replete with ari-onassis sunglasses watching the sun-bright pyrotechnics.(sp) ~"don't question the litle man", oppenheimer was extremely small in stature, but ruled the "project" with a hermetically-clean iron fist. his word was law. he answered to no one. ~"hush brother, we cross the square" could possibly refer to the wonderful fountain square on the quad at the university of chicago where much of the preliminary work on the bomb was conducted. ~"don't trouble the midnight air"; the detonations occured at night; sometimes quite late. (don't worry, we're far enough away you're in absolutely no danger. nuclear fallout; what's that? this wonderful invention will be the most humane peace-keeping device known to man!) ~the cryptic out-take line; "40 years later" sort of puts this concept in some sort of spatial/historical context. Becker said that they purposely omittted that particular line because it would point the way to the truth and that truth, in this particular instance, was way out of hand. the term "chain lightning" is simply a play on the "chain-reaction" phenom that is evident in nuclear-reactionphysics.... i'm no rocket scientist but chew on that twisted take for awhile. tones (GB, 5/1/01): "Chain Lightning" was originally called "Chain Lighting" and was about those big 70's hanging lamps everyone had in their den with the chain that ran down the electrical cord. "It was Chain Lighting, it looks so goooooood..." I read somewhere they changed the lyrics at at last minute so the song wouldn't be rooted forever in the '70's, in case the lamps went out of style.

Dr. Mu (GB, 5/1/01): While doing the demos, they changed it to Chained Lightning for a while and massaged the lyrics to fit the burgeoning S&M scene. Then the ugly rumors emerged re: Rick Derringer and they resorted back to old standbys: Naughty Nazis Edd (GB, 5/2/01): Those of you interested in pursuing the Nazi angle to "Chain Lightning" might be interested in the insignia used by Hitler's "Elite Guard" (SS). It doesn't take much imagination to see two lighning bolts, or links of "chain lightning"... Dr. Mu (GB, 5/2/01): Here's something scary on the Chain Lighting vein. The Milky Way, long thought to be a nice, pretty spiral galaxy may actually be a bar galaxy. A double-bar galaxy has been proposed. I'll let your minds "draw" your conclusions as to a pictoral representation of its true shape. Couldn't find a decent related site - but here's one that's OK

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Any World"
What a great song of longing by someone who wants to fly to a world where he actually will fit in. I especially like "Where the days and nights are not the same/ Captured happy in a picture frame"--I can see frozen images of pseudo-happiness framed like pinned butterflies on the wall, in perpetual fakey sunlight, like the lighting at the beginning of "Blue Velvet."

"Throw Back The Little Ones"

This sounds to me like a white boy who gets lost in the wrong neighborhood, and is petrified that he's going to get jumped as he frantically tries to find a cab outta there. He tries the cool pose--tries to look like he belongs there--but can picture neighborhood kingpins looking at him like a prize trout, weighing whether to throw him back--let him go, or "pan fry" him--mug the hell out of him. In this situation, one's prized "hot licks and rhetoric don't count much for nothing." He virtually sells his soul "for a ride uptown" and relative safety, consoling himself that he can "buy it back tomorrow." Maybe.... The second verse? Beats me, but it's another image of a man facing a powerful and unpredictable threat, this time the matador and bull. Then the shift back to the fish image, again away (and "up") somewhere far from all this adrenalin into dream (the little girls throwing roses, fly fishing in some peaceful stream in the Catskills) and retreat. Doctor Mu (GB, 8/5/98): What if "Throw Back the Little Ones" were an allegory for the creative/recording/dissemination process of musical "product" in today's environ. The "barrio" could be the LA recording studio. "Hot licks and rhetoric don't count much for nothin...be glad if you can use what you borrow." All that anal retentive attention to detail in the production, cusicianship, and lyrical content at the time were largely unnappreciated or not understood by their audience/fans.... "Done like a matador, I pray for the weekend and hope the little girls still throw roses." The album is finished...we'll hit the road and play in fron of our adoring teeny bopper audience (at the time), if we're lucky. No wonder they got off that rat treadmill. "Pawn my crown and move* uptown:" SD spent their own $$$ on recording equipment. Didnot they finish some of the recordings back in New York?.... "Use tact, poise, and reason, and gently squeeze them." This could refer to extracing the most out of a song, or dealing with studio musicians, getting the most out of them.... "throw back the little ones, and pany-fry the big ones." The songs that don't quite pan-out because the songwriting or production is not quite what they wanted or were lookg for are tossed aside, while the "keepers" get the full Dan production values and treatment. Notice they "throw back" the little ones, but don't

toss'em in the trash. Like any good fisherman, they could come back later and use parts or all of the songs (ex. "Any World".... *it's "for a ride uptown." diggy (5/4/99): I have always thought this song was about a con man moving from area to area and making his money. He "walks" and "dances" like an "injun." Paints his face and acts like he belongs so he can run his scams unnoticed. He will "pawn" his crown, but has enough confidence in his skills to believe he'll make enough money to get it back tomorrow. He doesn't want to collect from the little fish (poor) he wants to "pan fry the big ones" (rich) and "gently squeeze" their money out of them using trickery in language. He "prays for the weekend" when the money is out there for the taking and plays his suckers for fools like a matador toying with the stupid beast. But is the little girs quit throwing roses, than they are on to his scheme and he must move on before the plucking season ends (possably the summer vacation months) diggy revisited (9/17/99): I think Dr. Mu may be on the mark on this one. In the first verse, the Dan must kiss up and play the political game with the record big shots. Becker and Fagen have also admitted they "barrow" licks and rhetoric" from musicians they admire. "Done like a matador" refers to the album finally being done - and it took a beating. They grill the good ones and save the songs that aren't quite to their liking yet. They hope you like the album or they will have to change their style for the next album. I also like the fact that this set of lines are the last lines of the last song on the album. Breck (7/20/02): Remember, "Lied" is "Song" in German. "Katy" is the album's name for the Industry (here's another song about the industry disquised as a love song) and the bug on the cover of the disc is only more disguise. "Lost in the Barrio I walk like an Injun So Carlo won't suspect something's wrong here. I dance in place and paint my face And act like I belong here" "Lost in the Barrio" - "The Barrio" is the hispanic slum in LA, but I've heard the phrase applied to ethic slums that were not hispanic. For our purposes let us consider it a run-down area where the prevailing... uh, "race" (I hate that term) is mostly in the singular. The singer is "lost" in it; he's not really part of it; he's even made a friend in it ("Carlo") who doesn't realize that he's not part of it. He "walks like an Injun" as part of his disguise. Note the spelling: "Injun". That's traditional "cowboy" slang! Yes, that reoccuring theme. Steely Dan are cowboys. They're wearing a disquise of being just nutty incomprehensible "pop stars" writing quirky "openended" songs; that is, they're acting the way the "Injuns" want them to act; they're saying the things the "Injuns" want them to say. Of course they're silly nerds. Of course one needn't take their songs' meanings too seriously. Of course they hate touring. Of course (years later) they're running out of ideas for songs. [ In "Gaucho" we have the Industry talking to their fans: "Bodacious {oh, the Industry knows how to talk that "cowboy talk"} cowboys, such as your friends will never be welcome here, high in the Custer Dome" -named after General Custer, of course! The music industry delights in killing artists and making them do what they want and then making money off of them ] "Hot licks and rhetoric don't count much for nothing; Be glad if you can use what you borrow. So I pawn my crown for a ride uptown and buy it back tomorrow."

The first line sums up the dilemma of any artist trying to win the ever uncomprehending audience's mind. It's a popular phrase. Hah! Kansas used it on one of their albums... "Point of Know Return", I believe it was. "Hot licks" -guitar licks, mostly- don't mean a lot when a stupid band like Kiss can make millions spitting fake blood and setting off about twenty flash pots in the course of an hour-long show (back when this album came out) (I don't know or care whatever it is they do nowadays). "Rhetoric"-well, album lyrics, of course. Pregnant with allusions but "open to any interpretation" saith the artists when the issue is brought up in interviews. Come on! Having obviously put so much work in their words, don't we think they'd at least want to discuss them? "Be glad if you can use what you borrow" -There's penalties in the biz for being too original, that's why you have incredably talented artists continually copying artists from of old. And yet I've noticed that it often seems that artists are presented with one of two options: 1)Great music on the tours and weak music [comparitively speaking] on their discs; or 2) Great music on their discs and weaker music on their tours. Again and again I've noticed that it's either specialty bands that play to specialty audiences, or brand new bands that haven't been brought to heel yet, that make consistantly good albums / tours. But no band nowadays ever rises too far above the original promise shown on their first discs. "...I pawn my crown for a ride uptown" is how Becker & Fagen describe this process. They hold back; nix the long jams on record or on tour, in order to placate their bosses; in the hope that when they have proven themselves as money makers they can "buy it back tomorrow." "Done like a matador I pray for the weekend And hope the little girls still throw roses Else I change my bait and move upstate Before the season closes." "Like a matador", he says. He's not really one though he does what he needs to (apparently) keep his audience (who knows how wonderful music would be if artists did what they wanted?) The "little girls" are those teeny bops who nowadays make rich a handful of truly vapid "artists" -and their labels, who get the lion's share of the bucks. If his latest disguise doesn't work... Well, back in "the old days" artists often metamorphed themselves; the fans expected it. The music that T-Rex, the BeeGees, Pink Floyd, and many other bands (not to mention the Beatles) ended playing was a far cry from what they originally started out doing. But nowadays most artists seem to go all the way from A to B. Isn't it interesting that the palmier the days are for the industry, the tighter they are with the control? I'm not the only person who has remarked on that. The chorus sums up the Rock Industry's attitude to artists: "Throw back the little ones (So long Captain Beefheart, Gordon Lightfoot, Little Feet, Be-Bop Deluxe, etc etc etc) and PAN FRY the big ones (make Aerosmith, for example, into just the mold you want) Use tact, poise and reason and gently squeeze them." (Gently? I wouldn't count on it!) I pocess an old issue of Guitar World that has a lengthy interview in it with Aerosmith -the whole band- talking about why there was such a long wait (something like four years) between their discs "Get A Grip" and "Nine Lives" (interesting title, by the way). Now this interview was done all smiley and nice without the least suggestion that Aerosmith could possibly be discontented with their lot, but the long and short of it was that Aerosmith within those four years had made an album, but Sony nixed it because it "didn't have that classic Aerosmith sound". Let's not miss this. Here we have executives telling a "bad boy" band that gosh, their new work just isn't "real" enough to suit them. And who are Aerosmith to question these faceless people? Quit? Get out? The article obliquely suggests that maybe they actually tried that. No no no no. You bad boys of rock. Our accountants are counting on you.

"THE ROYAL SCAM"

Introductory notes "Kid Charlemagne" "The Caves Of Altamira" "Don't Take Me Alive" "Sign In Stranger" "The Fez" "Green Earrings" "Haitian Divorce" "Everything You Did" "The Royal Scam" Introductory notes
To me, this is the darkest and most unsettling of Steely albums, from the cover on in. Previous Steely cover art ranges from kitschy ("Can't Buy A Thrill") to cleanly expressionist ("Countdown To Ecstasy"), to realist and realist-through-Vaseline-coated-glasses ("Pretzel Logic" and "Katy Lied"). "The Royal Scam" shows this guy at the end of the end, doubly defenseless--homeless on a bench and sleeping--while the transmuted skyscrapers rear over him, ready to engulf him. They remind me of Scylla in The Odyssey, picking off Odysseus' men one at a time from the clouds above. And the album reminds me of Charybdis: at first you barely know you're slowly circling its mouth, but then you find yourself spiralling faster and faster on a headlong trajectory into the abyss. You don't know you're sucked in until it's too late. By the way, Brian Sweet quotes Mr. Fagen as saying that the cover art had " 'a rather delightful relation to one of the tunes on the album....' That coincidental relation is almost certainly to the cave paintings referred to in 'The Caves of Altamira.' " (RITY, p.110) Maybe, but my guess would have been "The Royal Scam"--how about you?

"Kid Charlemagne"
Brian Sweet recounts: " 'Kid Charlemagne' is set in San Francisco and is about a drug dealer who, in Fagen's words, 'had been overtaken by society and was left standing in the road with nothing.' Becker, Fagen, and Katz variously described the main protagonist in 'Kid Charlemagne' as a maker, an artist, a chemist, and a chef: 'Someone who makes consciousness-expanding substances of the most dramatic, sensational kind no longer in vogue.' Becker said that they didn't use any particular model for the song; Fagen said he thought it was more about the age--the late sixties--and the reflections of someone who found himself in a decade where he's no longer of any use. They denied that 'Kid Charlemagne' was based on a Timothy Leary or Charles Manson type character, saying that he would probably be much less of a celebrity than those two examples. Becker claimed that there was an individual on whom the song was based, 'who hung over the song like the Sword of Damocles' but he refused to name names." (RITY, pp. 103-104) The liner notes on "Alive In America" offer this description: "Sixties epitaph. Designer druggist. Power, glory. Running on empty." What more can you say? Aw, we can always say more: J Christman (Digest, 10/15/97): In my mind the character in "Kid Charlemagne" is most definitely Owsley [Stanley Owsley, the father of LSD], irrespective of anyone's attempts (including Walter Becker's) to throw you off the trail. Owsley's acid biz, in part, funded the Grateful Dead in their early years. Owsley was their original sound man, and he helped out with their rent as well. "your low rent friends are dead." Owsley was busted when his car ran

out of gas, "is there gas in the car?" Owsley's product was legendaryamong acid heads because it was "kitchen clean." The reference to "white men on the streets" refers to the growth of cocaine use and the decline in the number of people taking acid as the drug of choice. "Whiteman" is also an R. Crumb character, a besuited mainstream zombie archetype. CountZiro has commented that reading Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, an account of the life & times of The Merry Pranksters & Ken Kesey, gives this song added dimensionality. Owsley appears in it, and the thing is crawling with "Day-Glo freaks who used to paint the face," and who did indeed evaporate eventually from the Pranksters and "join the human race," even Kesey himself. He went to Oregon to make yogurt. cupgoddess (5/17/99): Being a total dan devotee, my father actually emailed Stanley Owsley to ask if he was in fact the main character of "Kid Charlemagne", probably causing the DEA to open a file on him. The answer was something to the effect of "I am not the main character of that little pop song". This curt little response (in which Owsley also critiqued the grammar of the original email) is confirmation in my mind that he is the actual focus of the song, and isn't very happy about it. tom (GB, 1/12/00): I always thought "technicolor motorhome" lyrics were "technical m.o. tow and" meaning what? you ask... I reply... everyone stopped to stare at how incredibly well the Kid could whip up his illegal substances. M.O. being mode of operation and the 'tow" in the vocal phrasing I could never really quite understand but enjoyed, thought it a slang saying of the "hip" underground drug culture. I was actually quite disapppointed when I read the real lyrics as I like the M.O. imagery, a real strung out druggie, but man can he cut the stuff well. The technocolor motor home associates him in the hippie relm, as opposed to the outsider who supplies them. So to me my little quirky misreading in more satisfying than the original. OMIO (GB, 2/9/00): Since you asked.. and I'm completely unqualified to answer, but never let that stop me.. At the 50th Anniversary Of The Discovery Of LSD Conference in SF a few years ago, there was a great deal of discussion on that very topic.. "What Have We Wrought?!" Hoffman was extremely concerned that way too many people were getting into a realm they had no skills to navigate in.. And had come to the conclusion there were some very Negative, Predatory forces involved which would prey upon them.. Kesey has gotten a bad rap for his supposed dosing of unsuspecting people.. As far as I know, The Pranksters themselves never did that to people.. Hugh Romney concoted the infamous Electric Cool Aid, but gave enough warnings & indications to advise anyone who could Hear what the story was.. However, the Grateful Dead & Co. were notorious for doing that.. Which I think is pretty Goddam Criminal.. Kesey is fond of saying that Spirits Travel On Elixers.. The Bleak Landscape of The Un-Created is not for everyone.. Even when aware of the door you are passing through, you might not be ready to see Your Whole World Fall Apart & Fade Away.. To become without Ego, stripped of Self, etc. ain't easy.. And that's with the Good Stuff! Add a bunch of strychnine, STP, & God knows what other shit, cooked up by some borderline practioners of Black Arts trolling for Souls & you've got a bunch of psychic disasters.. Like Haight Ashbury in The Summer Of Love.. Which is why by that time most of the original, educated, selfdisciplined types who had the "Keel" to handle the Wind In The Sails, split for Marin & Eugene.. In short, it got way out of hand, fucked up a bunch of people, and we've been paying the dues for that folly for over 30 years. Kid Charlamagne is a work of utter Genius.. As The Holy Roman Empire tried to blend the spiritual Truth

realized by the original, early Christians with the social & civil order of the Empire into an Enlightened World, With Charles moving his Court from place to place, so that no one people or territory could lay claim to it, so it was with those who felt that Acid, as a path to Spiritual Enlightenment, should travel & reach as many people as possible.. And then it degenerated into that mess of coke, heroin, Southern Comfort, blah blah blah.. There's a big difference between getting High & just getting Loaded.. From what I've seen, that distinction is getting more & more Lost.. Which is why I Hate Parking Lots! The Truth Does Not Require Your Belief In Order To Function.. or does it? I really don't know.. do you? (scuffling & mumbling into Oblivion...) Clas (GB, 6/30/00): the Kid is obsolete, times they are changing. The "drug thing" in the song is just, well.. something to hang the issue on. Evan (Digest, 6/22/00): Diamond is maybe Hereoin and Pearl is coke or something like that? Rocket J (Digest, 7/12/00): What are these Steely Dan song-writing guys, prescient psycho-hotline kids or something? They wrote these lines years ago: While the music played you worked by candlelight Those San Francisco nights You were the best in town Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl You turned it on the world This is dotcom genius we're talking here. This is what the big boys at the gene labs play with when they're not importing White Cola extract. Just don't let us go and end up King of the World. Ahon Paul Bienaime (GB, 7/25/00): To me, the lyrics to "Kid Charlemagne" were a running commentary on the rampant and prevailing drug culture of the early '70s that was swiftly loosing it's momentum. The words 'dayglow freaks' refers to the various addicts who were always hot to latch onto a quick fix. Just as 'who used to paint the face' tells me that they were often trying to conceal their additions from others, particularly their families, the Feds, narcs and others from whom they would surely try to hustle in support of their habits. The words 'semi-mojo' and 'kinky so-and-so'in "Haitian Divorce" were really more of a celebration of both cultural and racial diversity, done in improvised street language, than anything else. As a person of African-American lineage, a Creole, with his roots deep in his Haitian ancestry,and with as much caucasian blood in him as there is African, I must say that I don't feel even the slightest bit offended. No, not at all. To be sure, all of your songs are as surpassing to anything done in rap as they ever could be. Like every one of the Steely Dan lyrics, as well as just about every other song, this a wonderfully sobering reminder of just how far we have all come of late. And, a place marker in our present and steady course of our progress. Thank you for your time. wormtom (GB, 7/25/00): I agree that the hippy culture was loosing it's momentum, but my read was that the "dayglow freaks" had less to do with their fix and more to do with their tied dyed hippie manner of fashion sense - all of a sudden you and your peace and love crowd strand out in a world that had walked away from it. Sort of the Ken Keasey trip. As for painting the face, I thought they were referring to actual face painting psychedelic fashion statements that started in 67 but were well out of vogue for most by 72. Translation - the love ins are dead, everyone has gone on and gotten jobs and the hippie movement lost it's momentum. It lived on in the minds and the dead heads and such but was a leftover eyesore for the mass population. As for Kid C, at this time he is oblivious and is still spaced out and making his living supplying others who have went well underground and are no longer flamboyantly dressed hippies. Instead they are vacationers(Every A frame) looking for a fix next step - the disco suff a kate shun of AMerica was already in progress

Hank Silvers (Experimental GB, 7/4/01): On my way somewhere else this morning, I channel-surfed to the Sci-Fi Channel, saw a black-and-white show, and stopped. Turns out it's a Twilight Zone marathon, and the episode I stopped at is called "The Obsolete Man." A plot synopsis is at http://www.geocities.com/john_75915/links/tzeplist/obsolete.html and http://www.cfpeople.org/FrRay/3Sun01c.htm. At the end, the disgraced government official is adjudged "obsolete," and is surrounded by a chorus of people, all chanting "You are obsolete! You are obsolete!" Craig (Experimental GB, 7/4/01): I concur with Hank that indeed the Twilight Zone, not to mention Hitchcock, really seem connected on some level with Steely Dan. They all have that weird twist of consiousness and warped sense to them that borders on surreal and thrilling all at once. We all know that Gaslighting Abby is based on the similar Hitchcock movie. Don't Take Me Alive could be inspired by any Hitchcok thriller or even Dog Day Afternoon. King of the World and Sign In Stranger could easily be Rod Sterling classics on The Twilight Zone or Night Gallerie. Now I am trying to think of other movies or shows that might very closely parallel Steely Dan songs. Maybe when Becker and Fagen went back and wrote something like Gaslighting Abby, they were actually writing about those things that made their hearts go tick, as Gina puts it. David (9/16/01): As to what particular drug the Kid was cooking up, the thing that gets me is his title: Charlemagne = great Charlie...! Any good reasons why it's not cocaine? On the other hand, Charlemagne was solitary ruler of one of an extensive empire, so perhaps the more literal interpretation is an undermining of Donald Fagen's gift for analogy.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, by Tom Wolfe (1968) Whiteman Comics, by R. Crumb (If you haven't seen the superb documentary "Crumb," log off, go rent it, and come back when you're done.) One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Sometimes A Great Notion, by Ken Kesey

"The Caves Of Altamira"

This song is a special fave of mine and my (then) three-year-old's. When I was a kid, I lived a lot in my imagination, and spent a fair amount of time in various favorite hideouts. So I identify strongly with the first verse of this song. Then the narrator makes an association with seeing the caves of Altamira in Spain, with their renowned cave paintings--it sounds to me as if when he sees them, he flashes on his solitary childhood imaginings and identifies with those of the cave painter's--whose drawings were left "for you and me, we understood." "Nothing here but history"--ironic; it's so much more than history--"can you see what has been done"--both realizing the impulsion of the ancient artist who "heard the call" and spent uncounted hours in a dark and dangerous cave to paint his/her dreams; and feeling aghast that these private dreams are being gawked at by clueless tourists. The "memory" that rushes over him reaches back through his childhood, to prehistoric times, to the collective unconscious; then he steps back "into the sun," the bleached-out reality of the present. "The fall" may refer to the biblical fall from grace of Adam and Eve after they tasted the apple, which echoes in the amoral and squalid life of the underbelly of latter-day LA/Hollywood. Brian Sweet said that "in the 1976 version of the song Becker and Fagen omitted the third verse in which the narrator reflects on his childhood adventures and returns to the caves only to find that many others have discovered what was once his own secret little world." (RITY, p. 105) The omitted verse:

Many years have come and gone, and many miles between Through it all I found my way by the light of what I've seen On the road as I returned was a green and yellow sign Sayin,' "See the way it used to be," and I took my place in line. RubyBaby (GB, 6/4/99): Yeats wrote a poem or two about Alta Mira, being there alone with his thoughts abouthimself. wormtom (GB, 6/19/00): one word song twists Caves of Altimira the word - fall very clever play on words the fall signifying the fall of man both past (Genesis 3 in the Garden of Eden) and the fall of the current society from balance grace etc here the young man in enthralled with a cave full of drawings of inspired dwellers who's simple pleasure of expression he can relate to outside of a cruel world around him and the irony line - "when there wasn't even any Hollywood" a nice stab at tinsel town yes we can dream, we can go back as a race and choose our own dreams rather than the fabricated celluloid offerings that flicker dimmly on a white screen we can grasp the sketches on an old cave wall we can get back to our primival we can choose our own dreams and our own little worlds we can dream Parts Dept. (GB, 7/21/00): I happened to be listening to Caves of Altamira on the way to work today. What a great story song. If I get this right, is the lead subject lamenting the disappearance of his childhood hiding spot? Is this the place for him to get away and dream of a time long ago where ancient beings have left their mark for those like him who understand his need to get away? Stranger (GB, 7/21/00): You may be onto something with those caves, but I doubt there's anything extraterrestrial. For instance, I can confrim Steely Dan does not believe astronauts built the Pyramids. Dr. Mu (GB, 7/21/00): In that seed of the imagination lies the core of art itself. A little boy crawls within himself and away from the busy human world (into his own "cave"). As he does so in body as well in spirit, he arrives "I recall when I was small How I spent my days alone The busy world was not for me So I went and found my own I would climb the garden wall With a candle in my hand I'd hide inside a hall of rock and sand" in a sanctuary, a haven against the cruel nature of pre-historic life and transcribes the figures of the mastadons and other hideous beasts that constantly disturb his mind as he sorts out the chaos of the busy world.

"On the stone an ancient hand In a faded yellow-green Made alive a worldly wonder Often told but never seen Now and ever bound to labor On the sea and in the sky Every man and beast appeared A friend as real as I" The ancient paints because he must. It is in soul...perhaps not even not a choice. He can now hunt another day. There was no $$ or celebrity in art. It was...and it was LIFE. We all identify with the core of our fears and our being. CHORUS: "Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall When there wasn't even any Hollywood They heard the call And they wrote it on the wall For you and me we understood" Many lears later...We now rush to an art gallery and a post-modern expressionist exhibit. The latest "in" artist renders impressions of ancient man and his environment, supposedly as a juxtaposition against the artificiality of the modern environment suppressing the beast within. It is instantly recognized as a rehash of the escapism which drove the young by and the ancient many years before...not art, but a pale imitation of the real feelings inside the true artist who creates because they must, not because it is what is expected or unexpected...another disposable fad. "Can it be this sad design Could be the very same A wooly man without a face And a beast without a name Nothin' here but history Can you see what has been done Memory rush over me Now I step into the sun" CHORUS A unique combination of depressing nostalgia (that's redundant, eh) and a series of guffaws of sophmoric ridicule by Walter and Donald as they stumble out of the art gallery (I can just picture them cracking up) Ben Bizarra (GB, 7/24/00): Mu: Thanks for bringing up the "faded yellow green". In my opinion that particular color refers to the oxidation of copper. To be specific, I date the song at about 6000 years. Of course, Donald and Walter are much younger. At least 5949 years younger! So what gives? "I would climb the garden wall With a candle in my hand" Not satisfied to simply exist in Eden, the boys want to find out what it's all about. They want to look over the hedge! SCIENCE! The candle is really a torch.

"I'd hide inside a hall of rock and sand" In the winter our boys enjoyed the heat of the smelter. After all, it was the ice-age and copper ore was and is extracted from rock. Besides, inhaling concentrated arsenic fumes was a huge bonus! "In a sanctuary, a haven against the cruel nature of pre- historic life... You don't miss cable if you've never had it. "and transcribes the figures of the mastadons and other hideous beasts that constantly disturb his mind as he sorts out the chaos of the busy world." They didn't transcribe them. They hunted them, killed them and ate them. BURP!!! "On the stone an ancient hand In a faded yellow-green Made alive a worldly wonder Often told but never seen Now and ever bound to labor On the sea and in the sky Every man and beast appeared A friend as real as I" Friends, unlike enemies, are predictable and can be controlled. Cave art symbolically "controlled" the beasts. Once controlled, the artist adds flourish and develops a "style". We all know how short-lived a style (fad) can be... "The ancient paints because he must." The ancients blew chewed up pigments out of their mouths because they had the time to do so. As they controlled their environment and stayed in one place long enough to note the cyclic behaviour of their prey, art was truly born. Art, I might add, is simply an un-rushed doodle embellished with the benefit of a full stomach. "It is in soul...perhaps not even not a choice. He can now hunt another day. There was no $$ or celebrity in art. It was...and it was LIFE. We all identify with the core of our fears and our being." Ah, but there WAS celebrity in art. You make a picture of your friends dominating animals and they're more apt to continue doing it. Art has always been a non-verbal way of perpetuating the present. It changes when the actions of the present are no longer life-sustaining. You never see art documenting the death throes of a civilization. Art thrives in gluttony. CHORUS: "Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall When there wasn't even any Hollywood They heard the call And they wrote it on the wall For you and me we understood"

"Many lears later...We now rush to an art gallery and a post-modern expressionist exhibit. The latest "in" artist renders impressions of ancient man and his environment, supposedly as a juxtaposition against the artificiality of the modern environment suppressing the beast within. It is instantly recognized as a rehash of the escapism which drove the young by and the ancient many years before...not art, but a pale imitation of the real feelings inside the true artist who creates because they must, not because it is what is expected or unexpected...another disposable fad." This is much simpler than post modern expressionism. The animals we ate were descimated. We moved on. Period. "Can it be this sad design Could be the very same A wooly man without a face And a beast without a name Nothin' here but history Can you see what has been done Memory rush over me Now I step into the sun" CHORUS "A unique combination of depressing nostalgia (that's redundant, eh) and a series of guffaws of sophmoric ridicule by Walter and Donald as they stumvle out of the art gallery (I can just picture them cracking up)" The sad design IS the Royal Scam. I don't think the boys laughed about it. I think they wanted you and I to understand. Just as the cave artists had recorded their reality before they moved on to greener pastures. Dr. Mu (GB, 7/25/00): BB: You're only off by about 10,000 years. The cave paintings are 11,000-19,000 years old (almost pre-Flintstones) in Northern Spain (a suburb of Passaic). "art thrives on gluttony"??? Art obviously can come from anywhere, but is often associated with torment and difficulty. Notice how Sting (just to pull someone's name out of the air) is better when he's more miserable. Yes, clearly the great artists from Chopin to Leonardo to Van Gogh to Fagen were fat gluttons!!;) On the other side of the coin look at the economy last year - then the 1999 Grammy's. I rest my case. What happened to the Mastadons and *us* moving on to greener pastures? Well, basically... the ice age ended, and the Mastadon's simply could not adapt to "global warming." You can actually find more bisons that Mastadons I believe. Man was a puny nuisance with a big spear until we did (adapt that is) - we adapt as a species to just about anything. To suggest we were a species danger then is akin to suggesting the Eskimos could have wiped out the whales and seals. Art continued (unless were full (I've never done anything productive on an insulin rush - except observe and appreciate the finer things), but the media changed and not preservable, at least for 16,000 years. Man moved on to depend more on agriculture around the Mediterranean and tools/drawing were a little more biodegradable. Then came Imhotep (6000 years ago) architect, scientist, physician "the world's first genius" and the rest is history. Look for his vault and mummy to be discovered in the next few years near Saqqara, Egypt. I agree for a utilitarian role as well for art. This was also true for traditions and religious laws. For example, Kosher preparation of food was more protective than divine. Pork as a staple results is a) trichinosis or b) heart attack. Blaise (GB, 3/6/01): Yes Howard, the chords do spell "faded" in the fade. [FADED] Interesting trivia there considering the word appears in the lyrics as well. A faded yellow green fade, I like that.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet "Steely Dan: Forward Into The Past," about which I've commented before. I feel dirty.

"Don't Take Me Alive"

Brian Sweet says that this song "was set in mid-Seventies America; it dealt with Fagen and Becker's unease about the regular outbreaks of violence in Los Angeles. Gangland shootings, wanton murders and armed sieges were so commonplace that Becker and Fagen felt compelled to reflect it in a song. They saw it as violence for its own sake, and in interviews they became involved in discussions about the relative merits of life in Los Angeles and New York. " 'In Los Angeles and throughout the world in general, terrorism is a way of life, actually, for a lot of people,' said Fagen. 'The song was inspired by a run of news items where people would barricade themselves inside an apartment house or a saloon with an arsenal of weapons. It's about individual madness rather than political situations.' " (RITY, p. 105) Bart Torvik (Digest, 12/23/97): I remember someone long ago saying that they had figured out what was going on in "Don't Take Me Alive".... He said that the main character in the song was not a psycho like we'd always thought, but actually a robot or android gone berserk. At the time, I, and the rest of the Digest, thought that this was a ridiculous interpretation. It was obviously just a psycho killer song. But every time I hear that song, I can't help but thinking about the so-called "android scenario." Why? Well: It's a book keeper's son, because the previous generation of computers just kept the books. The fact that the song is called "Don't take me alive" brings to mind the questions about creating computers that actually come to life, and what kind of life it would be. (Like Data on Star Trek!) Then there's some business about a red light flashing, and the mechanized hum of another world. So, I have to say, that I find this to be an interesting interpretation of the song; and I've come to believe that the "android scenario" was fully intended by the songwriters, though as a subtext. The main thrust of the song is about a psycho, there's no doubt about that. To paraphrase Donald from last year's concert: "Nothin' like a good old psycho song from the seventies..." The KatyDanFan (1/17/99): To me the narrator is not a psycho at all. I saw him immediately as someone who, in the necessary developmental task of individuation, didn't do things in the way his father thought he should, hence, "I crossed my old man..." From there, the consequences far outweigh the "crime." Fearing the judgement of father/society coming down on him for doing things his own way, in his determination he gathers "dynamite," holds up "for all night" if necessary, and warns people he must be so dangerous, after all, they won't want to "take him alive." Knowing he must accept their judgement of him as true, he concludes he surely must be of "another world," where "no sun is shining," but also "no red lights flashing" either. So, he will stay there for as long as he needs to, a world where the "law" has put him, calling him "Mad Dog," telling him he all is forgiven, when it isn't forgiveness he needs, but permission, and so ultimately there is no way to relate to their demands for him to surrender. The evil crowd, lies and laughter, the rage in their eyes and megaphones outside, confirm that no one is sympathetic to him, it's far more satisfying for them all to judge rather than understand him. He goes on to ask himself the question, who am I? And he admits, yes, he knows who he is and what he's done. And that simple answer is he's an ordinary person, a bookkeeper's son, who has no interest in "shooting" (or crossing) anyone. How much more misunderstood could he be? Yet he will bear the judgement of having gone out on his own in the world, and may never be sanctioned by the only one from whom it would mean something----his father. golitely (3/29/99): "No red lights flashing" says to me that he has completely lost all conscience... somehow he's been pushed that far... he knows what he did was wrong, but he doesn't feel it... there was no thought in

his mind that he shouldn't do it. "The mechanised humm of another world" ... I would imagine this to be what a truly mad person hears in his mind" ... he knows he's caught and he's really "lost it". PretzelLogician (GB, 5/31/99): Fagen's father's the bookkeeper. tom (GB, 12/13/99): I always thought DTMA's bookkeeper's son was poor preacher's son, the intent and meaning are about the same, a quiet humble father's profession contrasted to the rebellious and now wanted by the law fugative son. Rocket J (Digest, 7/12/00): Another psychic express here; the boys wrote this one about how many years before Columbine and the rest of the school shootings? Don't Take Me Alive. This stuff's munchin' on our communal brains.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet "Psycho Killer," by Talking Heads; try the live version on "Stop Making Sense" "Blade Runner," the movie. If you haven't seen it--well, you know what I'm going to say.... "Dog Day Afternoon," the movie, with Al Pacino "High Sierra," (1941) with Humphrey Bogart as Roy "Mad Dog" Earl (suggested by my squeeze)

"Sign In Stranger"
According to Brian Sweet, "Fagen had been a science fiction fan since he was a kid and had once belonged to a sci-fi book club. This was reflected in 'Sign In Stranger,' a song based on an imaginary planet where criminals, gangsters and murderers were banished for their crimes. 'That's true,' Fagen said. 'Of course, it does take place on another planet. We sort of borrowed the Sin City/Pleasure Planet idea that's in a lot of science fiction novels, and made a song out of it.' " (RITY, p. 106) This song also has one of the best misheard (or dysheard) lyrics: "Do you have a dark spot on your pants?" And zombies again. And another Napoleon reference: I used to think that "marengo" was a corruption of merengue, the dance--makes sense; they're dancing--but I SHOULD KNOW BETTER. The Battle of Marengo, June 1800, was perhaps THE decisive battle of Napoleon's young career; it was a very weird battle, won unexpectedly, and enabled Napoleon both to take power in France and inspire the invention of chicken Marengo. Perhaps we should add the recipe to St. Al's Steely recipe page. At any rate, it's another subtly burnished Steely double entendre.... And think of the layers: man and woman, man versus woman, dancing and warring; Napoleon made war like art or love--this pair is dancing like making war or love. Mike Mullen (GB, 4/2/00): "Sign in Stranger" refers to "Mizar 5." Am I mistaken, or is this the double star in the constellation Ursa Major? If you call the constellation the Big Dipper - it's the star that marks the crook in the handle. [custodian's note: Sure enough! Though it's apparently pronounced "MYE-zar." Check this out for more.] St. Al & Hoops!' Fandom Q & A (5/21/00): Some of the lyrics to "Sign in Stranger" were changed as reflected on the "Alive in America" CD. I loved the "scurvy brother" line in the original on "The Royal Scam." Why did both of you decide to change the lyrics? Thank you very much!! Have a great tour. Submitted By: "robin" "mr. lapage" "martindale" Answer [from Messrs. B & F]: The lyrics were changed to advance the plot. Not usually the function of the bridge lyrics, but what the hell.

... a little update from the 1976 Metal Leg interview transcript: Mr. Fagen --"There are some songs where I really don't like the lyrics, and I've changed lyrics that I don't like from the old stuff, like 'Sign in Stranger.' " Incidentally, the bridge lyrics added to the "AiA" version go like this: Find your fortune on this lucky star The chances are good You will thrive If you make it back alive And, in the liner notes to "Alive In America," this song is described: "Boom planet.... Proto-cyberpunk." As a matter of fact, remember that this song came out in 1976, long before William Gibson hit the map with "Neuromancer" (1984) and even before "Blade Runner" (1982, which could be considered early cyberpunk, and as you know was a spin on Philip Dick's "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?"). Now what did I say about channeling the zeitgeist and foretelling the future? Roy.Scam (GB, 9/2/00): DRINKS TO AVOID AT THE CAFE D'ESCARGOT: The 'What a Shame About Me': Two drinks and you're talking to a ghost. The 'My Old School': Two drinks and you tumble into the sea. The 'Kid Charlemagne': Two drinks and you feel like Jesus. The 'Pretzel Logic': Two drinks and you can't remember where you got your shoes. The 'Gaucho': Two drinks and you ask to sleep on the floor. The 'Parker's Band': Two drinks and you take off your shirt and try to ride an armadillo. The 'Hey 19': Two drinks and you can't talk at all. The 'Don't Take Me Alive': Two drinks and you can't do anything. The 'Countermoon': Two drinks and ... I don't want to talk about it; it's never happened to ME before; I'm sure it's just the alcohol. Liu Chang (her brother) (10/23/01): 'Zombie' is an espionage term, for an agent who is declared legally dead to be able to perform tasks that have complete plausible deniability. This fits the song amazingly well: "You zombie, be born again my friend." Zombies are often given new fabricated identities. I picture a longtime agent revisiting his old haunts (maybe for the Turkish union dues that he could not collect as a legal agent) and his old contacts having to pretend that he's dead. I always pictured a hotel clerk passing over a guest registry and winking as he said, "Won't you sign in, 'stranger?'" Another line fits this quite well... "Do you have a dark spot on your past? Leave it to my man he'll fix it fast."

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet (buy & read!)

'Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy, the first in a series of very funny books of misheard rocklyrics
"Blade Runner," the movie, with an offworld subtext The Fabulous Dandom Fandom Q & A: thanx to St. Al & Hoops! for facilitating, and to The Artists and The Incomparable WebDrone for their largesse

"The Fez"
Initially, I thought this was a fetish song, along the lines of Randy Newman's "You Can Leave Your Hat On." But the general skinny is that the fez is a condom, making this a safe-sex song way ahead of its time. Evelyn "Razorgirl" (4/4/99): In Anais Nin's book of erotica short stories, "Delta of Venus," thereos a story called "Linda" in which the protagonist meets a man with a distinct, intoxicating perfume. It "reminded Linda of her voyage to Fez, of the great beauty of the Arab men there. It had a potent effect on her." (273) The odorous man indeed purchased the perfume in Fez (which, incidentally, appears to be one of Morocco's four Imperial Cities, described as "Jewel of North Africa", etc.) . Linda goes home with the man, entranced by the perfume,

and soon they are having relations. The perfume puts a spedd over her; it's the only reason she keeps coming back to him. One day he runs out of it, and she no longer feels anything for him. "No, I'm not gonna do it without the fez on... I wanna be your holy man" could refer to this intoxicating perfume, which causes the frmale to 'worship' its wearer. If the narrator of the song were not to wear the 'fez', the frmale wouldn't fall under quite such a spell, if any at all. *** Likewise, you mentioned "The Fez" could be a fetish song. Well, a "fez" is a distinctive type of hat worn by members of an international philanthropic fraternity founded in 1872 called "the Shrine", which has a network of 'Shrine Howpitals' providing free medical care. The "Fez" is the best-known symbol of Shriners- it is a red upside-down flower pot shape, with a black tassel. Its emblem is a scimitar, crescent with sphinx-head, and five-pointed star hanging down. Its name is from the holy city of Fez, Morocco, where the hats were first manufactured. Also called a "tarboosh", one of the earliest references to it in literature is "Arabian Nights." Steely Dan could be jesting of the Shriners' "holiness" - epitomized by the "Fez", as it is used to identify members. Although the fez originates in Morocco, chapters in North America wear it as proof of their philanthropy and fraternity. Perhaps "The Fez" is, in a way similar to the idea of "Bodhisattva" - Westerners skewing Eastern ways and/or modes of thought, using a more superficial outlook or losing something of sincerity. "The Fez" *makes* the man holy, not vice versa; thus the narrator of the song *must* wear the "fez" to do whatever it is he wants to be holy for. I'm sure Steely Dan intentionally left many details out of the song, to *make* it able to be interpreted in many ways. Without directly saying it, they make it sound sexual, although the idea could be applied to other actions. "The Fez" could be perfume, a condom, object fetish, etc. - but I think it's something that makes either party involved feel the action is more special, "holy". Kind of a security object carrying a kind of significance. IMO, Donald doesn't need a "fez" to be MY "holy man" !! :) Clas (GB, 10/22/00): FEZ - got its name from the town Fs in Marocko. The red colour was ectracted from plants who grew there. The fez is/was mostly a muslim attribut.

"You Can Keep Your Hat On," by Randy Newman, on "Sail Away"

"Green Earrings"
The liner notes for "Alive In America" offer this concise description: "Minimalist lyrics. Quartal harmony. Suave criminal. Picaresque. Power over women. Altered blues." Brian Sweet says that in this song "a story can be gleaned about a relationship blemished by a compulsive thief who shows no remorse for stealing his partner's prized jewellery." (RITY, p. 106) The lyric is spare and almost percussive. Interesting that this "cold, daring" guy first remembers the earrings and then the person wearing them, and how strange that he should say "I don't mind" instead of something like "I don't care," except of course that "mind" rhymes with "design." And now--from the Red Blazer (GB, 6/2/00), "Green Earrings" IN FRENCH! Boucles Vertes Froid, Courageux N'ayant pas froid aux yeux Pardonne-moi, mon ange

Je dois prendre ce que j'ai vu Boucles vertes Je me souviens Les boucles au design rare Je me souviens De ton regard Je m'en fiche Le Medaillon grec Resplendit Quand tu souris Pardonne-moi, mon ange Je deviens affame Tel un enfant

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Haitian Divorce"
In Reelin' In The Years, Brian Sweet gives an account of the background of this song (pp. 100 ff.). In short, a person working with the duo went to Haiti to get a quickie divorce, and the experience became the basis of "Haitian Divorce." RubyBaby (GB, 6/4/99): In Hatian Divorce the kid grows up to look like that Kinky guy with whom she had the one- nighter. Then Clean Willy chucks her again, which... reminds me of The Scarlet Letter. I know it's subtle... sooutrageous (4/11/00): while listening to the guitar-work at the end of this song, i'm overwhelmed with the feeling that the heartbreakingly poignant solo is actually continuing the woeful narrative of the piece. it begins as a frenetic tete-a'-tete with all the firey latin passion of a still-bleeding, sore-to-the-touch break-up but wans to a sorrowful fade as the ache of loss and love is diminished with the passing of time. to me this is a brilliant coda, a piece of songwriting and instrumental interpretation by an amazingly insightful composer accompanied by a gifted guitarist. it provides a catharsis for the collective "us" who have loved and lost by allowing us to delve into the depths of another's heartache through it's sarcastic voyeurism. i think the germans have a word for this: schadenfreude. steviedan (GB, 6/8/00): I've always thought that Haitian Divorce was an exotic take on the tragedy of failed marriages. By turns light and dark harmonically with jazz voicings over the reggae percolation underneath. That's a sort of socio-musical connection...maybe. SoulMonkey (GB, 6/18/00): I was struck when listing to Haitian Divorce that the "Papa" referred to in the refrain is not her father, but none other than Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, the brutal Haitian dictator who died in 1971. (Why would your average father know anything about a divorce from Haiti?) I envisioned Papa Doc greeting her plane in a fashion similar to Ricardo Montalban from Fantasy Island saying "Congratulations, this is your Haitian divorce." [ Does that mean that "some babies grow in a peculiar way" might refer to the equally loathsome Baby Doc?]

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Everything You Did"

To me, this is the most disturbing song on the album. This is a guy who has just found some graphic evidence that his girlfriend has been fooling around with someone else (she's a "roller skater"). Furious, he begins to demand that she tell him everything that went on; by the end of the song he demands that she do all of what went on to him. What he says is a catalogue of abusive cues; if you are EVER in a relationship with someone who sounds like him, GET OUT IMMEDIATELY IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE. I'M NOT KIDDING. That notwithstanding, let me be perfectly clear on one thing: I DO NOT FOR ONE SECOND believe that the authors are recounting their own experiences; they're just uncannily adept at nailing the dark side. The whole album is a testament to that. Moray Eel (GB, 6/8/98): "Everything You Did" isn't that disturbing... is it? A guy comes home to find his wife (significant other) with another man and requests the details of the encounter. After hearing the particulars he becomes sexually aroused and desires her intimacy to help relieve the um...pressure? The fact is many men would react violently if they caught their girlfriend/wife in bed with another guy; this guy just wants to get some loving too. It's ironic that he is turned on by his lady's infidelity, but I don't think that it's malicious. I think this must be an example of why Rickie Lee Jones called Steely Dan's works "boy music" (RITY, p. 182). Here are a couple of females' takes which are maybe surprising: Tomorrow's Girl/Eviva Laughs (GB, 8/8/98): "Everything You Did" is one of my favorite Dan songs. And, I think, one of their funniest. IMO, "Everything" is NOT AT ALL about sexual cheating. It's about what writers call "dramatic irony": a character in a story is completely unaware of what is obvious to everyone in the audience. Here's a guy who's not so much interested in the fact that he's been betrayed as in hearing all about it. He's a voyeur, in every sense of the word; SD undercuts even the threat to "shoot the lover down" by following it with "ARE you gonna tell me everything you did, baby?" He's using a threat as LEVERAGE to get what he wants: all the juicy details. It's no accident SD ends every line that way, and the way the wording changes slightly each time emphasizes the point. Even the neighbors aren't immune: "You know how people talk--I wonder what they say". And he projects his own voyeurism on them:"Turn up the Eagles:the neighbors are listening." The punch line of the song comes at the end when, after making it clear to everyone except himself what a filthy mind he has, gives her a catty parting shot: "I know your filthy mind." Rose Darling (GB, 8/8/98): To me EYD is a song with both a wicked sense of humor and distorted mirror view of actual relationships.... The lyrics seem to me to be a tongue in cheek representation of an argument between a cuckolded one and his lover. I can picture real people having such an encounter, sarcastic bitter ramblings and all. Almost like a Dan portrait of "Married with Children" with less shmaltz. Back to the guys: Doctor Mu (GB, 8/8/98): I think that: 1) the STANDARD interpretation would be about a guy who comes home and finds his girlfriend or wife who's obviously finished an interlope with a lover who's just left. The narrator is furious at first, then upon finding sex toys and other parphenalia ("traces are everywhere"), gets turned on. Here's a couple more alternative takes: 2) This is actually a game that both he and his girlfiriend play in order to get themselves revved up for a wild time. In other words, She lays out clothes, bras, handcuffs all over the house and meets the narrator at the door with deliberately smeared lipstick and mostly disrobed or in a teddy or something provacative.

3) The narrator is actually the lover on the side and he arrives joking that he's going to chase the husband away - and wryly implies that she has just finished an intiamate moment with her husband (it's the line: "i jumped out of my easy chair, it was not my own!"). Again this could be part of a game that he or he and his lover play. 4) The last and sickest interpretation: this is a rapist who's broken in and these we are hearing a combination of the sick things he is both thinking and saying. Roy.Scam (GB, 8/9/98): The lyrics seem straightforward to me: The classic psychiatric male phases of sexual betrayal acknowledgement: 1) anger, 2) blame, 3) revenge, 4) ego insecurity, 5) the desire to be saturated with details, and 6) the standard male closure mechanism: "Let's have sex." Clas (GB, 8/9/98): Sure, the guy is a "hanrej" (cuckold). I've always thought that this song is one of the funniest. Bill J. (4/16/99): Okay, the way I see it, the fella in the song is finding out about his girlfriend's past lover. An old boyfriend he was unaware she had dated. Possibly an acquaintance of his, because he seems personally pissed that no one has told him of this before. And the thought of his girl with this ex makes the current boyfriend sick. Almost like "Hell, if I'd had known you had dated him in the past, I NEVER would have gotten involved with YOU!" And he can't resist the temptation, as many folks can't, to delve in to a past relationship with his current lover. He doesn't wanna know, but he has to know. "I think you'd better tell me everything you did, baby". Like, "okay, how far did you go with him, etc." His violent remarks in the opening of the song are typical of a guy's first reaction to finding out something of this nature, and are not literal. And he's looking around thinking all these things in their home might be attached to this ex: "Traces are everywhere". Also the line about "I jumped outta my easy chair, it was not my own" to me may be a chair she got from her ex, and he's like "well, I wouldn't have sat in it if I'd known you got it from HIM". And as she's explaining this past situation, he's finding out things about her that he never knew: "I never knew you were a roller skater?". He then notices they are arguing loudly, so turn up the music to swallow up our voices. Also "You know how people talk, I wonder what they say" is maybe him reflecting on everyone else knowing about this past fling but him, possibly wondering how his circle of friends has perceived this current relationship in light of this other one. Has he looked like a fool this whole time? An!d "You never came to me, when you were so inclined. I know where Baby's at; I know your filthy mind." is his regret that she didn't approach him instead of this ex. Kinda like "you know NOW that I can please you and we're a great match. Too bad you didn't try back then." Who really knows, but a great song nonetheless! fezo (GB, 7/31/99): In that song, he does such a lousy job of playing the role of a domestic abuser I never found the threats in that song believable. He sings like such a paper tiger. There is one funny thing about this song: the line, "Turn up the Eagles/ The neighbors are listening." Brian Sweet comments that "far from being seen as a put-down, many people (The Eagles included) regarded it as a compliment.... Within a few months of hearing 'Everything You Did,' Don Henley and Glenn Frey returned the 'compliment' and included a line in 'Hotel California' to acknowledge their own namecheck and send a message back to Steely Dan. 'We liked the way they would say anything (in a song),' Glenn Frey explained. 'That's why we used the words "They stab it with their steely knives/But they just can't kill the beast." ' " (RITY, p. 109) Chief DanJHawk (11/18/ 99): I must admit that on first hearing, I thought that this was about a cuckold learning that his lady had just cheated him and he wanted recompense. However, I believe that I read somewhere that it is a cold reference to their record company, Asylum and to their management. And although the line "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening," may indeed be a sort of off-hand compliment to that band, if you look back at the albums you will see that the Eagles also were under contract to Asylum records.

Steve2000 (alt.music.steely-dan, 1/15/00): In 1975-6 the Eagles were probably America's biggest band. Steely Dan was America's best. Co-incidentally they had the same manager at the time- Irving Azoff, who has said his office staff listened to Steely Dan while going about the bigger business of managing the huge hit record machine/top concert draw known as the Eagles. Doubt this had anything to do with the cross referencing lyrics, I just always thought it was kinda funny, kinda telling. The first lyrical 'shot' was fired when.. Don and Walt dropped their subtle 'put down' line, insinuating the Eagles were the pop group a typical suburban middle class young couple would have on for background music in their nice (tract?) home..as they argued (ever more loudly) about her infidelity. Thus "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening..." in 'Everything You Did.' The Eagles, per Azoff's policy/powertrip, 'didn't give interviews' during their peak. When they finally did, near the end of their 70's run or maybe individually after the breakup, Henley or Frey specifically mentioned laboring over the lyric "They stab it with their Steely Knives, but they just can't kill the beast" in 'Hotel California' specifically as a shot back at Steely Dan.... Steely Dan's so simple seeming 'Eagles'line is brilliant. It speaks volumes about the entire subject, setting mood, making a societal/cultural statement etc. The classic cuckolded and now jealous husband scenario is brought very vividly and boldly to life-and given the Steely twist-in "Everything You Did." Razor Boy (GB, 4/17/00): ... about the lyrics - "turn up the Eagles the neighbors are listening" and "they stab it with their Steely knife".... Sure, Hotel California is one of the most recognized songs of all time, but unless you are in the know about the Steely reference, it probably goes unnoticed in the general public. In EveryThing You Did however, the reference is very direct. There is no question about who they are speaking of. The timelessness is also greater, I believe. In reading the lyrics one can almost see the confrontation happening, the man walking into the house, the woman running from the bedroom to stop him. He paces back and forth while grilling her about the details, loudly and probably wasted, considering the times. He just keeps going looking for answers and sure to get none. Sorry, I got a little too into it there, but you get the picture, a perfect example of the era, IMHO. |||||||| (Rumblestrip) (GB, 7/11/01): This may be way off base but the "It" in ''I jump out of my easy chair/It was not my own'' may be analogous to the stain on Lewinsky's dress... Ewwww... I know, I know, but it makes sense given the line "Traces are everywhere/In our happy home"... wormtom (GB, 7/12/01): as for the "you were a rollerskater" line I recall mentioning this sometime last year Picture Don and Walt from NY transposed to the late 70's California Venice Beach type scene. Not like today where rollerblades are prevalent everywhere. Certainly they were in for a shock cultural difference. The rollerskater term is loosely applied to convey a sense of underaged, whimsical, aloof stereotypical california girl. No I'm not condoning this attitude but you get the idea The attraction is pure physical, the "I never knew you" refering to their relationship never getting deep on the mental end. The Hey 19 scenerio. The roller skater line an insult, your oneof those types. Then again the protagonist is only in it for the action and his wierd sense of jeolousy and eager curiosity are at odds. HE's offended by his lovers infidelity, but he's more concerned with what he's missing out on than anything else. "You gonna show me later" It's a sick addiction to be sure anyone notice underaged rollerskater show up along with pink flamingo and deer lawn ornaments in the TaN spread

Cousin Janine is a bit refined in contrast - she waxes skiis Notice the rollerskater analogy also shows up in Hey Nineteen and if Everything You Did's easy chair scenerio is Lewinskyesque certainly "Skate a little lower now" has similiar leanings the Cuervo GOld, the fine Columbian and don't even bother taking off your skates

In another astonishing feat of prescience, in this song the Dan prefigured the roller-skating girl in "Boogie Nights." Or was that "Boogie Night By Nights"?
lp (GB, 7/12/01): at the risk of being called snobby, i will take the leap: picture poor white trash in trailer circa 1972, guy in a ripped and dirty/greasy tank undershirt with a boxing game on the tube, no shave in weeks, holding his can of bud sitting in a brown and orange plaid wool chair, with an ottomon held together with duct tape where his holey socked foot rests upon, clutching in the other hand a bet sheet for the area race track, smelly cigar (not a cuban folks) hanging out a smelly mouth slobberly belching out "now you gonna tell me everything you did baby" to a woman with a red and white polka dot blouse buttoned down through her cleavage, tied up at the waist (she ain't marrianne, no), tight denim shorts cut off from a pair of pants, over-dyed blonde hair, gum cracking, nails in constant check status, dreamily not paying attention to the jealous but oddly turned on outrage of her husband as she is remembering the night before with a local garage mechanic on the hood of a 1972 Chevy in his garage replete with a lot of wine coolers and possibly a bottle of jack daniels and bob seeger songs (futuristic i suppose, song is too early for bob cliches) blaring from a radio set on top of a red toolbox and a tool chick poster on the wall beaming down on all....another encounter she thinks about as she strokes her neck not listening to her husband's words was at the trailer, but that's a story for another day.... Schwinnnnnnnnn (GB, 7/13/01): I see two images simultaneously. A man exposing his indiscretions in the light of his woman's infidelity. If only he'd fessed up before. Women are more honest and he can't bear it. Forget the trailer-trash image. This twister hits all income and education groups with no regard for caste. Kind of like measels. Lost love is love lost and Don Henley can't quell the rumours.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Hotel California," on the eponymous album by the Eagles "The Royal Scam"
Brian Sweet relates: "Ostensibly, 'The Royal Scam' is about Puerto Rican immigrants coming to New York with the expectation of a better life and eventually discovering that it was nothing like they'd been led to believe, especially for Latin Americans with little or no money and poor English. "In an interview with Steve Clarke of NME [New Musical Express] Becker and Fagen were in their element again when it came to discussing--or refusing to discuss--their lyrics, particularly of the title cut. A measure of the fun and revelry they enjoyed can be gauged by comparing Becker's responses to Clarke's questions. When he was asked what 'The Royal Scam' was about, Becker set the tone for the conversation when he replied: 'About four and a half minutes'.... "Turning serious for a moment, Becker admitted that Puerto Rico and New York City both featured in the lyric, then seemed to regret his honesty and began to argue that divulging what the song actually meant would be doing the song a disservice and would be 'lending credence to the notion that in order to enjoy a song, you have to know exactly what it means. Or that it does mean exactly one thing. And it doesn't really. None of these things are true.' Almost in the same breath Becker denied... 'that Puerto Rican nonsense that someone over here (the UK) invented' and complained that the speculation was getting out of hand. "When Michael Watts interviewed them for Melody Maker and asked them to confirm this Puerto Rican theory,

Fagen's response was almost as if he was disappointed that their lyrical puzzle had been solved: 'Because the interpretation is so accurate, I wouldn't even want to comment further.' "Fagen maintained that Dan fans could enjoy the song on many different levels and that that was the biggest part of the fun anyway. As with the word pretzel, scam wasn't an everyday word in England and Fagen was occasionally required to explain its meaning. " 'Particularly because that song does have a topical aspect and because of that it's dangerous to give specifics and it is an allegory and it is written in rather a Biblical argot, I can tell you that,' Fagen said. 'The song does have rather a poetic way of expressing what we wanted to express. I'm very fond of that lyric.' " (RITY, pp. 107108) I also have always heard this as a neo-"West Side Story:" "the city of Saint John" as San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico (so named by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World, after John the Baptist). The immigrants encounter racism and hard times at the hands of the ruling white culture ("an angry race of fallen kings"). The great line, "Every patron saint hung on the wall shared the room with twenty sinners" would refer to the miserably crowded housing conditions poor immigrants often face. Then, out of desperation, the Borinqueno gets into drugs--"By the blackened wall he does it all/ He thinks he's died and gone to heaven"--and becomes an indentured servant to a drug dealer, or crime lord, and writes proudly home about his newfound wealth. So, for a refugee from poverty with a vision of the City on the Hill, El Dorado del norte, the truth is a Royal Scam. phil (GB, 5/24/99): I had a nice E-Mail back from Pete Fogel (the one and only) confirming that St Johns is actually San Juan in Pueto Rico. tom (GB, 2/23/00): I absolutely love the portion of the song Royal Scam where Donald sings "see the glory.." then wham the background singers do that huge overwhelming almost Messiah like rave up accompanyment. Then the sarcastic twist "... of the Royal Scam" with great phrasing by our faithful narrator. It's such a contrast - moving musical nirvana over a lyric line that lays waste to the religious hip hop crash see (sorry, hypocracy for those without the wormbrained trans later)of the immigrants "welcome to americana" promising journey turned to cold reality wormtom again (GB, 6/7/00): The true genius that is Don and Walt has moments where the subtlest of musical gestures reinforces the lyrical commentary one fine example the Royal Scam this is perhaps subtle, but indeed intended what am I pontificating on? simple the use of a strongly emphasized drum beat on the 1st and 3rd beat in the song to exemplify the intense repression of the land of plenty to the tropical immigrants at the start of each stanza those hard beats convey this societal repression, they are loosened up in the lyrics and slammed hard again att the end of each phrase this was intentional, and if only on a subliminal level it sincerely works Roy.Scam (GB, 6/7/00): I like the varying drumbeat intensity in "Royal Scam"; it definitely is intentional and adds drama, but I would disagree that it's a political statement. (This isn't the Dresden Symphony.) But, if, indeed, this percussionistic nuance symbolizes societal repression, is it symbolizing the repression in NYC or in Puerto Rico? Remember, the instruments start way before the lyrics, so presumably, they're still in San Juan when this protestant drumming begins. This could re-open the argument between the ladies and the guys in the song "America" from West Side Story.

Edd (GB, 6/7/00): "the use of a strongly emphasized drum beat on the 1st and 3rd beat in the song to exemplify the intense repression..." And what about that F chord? Oh, the humanity!!! Mr. LaPage (GB, 6/20/00): "By the blackened wall he does it all he thinks he's died and gone to heaven." refers to any number of 'spike houses' that were so prevelant in the Bronx and Spanish Harlem throughout the seventies. These gutted and abandoned buildings are now generally referred to as 'crack houses' in many urban neighborhoods. This particular narrative refers to one of Royal Scams' 'fallen kings' who's just done a 'smoker,' a mainline shot of heroin while he's propped up against a rutted, smoke stained wall within the abyssmally depressing depths of one of the 'dark city's' lonely drug houses. The euphoric feeling that is enjoined by heroin users is ironically the closest this displaced and thoroughly scammed soul will ever get to heaven on this earth. New York's not Canaan, it's certainly not the land flowing with milk and honey. There are no good-jobs-aplenty here. The living is not spacious and plush. His grandfather, who incidently was the only member of the family from the homeland who could read english, used to read them letters sent by aunts, uncles, cousins and such about the 'sweet life' in the new land. They buy it! They leave the tropical splendour of their island home in their 'boats of iron' for the cold, harsh streets and tenements of Uptown Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx. Their life on the island may not be glorious, but it is home. It is natural. It has the feel of family, safety, belonging. The family has perpetrated this lie on them. That is the glaring travesty of this con. This is the Royal Scam as I see it.... ... in many of the drug houses of the wintery world, they build little sterno-can fires to keep warm during the long cold nights of the soul. These actions could indeed be the cause of the blackened wall they speak of. "How they are paid in gold just to babble in the back room all night and waste their time" refers to the content of the letter that the 'old man back home' read to his people. It is the crux of the scam. Those that have made the voyage on 'the rising tide' to New York City' send letters telling those remaining in San Juan that life here is indeed 'sweet.' As a matter of fact, things are so incredibly cushy here that 'we are paid in gold just........" Lazyness and waste are rewarded here! Read the lyric, you'll see how this narrative flows. Bob (I Am Guestbook, Blue, 7/17/01): I've always seen the title cut from "The Royal Scam" as being sorta like an epic movie, not unlike a parrallel in mood to Cecil B Demille's "ten Commandments" when Moses leads his people from Egypt. In this case, the Puerto Ricans get led to a phony promised land. So I think the whole song reads like a grand, panoramic epic and the end does plod out, it's sorta the closing scene, panning out from New York City, back out into the ocean. Bette Midler? No way...yeah, the backing vocals are rather annoying but that seems to be intentional, sorta to augment the chaos and cynicism of the broken dreams of coming to America. It's like the anthesis of Neil Diamond's later hit, "America." What if Ron and Nancy had D + W come and perform Royal Scam at the 1986 re-unveiling of the Statue of Liberty instead of Neil and "America"??? Now there would be irony for you on so many levels. Jungle Jim (12/21/01): In the title song Royal Scam someone refers to the line "an angry race of fallen kings" as the ruling white culture. I disagree. The complete line is "they learn to fear an angry race of fallen kings, their dark companions. This seems to be refering to black people who the Puerto Ricans are now living with. They may have been kings in Africa but when the slave traders rounded them up they were no different than anyone else. The Puerto Ricans, being the newest arrivals are now a step below the blacks, who were already there, on the social ladder. The overall theme of the song seems to be bigger than just the Puerto Ricans. I feel that it's a human trait to

not want to admit that you've made a mistake when others have warned you. I can imagine an Irishman who had immigrated here writing the same kind of letter back to his family who warned him not to leave. This is one of my favorite Dan songs.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"El Norte," a fine movie about the Latino immigrant experience, from a Guatemalan perspective
"West Side Story," still wonderful after all these years; see it tonight, tonight

"AJA" (1977)
Introductory notes
Not My Nancy (GB, 7/26/00) Chasing my non sequitary around the desk.... Over-arching interpretive non-sequitur of the day: Peg: Don's girl Josie: Walt's girl

"Black Cow"
Brenda Revisited (GB, 2/24/98): Black Cow is about a super-chocolatey Shirley Temple. A loss of innocence hidden in bittersweetness. Donald's not singin' about a woman who left him. He's singing about the times he failed his own test and became just another beverage on the soda shop shingle. But failure is gain. Mr. Fagen second guesses himself and answers his own questions with every subsequent verse. Who was "high"? What was a "crying disgrace"? Who's face did "they" see and who is "they"? I have only one more thing to say before Ming draws a bead: "Quick Buck! In the corner of your eye!" Roy.Scam (GB, 2/24/98): Re 11TOW and Black Cow. Your opinions are inventive, original, and well stated. I still haven't found one I agree with. Was DF also talking about betraying himself in Reelin', My Old School, Dr. Wu? Even geniuses suffer from old fashioned girl problems. oleander (GB, 2/24/98): The part of "Black Cow" I really like is the overlapping readings in the second verse. You can read it "You should know how all the pros play the game: you change your name. Like a gangster on the run, you will stagger homeward to your precious one," or "You should know how all the pros play the game. You change your name like a gangster on the run. You will stagger homeward...." Feels different each way. The what-is-a-black-cow issue has come up. Someone looked it up in a compendium of mixed drinks and came up dry. Where I grew up, it was a root beer float--odd drink for someone with remedies at hand. Maybe it just sounded good. I also like the progression of the choruses from "I can't cry anymore" to "I don't care anymore." Reminds me of the progression of choruses in "Junkie Girl." The Return of Brenda (GB, 2/24/98): Roy, yes, all of DF's tunes project the same theme: Boy sings about girl. Girl likes song. Boy fucks-up and has to write another song to sing. Girl becomes tougher and more distant while waiting. Razor Boy (GB, 2/25/98): Brenda - Re: Black Cow - To me, the song conjures up the kind of relationship that many of us have with one person in our lives, who, in the early stages, stimulates a desire to become linked

with romantically, but never gets beyond plutonic, for whatever reason. Nonetheless, a loyal frienship develops, and the person gets involved with other people, or situations, but continually comes back to that special friend, who listens to all the issues that continually trip him/her up. Finally, after hearing another litany of woe, the friend with the strong shoulder gets weary of being used or underappreciated. That song is a jewel, on an album that has no equal. maj (GB, 2/25/98): My favorite part of Black Cow is musical. It's the way the bass tempo is changed ever so slightly for only a few beats after the last full chorus is completed - after the last full "drink your big black cow and get out of here," then the vamp kicks in. So outrageous!! Slimmy, Lost in Space (GB, 2/25/98): I have no idea what Brenda is talking about but then I've never owned a secret decoder ring. I agree that Aja should be considered one of the greatest albums of all time but I thought the song, Black Cow, referred to a Hindu suicide concoction similar to a sharp, Hari-Kari sword. "Shiva Unsheathed", if you will. I admit my knowledge of geography is tested by this time-tripping space vamp, but isn't THIS the theme of much of DF's material? Alternate universe meets present reality head-on and neither is insured? Roy.Scam (GB, 2/26/98): Razor--Good words on Black Cow, but I noticed that you opted for the spelling "plutonic." I personnally try to avoid any relationship that involves radioactivity (or interplanetary travel). Razor Boy (GB, 2/26/98): You nailed me good on the plutonic vs platonic - I had a momentary lack of attentiveness....Slimmy's musings kind of made sense, since Fagen and Becker seemed fixated on the far east a few times in "Aja." It doesn't matter how many times I hear any of SD's material, it sounds better and better. RubyBaby (GB, 2/26/98): RazorBoy: I never thought of Black Cow as a "purely platonic" song before, but I'll try. I can relate to the line "I won't cry anymore while you run around..." For me, it's a healthy letting go thing. Ironically, I've found the moment that attitude becomes clear, they stick to ya like glue. Why is that? Dr. Mu (GB, 2/27/98): Black Cow does seem to me about a guy on the outside looking in. He adores/is obsessed with a flighty girl with a self-destructive emotional streak. She ends up with the wrong type of guy, becomes broken hearted, then tries to soothe/console herself by downing those Black Cows and emptying her soul to the narrator. The narrator's relationship is platonic, but he wants much more. He asks her to "break away" from this rut she's in. By the end of the song, he finally sees the futility of this relationship, downs his own Black Cow, decides to "break away" from this fruitless relationship with the gal and slinks home. Razor Boy (GB, 2/27/98): Re [Ruby's] "moment when attitude sticks to you," is all about fundamental values - it takes a while to form them, but are the basis of what a person is - somewhere, sometime, someone challenges those issues with their lack of respect... or sensitivity, and over time, it's becomes a drain. To me, it all has to do about energy. Sooner or later, as mentioned in your "Black Cow" dialogue, cutting loose a situation or relationship is sometimes best for everyone. Geena (GB, 5/31/98): In my neck of the woods, a Black Cow is a drink made from milk and chocolate ice cream, then whirled in a blender until thick and smooth. We also call them frappes here instead of milkshake. It also used to be the brand name for a certain candy on a stick that tasted like a chocolatey caramely lollipop and took all day to eat. PATS JAZZ (GB, 7/31/98): I can see exactly why people see "Black Cow" as a song about a troubled man/woman relationship. But I've always thought the song meant something deeper. They made seem absurd, but who cares?, so here goes: In the 1950's and 60's, Rudy Van Gelder was a popular recording engineer who had his own studio in New Jersey. He was famous for recording some of the most well known jazz musicians of the time. One of the labels

he worked with was Prestige, which was known for hiring musicians and paying them only what they needed to keep their habits going. So the line "I saw you at Rudy's, you were very high", could be a jazz fan or perhaps a young musician seeing an idol completely wasted at a recording session. "They saw your face," could be the musician removing his dark glasses and revealing his conditon to everyone. "On the counter, by your keys, was a book of numbers" could be either a phonebook of dealers mumbers, or a songbook book, either one, resting atop a piano ("by your keys). "Remedies" may mean his drugs are in plain sight. He's suggesting either of these may appease him today, but it won't last long. "I can't cry anymore, how you run around. Break away." The speaker had always held this musician in high esteem and now that he knows him personally, he thinks it's "a cryin' disgrace" and he needs to break away from his idol worship. "Down to Green Street" (Green Dolphin Street, alluding to, perhaps, a ficticious jazz strip), "looking so outrageous". Is this Thelonious Monk? "Like a gangster on the run, you will stagger home, to your precious one". Why would a gangster stagger home? Because he was "shot-up"? Perhaps the musician is stoned and, going home to his "precious one" is a referende to his selfishness and because of his choices, he goes home alone. I think "I am the one" is a seperate thought from "To your precious one". The narrator must think about what happened and talk it out with himself in order to make everyting alright. "Drink your big black cow", I believe is another slam at the musician. Since a black cow is usually thought of as a drink enjoyed by children and teenagers, this could be one way of saying, "If you're going to act like a child, just do it, and get out of here." Since Fagen is from NJ, maybe this is even semi-autobiographical. davedownunder (GB, 8/18/98): Sounds a lot like that girl who always considered you her best friend, and came home crying in her beer and whatever else she could find, over whoever treated her like cow dung this time, and you listen patiently, while you are dying inside for her. And she just can't see it and for some stupid reason (maybe self-preservation) you're just not able to tell her. You probably told her once.. but she was too drunk to remember. Finally you realize she's just so much damaged goods, and you have to leave. . And its the hardest thing you ever have to do. KidCharlemagne (GB, 8/12/98): Black Cow is most definitely about addiction, not boredom. One particular addict, actually.... Also note the narrator's generally disappointed, shaming tone throughout the song -- "I don't care anymore, why you run around ... Drink your big black cow and get out of here." seems like he's just fed up with her habit(s) and her sloth. besides, doesn't a Black Cow sound like much more of a hard-core beverage than, say, a Cuban Breeze? Gretchen? stevevdan (GB, 8/5/98): By the way there is a Greene Street in Manhattan.....with a jazz club and years ago dj Lester Davis used to broadcast live from there for WVNJ radio. Brian Sweet relates that Mr. Fagen "told Jim Ladd that 'Black Cow' depicted the floundering of a relationship when a certain incident will stand out in a person's mind and in this particular case it was 'this luncheonette in Anywhere, USA--it was probably in Brooklyn, I imagine--where the shit hit the fan.' " (RITY, p. 119) Mimi (5/21/01): I think she is a prostitute. She is loved by her boyfriend, is honest with him about her activities. He can't handle the truth as he does love her and must worry... He breaks up with her, but they keep seeing each other. Maybe he is obsessed with her and deliberately goes looking for her. He is in pain, she is in pain. She anesthetizes her pain in order to provide her services. The line about knowing how all the pros play the game gave me that idea. Her book of numbers contains her "business contacts". For her, the future is so uncertain... Roy.Scam (GB, 8/20/01): I just noticed, while driving my car and playing old casettes, that, in my 25th year of listening to the song "Black Cow", it still knocks me down, blows my skirt up, steps on my calf, and makes me

laugh, cry, walk, talk, and crawl on my belly like a snake. What a great recording; and Steely dan did it without using some of their biggest weapons (lofty guitar solos and eloborate percussion). Lyrically, it's a perfect snapshot of a moment in a painful relationship, and musically , it conveys so much emotion with such beautiful restraint, it's almost like an angry scream contained within a polite whisper. That restraint is embodied by Victor Feldman's electric piano solo. It starts with a slow-growing tinkle before breaking into the real showing off. Plus, there's a full four seconds in the middle of the solo where Victor doesn't vamp at all, just lets the chords carry it. That's impressive to me; I'd think a Steely Dan session for a visiting musician would be sort of like a dance audition sandwiched between Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. My tendency would be to jump right into all my fancy steps as soon as possible and never let up lest some faceless voice says, "Thank you. ... Next!". But Victor's got the confidence to let it make its own pace. I guess that's why he's him and I'm some guy writing about it. One of my favorite musical moments is the very beginning of the second verse of "Black Cow": The instruments are shuffling along, then the snare kicks in a bit earlier than expected, the instuments do a threechord climb (sort of a slow version of the piano ascension leading into the verses of "Reelin' In the Years"), Fagen does a controlled sob of "Down to Green Street" , and the horns shake their heads and say, "uh-huh". There you go. And if the famous rock and roll sax solo in "Come Go With Me" had a melancholy little brother, it would be the solo at the end of "Black Cow". That solo personifies music's ability to carry the spirit through something that would be way too painful in a musicless world. And then the song fades out, leaving you still tapping your toe to the unresolved tension of a relationship that won't get right but won't let you go. And I always wish it would start right in again. That's beautiful music and the highest form of art. Truk (12/25/01): This may simply be a wistful love song about the frustrations and ambivalence that often comes from being in love with a narcotic addict, and the chocolate "Black Cow" drink may refer the fact that narcotic addiction is often characterized by (among other things) intense cravings for sugary foods as well as carbohydrates. I interpret this song as if the singer is telling his narcotic-addicted lover that he's finally had it with all the bullshit and pain he's had to endure by living with her addiction and watching her slowly destroy her own life through drug dependency. "...One of these, surely will screen out the sorrow, But where are you...tomorrow? ...I can't cry any more... But it's over now, drink your big black cow and get out of here..." Peter Q (Blue Book, 9/8/03): In Black Cow the narrator is not her significant other at all but her bimboy, like the narrator of Dirty Work. The "precious one" that she staggers home to is her main squeeze, not the narrator. It's over between the main dude and her, and she cries to the narrator about it - it's not over between her and the narrator. This is why "I'm the one" links the two, because the narrator is situated on the sidelines, involved, but not INVOLVED, half in and half out, wishing he had never gotten mixed up with these people. With all due respect,I think Crack Whore's and Rajah's exposition is just making this an early version of Bright Lights, Big City or Less Than Zero. The Carib Cannibal thing is highly reminscient of the yacht trip in Antonioni's film L'Avventurra, which we know B&F are fascinated with. (Lately at some shows Ted Baker has been introduced as "Michaelangelo Antonioni.") Pivotal Pete (Blue Book, 9/9/03): What you say: "in Black Cow the narrator is not her significant other at all" is plausible, even likely. Could also be that "precious one" is what she affectionately calls this poor sap who sits up with her all night while she confesses her guilt, shame and sorrow over slutty behavior. He wants her to straighten out, love him and fulfill his dreams, but she just views him as "a dear friend." I really don't think he's "getting any" ... But there likely is an old flame, or some other root cause of her running around. Or she just may need help in those pre-Prozac days. Gretchen (Blue Book, 10/10/03): How about a Black Cow for a Friday? Chill a 16 oz glass in the freezer, for 15 minutes or so. Pour 1.5 tablespoons of a good chocolate syrup in the bottom of glass. add 4 oz. cold root beer, stirring quickly to mix with syrup.

add 1 large scoop good quality vanilla ice cream. add another 4 oz. rootbeer, and top with another scoop of vanilla. (For the daring, a shot of that black vodka may be added).

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Aja"
The liner notes for "Alive In America" offer this description: "Eclectic. Orientalism. Slide into decadence or healing regression? Structure: AABBCCAC." (For the third comment, cf. "Babylon Sisters." on "AIA.") Is this not one of musicdom's most nearly perfect songs, in every respect? Mock Turtle (GB, 4/15/98) I think 'dime dancing' refers to the time-honored tradition of paying for your date. People would bring a pocket full of dimes and, at regular intervals, give their dance partner a dime. Particularly common practice by male Asian immigrants (there was a lack of Asian female immigrants), and in particular, Filipinos, in the early part of the century. Prof.Steve v dan (GB, 4/15/98): lyric interpretation #2345...lyrics to 'Aja'.... possibly desribing a prisoner of war in Korea..."Up on the hill": an army hospital....."dime dancing": his only respite dancing to an old jukebox at the village cafe.... "double helix in the sky tonight":some sort of star alignment ...I once had a dj friend who insisted that 'Aja' was the name of Charlie Chan's #1 daughter... kashi (GB, 4/16/98): I have always been struck by it's imagery of an asian country. I believe this song is a tribute to the viet-nam veteran who "never really" came back. It's descriptions about life in washington presents the lai-za-fare(sp), of how the war was treated. The further explaination of how the battle were fought, and what was done to forget those battles, were very striking, worthy of being filmed in APOCALYPSE NOW. Roy.Scam (GB, 4/17/98): Kashi: Another thought provoking interpretation of Aja, the un-readjusted Nam vet. I've always thought the lyrical simplicity in that song was to intentionally not distract from the music (ie: Hey, I like oriental stuff.) I guess those lyrics have been hovering over my depths, waiting to plumb them. Your interpretation would explain the police whistle and the desire to throw out the hardware. Maybe the throwing out the hardware is a call to a final confrontation, a hand to hand combat of sorts (man vs. demons, man vs.

death). That association reminds me of Bruce Dern in "Coming Home", ceremoniously laying down his military gear and walking into the surf, for that final resolution of his torment and confusion. Spuds (GB, 4/19/98): About Aja: A gentle acquiesscence from god and country to just God--or at least the cognizance of something bigger than nationalism. The double helix symbolizes man as a species, not just as an ethnicity. Earthbound (GB, 4/21/98): Double helix...hardware... Back in the day when amyl was only available in certain more seedy establishments, HARDWARE was the brand of choice. The li'l jar had a brite white plastic shrink cote with the military-stencil lettering and a loose caution printed in lite royal blue. Hmm, just a thought. oleander (GB,4/25/98): My take is that "up on the hill" is a mental institution, and not the latter-day managedcare kind where you for 72 hours and then out, but the old-fashioned kind from which "there's no return." That's why "they've got time to burn." Nice irony with "dude ranch." That's also why "people never stare/ they just don't care," because no matter how weird you are, everyone else is so Thorazined of Haldol'd out they don't notice. Are the Chinese music, angular banjoes, and double helix delusions/hallucinations (the latter, I guess, if you're psychotic)? drug side effects? an attempt by the singer to imagine himself out of that hellhole? It reminds me of one of the Anais Nin books, where she described a young woman being "demonstrated" to a class of med students as a psychotic, but whose "visions" and words were lyrical, beautiful, and made complete sense in her idiosyncratic way. The idea was that she was actually sane in a psychotic world. Also reminds me of a movie called "Man Facing Southeast"--similar idea--what is crazy, really, and to what horrors are supposedly crazy people subjected in the name of sanity? And yet another association, with Jonathan Pryce in "Brazil," fantasizing himself out of surrealistic torture. And one more--thoughts of Charlie Parker in Camarillo. Ruby, I had the same thought about "throw out the hardware"--i.e. do it bare, but without the you're-having -my-baby part. I also had a flash of straitjackets and ECT (electroconvulsive or "shock" therapy) equipment as the hardware to throw out. The amyl ref is a good one too. Aja might be the angel he dreams to keep from drowning in madness or abuse, or an old flame who serves the same purpose. "They think I'm okay/ Or so they say": the "keepers" soothingly reassure the singer that he's okay, but he doesn't believe them--he may be paranoid, or just fully aware that if he WERE okay, he wouldn't be there. Think Catch-22. I appreciate the explanation of "dime dancing"--I thought it was from the Depression, when people came up with all kinds of ingenious things to stay alive, including marathon dancing ("They Shoot Horses, Don't They?") and paying per dance. RubyBaby (GB, 4/26/98): Aja is so complex and unique it leaves a whole lot of room for interpretation. It can be anything we want it to be on any given day. I've come to think of *dime dancing* to be what his other relationships amount to in comparison with the thing he had or has with Aja. I'm not sure if he runs to her only in his mind (memories are powerful things for escapists), or if he actually runs to her. In either case, he has a tendency to engage in meaningless escapades, doesn't he? But we still adore him... THINK before you post (GB, 4/26/98): Dime Dancing = when you go to your job and work for the money. The guy goes to a dude ranch on his vacation god damn it. Clas (GB, 4/26/98): I read somewhere, a long time ago...that "we never write in code, never has, never will." But hell, who knowes? But maybe that was a code or something. Personally I believe that the Dude Ranch is a Dude Ranch and Up On the Hill is Up On the Hill. Not down in the bunker. Gap Brandy (GB, 4/27/98): Donald abhors meaningless situations / relationships. The problem is that the majority of our relationships are destined to be meaningless. Donald does a good job of stating that fact and stepping out of the line of fire.

Roy.Scam (GB, 4/28/98): I presumed that Bad Sneakers is about an incarcerated mental patient. Is this a recurring theme?.... Isn't a helix also the curved part of an ear? Maybe the double helix is a pair of ears in the sky tonight, as in 'God is listening.' oleander (GB, 4/28/98): I can see Sigmund Freud and Gertrude Stein in a solemn pavane, she saying "a rose is a rose is a rose," and he "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." stevevdan (GB, 11/8/98): with all this Newt Gingrich talk I keep hearing the phrase "up on the hill"...which of course brought to mind Steely's 1977 epic track 'Aja' (again!)....could the songs character be some sort of military intelligence/pow....and "up on the hill" refer to US Government funding...the por guy is wasting away in a pow camp....dreaming of romancing....sort of Apocalypse Now meets Victor Mature meets....a really good bag of weed (oops soory we're all clean and sober now!)... F#maj (GB, 9/16/99): re:Viet Nam- I suspected that Aja didn't take place in some mental facility.... The angular banjo, the Chinese music sounded like a hillbilly sort talking... maybe from "over the hill", like a grunt who has bid a hasty and most unofficial East St.Loo Toodle to his unit and now has time to burn with others he has hooked up with at the dude ranch. I wear this interpretation like a loose garment though.... There is no dime dancing like humping the boonies. Slint (9/24/99): I have it on good authority that "up on the hill" refers to an EST camp in the late 60's and early 70's, EST being a fast, fly by nite religion/lifestyle invented by a rather shaky psychiatrist (can't remember his name dammit) .. EST was trendy, expensive and popular for a couple of years in Northern California ... it died a fairly fast death .. it was bullshit. By 'good authority", I refer to an interview with Donald Fagen I read years ago....he explained AJA ... the WHOLE album... AJA is a simplisitc love song that's been written a thousand times, only not by Steely Dan...only Donald Fagen could throw such a studio screw into somthing this obvious.... Again, from the interview with Mr Fagen and with what I know about EST make this just perfect...I don't know why he chose EST to compare values here....perhaps he tried it....he never did mention in the interview....at any rate, in proper Steely Dan fashion, Donald is in love again. only this time, he is reaching for something better in his life....he's reaching for perfection, self fulfillment....actually, EST is a good variable here, it just hit me, only because I'm writing about it....trust him eh...."above the sea" - the first EST camp was started in Northern California atop a cliff....reason being, the hasbeen psychiatrist who "invented" EST thought it to be a wonderfull notion to have the reality of death ever present while he and his followers danced (a BIG part of EST, self expression, freedom, dancing with whomever they cared -'dime dancing') and studied the positive perfection that life was supposed to hold for them...interesting note here..Charles Manson visited this first camp in early summer 1969, a couple of months before he turned his rejected little troops upon Los Angeles and the outlying region...he was positively shunned by the group; they ignored his presence totally....tells you about HIS vibes....anyway, the cliff was chosen to constantly remind his followers that life triumphs over death, the cliff being a 10 second jump to the latter. Enough said. This camp is "up on the hill". Any reference to anything while the narrator is there is simply a reference to what works better and always will, even though he is striving for something better and less simple....his love....the name AJA was chosen for one reason...the two "boys" had gotten this Chinese sounding riff going while writing the song and hence decided to implement it thereafter. Calling his love Gloria with this gorgeous studio work would never have worked. "People never stare, they just don't care" .. "Up on the hill, they think I'm ok, or so they say" .. He's trying to fit into this new world of his, but he knows that there is nothing better than his love for AJA. He knows love is the key, that there is no other answer. Love, after all, IS the key, and is the most commonly written song, but only these guys could do it like this, with top notch studio help and with the primal musical skills that they both hold. I think AJA is the most powerfull song they have ever written. Steve Gadd just pounds the message across, especially in the end. It's a grand tour of what these two guys could accomplish together, all wrapped up in one awesome song. "AJA, when all my dime dancing is thru, I run to you...." .... What more can one say :]

est (Erhard Seminars Training) was the brainchild of Werner Erhard, ne Jack Rosenberg, a car salesman from the Midwest who emigrated to California and set himself up as a spiritual leader/ motivational speaker/ cult stoker. He was not a psychiatrist and seemed to be pretty much an autodidact [pun intended]. He set up weekend-long seminars billed as self-exploration and mind-expansion, kind of along the lines of Zen with the goal being to "get it" about yourself and the world. These were characterized by physical deprivation (few water, meal, or toilet breaks) and haranguing by him or other staff, both methods widely used in cults, were quite expensive, and caught on big. He set up a neat Ponzi scheme wherein the grads would show their worth or gotitness by going to work for est as organizers, trainers, gofers, etc., for insanely long hours and low pay. There were lots of questions about creative financing, sybaritic lifestyles at the top, etc. Most people who had anything to do with est and speak publicly about it are blisteringly critical of the experience--which of course begs the question of why so many were attracted to it in the first place. There was also a tell-all book several years ago, and a "Sixty Minutes," in which his daughters described some pretty scary things about how the guy really was behind the closed doors of home. For an erstwhile estie's account of his experiences, visit this site. Many of the refs on the web to est are on cult lookout sites, e.g. this one. For even more description of the "philosophy," go here. "Aja" as a dis of a representative new age brainwash job--I LOVE it! There are so many things that fit. For example, "They think I'm OK" makes me think of Transactional Analysis, a pop psych form which was also popular then and unlike est still has some legitimacy, and whose motto was (all together now) "I'm OK, you're OK"--I mean, can you imagine the hay Mr. F and Mr. B would have made with that, much as they loved LA? If anyone knows how to get hold of the article, please let me know. aja (GB, 11/22 & 26/99): I've never thought "Aja" was a woman, but rather any form of escapism from the ordinary and mundane ("dime dancing"). Is it not the most beautiful 7 minutes 56 seconds ever recorded? ....I was surprised (and interested) to read that a lot of people hear a story of a Viet Nam vet or a mental hospital in that song. What I've always envisioned when I hear "Aja" is a young man just starting out in the world, similar to Nick Carraway in "The Great Gatsby"; he's making a living among the disaffected rich ("up on the hill, people never stare, they just don't care") but is not really a part of their society ("they think I'm okay, or so they say") but part of him feels as if he's selling out something of himself ("dime dancing"). At the end of the day he runs to his true love, Aja, where he can finally be himself. I hear "Aja" as being music, an idealized woman or relationship, drugs, or any form of escape. The music changes tempo (or something like that, I'm not a musician) and becomes more dreamy and hypnotic when DF sings the Aja chorus, so that enhances the escape theme for me. RubyBaby (GB, 11/25/99): I always thought of "the hill" as Capitol Hill for some reason. I have thoughts on "double helix in the sky tonight," but we need the next sentence, "throw out the hardware, let's do it right." I look at that as a techno/romantic way of saying "let's make a baby." (DNA in that double helix formation and we all love to ditch the "hardware" sometimes, right?) miz ducky (GB, 11/26/99): For me, the key to understanding the lyrics is the phrase "the dude ranch above the sea." That, along with the sorta-echoes-of-Bohdisattva orientalist lyrics, evokes for me certain West-Coast alternative-spirituality retreats such as the Esalen Institute, in the middle of the Big Sur region of the California coast. Now, I've never been inside Esalen, though I've driven past it once or twice; but I have heard a lot of legends about its reputation, and Esalen could quite accurately be described as a kind of organo-groovy "dude ranch above the sea." Apparently, in the 1960s and 70s it was really famous (or notorious) for overnight retreat-workshops on trendy cutting-edge personal-growth topics ... as well as all sorts of extra-curricular recreational activities with recreational substances. I doubt it's anywhere near as wild as it once was, but I Could Be Mistaken ... :-) Anyhow, the lyrics for me turn into a kind of loose metaphorical meditation on the kind of let-go-of-themundane-dime-dancing-world, get-in-touch-with-yourself-and-be-groovy thang that might have happened at a place such as Esalen. The narrator of the song, of course, has the usual Dannishly ironic attitude towards such letting-go, but not so much that he isn't still willing to come a-running for the experience anyway. It's almost like he's grudgingly admitting "yeah, it's corny as all hell, but I really do get something out of those wild nights

under the stars ... " Whether the name "Aja" represents an actual woman he's running to, or is more a metaphor for the whole experience isn't so important to me as that general mood of semi-irony/semi-idealism that the song evokes. It's also interesting to me to compare this retreat-to-the-sea with the darker, more decadent retreat-to-the-sea portrayed in "Babylon Sisters." Come to think of it, there's a great scene in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test in which Kesey and the Merry Pranksters completely disrupt a serious, placid get-together at Esalen. Check it out. Meanwhile, back at the dude ranch, check out this GB exchange: Sociable Hermit (GB, 11/29/99): Well, since everyone is talking about "Aja", I thought I'd try to add to the mystery. The line, "Chinese music always sets me free", makes me think of a story. In 1941 when Dizzy Gillespie was just figuring out what would later be called bebop; he was working in the trumpet section of Cab Calloway's band. Only, Cab was not very fond of the sounds that were coming out of Dizzy's horn, and derisively called it "Chinese music". So, whenever I hear that line, I automatically think of Diz, and wonder if the storyteller in the song is saying that bebop music frees him. fezo (GB, 11/29/99): Walt Whitman I'm not, but I do feel qualified to say that lines like "up on the hill they never stare, they just don't care" sure sound like filler, like many of the other simplistic rhymes (tree/sea, burn/return) in "Aja" the song. I would, though, give extra credit for the use of phrases like "angular banjos" and "Chinese music". YGK (GB, 11/29/99): re: Bebop. If "Chinese music" in 'AJA' is a lyrical synonym for be bop, that would make sense with the phrase, "angular banjoes". The music can be quite angular in the intervals it may take, especially when written out. Anyone know if Bela Fleck was playing in the mid-70's? Perhaps AJA could just be Fagen's word for bebop. "When all [his] dime dancing is through, I run to you...." the author goes home and puts on some bebop on his record player. OR maybe.... "Up on the hill, they think I'm OK, or so they say...." a musician who is invited to a circle of musicians, say bebop players, might be intimidated about his ability amongst older, wiser, perhaps more adept musicians or musicians who are 'out of his style' of playing. Of course, once the guy sits in on a tune, they could all dig the guys playing, leading to the phrase, "they think I'm OK, or so they say"...which is effectively true; musicians could dig your playin, but they won't necessarily say REALLY dig you till you're gone or have proved somethin over time. (I know I've sat in with new guyes, there is a certain testing ground to see if I could fit in, and if I've received compliments, I realized that I must take it with a grain of salt. If they really like you, they'll invite you back, and when you return, you'll be able to 'feel the love' from the room about your playin.) (And now running with this theme) "Up on the hill, people never stare, they just don't care" could describe the cats in this group 'high above the sea', whether physically above the sea or just high. It could be the dudes are just too cool - they 'never stare' or are too whacked out on the drugs/music to give a shit about who you are to stare. This would effectively describe more than several bebop 'scenes'. Looked at in this light, AJA just might be Fagen's anthem for his love of bebop and his experience hanging with a bunch of bop players. ... ALSO: the inclusion of Mr. Shorter on the memorable solo is especially profound in this scene.... Dr. Mu (GB, 11/29/99): It could be another one of those allegorical stories about the music biz like Throw Back the Little Ones or as [Breck] suggestedunder the ax: "Do It Again." The "people up on the hill" are the usurous music execs, the "dude ranch" is the studio, "dime dancing" are the current popular and empty danceable dities, and "aja" refers to symbolically real musical roots like bop, Gillespe, Miles, etc.

Sociable Hermit (GB, 11/29/99): Let's go one step further. "Up on the hill People never stare They just don't care" In the early 40's, Minton's Playhouse was a club where musicians went to jam after hours. It is said that because of "cutting contests", (musicians trying to out do or top each other on stage), that complicated chord progressions were developed to chase the less skilled players away. This club was run by a musician named Teddy Hill. So maybe, up on the "hill", (the club), is the one place where a musician could play the new sounds without getting stared at by the audience. "Chinese music under banyon tree" Chinese music is bop. A banyon tree, (not plural), is a tree whose roots grow above ground and often form other trunks. This clearly seems like a metaphor of jazz naturally splitting from it's roots into a seperate life of it's own. "Here at the dude ranch, above the sea." To me, a dude ranch is a place where people go to relax and hang out, so this could be another way to describe Minton's. Now, what if the next line is really, "above the C"? As in the note? Dizzy and others like to play in upper registers to show off their chops, and many bop songs fly off in to the stratosphere, as well. "When all my dime dancing is through I run to you" When a hostess would dance with you for a dime, she wasn't doing it because she loved you, she was doing it for the money. And as I said before, many of these musicians were in other, more traditional bands, (for the money), and would sprint to Minton's after hours and play until sun up, and sometimes later, (for the love). "Up on the hill they've got time to burn There's no return. Double helix in the sky tonight throw out the hardware let's do it right." Okay. I think this is a drug reference. They've got time to burn, is maybe a sarcasm toward all the time wasted taking heroin instead of practicing. There's no return could mean that there's no coming back from drug addiction. Double helix...could mean that a new sound is going to be born, perhaps by divine intervention, so throw out the hardware, (the drugs, the syringe), and let's play it the right way. "They think I'm okay. or so they say" I agree with what fezo said, this could either be the audience or his peers saying he's okay. "Angular banjoes", may mean Charlie Christian. He was a guitarist with Benny Goodman, but a regular at Minton's and one of the "founders" of bebop. Could just be a mention of him. This whole record, though, could stand another analysis from a bebop standpoint. We already have a fever dream suggesting that "Black Cow" is about Thelonious Monk; "Deacon Blues" is about a guy plaing the sax; Josie rhymes scrapple with apple ~ "Scapple From The Apple" is a famous Charlie Parker song. Here are some beautiful angular banjos (though Japanese). Dr. Mu (GB, 11/30-12/1/99): Is Aja the elephant and we're the 5 blind men?...or is it an onion with layer after layer to be revealed? Or is it dark jewel scattering light like the fall sun over a disturbed pond? On the surface the lyrics seem Eastern mystic-lite. Even the music "sounds" a bit "oriental" as if played or heard by someone in a dream who knows the paradigms of Eastern music only to the depth of "Sukiyaki." But underneath the surface, isn't the bop core revealed? Musicians help me out here. Those chords are flavored with curry and MSG to sound Easter, but are they? probably not. The name Aja - isn't it Asia-lite as suggested by fezo. I don't see hidden and provacative eastern meaning - it's just that they like the spice - the surface. I mean, have Donald and Walter given away their $$, forsaken wordly possessions, pawned the recording gear (hardware) and gone running to the nearest Bodhisattva? or shaved their heads and moved to Barrytown??

But it gets hazy just as if one is peering though the opium smoke in a 19th Century Singapore den...the temptations of modern society: cheap songs, philosophy, women as well as drugs, selling out for a buck...but the truth keeps drawing us in - jazz. Pure music = enlightenment. It seems consistent with side A of the Aja album (when on vinyl). Black Cow, Aja, and Deacon Blues become a trinity of music philosophy. As the mantra of Eastern mysticism lite once grunted by Bruce Lee exclaims: "Do not think! Feeeeell!" We hear this notion in both Aja and Deacon Blues. Most of what the typical American knows about eastern philosphy comes from Bruce Lee movies, the TV show Kung Fu, fortune cookies and The Karate Kid...all partially digested philosphy that the hungry American consumers swallow whole like a ravenous avian hatchling. The search for musical purity and oneness are sought by thought (Aja) and deed (Deacon Blues). Black Cow pleads with the wayward musician to forsake the "opium den" and return to the "hill".... The gaucho is the horse-back riding cowboy of the plains of Argentina known as the pampas. They are known for a bit more colorful dress than the cowboy of the American West. A wide rim black hat perhaps with tassles, a scarf, vest, and flowing shirt adorn the gaucho amigo. A "dude" is a tourist or "city slicker" who vacations a faux Western ranch to get a taste of the old cowboy life. "Dude ranches" sprang up in California and other areas in the 70's as middle-aged urban and suburban white collar-types spent a few bucks to get in tune with themselves, nature, and hard physical work...kind of pathetic. Anyway, Walter and Donald were probably seen by some jazz purists and perhaps even one or two of their session players as "dudes" kneeling near the sacred temple of jazz. I wouldn't be surprised if they coined that relationship for themselves in the studio...of course later the kids picked it up and became household by the time "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" was released. tom (GB, 12/13 & 15/99): in Aja I misstook "dime dancing" for "dying dancing".... relistening to aja it indeed sounds like "dime dancing" but the intonation and delayed delivery certainly sound like "dying dancing" - again the context fits both interpretations - the mudane necessity versus the escape he longs for. Daily Steve (4/13/00): I understand this song to be a reference to a 'sport' of ancient Upperclass China. Travelling up the hill to the dude ranch where men used hardware to assassinate birds flying across the sky. To catch a pair while in the double-helix throes of making love in the air was to really do it right. Our hero somehow is above all of this, although he fakes it well enough for them to think he's OK, as we all must do at some point in our lives. He gets through it by being freed by the angular banjoes and banyan trees, and looks to finish his time up there dime dancing with the ladies, only to hurry back to his true love, Aja, back to farming the Good Earth. Can't you hear the joy in the percussion once he gets there? SteveVDan (GB, 11/19/00): ... was talking with an employee of SONY, he was extollong the virtues of the SACD player, and I sold him a copy (papersleeve edition) of 'Aja'...he remarked that the word "aja" meant "vanity" in Japanese....and also "love"....interesting, I always wondered about the spelling of that..... Roy.Scam (GB, 8/12/01): For no real good reason, I was thinking about Thorton Wilder's play, "Our Town" recently, and I remembered the scenes in the cemetary. As I recall, the graveyard was on a hill in or near the town, and , metaphysically, was a place where the spirits of the deceased resided, quietly, non-judgementally reflecting, and gradually losing interest in the activities of the living. I couldn't help thinking of the lyrics of "Aja" and phrases like, "people never stare; they just don't care.", above the dude ranch", "when all my dime dancing is through.", "throw out the hardware." One could argue that 'up on the hill' could be a manifestation of the next stage after death. Anyway, it sometimes conjures up that feeling to me. I haven't worked out the demographic study explaining why Chinese music rules the airwaves in the afterlife. Kurt (8/17/02): "Double helix in the sky tonight... throw out the hardware, let's do it right..." Dear Oleander and others, I do believe that with regard to the lyrics of Aja (the song), Steely Dan's mention of "Double helix in the sky tonight..." most likely refers to deoxyribonucleic acid, or "DNA", which is of course the DOUBLE stranded, HELICALLY twisted or "wound" strands of genetic material that comprises chromosomes, and the genes contained there-in. In other words, it's my opinion that SD is "poetically" referring here to the

consummation of the sexual act which may result in the union of sperm and egg, where-in the SINGLE-stranded DNA of sperm and egg combine to create a zygote (fertilized egg) with the normal complement of doublestranded DNA and chromosomes. Simply put, this lyrical line is most likely referring to the authors' hunch that sex and the EXCHANGE OF SEXUAL FLUIDS (DNA-- sperm, egg...) seems likely on the evening in question, and the line, "Throw out the HARDWARE, let's do it right..." perhaps refers to the protagonist's lustful wish to avoid sex toys such as a dildo or vibrator on this special occasion,in order to instead rely on the "real thing" of simple yet exquisite sexual intercourse , which might well result in the union of sperm and egg, as alluded to by "Double helix in the sky tonight..". And, as far as the double helix being in "the sky tonight...", I'm reminded of the old Batman comics, in which the Bat symbol would be projected onto the night-time sky when Batman was summoned for help in Gotham, and with respect to he lyrics in question here, it may simply refer to the protagonist's sense or wish that on this particular evening, and with a particular love object, that sexual union seems to be written in the sky and stars above. At any rate, I believe the above-mentioned lines of lyrics have nothing to do with DRUGS, and everything to do with SEX and the basic BIOLOGY of sex. Jeffrey Lange (11/10/03): Think of Aja an oriental prostitute working at a brothel "up on the hill". The dime dancing as a $10 sex act and "throw out the hardware, let's do it right". as no sex toys just straight sex. What do you think? Sex drugs and rock and roll.

"Apocalypse Now," directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1979). If you haven't seen this dark epic, one of the most powerful films ever made, go get it right now and watch it. As of 2001, you will also be able to see "Apocalypse Now Redux," reedited, restored, and reprinted, with many previously-cut scenes added to the miasma "Coming Home," directed by Hal Ashby (1978). Great cast (John Voight, Jane Fonda, Bruce Dern) and soundtrack. "Brazil," directed by Terry Gilliam (1985). Kind of a downer, but wonderful. "Relaxin' at Camarillo," by Charlie Parker. You can hear it on (among other discs) "Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Charlie Parker Collection," Rhino Records. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. If you haven't read it, yadda yadda. "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" directed by Sydney Pollack (1969), another Jane Fonda movie, as it happens. See Joe Murtha's comments in "Bodhisattva," on "Countdown To Ecstasy." The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, by Tom Wolfe, now in Bantam, 1968. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925. I believe the Dan definitively have given the lie to what he said: "There are no second acts in American lives."

"Deacon Blues"
According to Brian Sweet, "when Becker and Fagen were writing the songs for the album, Becker called their ex-tour manager, Warren Wallace, a sports fan and close friend, and asked him for the names of some successful college football teams. He reeled off a few names and was surprised months later to find the most lyrically appropriate--Alabama, the Crimson Tide--used in 'Deacon Blues'.... "Once again Becker and Fagen's adolescent hipsterism and jazz ideology formed the basis of a Steely Dan song. Some years later Donald Fagen explained the intent behind the song: 'Well, the idea of the song was about this kind of alienated kid out in the suburbs who was looking for some sort of alternative values and

turns to jazz and hip culture as something to grab on to. And the basic idea is that there's a kind of culture of losers that he'd rather be part of than the general way of life in America. 'You know, they've got a name for the winners in the world, and the losers should have some sort of franchise as well. And the name which he has chosen which conveys a certain power is "Deacon Blues." ' " (RITY, pp. 121122) That last makes me think of Ferlinghetti's line: "I want to go where turtles win." The "expanding man"--this young dreamer's new, growing self? "That shape is my shade/ There where I used to stand"--he looks back at the shadow of his former self. "It seems like only yesterday I gazed through the glass/ At ramblers, wild gamblers/ That's all in the past"--This sounds to me like a reference to "Your Gold Teeth," which romanticized a dark and threatening demimonde. Now he gazes in at it, on the outside again, but transcending it. (For more discussion about being on the outside looking in, see "Black Cow" above.) The image echoes the glass in "YGT" ("I can see your iron and your brass/ I can see them shine behind the glass"). "This one's for real/ I already bought the dream"--the youth has tried on various identities, but now plights his troth with the jazz musician's life. "So useless to ask me why"--if you have to ask why, you couldn't possibly understand my answer. He's "ready to cross that fine line"--between sanity and madness, self-absorption and surrender, show and passion, restraint and abandon. Could this also be a drug ref? Maybe. The chorus sums up what the young jazzman thinks of as the perfect way to live and die, and announces his new persona--"Deacon Blues." "My back to the wall/ A victim of laughing chance"--a great image. I love the next verse; he's omnipotent not only musically, but sexually, and more than a little dangerous. From the word "viper" I get an association with Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust, wherein the floozy sings this song: Dreamed about a reefer five feet long Not too mild and not too strong, You'll be high, but not for long, If you're a viper--a vi-paah. I'm the queen of everything, Gotta be high before I can swing, Light a tea and let it be, If you're a viper--a vi-paah. And when your throat gets dry, You know you're high, If you're a viper. High, high, high, high, when you're high, Everything is dandy, Truck on down to the candy store, Bust your conk on peppermint candy! Then you know your body's sent, Don't care if you don't pay rent, Sky is high and so am I, If you're a viper--a vi-paah.

This song is sung in a scene in which the wanton dissoluteness of thirties Hollywood degenerates into chaos. Incidentally, one of the characters in The Day Of The Locust is named Homer Simpson--think Matt Groening gave Nathanael West a nod with "The Simpsons"? The first line of the last verse has nice symmetry with the first. The kid's now fully immersed in The Life; takes "one last drag" before he ascends to the stage to perform. The raw emotionality of "I cried when I wrote this song" contrasts very Steelily with "Sue me if I play too long." He's bought in emotionally, and doesn't care anymore what anyone else thinks--"this brother is free." What an epiphany. wormtom (GB, 6/8/00): I always thought that the "Deacon" in Deacon Blues was Deacon John a famous jazz / R&B guitarist who has an upbeat nature to his work Hence downtrodden Deacon Blue - not upbeat Deacon John I don't think this was commented on in the Making of Aja only that the guy was a shady recluse who hung out at night I wonder how the song is perceived by people in Tuscalousa who pull for the Crimson tide Dr. Mu (GB, 6/8/00): The Wake Forest slant has been my take for many years and why not? The notion was probably simply to contrast and a pun(t) with the Alabama Crimson tide - the winners. "Roll tide" was a constant chant in the Deep South during the Bear's last sideline prowls in the 70s. In contrast, the Wake Forest Deamon Deacons were at the bottom of the Division I heap - good intoxicated pep band though. Neither Wake Forest (Black and Gold) nor N.C. State (red and white) adorn blue. That distinction belongs to UNC (sky or powder puff or citadel) and Duke (royal). kd (GB, 6/9/00): No way "Deacon Blues" is about any other college moniker other than Alabama. These guys weren't pouring over SEC or ACC names. Clean Willy (3/5/02): I had a thought that maybe the narrator of Deacon Blues is a young and unhappy seminary student. I put this out of my head the first time it popped up; it didn't seem right. But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. Starting with the title, a deacon is the assisstant to a priest. Therefore, deacon blues would be the depression that preist assisstants feel. What if the song is about a boy who's parents are very religious and want him to enter the priesthood. He knows that he doesn't want to, it's not for him, but being young, he is torn. This is the day of the expanding man. This is the day (birth) that he takes the plunge into a world where man is spiritual (expanding). Sitting in the priest's office he remembers that it seems like only yesterday/ I gazed through the glass/ at ramblers/ wild gamblers. But now he will never get to see those kind of people anymore. "That's all in the past." His friends call him a fool, but this one's for real. He knows that there is no way out of the siuation (so useless to ask me why), but he's ready to cross that fine line (between "morality" and "immorality." The chorus, though, is his true feelings about what he wants. He wants to learn to play the saxophone (definitely not a church instrument, the sax is an instrument for the bars and clubs). He wants to play (do) just what he feels. At times, he feels that the only way out of the situation is to knock himself off (drink scotch whisky... and die behind the wheel). They got a name for the winners in the world, but he is just a loser who can't make up his mind. What are his choices? The college life of fun and sports and love (Crimson Tide, here meaning not only the school, but also the tide of women with crimson lipstick), or the doldrums of Deacon Blues? His "back is to the wall." What is "for him?" The essence of true romance. He is going to go the way of his heart and leave the seminary. He will share the things he knows and loves, with those of his kind. What are those things? Libations and sensations that stagger the mind. Now that he has made up his mind, he heads for town. He crawls like a viper (a reference to the garsen of eden, what's more sinful than the viper?) through these suburban scenes. he makes love to all the women he can. He will drink all night and "rise when the sun goes down." He is going to

make the world (physical over spiritual) his "home sweet home." Now it is the night (or expanding upon the above expanding man, death) of the expanding man. He takes a drag from his joint. But this was not a matter of taking the easy way out, our narrator spent a lot of time thinking about his decision, he cried when he wrote this song. But he made it, "This brother is free, I'll be what I want to be" Of course, I'm Jewish, so this priest thing might be a little out of my league. Nevertheless, it works nicely with the other themes people have mentioned of the depression of growing up, and living in a nostalgic time. Deacon Blues is almost a prelude to Nightfly. Both remind me a lot of Springsteen's Greetings From Asbury Park N.J., which I think is his best. But regardless, this is one of my favorite Dan tunes. This interpretation also reminds me a bit of Ed Norton and Ben Stiller's "Keeping The Faith" (2000).

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet The Day of the Locust, by Nathanael West. This song is from pp. 135-137 of the 1965 Time Inc. edition, which has a cool introduction by Budd Schulberg, who knew West. A Coney Island of the Mind, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, preeminent Beat poet and founder of San Francisco's City Lights Bookstore. Visit Edd Cote's illustrious deconstruction of this tune

"Peg"

The liner notes to "Alive In America" surrender this description: "Girlfriend. Narcissistic. Showbiz. Cult of self. Karmic payback." There are a lot of girlfriend characters in Steely songs who are trouble. Peg is one; she's trying to make her fortune in porn movies (which used to be called "blue" movies, hence, perhaps, her pin-up picture ["pin shot"] in "blueprint blue"?), and the narrator is trying to be really nice about it, or being bitterly ironic about it, while at the same time feeling devastated and warning her that her choice may have consequences. Can someone find these guys a nice girl-next-door for a change? The sharp-eared Edd Cote noticed that in the third repetition of the chorus at the end, someone is complaining mightily in the background, and says, "I don't wanna do this!" Listen and be regaled. Also, the golden-throated Michael McDonald's back-up line is "Shutter falls/ All in 3D/ Foreign movie," which I always misheard as "all in 3D before you." Used to be that "foreign movie" was pretty much a euphemism for porn flick. Tapeworm (Newsgroup, 2/11/00): I always interpreted the song Peg to be a story of "I knew her back when." The words seem to me to be a guy either writing a letter trying in vain to get in touch with Peg, or Our Hero simply watching Peg on TV as she makes her way along the Academy Awards runway. He smiles at the TV, alone in his room, remembering what it was like when they were dating. Now, here it is the late 1970's and Peg has become a star. Our Hero is still just a regular guy who knew her back in the day, but now can't get the time of day from her. Fast forward to 1999. Like Faye Dunaway, once a hot commodity and now in three short scenes in the Thomas Crown Affair, Peg may no longer have her name in lights above her pin shot. She wants to reconnect with her

old friends, her true friends, perhaps a little sorry that she got so taken with herself when fame hit. Does anyone else think that characters in Steely Dan songs may be somewhat serialized across the years? Any possibility that What a Shame's Barry the Software King and Bobby the Bunsen Prize winner were the boys upstairs, smokin' with Our Hero back in My Old School? Could Franny be the one one who put Our Hero on the Wolverine up to Annandale? Your Father (Newsgroup, 2/11/00): I doubt that Peg would be gracing the runway at the Academy Awards; I've always thought that Peg was a porn actress. The line in the chorus, "It's your favorite foreign movie" seems to be a pretty direct allusion to the fact that Peg's roles were not, um, Shakespearean. There are a few other hints along the way, "done up in blueprint blue"-- perhaps an allusion to the "blue movies" of the day? And of course, the broad "So won't you smile for the camera, I know I'll love you better." It all seems to fit in what my idea of the song is. And the narrator-- I don't think he's known Peg for a long time. He may be her boyfriend or pursuer, but he doesn't seem like he's too strange. He just wants Peg because he "likes her pin shot." Kid Charlem (Newsgroup, 2/13/00): But he keeps it with her letter. I always saw it as a kind of guy falls in love with girl, she becomes movie star and forgets him kind of story. Maybe that's too straightforward, but my mental image is of this guy sitting at home falling more in love with someone that all but forgets he exists. Another explanation is that he wrote her a fan letter, and got back a standard "thanks for the fan letter' reply, which he takes as a sign of her undying affection for him. He keeps it with her letter done up in blue print blue, like a shrine he keeps for her. And everytime she smiles, he thinks she's smiling just for him. Then again, he could be talking to a pirate. The St. Al/ Hoops! Fandom Q & A (5/21/00): My question is about the song "Peg". I recently saw a documentary on Peg Entwistle, a young actress who committed suicide by jumping off the Hollywood sign, it made me wonder if Peg was about her. So my question very simply put...Is the song "Peg" about a real person, if so then who is she? Submitted By: Susan Johnson Answer [from Messrs. F & B]: The song "Peg" was indeed about a real person, but that person was obviously nowhere near as real and compelling as Peg Entwistle. So now the song is about her. Okay? SoulMonkey (6/22/00): After hearing Ed Cotte's great catch of the "I don't wanna do this," in Peg, I believe that the singer/narrator is not a boyfriend or some groupie, but a porn-star director. The director is trying to get her to do her first porno scene, but at the last minute she can't go through with it on the set. So he is pumping her up with such comments as "I've seen you picture, your name in lights above it," "this is your big debut" and "I know they're gonna love it" as if trying to get her to envision the wealth and fame she will achieve. The "pin shot" and 'letter" were what she originally sent to inquire about a movie role. (Again he's pumping her up - "it sure looks good on you" - i.e. I've seen you naked in your pin shot and you look great.) The references to "smile for the camera" and "shutter falls" again make me think we are on the set with a reluctant actress. Seeing it all in "Three-D" shows she is witnessing the scene first hand. And while its hard to explain, even the underlying guitar line has sort of a pornographic ring to it. Peg (really!) (GB, 7/22/00): My opine is that there is some relation between being up on the hill and other hills mentioned in other songs. Aja (GB, 7/26/00): I see Peg as starlet who's ambitious to the point of posing in Playboy to get some attention (maybe the song would be called "Darva" if they wrote it today).

The fabulous unmissable Fandom Q & A: thanx to St. Al & Hoops! for those hours of question flogging, and bien sur to Them and to the Incomparable WebDrone for, well, everything GuestBook thread, 11/00: Your favorite foreign movie "My Life As a Dog" "French Kiss" "Nights of Cabiria" "Monika" "The Bicycle Thief" "La Ronde" "La Dolce Vita" "The Last Metro" "The Hairdresser" "Like Water For Chocolate" "Life Is Beautiful" "The Tin Drum" "Diva" "Farewell, My Concubine" "And Now For Something Completely Different" "Z" "Walkabout" "Cousin/ Cousine" "Godzilla" "Seven Samurai" "Mothra" "Il Postino" "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" "Trainspotting" "Cinema Paradiso" "Raising Ned Devine" "Mon Oncle" "Jean de Florette" "Manon des Sources" ("Manon of the Springs") "The 400 Blows" ---bon appetit!

"Home At Last"
How do I love this song? Let me count the ways.... It opens with the narrator driving along a sunny road, maybe even in Greece ("this peaceful shore," where Homer wrote The Odyssey), and having a sudden deja-vu of a time long past.... He is now Odysseus, on his way home to Ithaca after ten years of warring and wenching. As he approaches the island of the Sirens, he decides that he wants to hear the song that no human ears have ever heard and survived. Circe (the one who did that thing with the pigs) warned him that "whoever draws too close,/ off guard, and catches the Sirens' voices in the air--/ no sailing home for him.... The high thrilling song of the Sirens will transfix him" and make him wreck his ship. She recommends that he have his men plug their ears with beeswax and tie him, open-eared, to the mast so that he may listen safely. He does, and is driven nearly wild by their seductive song.

This scenario has been noted by many Steely fans, including Seigfredx in the Steely Mailroom (2/22/98). But I think that's not all there is to it, and the authors warn us of an impending Steely twist--"You think you've heard this one before." The narrator/ Odysseus successfully navigates this hazard, but decides that he kind of likes being lashed to the mast, and indeed may be "home at last" there. Too much pressure, responsibility, nonstop adventure--it's a lot easier just to chill and let someone else give the orders for a change. To let go of ambition and drivenness. Our hero finds freedom in bondage--a lovely Steely paradox. Even a pleasant dalliance, say with Calypso--"She serves the smooth retsina/ She keeps me safe and warm"--is likely to hide another approaching disaster: "It's just the calm before the storm." (In Calypso's case, she refused to let Odysseus go because she loved him so much. More storm, i.e., sturm und drang, ensued.) Retsina is a Greek alcoholic drink. Perhaps the Siren song is the call of musical perfection, which seduced the Dan. ("The work seduces us with light....") Or is it Success, the bitch-goddess? Or drugs? Or bucks? And does the image of the artist bound eerily presage the long and painful Steely dry spell? In The Metamorphoses, Ovid described Odysseus as a man more suited to dead-of-night intrigue (e.g., the Trojan Horse) than open conflict on the battlefield, a smooth talker who was not above dissembling or reframing his hijinks as heroic deeds. A crafty, subversive poet--very Dannish, indeed. OMIO (Old Man In Oregon) (GB, 8/4/99): HAL is... a great Vet [as in veteran] song.... Almost every vet that knows the song agrees about the uncanny similarity to Vet Reality.. From the tempo (slow, but relentless), the little minor tricks in the chord structures, and especially the words.. Look at the song through a vets eyes.. We "Returned".. We did not "Come Home".. Leaving millions of men & women wandering an Alien Nation which blames the failings of a political policy on those who were forced into putting that policy into action.. Because America has to believe it is Powerful, yet Innocent.. and has to blame somebody for it's own lies & self-deceptions. So we get The Cross to bear.. Which is good because we can handle it, while Bill & Hillary & Newt & Rush & Oprah & Rikki & Montel & Dan Blather & all those Innocent Americans cannot. So, the sense of that Quite Familiar Superhighway is somewhat Estranged.. On This Peaceful Shore.. You think you've been there once before.. The Danger of our Rocks has surly passed, yet we remain tied to the mast.. ("Why Can't You Just Get Over It"?).. I guess that I'm the Lucky One.. Because so many really good people weren't that lucky.. ("Survivor Guilt") She keeps me Safe & Warm.. It's just the calm before The Storm.. No matter how much they try to love you, your own personal set of Demons will eventually pop up to fuck with you.. Again.. I guess I'll try my luck again.. (Just keep living...) It's a song of Survival.. Trying to overcome what can never be finally put to rest.. You just learn how to wage war against the Demons that wage a war against you.. Of Grit & Guts in the face of Soul-Destroying forces that you never called up in the first place.. But somehow, you keep going.. And wonder at the bottomless pit of Stupidity that is the

American Consciousness.. Can It Be That I Have Found My Home At Last? If ya gotta ask, then Probably Not... There was a fevered exchange in the "Digest" over what "the smooth retsina" is. Herewith (edited only for redundancy): Norvis Pidner (Digest, 3/10/99): Back in '76/77, the Certs company made an effort at using its firmly established brand identity to broaden its share of the discretionary semi-digestibles market. The new product that resulted was "Retsina - Premium Ice Cream With The Fresh, Sexy Mint Flavor of Certs". The name Retsina actually derived from Retsin, the famously secret ingredient in Certs. (Actually, if you read the small print on a Certs wrapper, you learn that Retsin is simply Certs's trademarked name for its mixture of chlorophyll and cement, percentage undisclosed.) After bombing famously (there's that word again!) in several California test-markets, Retsina quickly disappeared from the grocer's freezer, but not, apparently, before making a distinct impression on our oft-dynamic duo. And so, ensconsed in the timeless lyrics of the Aja album, the Retsina name lives on, receiving a renewed minty-freshness with each re-mastered re-release/re-issue. Andrew Hopkins (Digest, 3/14/99): Dear Hoops, For anyone who does not quite inhabit Norvis Pidner's parallel universe, retsina is actually a Greek wine flavoured with pine resin (Norvis fails to explain why "she" would be drinking an obscure Californian ice cream, whatever its ingredients). The fact that no-one who has drunk retsina would ever use the adjective "smooth" is presumably another example of our heroes' famed irony. (Incidentally, have you noticed how many alcoholic beverages there are in SD songs?). Jess Gulbranson (Digest, 3/13/99): Sorry to burst your bubble, Answer Man, but retsina is a greek wine, and seeing as how the song is based on the Odyssey, that seems a more likely word choice than the name of a failed minty ice cream. Of course, this is Steely Dan and the Dandom Digest we're talking about here, so I won't discount the possiblity of sarcasm and puns on either the part of Becker and Fagen or on yours. :) Just keepin the kiddies straight on that point. Paul (Digest, 3/14/99): Retsina is a type of wine which is made in Greece. they utilize a native type of pine resin which gives it a distinctive ( no doubt ) flavor. It is actually quite good once you become accustomed to it, but perhaps that is just due to the fact that when you are in Greece everything tastes great. I highly recommend the Metaxa buzz with the local fishermen, just be careful when you stand up! JB (Digest, 3/13/99): From the American Heritage Dictionary: ret0si0na (rRt2s-n, rRt-sT2n) n. A Greek wine flavored with pine resin. [Modern Greek, probably from Italian resina, resin, from Latin rTshna. See RESIN.] The other explanation was a lot more fun, however. Brian Caterino (Digest, 3/14/99): I found a brief description of retsina at a mining company site. Chris Schmidt (Digest, 3/14/99): The Certs explantion is plausible I guess, but I don't buy it. When I purchased my home 10 years ago there was quite a stash of wine in the celler. The former owners were Swiss Italians and had been in the restaurant biz. I noticed that some of the bottles were labeled "Retsina". I was a little shy in trying it until some visiting German friends told me that they drank this "all the time at home". I can't tell you what it was made from but it tasted like tree bark (good tree bark that is).I'm sure someone more well versed in alcoholic libations can shed more light on this.

Tomas Broberg (Digest, 3/14/99): I always thought that the reference where to Retsina, a greek wine, mostly white, that during the fermentation is flavoured with a resin from a specific pine cone that I don't know the english word for. (I think it's named Aleppo.) Craig Morley (Digest, 3/15/99): Unless I'm missing an obvious and enjoyably creative joke (it wouldn't be the first time) being played by Norvis, let me venture forth another, and I trust more accurate, answer (at least as regards the specific use of the word by the well-traveled and well-read Donald and Walter). Retsina is a type of very strong wine (either red or white) commonly found in Greece (and Cyprus). Since "Home At Last", with its numerous lyric references to events in Homer's "Odyssey" - the "danger on the rocks", the lure of sea sirens, "still I remain tied to the mast", a long and troubled voyage coming to an end, etc. - it seems logical that the retsina they're referring to is this wine (taking its honored place alongside the other names of various librations the boys have injected into their lyrics through the years), and not the misguided attempt at ice cream flavoring by Certs. A friend of mine, while on vacation in Greece, tried a taste of retsina specifically because of the reference to it in "Home At Last." Not wishing to diss differing cultural sensibilities, but he found it nearly undrinkable (which is saying something for this friend). A very, very strong and bitter taste. RMoss (Digest, 3/15/99): ... It has a very distinctive (some say bitter) taste that derives from the pine resin used to seal the casks in which it is stored.... Homer's poem contains no references to the Greek wine, but as usual, our men did their lyrical homework. Mark Glinsky (Digest, 3/15/99): Actually, I think the more likely explanation is the Greek wine Retsina, as described below in some information on Grecian gourmet fare and regions: ATTICA: This exciting region is home to the city of Athens, the cradle of democracy. Attica exhibits a harmonious mingling of the ancient and the modern, simultaneously harboring temple ruins and ancient Byzantine mosaics with the bustling, modern Athens, which features The Plaka, the oldest quarter in Athens and the city's designated "nightspot." The Attican coastal districts take great pride in their seafood. The main Athenian port of Piraeus is on the Apollo Coast, and dishes such as skillet-cooked shrimp in feta cheese sauce serve as examples of local fare. Villages located on the inland plain, such as Koropi, Markopoulo, Peania and Spata, are noted for the exceptional vineyards that produce amber-hued Retsina wine. Barbecued or spit-roasted cuisine is also popular in these towns. Mel (Digest, 3/19/99): As far as Retsina, well, I hate to say it, but you're all wrong, yet right as well. Back in the early 70's, the often debt-plauged motor company AMC introduced a hatch back: the Retsina. How they found the name is beyond me, but the car itself was close to the desciption of the wine- very bitter and uncontrollably bad, though the car could not be a taste you would grow accustomed to. After only 6 short months of production, AMC pulled the Retsina from the market, looking to devote thier funds to the better selling Rambler. This short production run, coupled with the numerous flaws in the cars make-up made it quite a novelty car. Small groups, some might say cults, have formed in utter devotion to the lil behemoth. After all, it's possible to include this shady ride in a greek tradjedy, it would've fit in perfectly as the mode of transportation through the various levels of hell. How Donald and Walter would've learned of the cars existance even, is beyond me. I've tried as hard as I can to find records of it, though it's tough. Other than a few books that detail very obscure cars, this is a very forgotten car, made by an almost forgotten obscure company. Does it fit, though? Well, in the irony of thier style, I think so. After all, they were writing a song based around the odessy. Throw in a random non-sensical line about a totally obscure car. Could be they knew that someday there would be people like us who would over analyze all of thier lyrics, and they just couldn't resist throwing one in to get us off the track. lol

Hoops! McKay (Digest, 3/19/99): I have to back up Mel on this one. For a brief period, I actually *owned* a 1972 AMC Retsina GT. It was not entirely designed in bad taste; from the rear it looked like a Certs. I think it then evolved into a Pacer. Norvis replies (9/3/99): Ed. Note: The fact-checking wing here at Fevered Dreams reports that the Retsina in Certs is actually made up of partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, artificial and natural flavoring, and copper gluconate. By the way, Lulu, the next time you take off for the gas station to do this kind of so-called "fact-checking", could you please at least fill up the sedan, do you think?

The Odyssey, by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles (Viking, 1996) William James, letters The Metamorphoses, by Ovid, translated by David Slavitt (Johns Hopkins, 1994) "Down In The Bottom," on "11 Tracks of Whack," for another Homeric reference "Snowbound," on "Kamakiriad" Vietnam films recommended by OMIO: "The Stunt Man," 1980, Richard Rush, with Peter O'Toole; and "Jacob's Ladder," 1990, Adrian Lyne, with the ever-amazing Tim Robbins and the swoony Elizabeth Pena. You can read mail & submit your own to Steely Dan on the official page

"I Got The News"

Ooh, this song is so exuberantly sexy. And shows that it IS possible to write a basically happy song about love, or sex at least, that isn't drivel. And has what has got to be the best put-down in rock: "Broadway Duchess, darlin' if you only knew/ Half as much as everybody thinks you do." A Lark was a fifties car made by Studebaker, and was hardly a sexy car for the era, but sounds great. "Spanish kissin' "--probably another Steely neologism which is right on the verge of becoming a commonplace in the English language. What say we use our lubricious imaginations on this one? Garrison Spik, 11/6/98: "Slow down, I'll tell you when/I may never walk again" -- Lyrics suggesting oral sex. Specifically a man telling his lover the speed at which to "perform," then reassuring her (him?) that he will let her/him know when he is going to climax. (Perhaps the lover, to use the popular slang, "doesn't swallow.") Satisfied and astounded by the ferocity of the orgasm, the subject flatters his lover by the clever "I may never walk again." Daily Steve (4/13/00): Could it be, a song about VD (not the day, the social disease)? This is what happens when you do it without a fez on. What a tight song! Kevin (1/4/02): If Steely Dan could ever be accused of adding 'filler' tracks to their albums, then "I got the News" would have been receiving my vote for the past twenty or so years. Its got a disco beat for Goodness sake! How can it compare to the stately majesty of "Aja", or the magnificent sax in the fade on "Black Cow", or, or, or..... Then one of the guys in the Steely Dan covers band I play in (www.steelyscam.co.uk), pointed out the middle eight - "Broadway Duchess...." the soaring Michael Macdonald harmonies, the urgency with which that section

is played, and now suddenly its up there with the greats! I must have played these songs 100 times, both on record, tape, CD and with the band, and I never tire of them. Awesome.

"Josie"
Brian Sweet reports: " "Josie" details the return--probably from a prison stretch--of a highly regarded ringleader and all the celebrations which will herald her reappearance. She's a hellcat, a thief, a motorcycle freak and easy with her virtues, but she's also violently loyal to her friends and disciples. It contains another allusion to a Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie composition 'Scrapple From The Apple.' " (RITY, p. 125) The liner notes of "Alive In America" have this to say: "Mock-sacred intro. Ritualistic. Wasteland. Return of town hipstress sparks healing regression. Fertility. Regeneration. Human sacrifice?" All I can say is, Josie is the all-out woman I always wanted to be. No, as usual I can say more: I think "She prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire" is one of the best Steely images ever. Who could send up a more fervent prayer than a Roman, watching her world go up in flames while Nero fiddles and feckless debauchery proceeds all around her? And if a man said of me, "She's the raw flame/ The live wire," I'd be his in a jiffy. I've also always heard the line "She's the best friend we ever had," which is pretty clear on AIA but not on "Aja," as "She's the best friend we never had," which I like a lot. "Hats and hooters" shows up as "hooters and hats" on "Ida Lee." Roy.Scam (GB, 4/27/01): In the unreleased SD song "Mynah from China", ["Yellow Peril"] there's a phrase about the world-traveling hero, "with Josie back home on his mind." It reminded me that I've heard some military people refer to 'Josie' as a generic name for the guy who's humping your wife or girlfriend while you're overseas. Rather than dreaming about a girl named Josie, I'm thinking he's worrying about his lady's fidelity or lack thereof. (Later in the song, he makes a fascinating discovery and ceases to give a shit about back home.) Anyway, I don't think the name Josie in this context is a foreshadowing of a later and greater song which many of you have heard. fife (Blue Book, 11/10/03): I always thought that Josie was Roman Catholic, I could actually see her with the lace mantilla on her head and her rosary beads in hand.... Egil (Digest, 12/13/03): There is also a reference to Greek mythology here: The Godess of discord, Eris, threw a golden apple into a congregation of gods. The apple had the inscription: "For the fairest". To cut a long story short: This apple of discord - or 'battle apple,' if you will - launched the Trojan war. (Thus "Josie" is connected to the beginning of the story that ends with "Home at Last" - the latter being inspired by the tale of Ulysses finally returning to Greece ten years after the Trojan war.)

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet "Scrapple From The Apple" can be heard on (among other discs) "Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Charlie Parker Collection," on Rhino Records, mentioned above in "Parker's Band" "Ida Lee," from "Forward Into The Past." Jeez, I hate to keep mentioning it. Virtual Light, by William Gibson. There's a character named Josie.

"GAUCHO" Introductory notes

John Moore (Digest, 12/23/97): Where The Royal Scam contained a theme of escape, and Aja one of returning home, Gaucho could hardly help but reflect the struggles that went into it. While the music is recorded with the greatest fidelity available, the lyrics portray the first signs of aging, when what worked in youth isn't working anymore. "I'm not what I used to be," "Living hard will take its toll," "I'm just growing old." Everything sounded so effortless on Aja, but on Gaucho sounded tense and tired, the product of great strain. The followup to a peak performance is hard enough under ordinary circumstances, but the well-documented misfortunes caused Gaucho to sound forced, drained of youthful energy, with hardly any joy or pleasure in the creation of this music. It was no fun anymore; no wonder they stopped. David Ong (Digest, 12/23/97): The lyrics [of "Babylon Sisters," "Hey Nineteen," and "Glamour Profession"] are uncharacteristically direct and straightforward, and come as close as anything the Dan has produced to resembling a "theme" project. This trio of tunes is a window onto life in Lotusland. From the vantage point of our choirboys, it's a world of sweet young things, controlled substances and urban, street-level chic. It's a milieu in which the pursuit of pleasure is paramount, and unchecked by considerations of legality, morality and propriety. As is their custom, the boys do not apply a single-minded perspective to their subject. They simultaneously celebrate, mock and savage the figures, dealings and atmosphere that occupy these songs. Steven Casagrande (Digest, 12/23/97): Two songs in particular on Gaucho, "Babylon Sister" and "Glamour Profession," do a better job of capturing the L.A. "mood" than any others I've ever heard. I eventually escaped the Shenandoah Valley and spent some time in Southern California. Donald and Walter somehow captured that scene in song. It's uncanny. They just invoke it. Hank Silvers (GB, 9/18/98): Gaucho is (IMHO, of course) the next logical step after Aja. Aja is the anticipation; looking forward to what will happen when Josie comes home, or of returning to Aja after dalliances elsewhere. Gaucho shows an awareness of consequences, the hard living coming back to haunt the users in Glamour Profession; the realization and regret in Babylon Sisters that love is best experienced between only two. Aja's signature was a defiant "I'll be what I want to be," Gaucho's was a resigned "I'm not what I used to be."

Not really about the lyrics, but good food for thought: Slint (10/ 99): I noticed a sense of negativity in the introductory notes on Gaucho...everyone seems to compare it to AJA for some reason. Although I'll be the first to agree that AJA was without a doubt their best work, with the best "studio shine" and most positive feeling of effort, I still have to think that every album they did was different but GREAT as well. Gaucho is no exception. About 15-16 years ago, Donald Fagen told us in an interview that he and Walter Becker finally realised what AJA was while listening to some mixing of the project. It was what they had set out to do in the beginning. I've read elsewhere and since that after AJA, they still owed MCA one more project and after the huge success of AJA, didn't want to do it. Obliged, they took as long as they could to make Gaucho, trying in a sense to get as far away from AJA as possible to do it. I don't know why anyone would think they sound "tired" or "old" in this album. It's funky, smooth, brassy...Glamour Profession is a piece of art in my books. How can anyone listen to the theme of this work and think it sounds tired??? Gaucho is all this talent, singing about sex and getting high. It doesn't sound like AJA, but then AJA didn't sound like The Royal Scam. For a band that didn't want to even DO Gaucho, they sure did a damn fine job, and a DIFFERENT job as well. After all, who wants to hear 2 AJA's in a row?? I say, "Three Cheers" for Mr Fagen and Mr Becker when it comes to anything....including Gaucho. :] Jive Miguel (GB, 2/29/00): Perhaps a better title for the album should have been "Too Good For Mere Mortals". SteveVDan (GB, 11/21/00): Duke Ellington connection w/ 'Gaucho'.....Ellington's first recording sessions, including the ones that resulting in the recording of 'East St.Louis Toddle-o' (1926), took place at Brunswick Records Studios at 799 Broadway.....50 years later, sessions for what would become the 'Gaucho' album took place at A&R Studios (torn down in 1984) at 799 Broadway.....I believe these are the same studios where the infamous erasure of 'The Second Arrangement' took place.....a ghost of an old engineer???

"Babylon Sisters"
The liner notes for "Alive In America" offer this description: "Late-seventies L.A. noir. Apocalyptic. Burned out. Slide into decadence or healing regression? Cool beat." Hank Silvers (GB, 4/10/97) points out that kirschwasser is a cherry liqueur. A shell is a bowl-shaped wineglass; it gives me images of something that is all appearance, empty inside. "Tell me I'm the only one"--that lie-to-me ethos. "TJ" is Tijuana, just across the Mexican border from LA, where Angelenos go for cheap stuff--alcohol, drugs, whatever--but there are always strings attached.

Babylon Sistah (GB, 5/21/98): What's up with the words in Babylon Sister? It says "turn that jungle music down, just until we're out of town". Is this an instance of HIDDEN racism.

Hank Silvers points out a couple of references to Duke Ellington's self-styled "jungle music," which is the most likely reference here: http://vervemusicgroup.com/artist.aspx?aid=2670 or

http://dellington.org/scrapbk/scrap05.html
Milkman (GB, 5/21/98): I think the *character* singing the lines in "Babylon Sisters" is being portrayed as somewhat racist. In general, he's not a very likable character: shmoozing opportunist out to be seen with his young girlfriend. But I doubt with all my heart that D&W could in any way be construed as racists themselves. Roy.Scam (GB, 5/21/98): I would say that if the song hasn't shown up on Tom Joyner's HIDDEN-IDDEN-IDDENIDDEN RACISM-ISM-ISM-ISM feature, then it's probably O.K. TheStranger (GB, 5/21/98): Does jungle music refer to some kind of black music? Probably. But note that they are going to turn it back up as soon as they're safely out of town, indulging themselves in what's cool when no one can catch them. Where I live we have an ordinance against jungle music played during surgery or carjackings & it really cuts down on mistakes. YGK (GB, 5/21/98): My take on Babylon Sisters was always that when he turned 'that jungle music down', it was to sneak out of town. There was something taboo about being seen with this person, and that always seemed to me to be about age.... The "Jungle Music" refers to music with a beat, and in my interpretation, was HER music, another reference to age difference, in that HIS music wouldn't be jungle music. Also, as we age, music, younger music, seems to sound louder, so, by the narrator directing his young charge to turn it down, could be another indication that he's robbin' the old cradle. I think it may look racist, if the lyric was "turn that jungle music OFF!" So, my personal sub-text would go something like this: "Turn that Jungle Music Down (so we can sneak out of town without the public noticing that I'm with someone who could be my daughter) Just Until We're Out of Town" (where we can crank it up - you'll be happy to be with me, and me, you, without any public embarrassment. "This is no One Night Stand" (I'm not just going to screw you and leave you) "It's a real occasion" (it's important to me) Worsmith (GB, 5/21/98): ...please kids....Donald Fagen...the brooding urbanite..immersed in Ellington, Monk, and Bird in his youth and hip enough to play on the same bill as Oakland's very own Charles Brown.....is not a rascist....in fact an argument could be made that Steely Dan circa 1980 was in fact a "black" band.... :drums: Bernard Purdie bass: Chuck Rainey guitar: Hiram Bullock piano: Joe Sample.....need I go own.....

sax: Wayne Shorter, Wilton Felder vocals: Patti Austin (Long Island native), Valerie Simpson Glamour Professor (GB, 5/22/98): "Jungle Music" = The tycophany of the city. Any city. Rigs (GB, 5/22/98): I find the essence here, is not racism. It appears to me that, DF and WB were misinterpted. Jungle music, is not a racial term. There was a movie called (The Blackboard Jungle)! I recommend renting it! It came out in the late 1950's, and was a parody of what the elder masses thought of rock"n"roll. "The kids must be insane." DF and WB were adolescents in this time period. For example, on the song Pretel Logic, they say, "you must be joking son, where did you get those (blue swede) shoes.(Elvis) The jungle music time period, thus...and most of the selctions on New York Rock and Soul Revue, represent jungle music. It' not Frank, Dean, or Glenn Miller. It's bad. Dr. Mu (GB, 5/23/98): Rigs--You are correct, sir. My grandfather, from Queens, would call anything that wans't big band, especially rockn'roll, jungle music...and the previous generation looked down their prospective noses at jazz...and ther previous generation looked down their prospective noses at ragtime and John Philip Sousa for cryin' out loud. Michael C. Packard (1/14/99): I think the bit about the older man and younger woman is obvious. Also, I think the "jungle music" has nothing to do with "race." However, when they mention "here come those Santa Ana winds again...", means the reality of the situation these two people are in. Remember, the "Santa Ana" winds, in California, are also called the "Devil Winds", as when they (California) was suffering from the five-year drought a few years ago, these Santa Ana winds, which are howling through the mountain passes, usually accentuate the fires which proceed to the Laguna Beach area, and other Orange County homes, and set them on fire. Remember the videos a few years back?? Paul Jones (1/28/99): I think that the term "jungle music" might refer to the fact that the girl listening to the music is black herself, its her own music. Maybe he doesnt want to be seen with a young girl on his arm, especially black hence the line "just until were out of town" I love the line she says "Here comes those Santa Ana winds again" I think she says this line matter of factly to him, and I get the feeling that it demonstrates they have really nothing to say on their drive north. Similarities here to "Hey Nineteen" when all they share is tequilla (Cuervo Gold) and cocaine (Fine Columbian) together. "Well I should know by now / That it's just a spasm" - Menopause?? "Loves not a game for three" - Menopause and extramarital affairs?? Steve Hosford (GB, 6/7/99): "Babylon Sisters"...sounds to me like The Donald is singing about a couple of West Coast "sisters": San Francisco and Los Angeles - both are unarguably Babylonian in their decadence; both are notorious for "shaking" it (earthquakes). "Drive west down Sunset to the sea"...LA's Sunset does go East/West, but SF's almost equally well-known boulevard does not - it goes North/South. Then you've also got Santa Ana winds, jogging with show folk on the sand, etc. Meanwhile, farther North..."San Francisco show and tell"...this brings the other sister into the mix, as does "Distant lights from across the bay," a vista which, while technically possible I guess, doesn't exactly invoke

anything LA-related to leap to mind. "Love's not a game for three"...translation, Mr. Spock: Take your pick...LA or San Fran. But you can't split your allegience. To love one is to shun the other. Friends of the narrator, favoring one (SF, I would guess) over the other, caution him not to "go for that cotton candy." "So fine, so young": SFand LA both are fine in the seductive sense, and certainly the youngest of all major world cities. "Tell me I'm the only one," sung by two equally beckoning female sirens, each competing for the narrator's attentions. Johannes (Digest, 5/6/00): Ok, to be correct: Kirschwasser is indeed cherry brandy but has nothing to do with Kirchwasser (holy water) - there is no german word like this. Is is produced in the south of Germany and not in Austria (by the way, there is no language called austrian, in fact they speak german in Austria, too) and used for example for Schwarzwlder Kirschtorte (which is known in the US, too -at least I was told so) and as a drink. Clas (GB, 11/15/00): I am sitting here wondering. The Babylon Sisters lyrics are very confusing. The guy drives west on Sunset. We assume it's Sunset Boulevard, right? He is driving west on Sunset to the sea. So he'll end up in Santa Monica or Malibu, depending on if he's turning left or right on Pacific Coastway. They jog with showfolk on the sea, and here comes the tricky part, for ME it's a VERY tricky part; I have always thought that "...distant lights from across the bay..." placed the guy somewhere up in the bay-area, San Fransisco. For 20 years I have thought that the guy drove up to San Fransisco. Now, when I am writing this down it seems like there is no problem. The guy is jogging down in Malibu and is seing the lights from across the bay, away over to Venice, Long Beach and so. Help me out here you Los Angelinos.... PS/ But then again, think if it is so, that he means that he is driving west on SUNSET. The sinking sun. The guy is maybe in San Diego or whatever. Hell, I'll be sleepless tonite. Again. wormtom (GB, 11/15/00): Clas - Sunset to the sea - then off to Venice is the way I see it, but one could be looking south from Malibu just as easily (although Venice is more cheap but it's not free) The One, The Only Stranger (GB, 11/15/00): Geography For out Swedish Friends: Clas, When you hit the beach from Sunset you are on a bay. Not San Francisco. Santa Monica Bay. Lights to the north and south. Those are the distant lights across the bay. Dr. Mu (GB, 11/15/00): Clas: You bring up a great point about the lyrics on Babylon Sisters. Some SoCal.NoCal schizophrenia. I'm not sure I can unravel this butterfly ballot for you - but here goes: Theory The protagonist is relaying the "plan" to the Bablyon Sisters OR a guy having a decadent fantasy about the sisters. Perhaps he's a lonely voyeur who peers through a spyglass into the deliberately unshaded window where the Twin Sisters cavort halfundressed. He's seen them come and go with unsavory or sleazy characters. They have a turnstile by the door. What if he could show them some class - a grand adventure - and of course he'd get some. Faux romance with a known outcome. This theme gets twisted around in "Century's End."

Drive west on Sunset To the sea Turn that jungle music down Just until we're out of town *First we'll cruise to the Pacific. Take a right turn on Ventura Highway to Malibu and north on 101. I'll set the ground rules. We'll pretend to have elegance and grace* This is no one night stand It's a real occasion Close your eyes and you'll be there *THIS will be a grand adventure. Road trip to San Fran. which may take more than a night and a day. A Pygmalion twist. Soon we'll cruise north through Santa Barbara and up beautiful Hwy 1 by the Blue Pacific to Monterey and San Fran." It's everything they say The end of a perfect day Distant lights from across the bay *There are a number of ways to interpret this. We could arrive at Monterey at night and gaze at the Santa Cruz lights across Monterey Bay - just goergeous as are the voluptuous twins* Babylon sisters shake it Babylon sisters shake it So fine so young Tell me I'm the only one *I'll have the best of both worlds: class and sass* Here come those Santa Ana winds again *The daydream is broken by those nasty Santa Ana winds as the blow that desert air in disturbing the eyeglass view.. That'll foul up plans* We'll jog with show folk on the sand Drink kirschwasser from a shell San Francisco show and tell *Back to the daydream. We arrive at San Fran. This is where confusion sets in a bit. Not much sand on the beaches there. What the hell it's a fantasy. Decadence, hormones, and salt air* Well I should know by now That it's just a spasm Like a Sunday in T.J.

That it's cheap but it's not free That I'm not what I used to be And that love's not a game for three *Starting to have some doubts now* Babylon sisters shake it Babylon sisters shake it So fine so young Tell me I'm the only one My friends say no don't go For that cotton candy Son you're playing with fire The kid will live and learn As he watches his bridges burn From the point of no return *self explanatory as his soft-porn dreams fade into the sunset* Babylon sisters shake it Babylon sisters shake it So fine so young Tell me I'm the only one fezo (GB, 11/16/00): Clas: Sunset is indeed the classic route to the Pacific in L.A. Of course, it doesn't take you directly into the water, but no route really does, unless you're traveling the Jon Voight "Coming Home" way. NotMyNancy (GB, 11/16/00): "Distant lights from across the bay" is a Great Gatsby reference. I thiiiiiink that Nick, the narrator, has a moment when he's staring across the East Egg-West Egg bay and he sees a far away light. It's a symbol of his longing, first for sophistication (which dissolves to decadence), but later for innocence and simplicity. Becker and Fagen export the same themes from Long Island in the 20s to LA in the 70s and color them appropriately. While Great Gatsby ends in tragedy, Babylon Sisters ends a little earlier, with mere foreboding. Of interest along these lines, to me at least, was an interview on NPR about 2VN and the tour in which Mr. Becker quoted F. Scott Fitzgerald: "There are no second acts in American lives." Clas (GB, 11/19/00): The Stranger - "When you hit the beach from Sunset you are on a bay. Not San Francisco." FOR CHRIST SAKE, I KNOW that! I have been around the world. I have been to the Cincinnati Airport. My wondering was; do the guy turn right and head up to Santa Barbara and further to San Fransisco (the fucking BAY area)? Not my Nancy - strange, I re-read The Great Gatsby a couple of weeks ago! And sure, there's a reference, the "distant lights from across the bay" - The Fancy Festivitas in Long Island. I think you're on something there. The fancy party, the emptyness... hell, great! Dr. Mu (GB, 11/19/00): The guy is day dreamin' - he's still physically in LA imagining a gand adeventure. The Santa Ana winds disturb his fantasy.

The Stranger (GB, 11/19/00): The guy, after seeing the distant lights from across the bay, returns to his car, where there's a hugely expensive ticket on the windshield because like most outlanders he doesn't know parking meters on the beach run 24-7. He gets onto Sunset again, heads east, turns north on a street he thinks will take him to the Santa Monica Freeway, but gets lost in a Beverly Hills maze. A rent-a cop empties a full magazine into the rear when he slows down in front of one of Streisand's houses. Finally he heads for the I-405, turns south, then east again, but is fooled by the Slausen cutoff and, to paraprhase Johnny Carson, nearly gets his Slausen cut off. Etc. Life in L.A. Mexuine (11/9/00): How about this one: "This is no one night stand it's a relocation." Works, doesn't it? Cray Zee (GB, 5/7/01): Babylon Sisters. No one on the Oleander site offers an interpretation which harmonizes the song as a whole. Here's my take. Babylon was an ancient city devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, and notorious for prostitution. "Babylon Sisters" are prostitutes. The protagonist just picked one up [in Hollywood?], as is his habit, and is driving home, "west on Sunset" [you have to know L.A. geography] "to the sea." The song is the protagonist's inner monologue. At first he attempts to rationalize his habitual behavior by romanticizing the encounter ["This is no one night stand, its a real occasion" "The end of a perfect day" "We'll jog with showfolk on the sand"], but then reality sets in and results in harsh self-awareness ["Well I should know by now that its just a spasm; Like a Sunday in TJ (Tijuana); That its cheap, but its not free; That I'm not what I used to be"]. Perhaps the recurring Santa Ana winds [which blow in unusually warm air to Southern California] are a metaphor for recurring sexual desire, which sets the process in motion. In the end, the protagonist admits that despite the sleeziness of what he's doing, and against other's better judgment ["My friends say no, don't go for that cotton candy; Son you're playing with fire"], he's hooked and cannot control his compulsion ["The kid will live and learn, as he watches his bridges burn, from the point of no return"]. And lastly, he commands this evening's Babylon Sister to do what her sisters have done throughout time -"You've got to shake it, baby, you've got to shake it." wormtom (GB, 8/23/01): what would it be like if the Dan wrote Hotel California? they did... It starts out "Drive West on Sunset to the sea...." a slightly different prison Lee (The Blue GuestBook, 9/10/01): I view it as the story of a threesome between the narrator and the two "Babylon Sisters". On to the lyrics, and regarding the jungle music line and racism, remember that the writers are telling a story, not necessarily giving vent to their attitudes. Plus, there is the line "just until we're out of town". If the narrator were racist, he would not want to listen to it even "out of town". This is no one night stand It's a real occasion

To me, this refers to the fact that this will not be just an "average" one night stand. No, it will not be just a one night stand, it will be a threesome, "a real occasion". Babylon sisters shake it Babylon sisters shake it So fine so young Tell me I'm the only one This is a bit of knowing and witty self-deprecation. "Yeah, lie to me, baby, and tell me I'm the only one", fully knowing that his being "the only one" would be as impossible as could be with THESE two women. Here come those Santa Ana winds again The famed hot winds in L.A., directly from the desert, and yes, with the scenario written about in this song, things will surely be getting hot. San Francisco show and tell I am not totally sure, but with two women, and with every straight man's fantasy about to be played out, I think that the San Francisco show and tell (San Francisco being associated with gay culture) is the Babylon Sisters sexually performing on or with each other. Well I should know by now That it's just a spasm Like a Sunday in T.J. That it's cheap but it's not free Obviously, in Tijuana, things are cheap, but never free, and I think the narrator is referring to the fact that this was a "cheap" scene, i.e., sleazy, crude, etc. And maybe the line about not being free refers to the fact that these may be hookers. But, this may also refer to the possibility that even if the girls are not hookers, the narrator pays in the end, through his soul, through the cheapening of himself. That I'm not what I used to be And that love's not a game for three This is sort of the punchline. He's getting a little older, without that youthful ability to perform at the merest thought of sex, realizes that he probably will not perform up to the standards required when one has sex with two women, and that he should not go forward. My friends say no don't go For that cotton candy Son you're playing with fire The kid will live and learn As he watches his bridges burn From the point of no return His friends warn him that if he goes forward, he's "playing with fire", and maybe sex with one woman will never be satisfying again (once you try two, one will never do). Ah, but he does not listen, burns his bridges (from normal sex, the advice of friends, and his own intuition) and goes for it!

Dr. Mu (Aqua GB, 9/10/01): Steely Dan=Nostradamus? Lee: Yes. The guy could be a Gary Condit type. I was going to say sleazy Gary Condit-type, then realized that would be redundant. The Babylon Sisters could be voluptous blondes, mayber even identical twins, or could simply look like twins, with braided hair and muchos T&A. But the plural has a meaning. Of course, the guy could simply be a master of his domain loser with a spyglass and an imagination, but... "Don't go for that cotton candy" - The Sisters, at least in this song, are not prostitutes. "San Francisco Show and Tell" Lee, you're a genius. I've been trying to picture them on a road trip to the Bay area for over 20 years. D&W musta been laughing their rears off when they came up with that one "Distant lights from across the bay" Gotta be Santa Monica Bay then looking south or possiblly towards Catalina Island. "We'll jog with the show folk on the beach" They took a right turn at the end of Sunset Blvd and headed toward Malibu...act like I belong here. "Here come those Santa Ana winds again" A dose of reality. The wind disturbs his spyglass and the fantasy? Musses that hair of the sisters as they drive with the top down, sending them into a less than receptive mood? The whole scenario, as is the album, is about style rather than substance, and style is fickle goddess subject to swirling whims and winds... Truk (12/25/01): This song seems to be about a small group of guys, of different ages, living in southern California, who take a weekend road-trip across the border to TJ, in order to cavort with young, beautiful prostitutes. (Babylon: A city devoted to materialism and sensual pleasure; Babylon Sisters...you get the idea). The singer's persona is that of a hip, older male who's quite experienced with the materialistic and sensual pleasures that await them as he sets forth with several young and inexperienced male friends on this road trip. As they set out, his young companions want to listen to black urban music ("jungle music") in the car, and he finds this music to be annoying; he wants them to turn it down long enough that he can begin to tell his young and naive male companions about the trappings and pitfalls that await them in "Babylon". ("...Drive west on Sunset to the sea, turn that jungle music down, just until we're out of town...This is no one-night stand, it's a real occasion...Close your eyes and you'll be there, it's everything they say, the end to a perfect day, distant lights from across the bay..."). [Personally, I don't find SD's use of the term "jungle music" to be "racist"; rather, I feel it is an entirely acceptable use of culturally modern slang and vernacular, i.e., it is tastefully protected by poetic license, and if you don't agree, then don't buy or listen to this album cut]. As an aging male who's acutely aware of his faded youth, as well as his aging body, looks, and inner emotional landscape, the persona of the singer has also come to know full-well the longings and emotional consequences that may stem from being an aging male who still indulges himself in sex-for-hire with women young enough to be his children. ("...Like a Sunday in TJ, it's cheap but it's not free, I'm not what I used to be, and that love's not a game for-free...Babylon Sisters...shake it...So fine, so young, tell me "I'm the only one..."). This theme is vaguely reminiscent of Cole Porter's song, ""Love for Sale". ("...Who's prepared to pay the price, take a trip to paradise, love...for...sale..."). Steely Dan's "Hey Nineteen", also from their Gaucho LP, has a similar themes the dilemmas of fading or lost male youth, male mid-life angst, as well as perhaps the situations that many famous, older celebrities may find themselves in when it comes to sex and companionship; that is, such "old-timers" may find plenty of very "willing" and gorgeous young women for a romp in the hay, but after the bloom is off the fantasy, these relationships are often not emotionally satisfying, and due to age the profound age differences, such trysts often never move beyond shallowness and self-inflicted narcissism, and in fact such trysts may ultimately serve only to exacerbate and make more poignant, a mid-life crisis. ("...She thinks I'm crazy, but I'm just growing old....Hey 'Nineteen'... no, we've got nothing in common...no, we've got nothing to say...please take me along when you slide on down...").

"Hey Nineteen"

Brian Sweet says that this song "deals with a thirtysomething hepcat trying to get inside a musically naive teenage girl's pants, but he finds they have nothing in common except their taste for 'Cuervo Gold' and the 'fine Colombian.' Fagen said: 'Sentimental love is the stock in trade of every songwriter. Actually, we use it quite often, but we just try to change the angle a little and change the quality of the relationships a bit. It's innuendo and innuendo is a tradition in rhythm and blues.' "Listening to 'Hey Nineteen,' some critics suggested an even greater sense of alienation than usual beneath the surface. Becker and Fagen had both passed thirty and the majority of their audience were much younger. 'At one time I felt I would be morally obliged to blow my brains out at this age,' said Becker. 'But I no longer feel that.' "...during an interview with Mitchell Fink [Mr. Becker said] 'I don't know how many songs we've written about whores--it must be every other one. It's all very deliberate. You can only say so much about love. I don't see anything unreasonable about "Hey Nineteen." I think that song's self-explanatory, if not strictly autobiographical. I figured a lot of people could identify with it.' " (RITY, pp. 144-145) I think it's hilarious that these guys were just past thirty when they were bemoaning middle age. Ha! Thirty was a long time ago! John Dessi (Digest, 1/17/98) describes this song as being about "growing old disgracefully." Roy.Scam once suggested that when you've reached un certain age, it should be "skate a little slower now." tuesday (GB, 7/11/99): When I was 19 I embraced "Hey Nineteen" more than ever, for all the obvious reasons and the magic of being old enough to play but too young to be taken seriously. A decade later I look around and realize that I have have assumed Donald's role ... I can still dance, but I'll be dammed if they even care who the Queen of Soul is Never fear The Kids will live and learn Roy.Scam (GB, 8/5/00): I don't know if this happened at the other concerts but a memorable moment, to me anyway, occured at Virginia Beach during "Hey 19". Donald Fagen was doing his conversational part in the middle , talking about his preparations for his generation-spanning date; he baited us with a phrase something like, "... not that clear stuff but the yellowish stuff with the worm in the bottom; oh, ...what do they call that?" Suddenly, without regard to purpose or dignity, a huge number of people, including myself, screamed the answer, as if we felt Donald actually urgently needed that information. We were instantaneously unified in group silliness, not unlike a crowd of metalheads to whom someone just shouted, "Are you ready to rock and roll?!" -- It took me back to when I was little and Buffalo Bob (on the Howdy Doody Show) would bait the peanut gallery by saying "Where is that Clarabell?" when Clarabell was obviously right behind him. Like mesmerised Moonies, we would scream the damn clown's location as if the fate of mankind hung in the balance. (Even if we were at home watching this on television, we would scream, and maybe even point.) -- For some reason, being played to the point of atavistic reversion by Mister Fagen was not only nostalgic, but somehow emotionally satisfying.

Listen up (GB, 8/6/00): Mezcal is the tequila with the worm. Please pass this message on to Donald Fagen. Thank you. Jacketeer (3/6/02): A few years ago, Diggy mentioned that Reelin' in the Years might be about a father looking at his daughter, rather than and man and his girl. Mr. Stewart said the same about "My RIval." Those both made a lot of sense to me, and looking at "Hey 19," I think it might be similar. "Gaucho" as a whole seems to rely on themes of aging and this interpretation would fit nicely into that. I am nineteen myself right now, and on the occasions I have to visit home and drive around with my father, he always expresses to me how happy he is that we share tastes in music. I think that the narrator wants that with his daughter. He wants to be a cool dad, but he also wants her to appreciate the things that he does. The song starts with a story that the narrator is telling about how cool he was back in 67. The music is even upbeat here, but it changes with the line "And where the hell am I." But his daughter doesn't care at all. They've got nothing in common, this girl doesn't even know the basics of good music, she doesn't even know who Aretha Franklin is (and the narrator even tries to make her name hip with 'Retha instead of Aretha) and yet the narrator still wants her to "take him along." He is rambling on and on about the good time, but "she thinks he's crazy." Really, he is just growing old. But he loves his daughter and he wants to be cool in her eyes, so what does he do? He buys her beer, and sitting outside drinking with his daughter "makes tonight a wonderful thing." At least they don't have to talk at all. I have a technical question for anyone with an interesting answer. If the album was released in 1984, and the girl is 19, then "way back in 67" the girl was 2. If in fact this is a father/daughter song, then what was he doing with a two-year-old? Maybe that explains the line, "so young and willing" he is willing to have a family despite all the fun that is to be had. But now he can't have as much fun anymore (he's getting old) and he is a bit resentful. Cringemaker (10/1/03): "Hey Nineteen" is a nod to Muddy Waters' "She's Nineteen Years Old." In both songs, the narrators fixate on winning the attentions of the much younger woman which is no easy task.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet Anything by Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul in Perpetuity. Try "Lady Soul," "Aretha's Gold," "Aretha Now," or her fabulous gospel albums, "Aretha Gospel" and "Amazing Grace." There are also a couple of boxed sets.

"Gaucho"
Brian Sweet relates, " 'Gaucho' was typical Becker and Fagen imagery: the two homosexual partners live together quite contentedly in a luxurious apartmant high above Manhattan until their relationship is threatened by the arrival of a handsome young South American cowboy wearing a 'spangled leather poncho' and 'elevator shoes.' Becker and Fagen later said that if, when they were listening back to one of their songs, it didn't make them howl with laughter, they regarded it as a failure. "They weren't at all keen on discussing the lyrics on 'Gaucho.' The only explanation Walter Becker was prepared to give (and even then only semi serious) was the definition of the Custerdome. 'It's, ah, one of the largest buildings in the world. You know, an extravagant structure with a rotating restaurant on top.' But Fagen was more forthcoming. 'It exists only in our collective imagination. In the Steely Dan lexicon it serves as an archetype of a building that houses great corporations...' " (RITY, p.141) David Ong, Digest (12/23/97): Ah yes, the lyrics. They're as endearingly obscure as ever. It's obvious that the singer is berating an acquaintance (a roommate or other such cohabitant?) for his association with some poseur, a lightweight, freeloading hipster fraud who's long overstayed his welcome. Beyond that, though, we know nothing. Who are these characters? What are the circumstances of their involvement? What is the Custerdome? In the end, of course, it doesn't matter, because we're hearing a snippet of a diatribe from one

character to another, and that's all we're supposed to be hearing. Although it's a problem for some, one of the Dan's signature qualities is its deliberate vagueness, its preference for detailing a moment instead of telling the whole story. I love this song. The mesh of lyrics and music is absolute perfection. Many have commented that it is about a homosexual love triangle. The narrator can't believe that his lover has taken up with a mawkish climber, a cowboy stereotype in awful clothes. I think "elevator shoes" is a clever dis of cowboy boots. Though the narrator uses business lingo in his tirade, he still loves his wandering "special friend," which he betrays when he compares the studs on the poncho to the other's eyes. Dr. Mu (GB, 12/1/99): The gaucho is the horse-back riding cowboy of the plains of Argentina known as the pampas. They are known for a bit more colorful dress than the cowboy of the American West. A wide rim black hat perhaps with tassles, a scarf, vest, and flowing shirt adorn the gaucho amigo. A "dude" is a tourist or "city slicker" who vacations a faux Western ranch to get a taste of the old cowboy life. "Dude ranches" sprang up in California and other areas in the 70's as middle-aged urban and suburban white collar-types spent a few bucks to get in tune with themselves, nature, and hard physical work...kind of pathetic. Anyway, Walter and Donald were probably seen by some jazz purists and perhaps even one or two of their session players as "dudes"kneeling near the sacred temple of jazz. I wouldn't be surprised if they coined that relationship for themselves in the studio...of course later the kids picked it up and became household by the time "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" was released. Miz Ducky (GB, 12/2/99): Re: the song "Gaucho"--in addition to the original meaning of Gaucho elucidated by Dr. Mu, I always thought its use in the song was a neat pun on the word "gauche" (borrowed from the French), meaning someone who is ill-mannered or socially awkward. Here's this classy club our narrator's trying to run, and his friend brings round this tacky "rough trade" character he found god-knows-where, wearing this South American version of a Midnight Cowboy rig, and being so uncool as to actually snap his fingers to the club music and hold hands with his sweetie! I mean, rilly, how absolutely gauche!... I could go either way, actually, on the narrator himself being gay. When he lays the line "I don't care what you do at home" on his erstwhile friend: I can't tell you how many times I've heard versions of that line said by certain straight persons who are not as comfortable with others' homosexuality as they think they are! But in this context it could also be said by a person of any orientation who is just generally weirded-out by an acquaintance's relationship-choices. So ... yeah, like, my internal jury's out on that one. But just thought I'd point it out. The fallible-narrator aspect of this lyric is wonderful, especially given how economically it's done. Most obviously, our narrator is oblivious to the connotations of his dream-club being named the Custer Dome. That, and the way the music gets all star-struck and dreamy in the chorus when he's describing the Gaucho Amigo (plus the "studs that match your [star-struck] eyes" line in the second chorus) show that the song's actually siding with the supposedly disreputable lovers. Yeah, they're not welcome at this joint; but ultimately it's a point in their favor that they're not welcome. They need the Custerdome and its image-obsessed owner like, well, like Custer needed more Indians. fezo (GB, 12/2/99): I've always thought "Gaucho" was just the typical* boy burned by girl cause there's a new kid in town song. The competition as seen through the eyes of the jilted lover is reduced to caricature and the angst of the loser in the contest is still right on the surface. *as typical as any SD song can be f#maj (GB, 12/3/99): Gaucho is an aging homosexual's superficial hissy-fit avec pause for fashion critique! It's a caricature steeped in Steely tongue-in-cheek [no pun intended].

last stand (GB, 12/6/99): Custerdome - the 'corporate' machine as an extension of the 'winning of the west' (irony of failure\victory interpretations and re-inventions). I guess. Altamira (GB, 12/12/99): It seems to me that the narrator's objection to the other person's relationship with the Gaucho isn't because they're gay, but because the guy is tacky! The Gaucho isn't a gay stereotype, he's a silly, embarassing person who dresses badly. I've known gay men and lesbians who have said, regarding friends who were dating someone they found embarassing, something like "I don't care if she/he wants to go out with this person, but I wish she/he wouldn't bring her/him along when we all go out" or "I wish he/she wouldn't bring his/her date to my parties." That's how I've interpreted the line "I don't care what you do at home." But maybe I'm just being too charitable. I've always liked the song and found it rather funny; it's brought to mind some of the weird people my friends have dated that I found rather embarassing (then again, they may have thought the same thing about women I was dating). Dan (rilly! 6/3/00): For those still on the fence as to the narrator's homosexuality, I would recommend a more liberal reading of the line, "I'll scratch your back, you can scratch mine." Se-Dan Man (GB, 7/25/00): The atmosphere within the Custerdome has the effect of making everything appear to shimmer in that out-of-focus, 70's film-making technique popularly used in "dream sequences" in movies and TV of the day. This phenomena can still be observed through camera lenses in Wal-Mart portrait studios. Regis (GB, 8/4/00): What is the Custerdome? A) Custer's brand of sheep-skin condoms B) Late 70's NYC hipster slang for "in da house" C) A pet name for a squat D) A private exclusive club of some kind The Answer Man (GB, 8/16/01): Custerdome is a domed, seemlingly invisible large area of hovering, stationary dust stirred up at the Battle of Little Big Horn, which has NEVER entirely settled. It can viewed with special chemical glasses. SoulMonkey (9/24/01): Gaucho is a song that has grown on me. I love the way the singer appears to address his partner and the Gaucho at the same time, shifting the direction of his singing from one to the other. He is really ripping into the Gaucho while chastising his partner, and the singer does not seem to care that Gaucho is standing right there to hear it. One angle in the relationship that I have never heard suggested however, involves taking the line "Lord, I know you're a special friend" literally. He seems to be talking directly to the Gaucho when he says this. Now it might be a little far-fetched, but could it be that the singer is confronting his formally successful business partner ("boy we can't miss," "you are golden," with presentations high in the "Custerdome" board rooms) with concerns that his business partner has recently found religion? (Thus making the Gaucho almost a messianic or prophetic character.) These beliefs have taken over his partner's life - he is dragging this into everything and their business relationship is suffering ("one more expensive kiss-off"). Religious enthusiasts from time-to-time have probably confronted us all, and they can make us feel uncomfortable, because we do not know how to respond - but we will also then laugh behind their back later on. Obviously the "heavy rollers" in the business world would not take a shine to such behavior. The singer is asking a lot of questions, partially to get a handle of what's going on, but also to try to find out how this Gaucho person can totally disrupt everything they had. Who is he? Why is he wearing your clothes? Doesn't he have a home? Can't he try again tomorrow (hopefully someplace else?) Truk (12/25/01): Gaucho (Merriam Webster Dictionary definition: A cowboy of the So. American pampas): Whenever I've reflected on the mysterious lyrics of this song, a sense of some sort of struggle regarding the emergence of gay sexuality between protagonist and antagonist (perhaps within one member of a deep

friendship between two "straight" or occasionally bisexually inclined men who were previously quite close in terms of their friendship and relationship) seems hard to entirely dismiss. Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 10/14/03): I think the Gaucho is a fascinating, haunting, perplexing person. He reminds me of those characters in Chekhov plays who are talked about but never appear. They're always down the hall, in another room, waiting in the sleigh outside. Here he's snapping his fingers to music within eyeshot presumably of our narrator. I have a friend who said he always felt like the Gaucho, the outsider, the impostor, the unworthy, the substandard. Oh no, that's George Bush but seriously, there is no character in all of Steely Dan more shadowy than the Gaucho. He doesn't seem to have a home, he's a nomad. The song is disturbing. I read it as a gay lovers' spat but mixed in with some sort of illegal activity going on high in that Custerdome. He's a boudaceous cowboy, openly gay in his spangled leather poncho. I get the sense that the gaucho is blowing (no pun intended) the narrator's cover, there's a social gathering going on up there in the Custerdome that's somehow tied to business, money, deals. The narrator sounds like a jealous wife but she's savvy enough to know that apart from what kind of side action her hubby is getting, Gaucho does NOT belong here. She'll get around to kicking his ass when the gaucho is shown the door. That's it -- it's about a kid bringing a stray dog home to his mom during a dinner party! DACW (Blue Book, 10/14/03): Yes, the narrator is concerned that the "don't ask don't tell" but assumed quiet cover will be blown as he moves up in Hollywood society, revealed throughout the album's remainder as glossy hypocrisy...it's wryer than The Birdcage, but you getr my drift...I wonder thought if the Hollywood Society is doomed or the narrator's upward mobility or both - after all high in the Custerdome oblivious of the pending Sioux amBUSH... molly (Blue Book, 10/14/03): I see it more of a partnership rather than a homosexual relationship-I tend to see our two boys here D & W, fresh off of a platinum selling album, in the Custerdome of the music biz if you will-or Hollywood... -apparently D & W have said that a common theme in their lyrics involves a relationship between two people where one ends up straying off to another person or subject be it drugs, religion, a lover, etc.... so the narrator's partner... starts bringing this flashy dude around-not a homosexual but a flashy dealer type-all the while other people in the biz are noticing this and "laughing" at him ( the narrator) telling him to "get rid of him"-the line "I dont care what you do at home" is now implying that the drug use is affecting the workplaceOK the Gaucho wearing the friend's poncho and shoes I'm not too sure on-maybe that these items represent the partner's selling of his identity to the dealer-losing himself in the junk-"drop him near the freeway" another drug dealer reference like "under the bridge"-"holding hands with the man from Rio"(uh,hmmm,South America? Drugs?) and of course my favorite "with the studs that match your eyes"pinholes in the eyes, a heroin addict's tell tale sign.... Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 10/14/03): Gaucho IS about D & W, and the Gaucho is...Keith Jarret. The Custerdome is where they were after AJA, at the peak of their game. And just like the Last Stand, they were sitting ducks for anyone (Jarret) who wanted to bring them down. Then the world swoops in and ba-boom, the both of them were thrown completely off course. We raise our heroes up in this society, then we crucify them for it. It's positively Biblical, for goodnessakes. But it's either Donald blaming Walt or vice-versa, I get that feeling.

Reelin' In The Years, by Brian Sweet

"Time Out Of Mind"

Edd Cote, GB (2/4/98): Could "out of mind" be an allusion to "insane"? This would give us "Time Insane" and then it's not a far stretch to "Rhythmic Insanity." Brubeck used this type of punning during his metric experimentations ("Unsquare Dance", "Take Five", etc.) and, of course, he shows up in Donald's next release. Joe Murtha, GB (2/5/97): I think it's pretty safe to say that Don+Walt are not only "mad about Brubeck", but have applied a good deal of Brubeck's ground work in advanced time signatures to their own material. Maybe "Time Out" (Of Mind) is their tip of the hat to Brubeck's "Time Out"... What a crisp and elegant song--"perfection and grace." Lhasa is in Tibet. There has been much discussion on the GB about the lyrics, which I'll summarize until I can find it: "chasing the dragon" is smoking opium; I've heard it described as lighting a ball of opium, letting the smoke accumulate beneath a glass ("the mystical sphere?"), and then inhaling the collected smoke. Or it's a ref to shooting up--the clear liquid in the syringe turns "cherry" red when one pulls back to check the location in a vein; "the silver will turn to gold" when the foil is heated. Another song with, perhaps, very dark content and transcendent music. Hideaki: ??The dark side of the moonie. I think the song "Time out of mind" is about Tv evangelist who were popular in 70?80's(ex Pat Robertson, Jim & Tammy) and a new religion?! "Put a dollar in the kitty" means a donation. "Son you better be ready for love On this glory day.This is your chance to believe What I've got to say" sound like a hackneyed phrase used by TV evangelist,I think. "Don't the moon look pretty" make fun of "Moonie", and "the moon" seems to mean "Sun Myung Moon" or "Moonism". I think that "Tonight when I chase the dragon The water will change to cherry wine And the silver will turn to gold Time out of mind" tells that alchmy might have given us a lot of knowledge, because the development of science attested to false theory. After all the silver couldnot turn to gold. In the preach they used the future tense"will". If they have had confidence on their preach, they would have had the present tense, namely "the silver turn to gold."They used the future tense "will" as excuse. New religion tries to give us relief, but in vain, it is not a real relief like a drag! Maybe,D fagen wrote this song for W.Becker, and told that insincere preach of TV eveangelist couldnot turn anytihng to gold(a real relief), it seem to chase the dragon???? Slint (10/4/99): Chasing the dragon is smoking heroin on tin foil. Residue is reheated on a slant and it can turn to liquid and roll down the foil as you "chase" it with the flame. Mr. LaPage (GB, 6/30/00): ... I too find it hilarious how Fagen is trying to backstroke from the Time Out of Mind lyric thing. It is clearly a song about heroin/opium experimentation.... Come on. "The mystical steel [ "sphere" actually], direct from Lhasa." "It's the smile on my face." Sure, the songs about metallurgy, and comic reflection! Can there be any other meaning to "chasing the dragon' that these guys were alluding to in the lyric? Perhaps they're talking about purchasing false happiness and the terrible price it exacts, but it doesn't follow lyrically. Son you better be ready for love on this glory day This is your chance to believe what I've got to say Keep your eye on the sky put a dollar in the kitty don't the moon look pretty Sounds to me like the narrator is inticing a young initiate to experience the euphoric heroin high for the first time. His pied piper to paradise. Decscribing the head in sublime brushstrokes.

"Water to cherry wine, silver to gold" You can here his tempting come-on: "It's wonderful man! It'll change the way you see things. Your problems will all melt away. The revelation'll blow you away! You'll taste perfection. Be endowed with lifesaving grace. And to top it off, I've got the El Supremo stuff, Stygian Black Lotus, direct from the steppes of the Tibetan Himalayas. Picked by Buddhist monks in their high mountain Shangri-la. Don't be fooled people, this is what Fagen & Becker were conveying in this song, their protestations notwithstanding. F#maj (GB, 6/30/00): Heraldo Rivera [ha! Jerry Rivers, who once sold encyclopedia door to door or ws it vacuum cleaners? what do you mean you don't have electricity?????] even did a tv special on the fad and used the song under the voice-over. The"voice" of the song is a mere caricature and not necessarily one that has any autobiographic implication/connection [such as Down in the Bottom]. I 'get it' from a literary context as a character in a story [like Deacon Blue], as though we can listen in on the machinations in the affected brain of the user/abuser [who is to say what constitutes abuse?] singing this ode to opium. it was a product of the time... that is all. gotta match? Out Of Mind (10/5/00): Lots of lyrical analysis posted, but what about the music? In my humble opinion, this is the finest pop song ever written - from the subtle guitar riffs to the mellow keyboard line to the orchestral horn riffs - containing the most brilliant chord progression (in the bridge) ever played on "Lite Rock" radio stations. This song just plain has it all. The fact that the lyrics "fit" so well in the infectious groove makes it easy to overlook their meaning. Does this have anything to do with a mandate from the record company that there be commercially-accessible music on "Gaucho"? As for the lyrics, it's interesting that there are two "pop" songs ("Hey Nineteen" and "Time Out of Mind") on an otherwise "dark" album - the former dealing with a light subject matter and the latter "masking" its true subject matter behind "catchy" music and straightforward drum rhythms (complete with a "clap track" at the end). It's also worth noting that both of these songs may appeal to the "younger" members of the audience references to Greek life and roller skating in "Hey Nineteen", and references to "Son...," "Children..." "Rolling in the Snow," and chasing "Dragons" in "Time Out of Mind." I guess Lewis Carroll and Peter Paul & Mary told childrens' stories also... Dr. Mu (GB, 3/4/01): "Time Out of Mind" more than a simple LA Drug Fable or another chapter of Overanalysis Anonymous??????? Memory rush over me. From a famous 20th Century fantasy novel: (p.10) "The Bagginses have lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind., and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected" (pp. 22-23) Song sung by the dwarfs that night luring Bilbo's Tookish side... "Far over the misty mountains cold To dungeons deep and caverns old We must away ere break of day To seek the pale enchanted gold

On silver necklaces they strung The flowering stars, on crowns they hung The dragon fire, in twisted wire They meshed the light of moon and sun" Bilbo tricks Gollum out of Saurons enchanted Ring, Smaug the Dragon hoards Thor's gold in the Lonely Mountain, and Says a thrush to Bard, Lord of Dale as Smaug "lights up the town" (p. 261) "Wait! Wait! it said to him. The moon is rising. Look for the hollow of the left breast as he flies and turns above you! The Bard drew his bow-string to his ear. The dragon was circling back, flying low, and as he came the moon rose above the eastern shore and silvered his great wings The silver will turn to gold indeedand Bilbo to the Elvenking as he reveals the heart of the mountain... (p. 283) "You may see it! said he. It is this! and he drew forth the Arkenstone, and threw away the wrapping. The Elvenking himself, whose eyes were used to things of wonder and beauty, stood up in amazement. Even Bard gazed marvelling at it in silence. It was as if a globe had been filled with moonlight and hung before them in a net woven in the glint of frosty stars." I am holding a mystical sphere The adventure does not end without a price as chief dwarf Thorin Oakenshield is slain and King Bard lays the Arkenstone on Thorins chest upon burial. "The Hobbit" - J.R.R. Tolkien Children we have it right here. It pays to read good stuff to the kids Dan Fan (6/23/01): I always thought of this song as a ode to a charlatan or traveling preacher, espousing the riches of believing in his brand of spirituality but robbing his patrons blind..

"Son your better be ready for love, on this glory day. (Son = Jesus) This is you chance to believe, what I've got to say. Keep your eyes on the sky, put a dollar in the kitty. (most important to put money in the kitty) Don't the moon look pretty (many religious revivals occur at night)

"Tonight when I chase the dragon (demons - the imagery of a bible thumping preacher chasing the demons from a persons body always makes me laugh) The water may change to cherry wine (cheap cherry wine not the real stuff - I like the "may change" line, not promising anything he can't deliver) The silver will turn to gold (silver tongue turns to gold/money) Time out of mind. (while spending your time at these revival, you are literally out of your mind/insane with religious fervor) "I am holding the mystical stone ("stone" sly pronounced steal as in stealing money from his congregation - the original liner notes reproduced the lyrics and the word stone is used, not sphere) It's direct from Lhasa. (Holy land) People are rolling in snow, far from the world we know (Heaven) "Children we have it right here (Children meaning his flock) It's the light in my eye, It's perfection and grace ("Light" "perfection" and "grace" are all spiritual terms) It's the smile on my face." (his smile sell himself to his flock and is what keeps them coming back) All the numerous religious references may have a connection to drugs, but I have always thought the song was a variation on "Bodhisattva" but addressing western and not easter religion. Paige (Experimental GB, 7/3/01): And what is interesting to me is that the two separate interpretations are not mutually exclusive. Nor do they contradict each other. After all, it has been said that religion is the opiate of the people. MMD (GB, 7/4/01): "chasing the dragon" refers to the practice of burning [opium] on a piece of tin foil and inhaling the rising smoke, or "the dragon".... The inhaling was usually done through a straw, so one had to keep moving the straw to "chase" the rising smoke, which kind of resembles a Chinese dragon if you think about it. Anon 3001 (GB, 7/4/01): "Chasing the dragon" refers to the fact that the burning tar smack/opium will move away from the heat of the lighter, slithering like a snake through the crevices of foil, and the "smoker" then repositions the lighter to compensate for said movement..."chasing" the dragon with the lighter. jjflash (GB, 7/4/01): This from an ex-junker:"chasing" the dragon because the initial rush is never obtained again no matter how potent the shit.... I've always taken the line "Don't the moon look pretty" as a diversion to "Put a dollar in the kitty".You know, let me see your money, now look THAT way. Paige (GB, 7/5/01): As I (and others) have implied, there is a clear connection between the two major interpretations of the song. Is it too far a reach to say that Don and Walt recognized the similarities between drugs and religion and that they intentionally tied the two together in one song? I suppose that I have such great respect for their creativity and intellect that I wouldnt be surprised if connection were intentional. I am not convinced that either interpretation is clearly incorrect. They both fit so well and appear to be so obvious. For me, the words fully support both concepts to the point that it had to be intentional. Cray Zee (GB, 7/6/01): I agree that both the drug and religious images are unmistakable, so they must be intentional. I also agree that they're not mutually exclusive. So to come up with a supportable interpretation of what the song is about, you need to harmonize the two. I think the song takes to the next level the idea of the drug chemist/dealer as Christ analogy first introduced in Kid Charlemagne. Remember that protagonist of that song, after turning the world around with his particular mix of the diamond and the pearl, is asked: "Did you feel like Jesus?" Same or similar analogy in Time Out of Mind. The drug chemist/dealer is Christ (or perhaps a preacher),

preaching his religion to a loyal following. I think the image is of Jesus himself. "It's the light in my eyes." "It's perfection and grace." And, of course, Jesus turned water into wine. For some people, religion becomes the drug. For others, drugs become the religion. Sluggo (8/18/01): TIME OUT OF MIND: The Joy of the Score Rather than tear the song apart line by line, sometimes it makes more sense to stand back and look at "the whole forest unit and not just the tree units." First, the music: The buoyant beat and sweet, clean guitar fills are... happy, joyous... clean. The melody, possibly the Dan's most directly simple and sweet. Nice truckin' groove. Pure female voices chiming in the refrain. Note the lack of musical irony in this song, no too-clever twists. The words: It seems the narrator has just scored something very wonderful on our behalf (Children, we have it right here). Could it be some excellent dope of some kind? Pot, coke, opium? I don't think the exact type of dope matters here. Sure, the Lhasa reference could indicate the fragrant Hindu Kush indica from that region... "rolling in the snow," coke..."mystical sphere," opium...etc... What is delicately captured here is the joy of the score, the excited revealing of the fresh little baggy of promised good feeling. These ecstatic moments exist precisely between the unsatisfying feelings of the "jonesing," and the reality of being "fucked-up." It's a couple of short-lived manic minutes of anticipation, an instant of "perfection and grace". Time Out of Mind is a precise snapshot of those gleeful yet vaporous few moments early in the night at the score, when you're clear enough to feel happy, joyous anticipation. Note a conspicuous lack of lyrical irony and sarcasm (symptoms of unhappiness, dissatisfaction and anger that you find in other Dan work.) Knopfler's super-clean sound and major, un-bluesy tonalities suggest happiness and clarity of mind. The title "Countdown to Ecstasy" hints at the Dan's fascination with these particular moments in time, but this song has a sweet poetic funkiness that is more than just an idea but a full musical realization. If you are able, try to remember (or imagine if you have never been a "doper") how you felt at 5 AM after boozing, coking and partying all night dragging your burnt out ass across some dive's parking lot. This song is NOT about those weird moments.... This song is a splash of happiness in an often dark body of work. And it's a great, important subject well rendered and rarely addressed. This blows me away! Sluggo, by the way, plays with Mo Tucker sometimes, and other times in a band called Half Japanese. Check them out here. Truk (12/25/01): In my opinion, this is a very catchy tune that "celebrates" smoking heroin, as well as possibly shooting heroin. As I understand the practice of "chasing the dragon", powdered heroin is placed on either a spoon or a piece of aluminum foil, and is then "cooked" over a flame. Firstly, this causes the metal crucible to tarnish from silver to gold... "Tonight when I chase the dragon The water will change to cherry wine And the silver will turn to gold Time out of mind..." ...As the heroin is then vaporized or burned (and assuming there's no wind or draft in the room), the resulting smoke (just as with burning incense, or a cigarette burning in an an ashtray) tends to go aloft in a coiled serpentine or "dragon-like" configuration, and the abuser places a straw or other suitably sized tube in one nostril in order to inhale and "chase" the smoke of the burning/vaporizing heroin; hence the term, "chasing the dragon". Within these lyrics, the line, "...The water will change to cherry wine..." may merely reference the heightened perceptual sensations that often accompany heroin intoxication, or perhaps they're referring to the eventual tendency of heroin smokers to soon progress to shooting heroin (e.g., "...The water will change to cherry wine..." may refer to subsequent intravenous heroin use, in order to chase a more intense rush, and

in which the clear liquid contents of a loaded syringe turn red with blood as the abuser pulls back on the plunger in order to make sure they've entered a vein). Randy (9/22/02): I started listening to SD in the late 70's when I purchased Aja in LP form. I bought it on a whim at a record store and was soon a loyal DanFan. I have purchased and listened to all subsequent albums/CDs since. I have to tell you that no other band has ever had this type of effect on me. It has always been obvious to me that they were communicating something next level via their lyrics that might easily be overlooked (overlistened?). However, I had only a my college running buddies to bounce ideas off at the time as the Internet wasn't around. Well, with graduation from college, the pursuit of the dollar and the gap of time between Gaucho and Nightfly, I got out of practice with deciphering the story(s) contained within. As a side note, I have only within the last couple of years gone back and acquired the earlier works. I am happy to report that I have the same appreciation of those songs as well. Back to Gaucho. I just happened to be nineteen at the time this came out and I felt like the entire album was written for me. I say that tongue in cheek, but it seemed like every song on that album had some connection to one part of my life or another. As far as Time Out of Mind is concerned, I can definitely see where all the different postings are coming from, but for me, I can tell you that it is all about drugs and drug usage. At the time I was smoking a lot of pot as well as several other no-nos. So, the title of the song was akin to that night's partying session when we (that night's group) were gonna get loaded up and take literally "time out of mind". "Chase the Dragon" seemed to me to be innuendo for getting some heroin. (Which I never did, btw). "Rolling in the Snow" refering to cocaine, etc.

Visit another of Edd's illustrious deconstructions

"Elmer Gantry," with Burt Lancaster and Jean Simmons, 1960.

"My Rival"

This is a song with a tango sensibility. The tango is a dance/culture which is cerebrally sensuous, or sensuously cerebral; full of controlled wantonness and ritualized abandon. The cuckolded narrator is ruthlessly pursuing his unfaithful lover and her new man. I like how the scene is set from the first line, with noir elements interspersed with goofy images like the milk truck and the jolly roger. Mr. Stewart (GB, 6/27/98): Bob and I were out at a great cabin in the Alaskan wilderness, battery powered boom box playing "My Rival" as we scrubbed the last of the bear shit off dog Eunice (she'd rolled in it, joyfully), and Bob had this interpretation to offer: The Narrator: A new daddy The Rival: His baby boy The Milk Truck: His partner's breasts The detective on the case, scar across face, hearing aide, filming the whole charade: His partner's father with trusty video camera. Think about it. His boy is going to answer for his crime (taking his father away from his partner during the months and months of breast feeding) when he himself is a dad someday.

"Third World Man"

The liner notes on "Alive In America" describe it like this: "Minor chords. Brooding. Scary little kid. Terrorists, media, identities. Oedipal transposition. How resolved?" Here's another song which absolutely sends me, both musically and lyrically. Many have described "Johnny's playroom"--"a bunker filled with sand"--as a kid's sandbox. If so, perhaps the narrator is watching a kid play soldier in his sandbox--wiping out the bad guys and making the "sidewalks... safe for the little guy," i.e. the average joe. But watching him sends the narrator into a reverie, remembering a terrorist attack, perhaps from a real bunker. I always think of the SLA, the Symbionese Liberation Army, which was a tiny revolutionary cell in LA around the time the Dan were there. The SLA got a lot of exposure by kidnapping Patricia Hearst, scion of the Hearst publishing clan, and she converted to their cause as "Tania." I remember hearing her communiques, always preceded by the playing of "Mosadi/ Woman" by the Crusaders, one of my favorite jazz tunes, which was appropriated as the SLA theme song. Anyway, it could be any of a number of solitary terrorists with arcane and not always explicable causes--think "Don't Take Me Alive." The narrator is a witness at the inevitable showdown--"I saw the fireworks/ I believed that I was dreaming/ Till the neighbors came out screaming." I make a link between the boy and the terrorist, which gives this song incredible poignancy for me--here's this kid doing what kids do, playing war games in a sandbox, when that kind of behavior by adults is crazy and fatal. What do we do about our children playing these games? Shrug it off as normal and natural? Or should we be afraid that that behavior might foster terror such as we've seen recently in Arkansas and Oregon, or daily on inner city streets? OK, I'm sorry; there's a reason this is called "fever dreams." Another touch of genius in this song is the use of assonance in the form of long vowels, especially "e" and "i," to keep the lyrics scary and your nerves on edge: "III saw the fiiireworks/ III beeelieeeved that III was dreeeaming;" "when the siiidewalks are saaafe for the little guyyy." "The Nightfly" also uses this technique to great effect. KD (GB, 11/7/99): 'Third World Man' is the perfect, pathetic, disgusting ending to the last chapter of the first book of Dan. It weasels and worms its way to the end, leaving ends untied and dreams unfulfilled. It blasts fireworks and boasts what could be the best piece of solo guitar in any Dan song. It's a funeral dirge when the trombones and trumpets should be blaring. The perfect place would be in between the A and B sides, as you said, but it's like calling an old girlfriend that still wants you. Even if she's the best you'll ever do, if you screwed it up once, it's just tainted. Blaise (GB, 12/10/01): Prophetic lyrics dedicated to John Walker, American Taliban: Johnny's playroom Is a bunker filled with sand He's become a third world man Smoky Sunday He's been mobilized since dawn Now he's crouching on the lawn He's a third world man Soon you'll throw down your disguise We'll see behind those bright eyes By and by When the sidewalks are safe For the little guy

I saw the fireworks I believed that I was dreaming Till the neighbors came out screaming He's a third world man When he's crying out I just sing that Ghana Rondo E l'era del terzo mondo He's a third world man See? Now it all makes sense, finally. Life, it imitates art. Truk (12/25/01): Third World Man: This song may simply be a musical poem inspired (perhaps) by the authors' closely knowing someone afflicted with paranoia and/or outright paranoid delusions, due to either schizophrenia; a "mood" disorder with psychotic features; or, chemical dependency with drug-induced psychotic features (e.g., especially cocainism, crack intoxication, amphetamines, hallucinogens, etc. Narcotic dependency may also engender intense paranoia); or, perhaps, some combination of maladies thereof.

Crusaders, "Crusaders One"; boy do I love this one. Lots of Steely links: Wilton Felder, Larry Carlton, Chuck Rainey, and Joe Sample, who is still absolutely gorgeous. "The Nightfly," on the eponymous album "Don't Take Me Alive," on "The Royal Scam" "Listening Wind," by Talking Heads, on "Remain In Light" "Under African Skies," by Paul Simon, on "Graceland." Both these tunes also have a theme of liberation struggles, but in the Third World. Perhaps the Third World Man was emulating someone like them.

"THE NIGHTFLY"
Introductory notes "IGY" "Green Flower Street" "Ruby Baby" "Maxine" "The New Frontier" "The Nightfly" "The Goodbye Look" "Walk Between Raindrops" Introductory notes
I've got two words for you: The 'Burbs. To me, this scintillating theme piece is about growing up in the American suburbs in the fifties and early sixties. Those of you who did so, like me, may also feel that this album is a plangent distillation of that experience. Mr. Fagen didn't miss anything--the space race, the Cold War, fallout shelters, Caribbean coups, teen naivete and angst, tooling up and down the dial to find subversive jazz stations in the pop wasteland, and the terrible, optimistic dream of a benign technological future which crashed with the Cuban Missile Crisis, the eruption of the civil rights movement, the assassination of JFK, and the dawn of that dark night of the soul, the War in Vietnam. Sorry about that last sentence. I get carried away by this album.

About the cover: J. W. Nicol (Digest, 12/8-22/97) made an amazing discovery of a 1965 publicity photo of the science fiction writer, Frederik Pohl. Draw your own conclusions. The Nightfly (8/10/99):Put simply, the most complete "Steely Dan album" of them all. Though SD was never known for concept albums, Donald Fagen made it happen. Characteristically, this album has more focus that any Dan album ever had. Whereas all the Dan albums were compilations, all the songs on the Nightfly more or less describe the same scene. IGY Typifies the Junior High years to me. Everything is cool, the world is getting better, I'm going to high school, everything is gonna be so great! Then I imagine in Greenflower Street, that the young man gets involved with undesirable characters. Ruby Baby seems to be a mere tangent from the thought line of the whole album. It could've been left out, and no one would have ever missed it. Though the subject matter is quite appropo, I find it quite intrusive in the otherwise smooth storyline of the album. Maxine is probably does the best job of drawing a "mental picture" than any other song on the album. We all remember our high school love, whom we so sure we would end up marrying and living happily ever after. Who knows what happened between Maxine and the young man after the end of the song... I really don't want to know. In the New Frontier, I see a new High School graduate having a bash will the whole neighborhood. They are absolutely set up, with food, beer, and even a bomb shelter in the back yard. Life is no longer as simple as it was in the time of IGY or Maxine, but that's OK, because success is just around the corner. The Goodbye Look is a great great song, although once again a bit intrusive in the story line. We've left our boy in the 'burbs and shifted to a man living in Cuba. The whole song is his premonition of an untimely death. This tune is really incredible because it paints such a perfect picture of the man who's going to die, but has resigned himself to that fact, and wants to make the most of his last moments. Walk Between the Raindrops says love perfectly. Perhaps it could be Maxine, maybe even the big Blonde with the french twist, but they are so incredible absorbed in each other that nothing else matters. This song is a perfect example of the Fagen style of writing that presents just enough of a story that your imagination can paint a perfect picture, but you don't get so much of the story that it doesn't disappoint you by going some other way than you imagined. All in all, I would say this is the single best album of all Donald & Walter's music. Reelin' (8/28/99): I match Fagens liner notes (Michigan,not New York) to such an extent that I feel that album, not listen to it--I HAD a Spandex jacket. Lars (GB, 1/20/00): it is probably one of the best dan-albums. To me its a growing mans escape and dreams about the times of innocence and a life without demands. Men ( &women?) at the age of Don (at that time about 35yrs)breeds that kind of escpasism when the going gets boring and without sence.

"IGY"
The International Geophysical Year was an 18-month period in 1957-58 in which scientists world-wide participated in collaborative research about the planet. It was one of those inspiring things, like Esperanto, whose goal was to advance knowledge while showing that we could all get along. This song is rich in utopian visions of the near future ("By '76 we'll be A-OK)--a hodgepodge of contemporaneous sci-fi and American optimism, including clean, plentiful energy and quirky ideas of what universal prosperity would mean-"Spandex jackets, one for everyone"? "That game of chance in the sky" sounds like the Space Race ("You know we've got to win"). "We'll be clean when the work is done" bounces me back to "Dirty Work." The line implies no sooty coal dust, no smog, and a well-meaning people Doing The Right Thing--no more black-lung slaves underground, in our country, anyway. Remember, nuclear power was originally touted as clean and safe.

The lines about omniscient, benevolent computers to "make big decisions" reminds me of Richard Brautigan's poem, "All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace," in which deer graze in blossoming meadows beside humming mainframes. I love the alliterative image "all graphite and glitter." And here and in "The New Frontier," Mr. Fagen has packed in an astonishing number of period expressions. The dark side of this song, of course, is that during all this glorious dreaming the U.S. and the then-U.S.S.R. were furiously stockpiling massive caches of nuclear weapons and playing subtle chicken over the fate of the entire planet, and the C.I.A. was waging dirty wars all over the developing world. "The New Frontier" plays with this dissonance as well. Maxine (GB, 9/4/96): I relate the album to the image of the dj on the front cover...he works the graveyard shift at the station, and stays up nights playing requests for people. on this particular night, he decides to get introspective and starts playing tracks that mean something in his life. i picture the studio being flooded with calls from other "nightflies" who suddenly realize they've found a kindred spirit. wormtom (GB, 5/4/00): the other day someone commented on IGY being a sad sad song what? What? WHAT? first of all being an International Geophysicist ever year is I.G. year in my house yes we I.G.ers will con cur the world or at least find a few more cool oil fields under the gulf of meck he co so you can drive that plaaa schuu eerrr merrr beale to yurr hearts con tent. secondly the songs beckons of a perfect world where everything will prosper and life will be lived to the fullest and with modern technologies used in ingenious ways to allow us to live the good life in spades of contentment what is sad about that - I love their forward optimism thoyid okay - you look back and say how sad that it didn't work out that way sorry but the bomb shelter was never used either and you don't get remorse from me there granted the strip malls, lawyers, bankers, real estate people all making a fast buck without truly contributing to the society have much more to blame, but what about the handout and lawsuit mentality so prev today? and have new convieniances made things better, or life more rushed than before?

When I listen to IGY I harken back to a day of lounging in one's Florida Room, Betty on my right, stroking my neck as we both read novels (her a mystery, mine an old Faulkner or one of those great Russians) and sipping martinis with the hifi just barely aglow with some fused Monk excursion. I'll beckon back to the late 50's too even if I wasn't quite yet born then (but I was almost concieved in IGY) and now back to reality... and that fearsome excavation on magnolia blvd.

"The Atomic Cafe," a great movie about nuclear culture "The New Frontier" "All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace," by Richard Brautigan, in In Watermelon Sugar. The Fifties, by David Halberstam "The Manchurian Candidate," (1962), a great cold war thriller. For a Manchurian Candidate ref, see "Gaslighting Abbie." The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, by John Le Carre Any of Pablo Neruda's poetry "Talk Radio," the movie (1988), with Eric Bogosian

"Green Flower Street"

Another theme of the period was the illicit nature of interracial (or interreligious, or intrasexual) love. No Benetton ads in the fifties. Remember, Brown v. Board of Education was in '54, and the locution of choice in those days was "miscegenation." Note that the singer "keeps" his squeeze in her neighborhood--he can't be seen elsewhere with her--and that her brother bluntly accuses him of being a white boy in search of exotica. Various people have pointed out that the title may refer to "On Green Dolphin Street," which has been recorded by a zillion people, including (most notably to my mind) Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, and Miles Davis. Do you have any fave versions? Roy.Scam (GB, 7/14/99): Another misheard lyric: Until I read the words, I thought "mandarin plum" in Greenflower Street was "magic wand". -And if you DID find a plum in the street, would you really want to pick it up? I mean you don't know who left it there or where it's been or even if it was organically grown; I would at least blow it off before eating it. Dr. Mu (GB, 8/11/01): Green Flower Street seems to me to be an allegory of the wonders and great difficulties of racial integration of the 50s and 60s. This theme works well after IGY, a nostalgic and ironic look back at the perceived potential of science and logic overcoming the human condition in the late 50s. We thought things were going to turn out great, but (at least in 1982 - in the throws of recession and high "misery index" of the late 1970s) from Watts, the assassinations of MLK and RFK, Vietnam, to Nixon, gas lines and beyond. Even the Kinks sang "Help Me Now I'm Falling." Green Flower Street: Donald could have picked the obvious, but he seems to have a fascination with the Orient

- and this works. Commercial Chinatowns developed in the cities through the late 30s through the 50s and consisting of shops, theaters, and restaurants. The exotic was now available to even teens from the hubdrub of Paissac, NJ. International politcs played a role in racheting up tension. In retrospect, it obviously makes no sense to blame American citizens of any culture for the current actions of their ancestral homes. In the 40s, of course, many Japanese-Americans were deterred in WWII. After the 1949 Chinese Communist Revolution, the Japanese were our "friends" and the Chines our enemies. Cold War hysteria created a difficult time for the Chinese-Americans. They are often regarded as possible communist sympathizers. American conservatives routinely push for deportation of certain Chinese. By 1950, Senator Paul McCarran (D-Nevada) was head of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, which went so far as to investigate the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman to see the effect of alleged communist influence. The McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950 required American Communist Party members and others to register with the Attorney General. Title II of this onerous act went so far as see the Japanese American wartime incarceration as a precedent in case alleged subversives had to be rounded up. The potentially disastrous use of the incarceration precedent was a galvanizing factor in the Japanese American redress movement, when Japanese Americans and civil libertarians successfully fought to repeal this provision in the 1970s. President Harry Truman saw the folly of McCarrans 1950 Act when he noted that requiring members of banned organizations to identify themselves was like requiring thieves to registe r with the sheriff....The basic error of this bill is that it moves in the direction of suppressing opinion and belief....that would make a mockery of the Bill of Rights and of our claims to stand for freedom in the world." (from Trumans 9/22/50 veto message). When Congress passed the 1950 Act over Trumans veto, millions of Americans lost jobs or had careers destroyed because of rumors that they were a "bad security risk." Significantly, "loyalty clearance" programs were set up to define what was "American," yet Martin Dies, John Rankin, and other key members of the House and Senate "Un-American Activities" committees decided not to investigate the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups because they themselves were Klan supporters or sympathizers. By 1952, Senator McCarran had teamed up with Congressman Francis Walter (D-PA), another anti-Communist and anti-immigrant crusader to pass the McCarran-Walter Act, again over the veto of President Truman. The 1952 Act ended the 1917 Asiatic Barred Zone, but replaced it with something called the Asia-Pacific Triangle. Immigration from this area was capped at 2000 people per year, and if, for example, someone living in France was of Japanese origin, that person would be counted under the 2000 person limit. Not until the comprehensive overhaul of our immigration laws in 1965 did this explicit discrimination against Asian immigration cease. By 1960, residential dispersion of the Chinese continues throughout the Los Angeles area, especially with American born Chinese. Throughout the 60's, Chinese Americans made particular gains into professional arenas: medicine, corporations, and politics. The 1964 Immigration and Nationality Act removed the last barriers to Chinese immigration initiating a new era in the history of America's melting pot. The Civil Rights Movement and racial unrest continued through the 50s and 60s and became violent. GREEN FLOWER STREET Uptown It's murder out in the street Uptown It's murder out in the street Setting the stage for racial unrest in the streets That's where I found my mandarin plum That's where you'd be if you found one

In the 50s and 60s suburban white kids were exposed to cultures and music (R&B, blues, rock and roll) they had never heard before. It was exciting. In all likelihood, this song is a daydream combining elements of those times. Where the nights are bright And joy is complete Keep my squeeze on Green Flower Street Much more excitement than watching the black and white tube in our cookie-cutter house in the 'burbs. The unrest is seen naively initially as exciting, not dangerous. Since May There's trouble most every night Where once we danced our sweet routine It reeks of wine and kerosene The melding of cultures with underlying poltical and racist subtext is becoming a combustible mixture. That's part of the beauty of the kerosene line. "Kerosene bombs" can also be made with kerosene in a wine bottle with a rag wick. Light and throw. I'm too young to remember the existence or extent of significant violence during that period around Chinatowns. I seem to vaguely remember talk or news of some. Still, much less than that of African-American neighborhoods in the 60s - anyway, it's an allegory. Where the nights are bright And joy is complete Keep my squeeze on Green Flower Street There's a special place for lovers One we understand There where neon bends in daylight sky In that sunny room she soothes me Cools me with her fan We're drifting A thousand years roll by Me and my exotic lover escape from the rising tension into a timeless world of pleasure. Notice, that the portagonist is receiving all the pleasure. Whether this is a comment on the more misogynist times or more likely Asian culture or a combination is uncertain. A Geisha-like relationship, which of course mixes up Japanese and Chinese Lou Chang Her brother he's burning with rage Lou Chang Her brother he's burning with rage Interracial dating was virtually taboo in the 50s and early 60s. Asian-American parents and family members strongly discouraged this at least as stringently as any other culture. I'd like to know what's on his mind Still, a naive view of the rising racial tensions and the reasons boiling beneath. But, heck , the guys a teen without a care...

He says hey buddy you're not my kind A dose of reality. Where the nights are bright And joy is complete Keep my squeeze on Green Flower Street angel (GB, 8/15/01): I definitely can see how it could go either way with the line. Not only bombs being thrown, but your disintegration of many downtown/uptown areas. Especially an immigrant/ethnic area. Drinking on the streets (wine) and drug use (kerosene), Robbing for money to obtain those kind of things, etc.... The other thing I noticed is the comment on the protagonist getting all the pleasure. I think the "We're" and "We" implies that the girl is also getting something for her time and effort. This is not a total one way street. Though it does again reflect a simpler time, when women's lib was not the hot button issue it became in the 60's. I do agree that cultural differences and the role of women are also at work here. With the "cools me with her fan" line.... The bridge (is that the right word for it?) is a dream sequence by the protagonist. In other words, it is all in his mind. If the streets were so tough that wine and kerosene were stinking up the streets, fire bombs, etc. There is no way the lovers would just be doing what is said in those lyrics. A fantasy of what they do, might be his way to leave reality behind. What the 2 of them do when they are together, is slightly different. As real life has a tendency to be. tones (GB, 8/19/01): Dr. Mu - really enjoyed the "Greenflower St." deconstruct, and your history background reminded my of a bit of the local history here in the Bay Area. There's a beach here on the bay called China Camp, which has the last of pert' near a hundred fishing villages established around the turn of the previous century. The Chinese apparently were too efficient of workers for the dominant ethnic majority here in the Bay Area, and were taking too many jobs. So they were forced into the fishing industry, where they harvested the then unwanted bay shrimp. They exported most of the shrimp to back to China where there was a major market for it. Due largely to the traditional Chinese method of shrimping, this soon became a very successful industry for the Chinese, much to the consternation of the local ethnic majority, which succesfully lobbied *congress* to inact limits on when (No Chinese allowed during peak shrimping seasons), how (no traditional fishing methods), and how much a living Chinese shrimpers could earn. This is still the only time in American history that a federal law has been passed to target a specific ethnic minority. Overtly anyway. No wonder Lou Chang was burning with rage.

The Color of Water, by James McBride, an account of an interracial and interreligious relationship in this era.

"Ruby Baby"
Just a quick word: This is one of only two covers in the Steely repertoire (quick--what's the other one?). According to Brian Sweet, the band often used it as a warm-up tune before concerts. It's also one of the best unrequited-love songs of the era. Lars (GB, 1/20/00): Ruby is essentialto the collage that Don paints. It sets the time and even invites you as a listener to participate as you (perhaps) already have that song in your own context. It makes it to more than Donalds own world. Its an invitation.

RubyBaby (GB, 1/24/00): a word about my chosen namesake song: Personally, I've come to know this song as not Donald Fagen's cover (although it truly is) but as The Nightfly's own interpretation of this song. The original version sounds rather hillbillyish to me. I can see mr. nightfly just naturally making the cool changes in his own mind. It fits his personality. His day dreams seem to be way more opptimistic than his real life. He can make my rainy day brighter.

"Maxine"
Unfulfilled teenage love. Dreams were simple then. tom (GB, 2/8/00): I see a beat/Kerouc slant to Maxine off the Nightfly - subtle yes, but the "Mexico city, it's like another world, nice this time of year they say.." seems to these ears of Kerouc adventuresome proportions and fits the exact timeframe In "On The Road" Cassady hitchhikes (or drives, can't remember) his way down to Mexico. The idea of an open road and the possibilities of unrestricted travel were very much a beat theme, but not practiced openly by the more sheltered weary culture at large. I sometimes wonder if I had read Kerouc in high school as opposed to later, where one would have ended up, certainlyin an open convertible on a desert highway in an alternative universe within this greater landscape..." di di doo doo di di doo doo

"Wouldn't It Be Nice," The Beach Boys, for a Southern California treatment of similar territory

"The New Frontier"

"The Nightfly" has been described as the most "up" Steely album, but I think this is one of the darkest tunes of them all. This was the "duck-and-cover" generation, partying, making out, dreaming of grown-up independence a la "Maxine"--all in a fallout shelter, which was a common yard ornament lamely designed to last through nuclear holocaust. Metaphorically, fallout shelters were like the holes in the ground ostriches stick their heads in. There was a lot of oblivious fever-dreaming about surviving nuclear war as if it were a tornado; this was before the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were widely publicized. The epitome of this attitude: "Let's pretend that it's the real thing...." There are more great period references here--the perfume Ambush was popular, as were French twists, hairdos teased within an inch of their lives and coiled behind the head. Lyrically, "Ambush" and "French twist" have some nice libidinal undertones. Other refs: JFK's New Frontier, wingding, smoker, the Reds, the "button" (which, when pushed, would launch nuclear war), Tuesday Weld, the limbo. Speaking of the "big blonde," another layer of meaning is the forbidden pursuit of shiksas (gentile women) by Jewish men. This vein was mined conclusively by Philip Roth in a number of works. Woody Allen has also gotten a lot of pay dirt out of it. There's a nod to the immortal Dave Brubeck, truly an artist and a pioneer who gave dorkiness a good name. I like the nuance in the line "I like your eyes/ I like him too," as if the singer blurted out the former and tried to cover it with the latter, as he puts his moves on Tuesday. Like Mr. Subliminal. John Moore (6/5/98): I don't think he blurted it out to the big blonde as much as he was trying to be Mr. Smooth, chatting her up, slipping her the soft soap. The singer may or may not be a Brubeck fan, but if it gets him a good time with BB, hey, whatever it takes, y'know? Somewhere in all the boxes in the basement...there is an English lit text with a short story called Big Blonde, and I want to say it's by Dorothy Parker, but don't quote me. The big blonde is a fun-loving woman who comes to a bad end, but in between there is jollity and loose living, smiling at strange men and telling them she loved their neckties. Yeah, in the song it's the guy, not the blonde, who's making with the flattery, although there is

the parallel of pretending it's the real thing... I like the way Fagen yowls "allll night long"; makes me think of a tomcat...nicely enhancing the adolescent lust in the lyric. Not sure where to put this; seems as good a place as any: Roy.Scam (GB, 6/10/98): With Father's Day almost upon us, I was noticing the difference in the way Donald and Walter portray fathers, at least in song: Donald has Dad conscienciously building fallout shelters, and getting up at dawn to mow the lawn. Walt has Dad passed out drunk in the yard in a Santa suit.

"The Atomic Cafe," 1982, a great documentary about nuclear culture. "On The Beach," 1959, an early postapocalyptic movie with Gregory Peck The Fifties, by David Halberstam A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter Miller, Jr., an early postapocalyptic novel. "War Games," a gripping pseudodocumentary about the sequelae of a nuclear attack. (Not the Matthew Broderick one) "Time Out," by Dave Brubeck, as an intro. Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth, with one of the best last lines in American literature. See also Goodbye Columbus. "King Of The World," on "Countdown To Ecstasy" "Annie Hall," 1977, an example of Woody Allen's shiksa-chasing

"The Nightfly"
Who among us hasn't fantasized about being a cynical, iconoclastic late-night dj, a combination of a gentler Alan Berg and Wolfman Jack? Well, I didn't buy the dream, but I borrowed it, and here it is. Mount Belzoni appears to be fictional; the most we know is that it's east of the Mississippi (because of the call letters). Balinese Cowboy (GB, 2/22/97): "hello, baton rouge" refers to the Nightfly taking an on-air phone call from a caller from baton rouge. Spur (GB, 2/22/97): I'm still steered toward thinking that WJAZ would lie in the South, given the reference to Mt. Belzoni. The only Belzoni that comes to mind is in the Mississippi Delta blues country and sits between Jackson, MS and Indianola, MS. I think it's pronounced "Belzona" by the locals. The region has as much musical heritage as anywhere one can think of, and maybe DF's giving a nod to blues's (and jazz's?) roots. On the other hand, to imagine anything there could be a mountain is fanciful. Maybe there's another, more obvious Belzoni somewhere. Or, maybe the fictional tale can't be located at all, with the references being metaphors or being inside jokes for DF's friends. In any event, another great musical short story from Mr. Fagen. Dr. Mu (GB, 2/24/97): I've always imagined Mt. Belzoni to be one of the smaller Catskills. When I was a youngster, the family would make a pilgrimage once a year from Chicago to New York to see the grandfolks.... From the front yard, you could gaze westward across the Hudson to the foothills of the Catskills. On top of one of those mounts was an array of radio and TV antennae. The location was ideal for broadcasting across the tristate area. Being away, at that time, from the glow of the city the nighttime view of the blinking lights was spectacular.

This is another song with a lot of assonance in the form of long i's ("Toniiight the niiight is miiine") which cut like knives. His diction is also great on "java and Chesterfield kings," the latter a popular brand of smokes at the time. What I really love about this song is the interweaving of the lone, brooding dj who does not suffer fools gladly, with the subtext of a bitter love-lost story: it's a hurt so close to the surface that even an ad for a cosmetic can freshen it--was he a victim of "kiss and tell"? And in his sleep-deprived delirium, he becomes confessional--or is he dreaming while the tunes are spinning? He needs to tell his grief, but is it only to be when the red light is off? Ironic, to have that huge, unseen audience and not be able to say what you want most. (Times have changed: see the dj scene in "Grosse Pointe Blank," in which Minnie Driver nails John Cusack on the air for standing her up 10 years before.) Or as Dr. Mu says (GB, 3/6/97): In the title track while the imagery is crystal clear and stirs the imagination, it's interesting how the radio host drifts off into his own thoughts in this smoky late-night world of jazz, cigarettes, alcohol, insomniacs, incoherent callers, and loneliness. We're unsure whether his inner-most thoughts are included in the on-air dialogue for example as the "little blue jar" of "Patton's kiss and tell" stirs remembrances of a lost love... at that late hour radio hosts generally have more freedom to do that, and the listeners probably expected it. By the way, Noxzema used to come in a little cobalt blue glass jar, and I remember an Eve Arden perfume in a cobalt blue bottle. Ambush, maybe? Any memories out there as long as mine? Norvis Pidner (7/2/99): "The answer's still the same/It was you" - I always thought that was Fagen speaking through his Lester character, telling his listeners that they're his love - he isn't in love with one person because he puts all his love into his records. I always thought that. And when I read in Brian Sweet's book that Fagen was later embarrassed about revealing too much in the album's lyrics, I thought of it again. I assume he's comfortable with it now - he did finally release "On the Dunes" on Kama. Lars (GB, 1/20/00): When it comes to the title track I have always seen it as a middle-class jazzloving young mans inability to participate with the "real" hipsters. For a very long time I thought he sang "I wish I had a hard life" instead of "I wish I had a heart like ice"! Another mistake (Im not american or english) was that I heard "a rise (of the numbers) of men (hanging) in the trees" aiming at the Klans killing of black men. tom (GB, 1/24/00): Belzoni is a town in lower southwest Mississippi, no mountains to speak of but a few hills formed by former Miss. River terraces. They name a few of these prominant hills "Mountains" which would be a good place for a radio transmitting antenna. A real mountain, who knows, it may still be a finger puller of Donald's. As fpr radio transmittablity, no problem there. The old King Biscuit Flower Hour was broadcast in Helena Arkansas and reached over a 10 state area. I have made several trips farther north - highway 61 through the northern part of the delta blues region and once you get off the interstate you immediately go back 50 years. Cotton farming, juke joints, rural poverty - it's a great drive for those so inclined (I enjoy b&w photography here and chatting with the locals. Robert Johnson, Howlin Wolf, Sun House, Muddy Waters, and many others are from here, the real birth place of R&R. Robert Palmer's Deep Blues is a must read for anyone interested in the history, or stop into the Blues museums in Clarksdale Miss or Helena Ark. Festivals in April and October. Dr. Wu (1/24/04): i was just reading over the nightfly posts and im not so sure if the assessments on the last 3 tracks are correct, well, as far as i can tell anyway. there is a verse in the nightfly song that speaks about how there was a time where the narrator used to have love, and how that person was still on his mind. the goodbye look seemed to be summed up briefly yet accuratly by the guy known as "the nightfly." he said that it was a song of a man dying which seems to be correct to me, they have small receptions for him, hes getting the goodbye look which could mean the goodbye look as in eliminated from the earth completly. now the last song, walk between the raindrops, i could be way off. but as i see it the narrator is

dead now, and he is walking between the raindrops with a lover who died, which leads me back the nightfly when he speaks of how he used to have a flame of love. they are walking between the raindrops to a higher place because they are both passed away now.

"Grosse Point Blank," 1997, George Armitage, hilarious. "Talk Radio," 1988, the movie of Eric Bogosian's one-man show, directed by Oliver Stone. "The King of Marvin Gardens," 1972, Bob Rafelson.

"The Goodbye Look"

I find this one of the most hilarious Steely tunes. Apparently Mr. Fagen has denied that it's about Cuba, but "this quiet island in the [Guantanamo?] bay" is a dead ringer for Batista's Cuba on the eve of the Fidelista revolution. Even the line "It's all new players in a whole new ball game" implicates Cuba, since Cuba is baseball mad. "I read the book"--The Ugly American, perhaps? The Heart of Darkness? The guy is so arrogantly, Yanquily clueless, but fatalistic at the same time. And here's another perky Steely tune with dark lyrical content. Hasn't everyone at some point experienced "the goodbye look" from a boss, a boy/ girlfriend, a bouncer? It's that unmistakable, instantaneous visual notification that you are history, and Mr. Fagen couldn't have summed it up better. kd (4/19/99): Last night at some anonymous college party I met a girl named Gretchen, who, by way of her good looks looked nothing like a Gretchen. And, thankfully she didn't get tired of this, I sang "won't you pour me a Cuban Breeze, Gretchen?" a few thousand times to her. Now, I'm a bit of a party-er, but I have no clue what goes into a Cuban Breeze, and am guessing that's it's a made up concoction made to go along with the Cuban storyline in "The Goodbye Look." She didn't produce a Cuban Breeze, but we did down some copious amounts of rum and Coke-which kind of goes along with another Steely song. Reelin' (8/28/99): If Goodbye Look isn't about Cuba, there's no bomb shelter in New Frontier. Miz Ducky (GB, 11/ 99): Re Cuban Breeze: I think one of our favorite smark-asses has done it to me again. At some point last night I got curious and went a-web-researching. According to the WebTender site (which lists drinks I have never even imagined in my wildest dreams, let alone contemplated drinking), there is no such cocktail as a "Cuban Breeze." There's a Sea Breeze, a Cuba Libre, a Cuban Special. No Cuban Breeze. Maybe someone should invent one. At any rate, "Cuban Breeze" does scan in the line better than any of the real-life drink names, it's another nice evocative tidbit setting the scene in one of my favorite lyrics--and it sends feckless fan-geeks like me off on wild goose chases, so I suppose it's achieved all its purposes. Thanks, Donald. Hope you're laughing, because I am.

The Ugly American, by William Lederer and Eugene Burdick The Heart Of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad. Used by Coppola as the plot basis for "Apocalypse Now." It's great fun to read the book and then see the movie.

"Walk Between Raindrops"

Donald Fagen (Manhattan, September 2002) (Liner notes for Nightfly DVD-A): "Walk Between Raindrops," the almost-sort-of-hopeful wrap-up tune, was written for an old girlfriend from Miami. The title is taken from a Jewish folktale in which a powerful magus-rebbi manages to get from his home to the temple during a thunderstorm without getting wet. I take a solo on the Hammond B3. During the final mixdown of the album, I started to feel kind of funny, and that feeling turned into an even weirder feeling that had to do with work and love and the past and mortality and so forth. I wouldn't complete another cd until 1993. So I'm glad I made The Nightfly before a lot of the kid-ness was beat the hell out of me, as happens to us all. To me, this is a sweet and relatively irony-free song, with a lovely and uncomplicated image--to be so in love that you can walk between raindrops and stay untouched by life's misfortunes. There are a few atmospheric touches of the garish scene that was Miami, but not enough to darken the song. OK, I'm beating a dead horse, but--back to Cuba--I find it interesting that this song about Miami, now the stronghold of Cuban expatriates, immediately follows "The Goodbye Look." Reelin' (8/28/99): Among my few life accomplishment, I count the fact that my 19 year-old daughter is continuing the "Dan" tradition significant. However, she was 6 before she realized that the hotels in Walk Between The Raindrops were "big" not "pink" (though the use of that color in Miami is consistant. Clas (Yellow GB, 7/14/01): But anyway, meanwhile I might tell you a funny anecdote, apropos The Nightfly that is, how I misheard the shoutouts before the organ-solo in Walk Between the Raindrops: I thought the guys shouted: "Ooooooooh GRAB it!" (you know, like we used to say "suck it to me" when the guitar-player in the solo... ...well, not REALLY, you know, "suck it to me", no blow-jobs, not that, and absolutely not with... him. And theirfor absolutely not "grab it", read zur weiter and you'll see what I mean) Just recently I learned to know the shoutout is: "Oooooooh MIAMI!" Pretty cool. It's got a nice blue ring to it. Kind of Bergman. Rajah of Erase (GB, 7/1/03): That "Walk Between the Raindrops" is a very bittersweet number. The "kid" part of himself he refers to is exemplified in the first person character of the guy in that song. The relationship he had with the lady was over and yet he still dreamt of the day he'd find her "on that Florida shore". That's kidstuff there. Being about 33 or so years old, he's really still living in a fairytale world where everything always ends happily. Knowing when something is over and accepting it is not something "kids" in their twenties and early thirties are usually very good at. Men especially seem to have a problem with this. I did. It's part of truly growing up. And you do have to leave something behind in order to go on to the next chapter of your life, in this case, the "kid" part of himself. The thing he said, "I wouldn't record again until 1993" is really just heartbreaking, to have that great gift and just not be able to access it for so many years, which is why we should continue to celebrate this return. People, we got lucky twice. Very very nice.

"KAMAKIRIAD" Introductory Notes "Kamakiriad"

Mark Roberts (Digest, 5/14/98): The concepts require some imagination to appreciate. A steam powered car with aScottish frame and instrumentation from Bali!!!. A theme park ride which allows you to recall and re experience past emotions. Counter moonbeams causing people to fall out of love!. Whatever your opinions on the concepts, I find them fascinating.... I just love the whole thing, Perhaps it's the post ironic flavor it gives, I'm not sure. Bob Tedde (GB, 9/5/96): It has a coldness to it. Maybe because it's based in science fiction, rather than human emotion like The Nightfly. Dr. Mu (GB, 7/28/98): The scenes flow in the songs in a disjointed way kinda like a dream--much more limbic system [than] SD. fezo (GB, 7/28/98): I recently scrolled through the lyrics for Kamakiriad. Even without the benefit of music, the words tell a coherent seamless story, both inter- and intra-song. While this is obviously partly because it's a concept album, i think it goes beyond that. The writing seems more thoughtout, developed, almost poetic. Randall (GB, 6/27/99):Kamakiriad = journey of the Kamakiri (referring to Homer's Iliad).So far so good. Now kamakiri is japanese for mantis. The Japanese are infamous for their inability to differentiate between /l/ and /r/ and a typical mispronunciation of 'Iliad' would be 'iriad'- so is it conceivable that Fagen is punning ? In Bach's last fugue he spelt his name in the music ( 'h' at the time stood for c natural) so a precedent of sorts exists. Or maybe I've been working too hard. Blaise (GB, 6/29/00): Kamikiriad is an album by the depressed for the depressed. Dr. Mu (GB, 6/30/00): Kama has a unique otherwordly/dreamy/surreal/off kilter soundscape that fits in well with the black and white illustrations in the liner note jacket. As The Nightfly was a modern man looking wistfully at his past, the bookend Kamakiriad was a apprehensive, quirky, clever, near future subconscious look at an uncertain future. Notice how the 2-dimensional eerie sound slowly melts away during the 2nd half of the album. Compare the sound, the flavor of first 3 songs (Trans-Island Skyway, Countermoon, and Springtime) with the last 3 (Florida Room, On the Dunes, and Teahouse on the Tracks)...like a series of dreams with the last being a decision to fish or cut bait with the new day. ... After an aborted attempt in the mid 80's could Donald Fage and Walter Becker work together fruitfully? Could he get his creative juices flowing again? NYR&SR, touring, and this album were part of the Dan in artistic rehab. essentially. The answer is given at the end of Kama - back on the adventure trail. The soundscape is strange or I should say different than the Dan albums of The Nightfly...but it's on purpose mostly just as 11 ToW. Becker could have easily made the album sound like China Crisis, but that was not what he was after. The March Hare (Newsgroup, 7/16/00): I noticed an odd little lyrical device favored by D.F. He seems to like coupling words with "time," as in "lantern time" from Tomorrow's Girls. Thing is, I don't remember any songs

from the seventies era that had this time-fixation. It happened three times on Kamakiriad, though, and once on 2VN, which, I think, constitutes a legitimate trend. And but so, realizing these things are always open for interpretation, what do you imagine these to mean? "Crying time" (Trans-Island Skyway) I suppose to be the brief interlude between having your heart wrenched and the subsequent rationalization that invariably involves multiple expletives. "Lantern time": the period when the street lamps come on but it's still light out, which can vary from, like, a period of fifteen minutes to three and a half hours, depending on things like daylight savings time or the mental accumen of the people who set the timers on the things. "Nervous time"(Snowbound): the time it takes to decide between hitting the town for the evening or yet another *&^#ing night of Letterman. "Gospel time" (Almost Gothic, and the sole occurence on 2VN): As it pertains to any activity X, the exact wrong moment to be performing X. e.g. doing the laundry at 3 a.m., sleeping at 5:45 p.m., etc. El Supremo (Newsgroup, 7/17/00): During the 1996 tour, the song "Wet Side Story" featured another one: Animal Time. Ti BonAnge (Newsgroup, 7/17/00): And you should be aware of this, El Supremo--just exactly when did the protagonist "detect the El Supremo?" "After closing time/at the Guernsey Fair" I imagine there are numerous others, and will do a search through my lyrics files to see what I can come up with. There are repeated motifs in all Steely Dan songs. Malcolm Morrison and I were noodling about this a while back, thinking of a webpage where these commonalities were outlined. Like, how often did they use the word love? And of those occurrences, how many related to romantic love, as opposed to other forms of love? How often did they use numbers and why? On Fagen's solo projects, he uses "seven seconds" in two disparate songs: The title track from Nightfly: "Respect the seven-second delay we use," and "For seven seconds it's like Christmas Day," from Snowbound on Kamakiriad. Time out of mind. Mal (Newsgroup, 7/17/00): you got in 2 minutes before me, seems like the time of our time has come and gone or maybe our little wild time has just begun. Still if you post the same thing as me again it's stomping time. Miz Ducky (Newsgroup, 7/17/00): Re the "time" phrases in Kamakiriad: I interpret them as part of the sciencefictional world-building Donald was doing in this album. It's a standard ploy of SF writers to dream up various bits of slang, colloquialisms, and other cultural artifacts to help deepen the authenticity of whatever near- or far-future society they're portraying in their story. Interviews have revealed that Donald is a pretty well-read SF fan (and of course he was a lit major, not to mention being a voaracious reader to this day). So Donald would be familiar with this SFnal ploy of worldbuilding, enough so to use it in his own writing. So as part of this world-building, he supplied this near-future dystopia in which Kamakiriad takes place with some colorful and evocative expressions for time of day. The fictional placenames Donald dreamed up for the Kamakiriad world also tend to evoke a culture slightly different from our own--not to mention a whole bunch of poetic imagery. Think of Key Plantain and Cape Sincere; the Smokehouse in the Sand and the Teahouse on the Tracks; the Sprangle and Five Zoos; and on and on and on. Walter apparently is well-read in science fiction too--and you can see that influence show up in any number of songs that he wrote with Donald as well as on his own. Time for someone to get on that Ti Bone tip! Both of Mr. Fagen's solo releases are delicious theme pieces. IMHO. Schwinn: The Truth About Kamakiriad (6/20/99)

Theme: This is the de-evolutionary Donny. Steam powered? Wood-trimmed accents on the dash? DF's face in the glove box tells us that he's looking at himself while he's driving. Conscientious. TIS: The Kamakiri symbolizes"'birth"' itself. The car was"'brought" to him. The Chinese consider the"'Kamakiri" i.e. the Praying Mantis, as the most human-like of insects. Someone "handed" him the keys to his humanity--in this case, his father. Donald is saying that he has come to terms with his past and is going to show us that he IS a human being. Notice that the Eastern themes evident in Countdown and Aja continue on a calmer, less tempestuous wave. The "tech is Balinese" indicates, like Krakatoa, the power of this craft is primordial. Hey, we should all have a volcano to heat the water in our steam-powered craft. The wreck on the side of the road is Donald looking back. The beautiful survivor is he, himself. He is also the " kid that drove too fast." He is becoming his "father." The "Five Zoos" are the five administrations that have occupied the White House since "Can't Buy a Thrill." Countermoon: Donny's natal Moon position is in Capricorn. Every July he experiences his own personal "Countermoon." This occurs around 7/4 of every year. i.e., "It's nasty weather for July." Further evidence that this song is written about his natal moon in opposition to the July moon can be found in these lyrics: "A counter moonbeam comes sweeping OFF the water..." As stated previously, the theme of this album is "Selfexamination and reflection." Whether consciously or unconsciously, DF wrote a wonderfully insightful song about the nature of his insight. (Blue Ray) Springtime: Wow! We just jumped back from July to April! Actually, we even go back a few days earlier to Easter '66. Donald's really reminiscing now--or is it Lake Nostalgia? He's "learning to love all over again." Sounds like an Easter theme to me even if he is a Jew. (Ok, we'll call it the Vernal Equinox....) And there's that number "5" again. Five names, five zoos, route 5...) But I'll agree it's even better this time AROUND. Snowbound: Ok, let's continue the "counter-clockwise" movement of these songs. Club "Hi Ho" is a reference to "Slapstick" by Kurt Vonnegut. And there's that allusion to the color blue again. The opposite of a red-shift ,(something moving away from the viewer), the "blue" or "blue-white" supports my view that Donald is moving counter-clockwise or TOWARDS the listener--and in effect--venturing deeper into himself. Dunks has come up with some mind-popping ideas about "Kama" songs. Start here and follow him through the whole album. Dunks (10/00): Kamakiriad * Given that DF is evidently well-read in sci-fi, "Kamakiriad" could be an oblique reference to Stanislaw Lem's classic cybernetic comedy novel "The Cyberiad". It too is a futuristic story cycle, with lots of anachronistic elements, documenting the adventures of two "master constructors", Trurl and Klapaucius (who are presumably robots themselves). N.B. one adventure involves Trurl's attempt to cure a prince of a hopeless infatuation by placing him inside a specially-constructed "femfatalatron" (cf. Springtime, Tomorrow's Girls well maybe.) * the Japanese word kamakiri calls up a vague association with kamikaze * kama means 'love' in Sanskrit * the back cover photo shows DF standing in a boarded-up doorway of a derelict building. He has a scarf and aviator goggles slung around his neck, and is carrying two dark bundles. The one on his right hand could be a helmet of some kind, and on his left probably a radio - there is an antenna protruding from it. Is he about to leave, has he just arrived? Is this a holiday snap along the way? A smaller, wider view of the same building and the surrounding streetscape (Bleak Street?) appears on the lyric insert, just under the end of the lyrics of Teahouse On The Tracks, but DF does not appear in this second photo. * opposing motifs: North-South, East-West, winter-summer, night-day, appearance/dream/memory vs. reality * lots of water / waterside images - ocean, sea, lake, tidepools, capes, keys, rivers, snow, rain ... * "heavy weather" images - snow, hurricane * images of enclosure, separation * images of escape * prominent use of samples and synthetic textures

Slapstick, by Kurt Vonnegut. If you've missed this seminal cynical farcical heretical inimitable writer, stop NOW, log off, and go read something, anything by him. My favorite has always been Cat's Cradle, maybe because it was my first. The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell, a kind of interesting recent sci fi/ interplanetary cultural anthropology tale which features space vehicles fashioned from asteroids, fueled by mining the minerals of the 'roids. OK, it's a stretch; just thinking about energy sources. Back To The Future (1985, Zemeckis): worth seeing if only for Mr. Fusion, another alternative energy source.

"Trans-Island Skyway"
Mark Roberts (Digest, 5/14/98): Kamakiriad is set in the near future. The Kamakiriad (a trip you take in a Kamakiri) . That is to say in a car called a Kamakiri (Japanese for Praying Mantis). A journey of pure groove where the narrator takes us through the adventures and detours along the road. Every track has a great forward motion.... I still rate the Nightfly as number one, but Kamakiriad has a more uplifting feel about it. Roy.Scam (GB, 3/27/98): Rhetorical question about "Trans Island Skyway": Did he get rid of the girl he picked up at the car wreck before he visited his dad? Was it "C'mon Daddy! jump in. Look what I brought you." Flocko (GB, 3/27/98): The TIS timeline always intrigued me, too. My thoughts are that Donald did the nasty with Miss Snakehips at a Motel 6 along the trail, then snuck out in the middle of the night while she was still asleep and ditched her before going home to see Dad. I think the Kamakiriad was a two seater, and unless Miss Snakehips was going to sit on Daddy's lap, and it could be embarrasing should Daddy get a boner or something. oleander (GB, 4/9/98): It's the dreams of a would-be wild boy in his new, not very sporty but beloved bubblecar...a nebbish, really ("this route could be trouble"--the words of a neurotic, not a swashbuckler). Dreams the part about the beautiful survivor as he cruises & sees an accident. I mean really, "I'll brew up some decaf"--not a very dashing pickup line. I think the part about his father is endearing. Wants to show him his great new car. I really like the image he paints of the future--benign technology...sprinkled with a little danger, kind of the bright side of William Gibson. Same flavor as on Nightfly, in IGY, where the future was seen from the Kennedy years, with only a hint of cynicism. Roy.Scam (GB, 4/10/98): Interesting theory that the pilot of the Kamakiri is more of a dreamer than a doer. Remember Brian Wilson writing all those songs about things that he never did (surfing, drag racing, even student riots)?---Well, Brian's brother went out and did all that shit and look where it got him, one might say. But I'm old fashioned and I like to think that a guy and a girl can still enjoy the simple things, like sharing a cup of decaf at a blood stained wreck site. My vote is that the Snakehips interlude was real. oleander (GB, 4/12/98): well, maybe he & snakehips did do it in the Kama, but sometimes it's way BETTER in daydream than in reality... As Dr. Mu noted, "Five Zoos"=the five boroughs of New York City. Great image of us busy, self-absorbed little humans going about our ant-like ways while the tectonic plates grind on below us.

Love the falsetto. And the way he says "decaf"--he might as well be saying "Come away with me and be mine forever!" Not a bad pick-up line at all, actually! Roy.Scam (GB, 8/12/98): Whenever I hear "Trans Island Skyway" recently, I'm reminded of the old Twilight Zone episode where a woman (I think Inger Stevens) was driving across country and kept seeing the same hitchhiker repeatedly. She finally got rattled and called back east to her home,...only to find out that she had died three days earlier. WOOOOO-EEEEE-OOOOOO (Scary movie music). Consider the possible 'passing away' references in this apparently benign song: * I was born yesterday-- We all know that those not busy being born are busy dying. * "Trans-Island Skyway"-- The passage from one island to another is an excellent spiritual/existential metaphor. * A bloody car wreck-- A great way to die, I'm sure you'll agree. * The kid who was driving I know from somewhere-- Might even be myself. * The beautiful angel (Snakehips) to soften the transition-- Remember the Jessica Lange character in "All That Jazz"? * Reunited with loved ones from the past-- Notice that he says "Hello Daddy", like a child might. * His life flashing before him-- Maybe the Sprangles represent some cerebral memory landscape. * Simultaneous calmness and dread-- "I'm happy but this route could be trouble." * Steaming "up" the TI Skyway-- Not 'down', not 'along', but 'up'. * That final deadline-- What else could that be? What's the origin of the word "deadline" anyway? Seems like a rather morbid compound word to convey a point on a schedule. I'd say the underlying theme of this song is about as un-wimpy as they come. Dunks (10/3/00): Trans-Island Skyway * "I was born yesterday" - leaving his old life behind. Also suggests being "taken for a ride" (ripped off), and of course a reference to the classic Judy Holliday/Broderick Crawford comedy "Born Yesterday". * images of enclosure and separation from the outside world - "It's a total biosphere", "This cool rolling bubble" which are also used in later songs, especially Snowbound * "The frame is out of Glasgow, the tech is Balinese" - East-West synergy. A pleasing tension between the two motifs: Glasgow, a dour, grimy Protestant Scots industrial city (formerly a major shipbuilding centre). The Kamakiri marries its chunky, heavy-duty industrial products with the exotic, florid intricacy of the art and architecture of Hindu Bali, a tropical paradise. * "Say, there's a wreck on the side of the road" -- the car accident scene must surely be a reference to J.G. Ballard's novel "Crash". Ballard's controversial novel (recently filmed by David Cronenberg) concerns a group of people who gain erotic stimulation from violent car wrecks and mutilated accident victims. (A whole new twist on the term "autoerotic"!) * "steaming up" -- an obvious sexual connotation when applied to cars, and indeed the whole chorus could be interpreted as an extended sexual metaphor * "that final deadline" -- in French the orgasm is called le petit mort, "the little death" * "deep in the Zone" - (Cf. also Negative Girl (2VN): "She's in the zone, crying on the phone"). Besides the sexual overtone, THE TWILIGHT ZONE is another possible reference (probably too obvious). It could also refer to Tarkovsky's film STALKER, in which "The Zone" is a mysterious and hazardous region that has been sealed off after some undefined disaster. The central character, The Stalker, ekes out a living by guiding groups to the centre of The Zone, where it is rumoured that an alien force or object is located, that will make any wish become reality. Edd (GB, 4/27/01): KLH is, indeed, a line of speakers. (Maybe other audio gear also?) Henry Kloss, who later went on to big-screen projection TV and other consumer electronic whiz-bangery, was one of the founders.

"Countermoon"

"Could that be murder you see in her eyes...." Presages "Tomorrow's Girls" and "On The Dunes." I love the last verse--it evokes the epidemic of "heartquake" so beautifully. Schwinn (1/17/99): When Donald sings, "It's nasty weather for July", in the song, Countermoon, do you think he's alluding to the fact that his natal moon is in opposition, or 'counter' to the Sun every year from app.6/22 7/11? (The opposition is at totality on, surprise, July 4th!!) I mention this because the opposition is one of the most powerful aspects in Astrology. Powerful in its insidiousness--almost an unconscious drive--like the tides. Dunks (10/3/00): Springtime A nifty satire on the American obsession for drive-in service -- drive into Springtime and relive (or retool) your romantic memories! * "Here at Laughing Pines the party never ends" -- delightfully ironic inversion of a common usage. Do a web search - there are literally thousands of resorts, motels and B&Bs called "Whispering Pines" -- a clich of rural tranquillity. In Greco-Roman belief pines are associated with sacred precincts, cemeteries, and with sorrow and mourning. The god Pan wore a garland of pine leaves (Bullfinch), and pines were sacred to Diana/Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the moon (Bullfinch). There's also the ironic tension between laughing and other meaning of pine, 1 : to lose vigor, health, or flesh (as through grief). 2: to yearn intensely and persistently especially for something unattainable * Get off at Funway West" - cf. WESTWORLD * "Cape Sincere" - Lily St Cyr was a well-known stripper of the 1950s, who is also name-checked in one of the songs in "The Rocky Horror Show" * "gospel candy" - any relation to jazz cigarettes? * "With Coltrane on the K.L.H." - I forget where , but I recall reading an interview with Don & Walt about when they first went to the ABC offices in Hollywood. When they walked in they were horrified to find piles of master tapes, including some of Coltrane's legendary Impulse recordings, stacked up on the floor in the office and out in the corridor. Apparently, they seriously considered removing them for safekeeping rather than leave them to be lost or damaged where they were. Tom S (The Blue Book, 8/31/01): Wimpmeister lyrics from Fagen? Howz about "Countermoon," eh? Pretty wussy if you ask me. How come no one's doing drugs and no one's pregnant with only-God-knows-who's baby in that ditty? Maybe an alien baby from Mizar 5? Mizar 5 is a Countermoon, get it ? <wink> That's what C-moon needs, that's the difference between a Fagen song and a Steely Dan song.

"Springtime"
Roy.Scam (GB, 4/10/98): When you go to Springtime at Laughing Pines to re-live parts of your past, do you experience them the way they actually happened or the way you remember them? This is an extremely important distinction. oleander (GB, 4/12/98): I think if Springtime's VR, which I assume, it's just like punching replay on the CD player-but each time you replay it, you're a different person (you know, you never step in the same river twice etc.), so you experience it differently.... now that I think about it, I'd rather have VM (virtual memory) than VR. Aja Dragon (Digest, 5/22/98): "Springtime" has one of my favorite song intros in no small part because the drum work that backs "shimmering" is the aural equivalent of the word.

Don't you love Mr. Fagen's breathy delivery in the beginning? "To learn to love all over again/ On that warm wet April night...." Sigh. Dunks (10/3/00): Countermoon * "counterpart" planets are a favourite SF device. One example was the late-60s Gerry "Thunderbirds" Anderson feature, "DOPPELGNGER" (aka "Journey to the Far Side Of The Sun"), in which astronaut Roy Thinnes (star of TV's THE INVADERS) returns to Earth to find that all physical phenomena are identical but reversed. He eventually realises that he is in fact on the previously undiscovered "anti-Earth" which is hidden by the sun and lies in exact orbital opposition to the "positive" Earth * "spitewaves are threatening" - cf. Gaslighting Abbie: "How can you knock this mighty spitelock?" * "when you see that blue ray" - cf. "Blue Moon", LOST HORIZONS, Eric Rohmer's LE RAYON VERT ("The Green Ray"). The title of Rohmer's film, taken from Jules Verne, refers to an actual atmospheric phenomenon - at sunset and sunrise, under certain conditions, a brief green flash can be observed just as the uppermost edge of the solar disc crosses the horizon. (see http://flzhgn.home.mindspring.com/grnray.htm). According to an "ancient Scottish legend" (which was in fact invented by Verne in his 1882 novel Le Rayon-Vert) one who has seen the Green Ray is incapable of being "deceived in matters of sentiment" so that "he who has been fortunate enough once to behold it is enabled to see closely into his own heart and to read the thoughts of others." Presumably, a blue ray from the Countermoon has the opposite effect. * "There's a heartquake on the way": cf. Trans-Island Skyway: "below plates are grinding"

"Snowbound"
What an amazing evocation of a world that never thaws. Our travelling narrator is taking a holiday in a kind of arctic Manhattan. ("We hit the street with visors down/ With our thermasuits sealed up tight/ We can beat the freeze/ And get saved tonight") The way Mr. Fagen says "play" makes me all melty inside. The interlude at Club HiHo is intriguing, with imagery straight out of William Gibson. I think the critic's comment--"The work seduces us with light"--is a perfect summation of the music of Steely Dan. (While the lyrics wrap their dark tentacles around our souls) I love the icecat interlude--complete with sound effects.... And what delivery! I get an image of how it must be with artists sometimes, with long, deep darknesses punctuated by sparks of inspiration. Mike & Kate (Digest, 5/22/98): For me, Snowbound wonderfully captures the pleasant peace after a big snowstorm, when everything is blanketed in a soft, clean white, and no sound can be heard except the occasional tumbling of snow off of tree branches. Dunks (10/3/00): Snowbound * the clichd reference would be cocaine, but I guess that's waaay to obvious * the arrangement is interesting departure from the prominent synth-bass on surrounding tracks. WB's bass has a beautiful and remarkably trebly sound, given that he generally favours a very thick, deep tone * "when the wolves come out to play" -- nature rendered harmless by technology. A weird inversion of the conventional usage of "the wolf at the door" * more enclosure images - "visors down", " thermasuits", "take the tube" * "It's a kind of pyramid, with a human heart beating in an ion grid" - another image of mutilation (cf. TransIsland Skyway). A weird fugue on the The Pyramid Eye motif on the US dollar bill. Very suggestive of Aztec human sacrifice, where the hearts of victims were cut out and thrown down the steps of the temple, and of ancient Egyptian funerary rites: they considered the heart to be the seat of the soul and it was the only organ left intact in the body during mummification. [ "annuit coeptis"--"God has favored our undertaking"]

Anthony (12/28/03): In regards to one of my favorite songs, "Snowbound", if you cross the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge in the winter, looking north, you will undoubtedly see the "ice-cats on the frozen river". Note that this is right at Annandale-on-Hudson, where Bard College is.The Ice-cat is short for Ice-Catamaran, and basically it is a small (usually one person) catamaran, but instead of double hulls, there are ice rails. they look pretty cool.... I can't remember the last time we were there with a frozen Hudson and didn't see them.

"Tomorrow's Girls"
RoyalAja (Digest, 5/14/98): 'Tomorrow's Girls', while not only a fabulous Sci-Fi notion, might well represent how Man might see Woman in the late 90's, particularly on the streets of New York City. Not merely unsocial but downright aloof, these women of the city never make eye-contact, but rather see through you; countenances devoid of any sign of emotion: a flat affect. At first supposition one might chalk this up to a posturing; an outward indication of need for physical security which can theoretically be secured both outside and in via a blase attitude while traversing hostile environs. What lies darkly beneath is actually a global ultra-high frequency sneer desemenated to us men (mainly the less fair of our gender); a perceived judgement of your inadequacy, the savage man, who isn't needed for anything at all by this self-sufficient (or semi-self-sufficient, helped out by some (handsome) better individual (Adonis or lesbian): "the laugh becomes a furious whine." As if they were actually alien (with all the intellectual (etc.) superiority of such), we men are relegated as impotent shlubs mired in a collosal lack of collective visceral actualization, this fleeting actualization only semi-attainable by the only means possible: a "consummate" lay, which these "aliens" all know is the essence of all of man's behavior. "Career," man's former prized hegemony over women, is all but lost in this Post-Modern day where braun is only good to, in turn, casually entertain women in their spare moments in the only way that some of the luckier men can impress them anymore: through the abortive "consummate" lay, which as we all know, holds drastic less import to women, who can actually "do without" or creatively and/or mechanically sidestep in some true sci-fi horror. We men are indeed doomed to a prolonged crescendo of domination (first dreamed of and subsequently limned by Donald Fagen) by a far-"superior" race. In our case, the alien (human Woman) is merely blessed with a mind unfettered by a million-year Priapism. "Look out fellas, its shredding time." Dunks (10/3/00): Tomorrow's Girls Smack-in-the-face snare, funky, funky Wurlitzer and those bitchen kick horn lines -my favourite track, hands down. A cool exploration of the "woman as alien/other" idea * "Our town is just like any other" - the classic Hitchock/Twilight Zone setup, everything picture perfect and utterly normal until ... * "Mommies kissing Daddies goobye" - demure domestic bliss, about to be disprupted by the predatory sexuality of Tomorrow's Girls? * "Then the milkman screamed and pointed up at the sky" -- obvious associations with 50's sci-fi -- imagery of alien ships descending -- The Day The Earth Stood Still, Earth vs The Flying Saucers, etc, -- but note the cute clich reversal: in this invasion the men are screaming, not the girl, as is the case in so many 50s sci-fi flicks * "Sheilus" - no idea where this comes from. The only tenous association I can make is that 'sheila' is Australian/New Zealand slang for a young woman * Kizmar- kismet? Kashmir? * "They're speeding towards our sun on a party run" - lovely collision of images - to us, they're an alien threat; to them, it's Spring Break * "But what's left in your arms after the static clears?" - cf. the front cover pic, which shows DF's image on the static-filled dashboard screen. In conjunction with the previous line ("And when the cry, they cry real tears") it reminds me of Any Major Dude - the weeping Squonk, that dissolves into a pool of tears when captured. * "they're landing on the Jersey beaches" - I can't help giggling at the idea that a race of interplanetary

ultrvixens would fly millions of miles just to visit the Jersey shore. * "Their engines make the white sand swirl" - White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the famous US Army testing ground for missiles and experimental aircraft * "by the last light of the triple sun" - multiple suns/moons, another classic sci-fi device, but interesting that it is "triple sun", singular -- not triple suns * the bridge is set in the evening/nightfall, as opposed to the verses which could perhaps be seen as encapsulating a single day - the morning in verse 1, midday in verse 2, afternoon in verse 3 * "go-tree" -- is there such a thing? Possibly a conflated reference to the Bo-tree, the tree under which the Buddha sat when he achieved enlightenment (from the Sanskrit bodhi), and Go, the ancient Japanese strategy board game * "They're mixing with the population" - cf. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS * "Lord help those lonely guys, hooked by those hungry eyes" - the female praying mantis typically devours the male after and often during mating * "You're not my Ruthie, you're not my Debbie" -- an extended reprise of the simulacrum/false identity/rejection motif in Countermoon ("You're not my Jackie"). cf. INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, BLADE RUNNER. I love the nifty "You're not my sister, you're not my mother, significant other" line. All in all, a litany of classic 50's 'girlie' (pinup?) names - Debbie, Barbie, Cyndi, Ruthie ... Are Tomorrow's Girls not real - or just not what he imagines women should be? [ Dunks adds on 11/18/03...] ... I saw a car advertisement (forget which brand) while I was in London which used an old 60s hit as the backing track. On hearing the song in question I suddenly realized that it was being referred to in TG. The first section of the first line of the bridge in TG - "In the cool of the evening ..." is a direct lift from the first line of the old Classics Four hit "Spooky (Little Girl Like You)". http://www.guitaretab.com/c/classicsfour/3577.htm Hardly earth-shattering, I know, but I hadn't heard the song in years and when I heard it in the advert I immediately thought "Oh, right ..." Javier (8/20/01): A personal analysis on "Tomorrows Girls" "Tomorrows Girls" is, in my very personal point of view, a lament of growing older and fight against time. Im gonna tell it like it happened to me: In 1993, the same year that Kamakiriad was released, I turned 20. It was kinda shocking for me to find that I wasnt 19 anymore My first approach to Steely Dan was buying Decade On december 31st, 1992- and Life in my twenties was about to begin. Me and my friends, all of us surrounding the second decade, started dating younger girls. Way younger girls than us. We called them the brats (chibolas in peruvian slang). Beautiful girls with pimples and braces, going from 13 to 14 and from 14 to 15. We, old guys approaching the twenties, dating nymphs for getting ourselves the juices of eternal youth. In November 1993 I bought Kamakiriad and "Tomorrows Girls" was the right soundtrack for those moments I was living: Dating these little young brats, hiding ourselves from our other friends ("Are you going out with them? Are they getting drunk with you guys? Shame on you!!!") and, most of all, feeling good, free, and with the feeling of doing something wrong that tasted right. The girls of tomorrow, the girls that are not ready yet, but you are having a good time next to them. In 1994, I dont know if you can remember, there was a big suicidal wave all over the world. One week before Kurt Cobain shot himself to death, a famous peruvian model was found death in her bathroom with a bulletwound that crossed her brain. She was 21 and one of the most famous, rich and beautiful models. She also hosted a childrens TV show. Kids loved her, and also their fathers did. The main reason she decided to kill herself was the lack of confidence and security about her body. She was amazingly hot, but she felt she was growing older, she was not a "Tomorrows Girl" anymore. Cobain killed himself because of the angry of being young, not being able to stop time. It was the same principle. We get tired of being young and grow older.

One month before (March 1994), My uncle suddenly lefts his wife for a more young girl. He was 45, she was 19. My aunt was 42, and still good-looking and intelligent; but my uncle prefeered the young blood. Young girls give us old guys a very nice sense of passion for life. We feel winners, specially when these young girls dont care if we have money or not. They like us because were clever, and why not, cute! These close four stories can be related to one song: "Tomorrows Girls". When we f ound ourselves caught by society and morality about our pedophile acts, we create science fiction stories. Theyre from outer space! We have no defense against them! But I dont care, Im gonna wait for one of them at Lantern time. Girls of our age -our wives and girlfriends- can't do anything to stop them, because It's impossible to fight these brats! they have to go back in time! So, that's my personal approach to that great song, probably the best song of the nineties. Catch Javier and do some sabroso bilingual mingling at CacaoRock. Javier also writes reviews on amazon.com--check him out here. Angel (2/24/02): Regarding the bridge section of Tomorrows Girls. I too agree that there are definite Eastern references in the lyrics. In the cool of the evening In the last light of the triple sun I wait by the go-tree (If you go along with the thought that this might be a reference to the Bo Tree and Buddha. ) When the day's busy work is done Soon the warm night breezes Start rolling in off the sea

Yes, at lantern time... (In Chinese culture, the Lantern Festival, which occurs 15 days after the start of the Chinese New Year, represents the end of the New Year celebrations and closes the period of harmony and "roundness" . The lanterns light the way home for the Festival guests of the mortal world and the spirits in the afterlife. The day of lanterns sends the blessing of harmony, order and unity for the New Year.) Donald Fagen has had reference to Eastern thoughts and Religion in other Steely Dan songs. Most notably, "Do it Again" and "Aja". The "roundness" reference in the Lantern Festival, may be referring to the wheel of life, hinted at in "Do it Again". So in this line he may be just referring to evening as "Lantern Time", or he could be making a direct reference to the actual festival.

That's when you come to me Come to me.... Here's another something interesting about lantern time from a tourist webpage: "The Lantern Festival is also a celebration for lovers. In the past, it was the one day of the year when a woman could come out - chaperoned, of course! - and be seen by eligible single men. (In the days when women's feet were bound, it was often the one time when she could appear in public with unbound feet). Of course, these restrictions no longer exist, but there is still a hint of romance in the air at the Lantern Festival celebrations."

The Female Man, by Joanna Russ--women learn parthenogenesis to keep the species alive. The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula LeGuin--more gender-bending science fiction by a true queen of the genre. The Natural Superiority of Women, by Ashley Montagu. Ashley, a guy. The works of Sigmund Freud ("What do women want?")

"Florida Room"
Dunks (10/3/00): Florida Room * tropical counterpoint to Snowbound * "Key Plantain" - presumably a fictitious name? Plantain is an edible weed with medicinal properties. One of its common names is "Waybread". In the Highlands the Plantain is still called 'Slan-lus,' or plant of healing, from a firm belief in its healing virtues. Since Chaucer there are regular references in literature to its healing powers. Many cultures believed it had strong remedial properties against poisons. In both America and New Zealand it has been called the 'Englishman's Foot' (or White Man's Foot) by aborigines, since it is a colonizing weed that sprang up wherever the English have taken possession. Longfellow refers to this in 'Hiawatha.' It disfigures lawns (cf Tomorrow's Girls) and multiplies rapidly if allowed to spread. <<http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/p/placom43.html>> Perhaps a healing memory, as opposed to the hurtful memories of In The Dunes * the word Florida is contracted, pronounced with a (mock) southern accent - "Flor'da" * "Where she sits and dreams" "I keep drifting back" - dreams galore in this one * "We come in out of the rain" "While the city freezes over" - repeat images of shelter and escape from the elements, as in Snowbound

"On the Dunes"

This is another one that really sends me. The kind of song you slow-dance to with that special someone.... I used to think of it as a whiny-guy song, but these days I really feel for the narrator; I just acknowledge that he's a New Yorker, and that's why the comments about high rents, etc. The song evokes that numb, unreal feeling you get when you've been dumped, and the entire world seems to conspire to rub your face in it. I pair this with "Cringemaker," which I also used to find whiny until I listened better.

This song has what has to be the champ of Steely alliteration: "In the summer all the swells join in the search for sun and sand...." "The city's twitch and smoke," "the faltering light"--great images. I know this isn't lyrical, but I love the way it sounds like somebody dropped the tambourine on the floor when he says "homicide," like something breaking. I also love the long, drifting denouement, like a moody walk along the beach. Clas (GB, 7/31/99):Fagen is an actor, he never gets personal! "On the Dunes", for examples, only mirrors the narrators "mind-ghosts", the lyrics is not much about the pain when the lover has left him, it's more about the fact that he can't stand to be alone. He needs someone to be close to him. And the song is sung in such way that it's clear that Fagen is pretending to "be" someone. Like an actor. I don't believe for a minute that Fagen EVER has shown any real emotions in any of the songs he's singing. wormtom (GB, 5/2/00): speaking of tear jerkers saddest dan song drum roll please on the dunes nothing is worse than being miserable in paradise you can really feel his longing, foreboding and loneliness one word which twists and makes the song "faltering" In the faltering light he deals with things okay in the daylight but as the sun goes down his emptyness is overly apparent as couples catch the sunset and run off for enchanting evenings. the music so reflects that late light beach feeling and magnifies his pain a sad song indeed - been there but when you can overcome that feeling then life begins to open up and become your oyster Dunks (10/15/00): "On The Dunes" * Another waterside locale (cf Countermoon, Snowbound, Florida Room). There's an awful lot of water on this album. * Possibly a long bow to draw, but the title suggests the acclaimed 1964 Japanese feature, "Woman In The Dunes", by Hiroshi Teshigahara. To quote Andrea Chase's review: "An amateur entomologist is on vacation from the oppressively mechanized urban world. While searching for a bug to make him famous, he misses the last train back to anywhere and becomes stuck in a remote area of Japan made entirely of sand. And not just any sand, as envisioned by director Hiroshi Teshigahara, this sand is a living thing, rolling, flowing, and engulfing. It's a dynamic character, menacing in its complete indifference to the puny humans in the way of its shifting dunes." * a delicious sense of 'Great Gatsby' ennui about this one, reinforced by the gentrified setting (Cape Cod?). In every holiday home, a heartache -- it has the same langurous beau-monde melancholy of Bryan Ferry's work

with Roxy Music (e.g. 'Song For Europe') * Probably one of Don's more conventional songs, lyrically (basic theme: She Dumped Me) but there's always a twist of course and there's an undercurrent of violence and even death ("Homicide on the dunes"). Counters the previous happy memory of "Florida Room" * "Pretty women with their lovers by their sides"..." Cf Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" "Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street". Joe's take is is a lot angrier and more direct, but it has that same sense of the hurt generated by the betrayed narrator seeing lovers together. A pretty common device over the years. * the wordplay in the last verse is delightful: "In the summer all the swells join in the search for sun and sand" and ANOTHER dream, this time awful * the extended instrumental coda is really eloquent. I love the way the music evokes the rise and fall of the sand dunes and the waves, building up to a small crescendo and then falling back. I also love how it tricks our expectations - it's one of those outros that just would conventionally launch into a heartrending saxophone solo, but DF cleverly defers the solo until almost the very end, and then keeps it deliberately low key (perhaps to contrast the jumpin' jive of the solo breaks in the following track)

[ Oh. My. God. That's what I love about this page. People come swirling out of the collective unconscious and
just whack into the deepest recesses of your recesses. "Woman In The Dunes" is one of my favorite movies ever. I saw it about five times in the early 70's and still love it. Very Japanese, surreal, and allegorical, and beautiful b&w cinematography. It was based on the eponymous novel by Kobo Abe, who penned various surreal stories in the '60's and '70's. As soon as I read the title above I could hear those drums and see those masks.... And, amazingly enough, I never thought of OTD in the same breath. From now on I will....] Mexuine (2/13/02): I always thought of "On the Dunes" as a take on Chris Rea's "On the Beach". There are some great lines, yes, but on the whole, the nave melody, constantly bordering on clich, and the easy listening quasi-bossa type of arrangement suggest an irony (like in so many Becker/Fagen songs): - How Deep Is Your Love, if you can treat it like schmaltz? Well, the feelings may be as deep as the next guy's, of course, but we'll never know that, because the expression of it is painfully shallow (and, for the record: In this particular case intended to be so, which is what makes the song interesting, in my opinion). So to rephrase the question: - How deep is pop music? The answer, my friend, is a) Bob Dylan, b) love (Todd Rundgren) or c) not Chris Rea. "On the Dunes" deals with a certain type of Pretentious Popsongs by Pedestrian Philosophers who would benefit greatly from the advice of the late Frank Zappa: "Shut up and play yer guitar!" To quote Leonard Cohen, who is also great with this kind of lyrics vs/music ironies: "The maestro says it's Mozart/but it sounds like bubble gum." Or maybe it's just me...

"Teahouse On The Tracks"

Kitty (GB, 9/4/96) links the "flat hat" to the "hat too flat" on "Eleven Tracks Of Whack." Also, I think, to Charlie Mingus' "Goodbye Pork-Pie Hat," dedicated to Lester Young. "Bleak and Divine"--the human condition, eh? "Just drive for the light." On the CD insert, the first six lines are placed before the song's title, like a prelude, or a segue in the Kamakiriad. "Flocko" is a phonetic transliteration of the Spanish nickname, "Flaco," which means "skinny" (as in "Flaco" Jimenez). I love how the narrator is saved from oblivion by music. In the second verse, Mr. Fagen actually sings: You get a case of party feet

Then the room turns bright, fills up with light And then from somewhere deep inside you Some frozen stuff begins to crack The ever-vigilant Hank Silvers found this reference to "baion," in case you were wondering, from "The Drifters,"a great article by Chris Beachley (Go immediately to the Rhino site and check it out): "There Goes My Baby" marks the first use by Leiber & Stoller of what would become a trademark of '60s soul the South American baion rhythm. The rhythm goes back at least as far, on American records, as a 1954 Joe Loco record on Tico called "El Baion." It was covered on RCA Victor by Tito Rodriguez and was a favorite of the mambo crowd at the Palladium dance hall on Broadway. If one plays the Joe Loco 45 at 33 rpm, the exact rhythm and tempo of most '60s soul recordings can be heard (don't ask me how I know these things, it's too embarrassing). Mike & Kate (Digest, 5/22/98): I thought the song was somewhat autobiographical. I could picture Donald walking down a lonely street, depressed. Suddenly he hears some far-off music. He follows it and it brings back all of the things he thought he was running from. I can see him trepidatiously peeking in the door, settling in, and eventually laughing, dancing, playing, and having a wonderful time. When he sings "Tonight at ten we'll be working again" I knew that he and Walter would be heard from again, that Kamakiriad was not the last word. stevevdan (GB, 6/10/98): ...Fagen's ode to all gigs at those small NYC nightclubs.... Chris Lonn (Digest, 4/17/00): I was recently listening to a live version of DF's Teahouse on the Tracks and realized that I forgot a lyric or two. Upon looking at the lyrics in the CD notes I noticed the first verse is missing. I checked my wax copy of Kama and the first verse is also missing. Has anyone else noticed this? Was this just another misprint? Take a look at your lyric sheet. Just above "Teahouse" is the first verse--separated, perhaps, to act as a bridge or segue between "On The Dunes" and "Teahouse." The guy is wandering bereft, aimlessly, on the dunes after being jilted, and finds himself on Bleak Street in Flytown--and then finds the redemption of the Teahouse on the Tracks. Dunks (10/3/00): Teahouse On The Tracks * "You take a walk on Bleak Street" -- cf. Heartbreak Hotel: "down at the end of Lonely Street" and Almost Gothic (2VN): "Little Eva meets the Bleeker Street brat" * "the crowd is bouncing in synch with the pulse" - cf. Trans-Island Skyway - "in sync-lock with Tripstar" - the detached image of electro-mechanical, techno-control is reclaimed by the warm and thoroughly human image of dancers at the club locked into the beat * "The Siegel Brothers" - suggestive of the infamous NY gangster and bootlegger Ben "Bugsy" Siegel. There's even a vehicular connection -- as cover for their rumrunning operation in the 30's, Siegel and Meyer Lansky operated a car and truck rental operation through a garage on Cannon Street in Brooklyn. Also the album credits list two similar names - "Sample Editing, digital delay acqusition: Craig Siegal ("Mr Z.")", and "Enablers: Gary Katz, Deborah Siegel ..." (As noted elsewhere, several other references from the Kamakiriad credits pop up in Two Against Nature) * "so slick it should have been a crime" - cf. Countermoon: "the streets are slick with tears" and Almost Gothic (2VN): "When she speaks its like the slickest song I've ever heard". Also ties in with the gangster allusion of the Siegel Brothers. B. Diddy (GB, 12/12/01): I'm on the street again. I walk alone down the Miracle Mile to the streets of Culver city and they put you on the street, luckless pedestrian, yeah. The man on the street, dragging his feet, the people on the streets have all seen better times. Streets still unseen, uptown, it's murder out in the street. We'll find

somehow everybody on the street has murder in his eyes. Look at all the white men on the street. They won't act as kindly if they see you on the street. Men in gray limousines, they'll drive you down, luckless pedestrian. yeah. You take a walk on Bleak Street, all the streets are slick with tears. Stanyan street looking like that third world war, we hit the street with visors down... Alright, now, who sent me reeling down there? We hike downtown to Avenue A like we own the street. Someday we'll all meet at the end of the street, we're gonna mix in the street, by and by, when the sidewalks are safe for the little guy, luckless pedestrian, yeah. And we'll walk between the raindrops back to yo doh... (let me hear you say "oh oh") To New York City, 52nd street's the junction, we're gonna park in the street. I'm thinking of a major Jane street sunrise. You fellah, you're tearing up the street, down to Green Street, there you go through these suburban streets, these little streets I used to know...

"Goodbye Pork-Pie Hat," by Charles Mingus, on "Mingus Ah Um." There's also a beautiful version by John McLaughlin on "My Goal's Beyond." "Eleven Tracks Of Whack"

"11 TRACKS OF WHACK"

Introductory notes "Down In The Bottom" "Junkie Girl" "Surf and/ or Die" "Book of Liars" "Lucky Henry" "Hard Up Case" "Cringemaker" "Girlfriend" "My Waterloo" "This Moody Bastard" "Hat Too Flat" "Little Kawai" Introductory notes
William Gibson (on his blog at williamgibsonbooks.com, 3/1/03): WALTER BECKER -- 11 Tracks of Whack Hard to find '94 solo album. Brilliant. This is an album which seems to grow on people gradually. I am absolutely nuts about it, and it took me two years to get there. It also appears to be a fairly personal work, which I think makes it hard to write about, but so easy to wrap myself up in. I am hoping that a person I know will be contributing his customary probing takes on this, Mr. Becker's welcome solo journey.

Some time ago, someone commented on the GB that he was disappointed in Mr. Becker's repetition of "pride and joy" and "golden boy" in "Book Of Liars" and "Hard Up Case." Since I believe that virtually nothing in any Steely Dan release is unpremeditated, not only do I think that this particular repetition is purposeful, but that there are many other phrase echoes. That is, I don't think Mr. Becker suffers from lack of imagination;instead, he is stealthily weaving these tunes together, letting us know surreptitiously that they're all related somehow. Notice that sometimes the echoes are in contiguous or nearby songs, like a fugue. Here are some examples: variations on "make your play": "Down In The Bottom" "Cringemaker" "Hat Too Flat" "down in the bottom": "Down In The Bottom" "Cringemaker" lifeline(s) (cheiromancy): "Down In The Bottom" "Lucky Henry" variations on "run for cover": "Down In The Bottom" "Girlfriend" ("hide here") "Cringemaker" ("where am I gonna hide") Christmas: "Surf And/ Or Die" "Book Of Liars" space (and) time: "Surf And/ Or Die" "Lucky Henry" "Hat Too Flat" Eldon: "Surf And/ Or Die" "Little Kawai" Hank Silvers (6/5/98): WB does tend to repeat himself in more ways than one. Well, here's still one more (of a sort): Steamer Heaven appears in Walter's producer's thanks on Kama and also in the lyrics of Wet Side Story. Oh, and I read that he's got an unreleased song called Cinder Annie, too. For some rich and detailed notes on 11TOW, proceed directly to Hank's

Corner.

"Down In The Bottom"

What a beginning: "In case you're wondering, it's alive and well/ That little habit that you left with me...." Mr. Becker lets us know he's still got it, and gives it to us. I take the "habit" to be his unerring drive to pour out gritty, imaginative lyrics and cookin' music. "The bottom of the wine-dark sea" is a reference to The Odyssey: Bright-eyed Athena sent them a stiff following wind rippling out of the west, ruffling over the wine-dark sea.... (Homer, The Odyssey, Book 2, 461-462)

stevevdan, GB (6/16/98): I believe... DITB is about a man trying to "balance" his first chakra.

The Odyssey, by Homer; Robert Fagles' 1996 translation (Viking) is terrific. "Home At Last," on "Aja," for more Homer

"Junkie Girl"
The verse structure of this song is gripping. In the first two verses, the narrator acknowledges that he still wants his "junkie girl"--an anthropomorphized habit, or a real woman?--however impersonal ("you take their money just like you take mine") or frighteningly deathlike ("you come up blazing like an open sore"). In the last verse, she starts to recede, dissolve, fade as he realizes that to follow her further is to choose death; he can watch her wave from "another world" and wish her a heartfelt (and relieved?) "good luck." The Stanyan Street I know is in San Francisco--a college town?

"Surf And/ Or Die"

Have you ever been so undone, so shook up that you just had to keep talking to keep from falling apart? That's how this song sounds to me, after the sudden death of a young friend in a hang-glider accident. Especially if you've just gotten home with the news and heard his voice on your answering machine. Mr. Becker combines the imagery of quantum physics and Greek mythology: Icarus flies too close to the sun, and fatally defies not only the gods but "the laws of curved spacetime." I feel a longing, almost an envy, in this song for a life lived all out, with abandon and in defiance of "many perils, in the face of all reason," even though death is always over your left shoulder: "there was never any question, it was always all or nothing/ Surf and/ or die." Sung by one of the upturned faces below. Jack London said he'd rather go up in flames than fade out like an ember. Hank Silvers notes that the "white nylon shroud" may be a reference to Allen Ginsberg's "White Shroud." Hank also finds that "zero crossing" is a term both in sound and in computer imaging. I am a little baffled myself by what it is exactly, but we're working on it. However, when two sound waves with opposite amplitudes are superimposed, the intersection is silence--a kind of zero crossing. This could certainly be a metaphor for the intersection of two mutually exclusive paths in life. One of the most riveting things about this song is the woven-in prayer by the Tibetan lamas. It's perfect, and solemn, and holy. Mr. Becker comments: " 'Surf and/or Die' was a song that I wrote about an incident that happened with some friends of ours in Hawaii where a young guy was killed in an accident and it was very shocking, for a young, healthy person that you know well, and that you loved the family, and everything, to suddenly not be there one day. And I remember going to the, they had a little sort of a memorial service for him, and one of the Tibetan lamas from the Dharma Center in Paea, the town I live in in Hawaii, came and said a little piece there. And it was very moving, and I could see how his perspective on the continuum of life and death and the whole Tibetan Buddhist thing kind of made the whole thing a little less meaningless and senseless-seeming. And anyway, I wrote this poem about it later and it became the song... At some point after that, my wife said, hey, she had met four of these monks that were hanging out in Paea, a couple had come over from Tibet, and said how'd you like these guys to come up and say a prayer or blessing in your studio? And I said, great. And I started thinking, well, I've got this track here, I'll just, why don't we just record the blessing, I thought. And I thought, why don't I just record the

blessing right on this piece of tape with the song on it and see what happens, and not play the song for them or anything, but let's just let them go in and do the chant. And then they went in and they did these prayers, it's actually a series of prayers that they do, and we recorded them. And then after they left, we listened to the track with the prayers on it along with the rest of the music, right, just to see what it sounded like, and it was in the same key, and it was right in rhythm with the track, and everything else. And it was the prayer for the departed and so on, so I figured, great.... And the song itself is basically a kind of a pedal point bassline, drone underneath there and everything, so we ended up using it."

Diane (Newsgroup, 2/14/00): it's walter's 'aja,' in some ways. his use of complex lyrics that seem impossible to fit into any melodic song is amazing.

"Walter Becker Words + Music," copyright 1994, Warner Bros. Records. "Book Of Liars"
The liner notes for "Alive In America" give this description: "Betrayal in the 'burbs. Blue Xmas. Faux Afrique, c'est chic. Triadic. Tribadic." I love the image of the "book of liars." Interesting: the lyrics of the last verse in the insert are different from what's sung: "stars imploding" vs. "stars exploding," and "the hole in it's half-life left to carry on" vs. "the whole of his half-life left to carry on." With respect to the latter: "the hole in its half-life" speaks to me of a great loss that one has to carry around forever; the "whole of his half-life" makes me remember when I turned forty and realized that I was only halfway through my allotted span. Scary; dispiriting and a relief at the same time. (There are some other differences between the written & sung lyrics in this and other songs. Take a look and a listen.) Do you hear the giggle under the sax solo? Now why is a child's giggle in a song about betrayal and uncertainty? To underscore dissonance? To show the "liar" what he/ she is missing? Schwinn (GB, 12/24/98): "Book of Liars" does not condemn the liar at all. Take a moment and put the disk on. I'll wait... Can a drunken Santa discern a liar? Is Santa himself a liar? Can lying be in degrees? If an adult masquerades as Santa, is his name in the book? Ah-ha! That star by your name may not be a black mark at all...

"Lucky Henry"
A quick "Hamlet" reference: "From Bakersfield to Elsinore...."

"Hard Up Case"
What an eloquently bitter tune. Here's another gambling reference: "You put some other joker in my place/ They dealt us houses full with the queens and kings/ And now they're calling out our bluff..."

"Cringemaker"
I pair this tune with "On The Dunes" as another tune about grown-ups (as opposed to adolescents) wrestling with love. I used to think this was another whiny-guy song, but when I really listen, it's a very astute and pungent (and funny) take on the difficulties of staying in a long-term relationship. "It's such a bumpy ride." The argument in the background in counterpoint to the guitar solo really punches the point home. A couple of really apt things Mr. Becker says: "Nobody told us when we started out/ Just what this life was really all about...." "I guess we always knew... who we would turn into...." "Whatever happened to my ha-ha yeah...."

"On The Dunes," on "Kamakiriad"

"Girlfriend"
Is "Up off my back pages" a reference to Dylan's "My Back Pages?" (A line in "Only A Fool Would Say That" reminds me of "Ah, but I was so much older then,/ I'm younger than that now.")

"My Back Pages," by Bob Dylan, on "Another Side of Bob Dylan." If you haven't listened to Dylan in a while, put this thing to sleep and go do so right now. Especially his most recent work, "Time Out Of Mind," which of course we all think is a nod to the Dan. "Only A Fool Would Say That," on "Can't Buy A Thrill"

"My Waterloo"
As you might remember, there's another Napoleon reference in "Pretzel Logic." Jackofdaze (alt.music, 2/20/00): Got some lyrics for you. The ... tune was recorded by Cab Calloway in 1931. Here goes: Kickin' the Gong Around [Arlen-Koehler] It was down in Chinatown, All the cokies laid around, Some were high and some were mighty low; There were millions on the floor When a knock came on the door, And there stood old Smoky Joe. He was sweatin', cold and pale, He was lookin' for his frail, He was broke and all his junk ran out; Nobody made a sound, As he stood and looked around, And then you hear old Smoky shout:

Saying, "Tell me where is Minnie? My poor Minnie! Has she been here, Kicking the gong around?" "If you don't know Minnie, She's tall and skinny, She gets her pleasure Kicking the gong around!" "Just tell her Smoky Joe Was here and had to go." And as he departed, The curtains parted, And there stood Minnie Kicking the gong around! IN THE CAB CALLOWAY song, the theme is of a man looking for a woman who's gone to score heroin. In Walter's song, the protagonist is at a crossroads of sorts. I don't know when the term, 'kickin' that gong around' has been used musically, except in these two songs. But that's not saying much; I'm not exactly a musical encyclopedia. So I have no idea if Walter was influenced by this song, or just caught on to the term during some of the darker days of his existence. I do, however, think the use, in both cases, is fascinating, and I also think there may be parallels, if only in the implied struggle with addiction. It's not clear to me if WB's Waterloo is the person, the stranger he's met, or the slip he's trying to keep from having. We all know what happened to Napoleon at Waterloo, so is the character of the song telling us that failure is a forgone conclusion? Is the stranger holding? What will happen next? Dave Moore (alt.music, 2/20/00): "Kickin' the Gong Around" was a slang term in the 1920s/30s, meaning the recreational use of opium. Since that drug was usually obtained, in those times, in the Chinese quarter of town, maybe that's how the Gong reference got there. In music, the term was used by Louis Armstrong, Nat Gonella, and others, although, as you say, Di, it's Cab Calloway's version that is best known. Didn't William Burroughs use the term in one of his books? Or maybe I'm thinking of Jack Black's "You Can't Win" (1926), the book that was such a big influence on young William.

"Pretzel Logic," on the eponymous album.

"This Moody Bastard"

"Our salad days" reminds me of "Only A Fool Would Say That": "A world become one/ Of salads and sun." You bet I'm still smiling. stevevdan (GB, 10/15/98): a Becker remenisce (sic)... about his college days (daze?)...but is this "little friend of mine" a person or a pot pipe??? Great song either way..... miz ducky (GB, 11/5/99): I'll reveal one unworthy thought of my own: a nagging conviction that Walter's "This Moody Bastard"...is really about the history of his friendship/partnership with Donald. So sue me if I obsess too long.... The lines in question in "This Moody Bastard," according to the eye-strain-o-vision print liner notes, go as follows: You on the bottom Me on top

... and, according to my whacked interpretation, I read them as referring to how Walt and Don sang harmony when they were just two lone songwriters starting out (Walt's on record in some damn interview somewhere as saying Don would take the melody lead, and then Walt, despite his being a baritone, would endeavor to crank up and sing the harmony above that). My perhaps-delusional interpretation is nonetheless more strongly sustained by the opening lines: Little friend of mine Can you still recall Our salad days Between the ivy walls? ... i.e. their college days at Bard ... reinforced by Walt calling them "good clean fun" ... yeah right, coupla crazed music geeks hanging out together and writing rilly rilly *rilly* strange songs. Makes *me* smile just thinking about it. ... and then the long middle section, when Walter goes on about a period of long lonely days ... and this moody bastard remembers you were some kind of friend even then ... refering perhaps to the lousy times around the turn of the 80s.... Nu, so if Walter ever reads this he might be rolling on the floor laughing at how far afield I am ... but I know that, when I first listened to 11TOW and hit that song, I got an instant chill down my spine as my brain immediately insisted that was what Walt was singing about. God knows it's not the only totally raw and vulnerable lyric on the disc -- "Surf And/Or Die" practically made me sob out loud on that first listen ...

"Only A Fool Would Say That," on "Can't Buy A Thrill"

"Hat Too Flat"

Dr. Mu (GB, 11/28/98): In actuality, neither HTF nor "Tomorrow's Girls" are of course really about aliens - the Scifi construct is just an interesting vehicle to talk about fitting in, and today's vs. yesterday's girls (See Pleasantville), respectively...also, the Kama theme is Sci-Fi the way Gibson is sci-fi - warped near future tekkie twist... a little imagination, y'know. And again the real theme is not what will happen in the future, but how Fagen feels about.... True Companion: well, the movie WAS a sci-fi cartoon.... One image that comes to mind was one of immigrants who come to this country from the old world.... Some were big shots, some weren't it didn't matter for most as it was a struggle to fit in. Indeed, the closed doors were a lot of it. Of course the lines about how little work they had to do on their own planet kinda disavows a real direct connection...or how about the notion of artists trying to blend in to the real world or Walter and Donald trying (probably not hard or at all) to make progress with the LA music industry and social scene? Mostly, the song's funny as hell. Big Fan (GB, 11/28/98): I always thought that Hat To Flat was about predujice. A group of people comes to smewhere and tries to fit in, they can't figure out why they are not treated fairly or the same or are ostricised (sp?) They can't comprehend that it is their race or skin color or accent, whatever that is causing this, so they balme their hat (clothes), tons of metaphors, etc.

"Tomorrow's Girls," on "Kamakiriad"

"Pleasantville," the movie, 1998 "True Companion," on "Steely Dan Gold"--expanded version (see &c.)

"Little Kawai"
As a mother rich with sons, this song just makes me grin. This is just a regular boy, doing what comes naturally, who's lucky enough to have a dad who can find the boy within himself and share it with his son.

"TWO AGAINST NATURE"

Introductory Notes "Gaslighting Abbie" "What A Shame About Me" "Two Against Nature" "Janie Runaway" "Almost Gothic" "Jack of Speed" "Cousin Dupree" "Negative Girl" "West of Hollywood"

Introductory Notes
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, "Steely Dan Words + Music" (copyright 2000 Giant Records): WB: We had been talking about the idea of doing this for a while. We had written songs together a couple of different times since "Gaucho." There was a time in the middle eighties when we got together and wrote some tunes. And then we worked on at least one tune for Donald's record. So we had in the back of our minds the idea that we had some songs and some ideas for a a new album, and I guess after the last tour in '96 we decided, well, Let's go and do it, if we're going to do it, and that's when we started. DF: I think there was a couple songs that may date back, what, into the eighties? WB: Yeah, definitely into the middle eighties. DF: At least the germinal ideas of them, but those were probably as I remember rewritten extensively, and most of the songs were written in the '90's. WB: It's always been our habit in writing to look at pieces that we've had laying around for years, or to rewrite songs that we've perhaps finished and decided weren't that good, but all of the lyrics and all of the finished song structures, melodies and so on, are really new. DF: I think when we get together, we just end up with a certain style, you know, which hopefully has evolved over the years. I don't think we were really remembering what we used to do in the seventies or eighties, really, it was just a matter of collecting some fragments that we had worked on either alone or together and seeing if we could come up with some interesting music that was interesting enough so that we would actually want to make records out of the material. WB: I think we actually started recording in November of '97. DF: I mean, you know there was times in between when we went back to write some more or took off, but... WB: Remember we took that weekend off... DF: Yeah, that weekend... We went down to Tijuana... WB: It was a long weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. ... DF: Yeah, this material is all pretty new, you know as I say some of the things may be based on ideas from many years ago that we had on tape, which is usually a cassette in a boom box, you know, old work tapes that we sort of collate once in a while. It's a renewable process, because obviously some things don't work out the way you want, so you end up with these fragments, which then can be later used for something else if they come along. For instance, if you're writing a song and a chord progression will lead to a spot where you say, "You

know, this sounds familiar," and it'll turn out to be similar to a chord progression from some fragment that we never used, and we say, "You know, this effect might sound good here," you know, so we'll use that, and we'll just pick those things out. You end up sewing everything together in a way, and I think most things are so much more random than they seem, and then when you put them together hopefully they won't seem random. WB: Yeah, it's true. It's surprising when you're writing stuff how many different ways a thing could work and still sound right. A lot of times we'll sit there and we're trying to figure out which is best. They all sound pretty good. DF: What it is, is you'll be writing something and realize the section you're about to write you've already written for a song that never matured. WB: Right. DF: For instance, this one song, "West of Hollywood," has a chorus which we started playing something and it reminded us of a chorus of a sort of reggae song we wrote in the eighties, and so we dug it up and we adapted it, you know, but we had to change a few things, but essentially we were able to use that idea fifteen years later. WB: We're very economical. DF: Yeah. WB: We like to use old little bits, scraps of things that we find. Unfortunately, BTB has taken down his fine 2vN exegesis page. You can still hunt for Huysmans' A Rebours (Against Nature), which the Dan say inspired the album's title, and needless to say some of the content of this and I'll bet other of their works. To come: the rest of BTB's meritorious comments. David Menconi, Raleigh News and Observer (7/21/00): "It's the idea that everyone is fighting nature and the aging process," Fagen says of the album title. "It's kind of an axiom that when you get to be our age, you can't have a rock 'n' roll band anymore. So we're fighting nature in that sense. There's also the idea of art vs. nature. Sometimes I think artists don't do well in nature, and they have to invent their own reality." Paul Zollo, cdnow interview, somewhere near century's end ("Steely Dan Continues The Battle"): CDNOW: Two Against Nature is an intriguing title, and the title cut of the album. Donald Fagen: We made it the title cut because we thought it was descriptive of our condition at the present time, because when you start to get older, you really are fighting nature all the time. And musically you're fighting nature, trying to organize atoms of sound. There are a lot of interpretations. But you're trying to manipulate or overcome obstacles in nature. Of course, if you take the long view, what we do is part of nature because everything is. But as far as a subjective view -- you are really fighting nature Walter Becker: Your own internal economy of time, energy, money, ideas, patience Fagen: Trying to balance your musical life with other parts of your life. It's essentially a classic struggle.... [CDNOW] On this new album, as in much of your past songs, the meaning of the some of the songs is very clear, while others are quite cryptic. Is it important for the meaning of a song to be clear? Becker: I think, depending on what the song is and what it's about, it's more or less important that it have a very comprehensible narrative. And I think for example, a song like "What a Shame About Me" on the new record, I can't imagine anyone having any trouble knowing what that's about. Whereas a song like "Two Against Nature," people ask us about quite a bit and sort of wonder about it. And particularly foreign people who are sort of confused about what might be meant by the idea of "Two Against Nature." Or a song like "Gaslighting Abbie," if you don't know about the movie Gaslight and that expression, you're screwed, right? You have no idea what that's about. And yet if you do know that, then I think you can make sense out it. [CDNOW] Your use of the language and specific details, even when the meaning is not obvious, such as "now you're the wonderwaif of Gramercy [Park]" from "Janie Runaway" are so great. Becker: [Laughs] We certainly were pleased with that. Donald and I probably sat there for two hours trying to come up with that line. We had all different parts of the city. We had Let me look at my file here. We write the lyrics with me typing words on the computer, and I end up keeping a lot of the stuff we don't use. It just

gets sort of dragged and dropped down at the end of the file. Let's see what I have -- It says, "Another year of dog patch would have done you in." [Laughs] Let's see: "My waif queen," "my waif supreme," "waif mistress," "the baroness of my Wall Street loft," "now you're the princess of Van Damme Street," "Lispenard Street," "Irving Place," "Waverly Place." We had the titles "Dixie Runaway," "Susie Runaway," "Polly Runaway," "Molly Runaway," "Annie Runaway...." [CDNOW] "Jack of Speed" is one of the new songs that has a classic Steely Dan sound and groove. Is that title an idiom you created? Fagen: Yeah, that one represents the personification of a kind of demonic obsession. Becker: We just felt that "Good King Psilocybin" was too hard to sing [laughs]. So we decided to go with "Jack of Speed." Hutch (GB, 2/3/00): [from an article by Vic Garbarini in Guitar World] "... the good news is that the new record is an almost seamless continuation of the Steely Dan sound last heard on 1980's Gaoucho. Creepy characters and dark doings still haunt the band's gorgeous musical landscapes. But a sense of compassion has also surfaced amid the cynicisim". Heidi hole (GB, 2/5/00): "Steely Dan Releasing New Album" (by Kevin O'Hare, Newhouse wire, describing the VH1Storytellers taping): It was insightful and at times quite amusing to see Becker and Fagen deal with the format of "Storytellers." the popular VH1 program includes not only performance, but a lenghty question and answer sessionwith audience members, focusing on the music and how the songs were written. Thats something Becker and Fagen have rarely, if ever, done is such a public setting, and at times they seemed to struggle with it. Asked if any of their songs were autobiographical Becker quickly said "No,'' and drew laughs. But Fagen said that the writing process is based upon "partially your experiences, partially observations and partially dreams.'' They seemed taken aback by one audience member who said she was troubled by the lecherous relative detailed in "Cousin Dupree.'' Becker said the song was a joke take on "an original southern theme.'' Fagen modified that to say it was "a rural narrative.'' He then stressed that if listeners pay close attention, they'll realize that Cousin Dupree's advances are ultimately rejected. As for their music's staying power, Fagen and Becker seemed rather amazed. "We just wrote songs to amuse ourselves,'' Fagen said. "We never thought we'd be standing here 30 years later.'" Andy (GB, 2/11/00): From Walter's thank yous in the Kamakiriad liner notes: The producer wishes to thank Elinor, Kawai and Sayan for their patience and support. Likewise Wolf Chuckie, Wolf Nancy, Mr. Bonhommie, *Spider King Demon*, Donald, Bambi, Fluffy, Legba, Baron Samedi. Mahalo to Lisa, gracias to Bobbi. Hubba-hubba to Helen, George and the whole crew over at *Steamer Heaven*. Any of those references sound familiar? (If you don't get it take a listen to "Two Against Nature" and "What a Shame About Me"). Wayne Robins (LA Times, 2/17/00): Like many Steely Dan albums, there's a thematic consistency to "Two Against Nature," even if it is, as usual, a bit opaque. "There wasn't actually any concept, but I think it's sort of like some of the other Steely Dan records, which were written in the same time period and we were thinking about certain things," says Fagen, 52. "Whatever was in our minds at the time. But there was a commonality of themes: Loss. Decay. Potential rejuvenation. . . ." "However brief, however impermanent," adds Becker, 50. amazon.com (Interview, 2/00): Amazon.com: The title Two Against Nature implies both conspiracy and conflict. Becker: For our personal situation, we felt that we were collaborating to keep the bubble of artistic concern

that we live in inflated and thus spare ourselves the necessity of dealing with the mundane world, where all sorts of natural processes like aging, death, and decay are going on. Fagen: As you get older, nature impinges on your play/free area. You have to be aggressive in defending it. I think you have to broaden the spectrum of the things you think are funny as you get older. Like, say, death. You have to take a different attitude about it. arteest (Digest, 3/1/00): i was curious if anyone else noticed a thread running through some of the new tunes? yeah, they're all wonderful but that ain't what i'm talkin' about... There's a lot of what one might call... occult... in there. i'm a graphic artist and i frequently refer to SD lyrics for imagery inspiration, (that's what the songs are like to me, by the way; paintings...) but i never noticed a bent for the horror-sort-of (almost gothic?)stuff. here are just a few: gaslighting abbie: aside from purposely driving someone insane, how about: "we'll do a fright night, with blood and everything..." shame: "and you're talking to a ghost..." 2vN: The Whole Thing! almost gothic: "she's pure science with a splash of black cat..." "this dark place is so thrilling and new, it's kind of like the opposite of an aerial view..." negative girl: "her skin-like milk, it's like she's never seen the sun, some hearts to crunch, is more like her idea of fun..." "her reptile brain, locked down and ready in combat mode..." oh, lighten up, jes' havin' some fun...cripes.... wait just a minute! what about the cover from AIA?? now that's really scary... Dr. Otto Kernberg (GB, 3/5/00): You see, my dear colleagues, Negative Girl and West of Hollywood need to be seen as part of a greater whole. Reminds me of many a Borderline or NPD I've worked with... Bogus Spam Address (newsgroup, 3/2/00): I had made a cassette tape off of the Real Audio tracks of 2VN and while I loved getting the sense of the music I'm probably the last one to realize how much RA leaves out compared to the CD which I got yesterday. It was fun for me to finally read the lyrics to see how badly I was off. . . 1) In spite of the fact that I had access to the title, I could have sworn that the backup singers in Jack of Speed were singing "Check out Steve" (which I think sounds hipper) 2) It wasn't Aunt Bay's couch Dupris was falling off of, it was Aunt Fay's 3) My most disappointing gaffe was West Hollywood where the line goes "It started out good, then it got much better" I swear the RA version is "It started out good, then it got less better." The latter for me exemplifies the wordplay and irony I like about S Dan. Too bad they didn't write it that way. . . My favorite lyric is What a Shame about Me, a great story song. First off, it's an unlikely phrase one would use, but it sets off the meaning of the song perfectly. I only wish they'd been less subtle in using the line "and make believe we're back in our own school" and made a more specific reference to the fact that she wanted to nail him. My favorite song is West of Hollywood for both melody and lyric plus a killer sax solo. I enjoyed the gist of half the lyrics I did pick up and wasn't disappointed when I read the rest. You gotta give 'em credit for not only writing the line "riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of hollywood" but having it in meter and actually being able to sing the whole thing without screwing it up (say it fast 3 times. . .) Dr. Kernberg again (GB, 3/11/00): The reason women have trouble understanding the depths of men's feelings, is, among other things, that they place too much credence in the so-called differences between genders. Neither you, nor your gb colleagues should be so quick to jump to the conclusion that the relationships suggested in Negative Girl and South of Westwood are"dysfunctional" in the common sense of the term. Depth, and thereby, inspiration, REQUIRES a degree of "dysfuction," and THAT, m'dear is why celebration (albeit passive, sentimental and at times maudlin), rather than despondency is the primary spirit of these songs, including ESPECIALLY TAN, and indeed the whole album.

Clas (GB, 3/14/00): I have analysed all lyrics on Two Against Nature! Here you have the songinterpretentations: The songs are about; 1. Gaslighting Abby - a flying saucer and collective unconsciousness 2. What a Shame About Me - a flying saucer and collective unconsciousness 3. Two Against Nature - a flying saucer and collective unconsciousness 4. Janie Runaway - a flying sausager and collective unconsciousness 5. Almost Gothic - a flying saucer and collective unconsciousness 6. Jack of Speed - a flying saucer and collective unconsciousness 7. Cousin Dupree - The Knoxville Intercourse 8. Negative Girl - a flying saucer and collective unconsciousness 9. West of Hollywood - a flying saucer and collective unconsciousness Dr. Mu (GB, 3/28/00): Hey, Have you all tried starting tvN with the title track??? Man, it's cool. Those Latin rhythms and staccato burts of the sax and the slow key chord change followed by the might bass line and Walter's threatening guitar - a great way to state they're BACK!!!. Follow the title track with What a Shame About Me THEN Gaslighting Abbie. The story now begins with the demons descending upon our hero-loser. While in a fit of self-pity he attempts to ward off an old flame...he get laid anyway - then bumps off the old lady. With renewed energy and the Life Insurance check, he buys the Red Blazer and find that lust is a game for three. They tie him up in a dungeon and get him hooked on the hard stuff. After a few nowhere gigs, he hits on a voloptuous cousin. Programmed by her putdowns he finds he's becomes involved in sensuous but empty relationships with uptown model after uptown model. He makes one last stand out West, runs out of gas and begins to tell his tale on the couch...Finnegan begin again... Rick Baird (Digest, 3/31/00): I was listening to some old Zappa cds when I came across this: The second cut of the second disc on "You can't do that on stage anymore - Vol. 2 - The Helsinki Concert" (an entire concert taped from a small club in Helsinki, Finland circa 1974) is a song called, of all things, "Dupree's Paradise". It's a 24 minute jazz-acid rock fusion/ weird stuff/mostly instrumental jam with some dialog in the beginning about George Duke punishing himself with finger cymbals, Suzy Quatro (Leather Tuscedaro from Happy Days) music and Suzy Cohen (?) stealing towels from the Helsinki Hilton. Stuck in the middle, (about 4:30) Frank suddenly sings Rikki dont lose that number you dont want to lose that number Rikki. Interesting coincidence eh? Lastly, has anyone noticed a certain duality to the lyrics on 2vN? Several phrases or words not commonly seen in song lyrics are used twice on the album, in somewhat the same context. For example: I'm in the amen corner now (ag) I tell myself that it's over and done, amen (ng) Gonna go bang-zoom to the moon on things unknown (2vn) She's zooming on a couch somewhere (ng) First she's all buzz then she's noise-free (ag) A goof - a buzz, If that is what it was (ng) Anybody else from our old crew (wasam) Spider queen demon and that whole crew (2vn) Missy's kitty turn inside out she say (2vn) The city - the cleanest kitten in the city (ag) It's a luscious invention for three (ga) Exhausting and luscious (ng)

And make believe we're back at our old school (wasam) She's old school then she's like young (ag) Western science she strictly rinkydink (2vn) She's pure science with a splash of black cat (ag) Im not really attaching any special significance to this, But I thought it was interesting. See the Introductory Notes for "11 Tracks of Whack" for similar comments. I noticed this about Mr. Becker's lyrics too. Lynn Ross (Digest, 3/31/00): In reference to the guy who posted the question about whether there are real Steamer Heavens around, I'd say there are not, at least I've not seen any. But that doesn't stop the furtile imaginations of our dynamic duo. If you'll recall, the Kamakiri is a "steam-powered 10", suggesting that there would be (in the D+W universe) dealerships and repair shops that sold and serviced Kamakiris. I suppose then, that Steamer Heaven would be one of those repair emporiums. If Alan owns a chain of these shops, he's probably rolling in snow, far from the world we know, somewhere up on Mizar 5. Just a guess. Daily Steve (4/13/00): I just want to say how excellent it is, to be in NYC, from NYC, tired of NYC, and to hear all these subtly subversive references to the Big Apple. Do you know HOW refreshing it is to blast the title track into my own ears as I run, underground, to and from the #1 train and the Grand Central/Times Square Shuttle during rush hour twice daily? Now THAT's too against nature. grateful purple (GB, 4/24/00): By the way, isn't Amen Corner one of the difficult spots at Augusta? And isn't that a bunker on the cover photo of TvN? soout (GB, 4/25/00): ~amen corner: the 10th, 11th & 12th holes at the majestic augusta national in GA. (especially on sunday afternoon; the final round of the master's) that's were champions are made so-to-speak. it's the part of the course and the tournament where the extreme pressure and competition seperate the "chosen" from the also-rans. quite ironic given D&W's past emotional tribulations. Daddy G (GB, 4/25/00): Steven is right on about the Amen Corner. I would just add that "Amen Corner" could also be a metaphor for the concept of being in a situation where there is no turning back. "Amen" literally means "so be it," and the dictionary definition of the Amen Corner is a "conspicuous corner in a church occupied by fervent worshippers." I guess it doesn't matter whether you're at Augusta National or in a church - if you're in the Amen Corner, you're pretty much committed. Aja (GB, 5/11/00): Has anyone noticed how pathetic the men are on 2vN? I hear the CD and want to have a selfesteem raising session for them, they're so jerked around by their women and life in general. Negative Girl is almost emotionally abusive, yet the narrator keeps coming back for more (though he vows it's really over this time). The narrator in WASAM doesn't have the energy or desire for a reminiscent romp with a gorgeous exflame, he's so defeated by life. WOH, they're both at the bottom of the emotional well, but it seems to pain Kid Clean especially. Cousin Dupree? Enough said. AG-he knows she lies to him but he stays hypnotized. NotMyNancy (GB, 5/11/00): In Don&Walt's lyrics, bad guys get sympathy and innocents/victims get scrutiny. But we still know who's bad and who's innocent. That's one more reason that the Dan is so great. Dr. Mu (GB, 5/17/00): Trying Clas' lyric filter Gaslighting Abbie: Guy gets laid - kills wife What a Shame About Me: Guy doesn't get laid - just a shadow of the man that he once new back at his old school

Two Against Nature: Guy wants to get laid - wants his semi-mojo back Janie Runaway: Guy gets laid - waits for the raid Almost Gothic: Guy gets laid - wonders why they don't go out during the day Cousin Dupree: Guy doesn't get laid - never got to school Negative Girl: Guy gets laid - wonders why Porcaro always got the bubbly ones West of Hollywood: Guy gets laid - just a shadow of the man that he once knew the insider (GB, 5/18/00): song interpretations.....etc Gaslighting Abbey-from the old Charles Boyer flick 'Gaslight' (with a little 'Manchurian Candidate') thrown in [ see below] Two Against Nature-two 'doctors' escape from looney bin Negative Girl-junkie chick breaks heart West of Hollywood- musician heads west, girlfriend od's ("...almost got there...), one of the saddest 'Dan songs....maybe you can guess who wrote it.... Roger Catlin, Hartford Courant (7/25/00) (quoted on HoustonChronicle.com) (Thanx, JW): Although the band toured in the 1990s, Steely Dan is presenting its first new songs in two decades, songs that fans have found have a direct connection with their classics. "One of the interesting things to me -- which I picked up from people writing on the Internet -- is in what sense the characters on the new album seem to represent the same characters we've already written about (but) grown older," Becker said. [ see some of these comments about Steely character continuity below.... ] Robert Wilonsky, Dallas Observer (7/27/00) [a very funny inter/review] (Thanx, ever-vigilant BigFan): "Our songwriting is always a balancing act: Songs can't be too funny, they can't be too obscene, they can't be too nasty, they can't be too pretentious," Becker says. "We have to sort of try and juggle the different elements that we're using in the songs, and I think we've learned how to do that over the years so that the songs will sort of work on a bunch of different levels at once. You can listen to them one way and hear one thing, and you can listen to them one way and hear something different." If you know what this means, send your essay to The What The Hell Is Walter Becker Talking About Contest? c/o Dallas Observer, 2130 Commerce St., Dallas, TX 75201. Winners will receive a copy of Becker's novel Expressions to Avoid During a Recording Session, which includes such chapters as "My Spirit's Already Sore from the Last Thirty Takes," "My Girlfriend Sings Great Background Vocals," and "Play Something Paul Would Tell Linda to Play.") YGK (GB, 3/12/02): 1) Who is Dr. Warren Kruger and why is he mentioned? Dr. Warren Kruger is a deranged 'social scientist' a la Timothy Leary who has an office on the Upper East Side..... 2) What is "The Tyranny of the Disallowed"? The Quiet Rage of those who feel 'on the outside' 3) What is "The Rebus Affair"? It was a an affair which developed during desegregation..... 4) What is "Hooterie"? A gathering of freaky, wonderfully whacked, Dan heads.....also known on as Danfest 5) Where is Port Blanc? Next to Port Chenin Clean Willy (7/21/02): I don't know if anyone else felt this way, but TvN has been very difficult for me to get into. This is not incredibly uncommon for the Dan, or anything. Every time I purchased one of the seven

albums, I would pop it in, listen for a run threw and think, "what happened? What is this?" Then I would listen a few more times, and the music began to clear up, the lyrics began to solidify into thoughts, concepts and imagery. After a week I would inevitably be hooked, unable to listen to anything else. After every Dan purchase, all other music would be ruined for a good month. With TvN, it seems different. There are songs that I have been able to get into, but on a whole I haven't felt that spark. I began to think that maybe this album was meant as a retrospective. The two of the album title are nessecarily Becker and Fagen (though it would be crazy to denounce them from the title altogether) but any two long time friends. The premise of the album seems to be this: What happens when the two coolest people in the world get old? The quick response is, they don't take it sitting down, they go against nature. They fight the good fight. TvN is about looking back at the attitude that defined you and working to make sure that it still means something to you. Am I the only person to think that it's hysterical that the Coke in "Negative Girl" is actually and can of cocacola? When I look at Donald Fagen with his short white hair and clear rimmed glasses with blue lenses, I don't feel that the coolness he exudes is reliant upon history. They are just cool dudes and they are still oh so cool. With that mindset, I'm becoming more comfortable with the album, but I still feel like I'm being played a little. This album would mean nothing to me if it weren't preceded by the brillance of the seven prior albums. TvN requires a knowledge of the Dan, it plays off the things we know about them. Just look at how many comments on this site discuss TvN characters as extentions of others (Cousin Dupree and Mr. LaPage or Franny and Peg). These songs are filled with name dropping, only instead of people's names, it's places. NYU, Hollywood, Dean and Deluca, Gramercy Park are all places they TALK about going to, but never seem to. Consider the number of named characters in this album as compared to others. Abbey, Franny, Bobby Dakine, Barry Missy, Madame Erzule, T-Bone Angie, Brother Lou Garue, Jerry Garry. Those are all just from the first three tracks. "She said, 'Talk to me, do you ever see anyone from our old crew?'" The album is filled with people and memories the title two talk about but don't know what to do with. To me, our duo in TvN are sitting on a park bench in Central Park watching the girls go by on rollarskates (which makes it into the liner photos).One says to the other, "Let's go to Dean and Deluca." The other agrees, but neither gets up to go. Instead they just sit talking about everything they've done and trying to find creative novelties in the world around them. If Steely Dan releases another album, I have a feeling that it won't have this tone. I think they needed to get 20 years of ruminating out of their system. Bizarre when you think of all the refernces to being too old that appear in "Gaucho." Listen to the music of TvN. This is the only Dan album that I find sonically unidentifiable. With the exception of one or two tracks, I don't think I name any of the songs on here if the words were removed. Compare that to the classic opening of "Reelin' Through the Years" or "Josie." Compare it to the choruses on "My Old School" or "Hey Nineteen." The songs on TvN almost have a Hip-Hop quality to them. Listen to "Almost Gothic" or the title track with their 10+ instrumentalists and hear the way the same complex hooks and riffs appear to be repeated throughout each song. The beauty of the chaotism ties in with the idea that this album is a theraputic mission. "You, my fans" Fagen seems to say, "I need you to get this off my chest. I just need to put it all out their. So bear with me." Throughout the whole album, the Dan tries to sound up-beat, talking about how great the days are. We still get around, we still drive with the top down and the radio up. Look at this perverted character trying to sleep with his cousin. This couple is trying to kill his wife. It's like clown make-up, our heros feel that if they let the image fall then we as fans will say "You lied!" or "You fakers!" By the end, the whole experience culminates on "West of Hollywood" where Fagen sings "Look into my eyes, can you see the core is frozen?" then the kicker "You can't ask me to access the dreams I don't have now." He drops the guard, the previous eight tracks of Steely Dan making "Steely Dan music." Then he surveys the scene and we as fans and followers say "You guys could never do wrong, we've loved you for years and that's not going to stop. We all dry our tears laugh and decide to go get a beer. On the walk to the bar the Dan says "Don't you love Port Blanc when Hooterie is over? When the girls are easy and the crowds are gone." Just you and me, "a weekend of bliss. Then the rainy season." "That's okay guys," we say, "your music is a two-way street. And this journey was as special as anything else we

could have dreamed up in the last twenty years." When I think about it like that, TvN is an incredible sad and sobbering album, but it is definitely a lot easier to swallow and it makes me feel rewarded to have spent all this time following the band with my eyes and ears. Thanks guys.

For a fascinating e-commentary on "2vN" and Danness in general, go to "Post and Riposte" in "Hear My Ax Declaim." For a fascinating (some may say annoying and completely wrong-headed) review of "2vN" by Nick Hornby, the author of High Fidelity, check out "Reeling In The Years: The Return of Steely Dan," The New Yorker, 3/27/00, pp. 137-139.

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"Gaslighting Abbie"
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, "Steely Dan Words + Music" (copyright 2000, Giant Records): DF: "Gaslighting," actually, its origin was from the classic film "Gaslight," and to gaslight is what Charles Boyer did to, who was it? Ingrid Bergman or someone... WB: Yeah... DF: He tried to convince her that she was insane by moving things around in the house and... WB: ...constantly turning the lights lower and lower, you know... DF: ... it's about a guy who along with his secret lover is essentially trying to get rid of his wife or drive her insane... WB: ... that's right, yes, that's right... DF: ...they steal her clothes, and they get 15 watt lightbulbs and put them in place of the usual lightbulbs so it looks really dark in the house. It's very menacing. WB: Yeah, it was sort of meant to be harmonically the effect of a knife up between the ribs there. DF: It's sort of like the aural equivalent of an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Oh (GB, 2/6/00): I know an old guy with an evil stepdaughter. Whenever the old man does his laundry, the stepdaughter steals a sock from the dryer and hides it in a bag she keeps in the back of her closet. The old man howls in frustration every time. "I must be going crazy!" he yells. He's not crazy, of course. He's simply a victim of "gaslighting." The term comes from this 1944 movie ["Gaslight"], a dark tale of elaborate deception and psychological manipulation, directed by George Cukor. Charles Boyer, starring as Ingrid Bergman's cold-blooded husband, concocts a cruel and elaborate scheme to convince his new wife that she's going out of her mind. (The name of the movie comes from the way the husband secretly plays with the gaslights every evening, leading the wife to believe she is delusional.) Boyer's plans are threatened however, by a Scotland Yard officer (played by Joseph Cotton) who takes a special interest in the nubile young Bergman. GASLIGHT won Ingrid Bergman her first Oscar, and introduced a new word into our lexicon. Special bonus: Angela Lansbury as a hot-to-trot house nurse. -- Mark Frauenfelder rubybaby (GB, 2/11/00): yep, gaslighting is about driving someone crazy. But that part about her missing skirt showing up on ms "cara mia" is brilliant. Trust me, I know.

Tim K. (incognito, Digest, 2/13-14/00): Cara Mia was a song by Jay & the Americans. Isn't it mentioned in Gaslighting Abbie?... as in "bad thru and thru..." Wonder Waif (GB, 2/15/00): How about this for an interpretastion: the solitaire they are referring to in GA is the solitaire game on your computer! That makes it kind of fit in to the Guestbook/Internet flaming interpretation, no? Schwinn (GB, 3/2/00): "Gaslighting" means the equivalent of "slipping someone a mickey". This has nothing to do with the Disney empire though I do know that a dose of Deludin will make you feel "goofy". Matt (3/7/00): One plush summer you come to me ripe and ready And bad through and through With that deep mystical soul synergy pumping steady Between me and you Lovin' all the beautiful work we've done, cara mia And it's barely July If we keep on boppin' until Labor Day Li'l miz Abbie - bye bye The speaker meets a new woman in the first four lines ("cara mia" = my dear). There's one problem: the speaker is with Abbie. Being "bad through and through", the new woman helps him get rid of Abbie. They've been "gaslighting" Abbie, or driving her insane to get her out of the picture. The plan's going well, and soon enough Abbie will be clinically insane. What will it be - some soothing herb tea? That might be just the thing Let's say we spike it with Deludin Or else - maybe tonight a hand of solitaire The two spike Abbie's tea with deludin (notice the similarity to the word delusion), making her think she's having some sort of nervous breakdown. the solitaire thing could be that cards are missing, or it could be what Abbie does to calm down. CHORUS: Flame is the game The game we call gaslighting Abbie It's a luscious invention for three One summer by the sea There are three people involved; the speaker, the new chick, and Abbie. They are alone for the summer, so Abbie has only the two others as company. With the long weekend that's comin' up fast Let's get busy There's just too much to do That black mini looks just like the one She's been missin' Feels good on you They steal some of her things ("I was sure I'd left it here!") and then (I'm going out on a limb) the new girl wears Abbie's skirt (during sex?) in some sick game that arouses the speaker.

There's a few items we need in town - allez-vous girl There's no time to waste Such as fresh cable and fifteen watt bulbs Couple dozen - it's a big old place The two go to town. Summer continues as the speaker and new girl get dimmer lights to make Abbie think she's losing her vision (I believe this is what happens in the movie "Gaslighting"). The three are in a big, empty house for the summer (I think of "The Shinning"). Let's keep it light - we'll do a fright night With blood and everything Some punky laughter from the kitchen And then - a nice relaxing hand of solitaire They stage some sort of attack and make Abbie think she assaulted one of them. The "punky laughter" could have several different meanings. "Punky" can mean rotten, so perhaps it's the two evildoers plotting their bloody prank against Abbie. It could also just be them making Abbie think she's hearing things. You can choose the music I'll set up my gear Later on we'll chill and watch the fireworks from here Either they've reached the Fourth of July and they're celebrating their success making Abbie a nutcase, or it could be an allusion to the fourth of July, in that the "fireworks" are pranks they play on Abbie, or maybe the last few grains of sanity popping into nothingness. How can you knock this mighty spitelock Check out the work itself A mix of elegance and function That's right - a tweak or two and then she's out of here The speaker alters items in the house so that Abbie is no longer able to use them (maybe she can't open a door or something). This could also be a reference to the movie (which I haven't seen). Regardless, the speaker is proud of his work, and says that with a few more modifications to her head they'll have to throw her in the booby hatch. Hank Silvers (3/23/00): in "Tell Blondie..." Donald comes up with the word "spitework", then uses "spitewaves" in "Springtime." A few years later, Walter calls the Internet "Spiteweb", and finally (or at least, lately), we find a mighty spitelock in "Gaslighting Abbie." In spite of everything, I'm starting to detect a pattern... MOJO interview (10/95, sniffed out by the eidetic Hank Silvers ): Becker: Some of Jay's [Black, of Jay and the Americans] friends were the same guys from Good Fellas - they were not all fictional characters. I think what his life was like - he was married to the niece of one of the guys, which I think was a survival move: he was levering himself up into a position where he could be forgiven some debts. We would see them once in a while around the office. Some guys would come in and say, 'Hey Jay! Whyn't you get these guys to take a fuckin' haircut?' Or they'd come backstage after show and say, 'Hey Jay, your voice sounded beautiful, but that drum, that fuckin' drum's givin' me a headache! Can you tell 'em to turn down that fuckin' drum?!' Fagen: See, now you can't help talking about this stuff, it's like you're in a groove... Becker: I know. I'm programmed. It's like The Manchurian Candidate. In fact, I'm thinking of going over to Elsa

Lanchester's house after the interview! Fagen: How about a game of solitaire to pass the time? Becker: Good idea! I'm thinking of catching the Senator's speech later, down at the Press Club. Wanna come with me? You can carry some of my stuff. See, I've identified with my captors now - I'm thinking of going into journalism. wormtom (GB, 3/28/00): the read I get is that the couple are a bunch of voyeurs who woo another women out to the vacation cottage and have their way with her. Not sure whether he or she is doing the wooing, but they go from a brainless let's watch a gore flick (bored in paradise) to stiffing her drinks to make her more accessible. date rate game for three only two know they are really playing Re: solitaire: You must watch, or watch again, "The Manchurian Candidate," a 1962 film which starred Laurence Harvey and Frank Sinatra as returned Korean War vets. They and their platoon were captured and brainwashed by the Russians and Chinese, and Harvey was turned into a killing machine programmed to slip into assassin mode when someone suggested he play "a nice relaxing hand of solitaire." When he'd hit the queen of diamonds, he was suggestible to the most horrific of orders. One look at Harvey turning over imaginary cards in the presence of larger-than-life posters of Heroes of the People will give you a frisson you'll always feel when you hear this song. Those who lived through the Cold War will squirm familiarly at the references to brainwashing, the caricatures of Communists, and the existential tint to every scene. The movie also skewered McCarthyism brilliantly, used imagery shocking for the period, and costarred Angela Lansbury as Harvey's dragon-lady mother (the queen of diamonds). Funny coincidence; she was also the tarty maid in "Gaslight." Midnite Cruiser (GB, 4/5/00): WOW! Just finished watching The Manchurian Candidate on AMC and that was an awesome movie! Lots of cool twists and turns, some I saw coming and some blindsided me. Didn't realize there were so many Dan references there though. Besides what's already been discussed regarding TvN, I learned that Raymond's [Laurence Harvey's] girlfriend/wife was named "Josie" and that the the first joke Raymond made, while still in his costume, was that he looked like "Gaucho" Marx! Maybe Donald and Walter have been long time fans of this film and we just didn't know it? Dr. Mu (GB, 4/5/00): How about that Frankenheimer teleplay-like directing full of angles and chopped frames in black and white ZombieVision? Wasn't there a line about a cool, dark place? - like the one Raymond perched up in with non-aerial view (a slit) at the end with about a 15 Watt bulb for illumination. Josie was a knockout - a little solitaire, a tweak or two and she's outta here. Good catch on the Gaucho Marx line also...Whoa, did Laurence Harvey and Frank Sinatra have more sweat on their upper lips than Nixon at the '60 debates? Aaron (GB, 7/26/00): RE: Gaslighting Abbie, some of Fagen's thoughts "And the couple in 'Gaslighting Abbie' who are trying to dispose of the wife in the triangle," continues Fagen, "even though they seem to be some kind of psychopaths, they're also very cheerful in the way they're going about their business." It's funny how easily I overlooked this tune the first 3 or 4 times I heard it. I guess that's the difference between listening and hearing. When I finally got it I had to ask if this was a literal interpretation or some twisted metaphor. I guess I had it mostly right. fezo (GB, 5/2/01): in my mind, it's always been more of an ode celebrating the creative process; be it song writing, drafting a tax plan to help ones' rich buddies in the oil industry, or getting rid of a pesky spouse. the narrator is simply proud of the scheme ("lovin' all the beautiful work we've done", "check out the work itself") and as such i think the whole song is more pleasantly interpreted as one championing the pride of authorship. Blaise (GB, 5/2/01): And literally at times "you can choose the music, I'll set up my gear...", yes. Definitely an appreciation of the work itself while in progress("A tweak or two...") mixing up with the evil plan theme. It's telling of their perfectionist perspective in artistry and the fun they have in the process, yes.

Blaise encore (5/3/02): In Gaslight [the movie], I forgot to say... that I think the song Gaslighting would fit at that moment when Charles Boyer, the wicked piano player is contemplating what Angela Landsbury, the maid, tells him about Bergmann not being the only one in the house. Like an invite to sordid things and there's this split second when he considers having her involved and the song then, the song would speak of this passing fantasy of his. It would be the soundtrack to it and make a lot of sense. That hit me on second view of this particular scene. There's also an old lady who prides herself in being known as "Bloodlusting Betsy", who loves a good murder mystery. And that was another possible hint in the song. Hey, content is content, right? lol

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"What A Shame About Me"

Barney Hoskyns, author of the splendid rock history Waiting for the Sun (buy & read!), interviewed Messrs. Fagen & Becker in The Guardian (1/14/00): " 'I guess in my mind the lower Broadway of What a Shame About Me was the lower Broadway of about 1966 rather than of today,' says Fagen, who recalls selling college textbooks on lower Broadway's timeless Strand bookstore." WASAM (GB, 2/8/00): ...the pity fuck scenario at the end. Tapeworm (Newsgroup, 2/11/00): I was especially taken by "What A Shame About Me." Upon the 2nd or 3rd listen in as many days, it hit me: The characters seemed familiar. I first put together that Franny, back from Hollywood, her films and shows and CD's may have had a stage name: Peg. I always interpreted the song Peg to be a story of "I knew her back when." The words seem to me to be a guy either writing a letter trying in vain to get in touch with Peg, or Our Hero simply watching Peg on TV as she makes her way along the Academy Awards runway. He smiles at the TV, alone in his room, remembering what it was like when they were dating. Now, here it is the late 1970's and Peg has become a star. Our Hero is still just a regular guy who knew her back in the day, but now can't get the time of day from her. Fast forward to 1999. Like Faye Dunaway, once a hot commodity and now in three short scenes in the Thomas Crown Affair, Peg may no longer have her name in lights above her pin shot. She wants to reconnect with her old friends, her true friends, perhaps a little sorry that she got so taken with herself when fame hit. Does anyone else think that characters in Steely Dan songs may be somewhat serialized across the years? Any possibility that What a Shame's Barry the Software King and Bobby the Bunsen Prize winner were the boys upstairs, smokin' with Our Hero back in My Old School? Could Franny be the one who put Our Hero on the Wolverine up to Annandale? Hank Silvers (2/17/00): Here's one thing I like right now: in What a Shame, Donald sings about the Jane Street sunrise, and the music changes to a lighter, even happy tone for a few bars...puts me in mind of the scene in Casablanca when Bogart is remembering the happy times in Paris with Ilse...then the lead guitar begins throwing some negative notes in, and eventually the whole song returns to the present day. Also, What a Shame reminds me of Ray Charles after the final chorus, when the bare-midriff section is laying down "Shame" and we can just see Donald in shades bobbing back and forth like the man himself...

fezo (2/17/00): "this is lower Broadway/ and you're talking to a ghost" God, I love that line. Have you ever read Doctorow's "Waterworks"? The quote at the end of the WASAM really conjures up the central theme of that book for me. In the novel, a newspapers editor seeks to discover the fate of one of his stringers in late 19th Century New York City. Turns out the young man has been creeped into seclusion by two spottings of his long dead father on the streets of Manhattan. Once in a carriage, and once just walking on the street. Wonderful imagery. Wayne Robins (LA Times, 2/27/00): "I think it should have been called 'What a Shame About Us,' kind of a generational thing," Fagen offers. "It's about expectations." "Let's face it," Becker adds, "us '60s folks had pretty high expectations. It's not hard to imagine being disappointed in the end." There are also titillating touchstones to Steely Dan's past. In "What a Shame About Me," an old college girlfriend, now a movie star, shows up and suggests getting it on for old times' sake, making believe they're "back in our old school"--a fan-friendly reference to their 1973 track "My Old School." Becker: "It's sort of an attempt to be somewhat self-referential." Fagen: "We're just trying to connect, you know. . . ." Becker: "And trying to acknowledge our own position in all this." Seth Markow (GB, 3/1/00): re: Bobby Dakine "Da kine" is Hawaii pidgin for "whatchamacallit" or "what's-his-name." JWMalibu (GB, 3/31/00): Yes, 'da kine can be used as a catch-all phrase, but more than not (it's a worldwide surfer's term), it's an adjective for high-quality...as in, "these buds (pot) are 'da kine", or, in its truncated form, "yeah bra', the waves today were 'kine"... Greg Anderson (newsgroup, 3/5/00): What A Shame and the title track have quickly become my two favorite songs on 2vN. Maybe it's because I am married to an author, but I find the lyric absolutely heartbreaking. Here is this guy who probably had some early success and was supposed to be "the next big thing," but now has completely given up on himself ("you're looking at a ghost"). Everyone in his old crew has hit it big, while he's stocking cutouts at a music store in the Village. His failure has probably even led to impotence -- hence his refusal to go back to his old flame's hotel room and disappoint her. It's a classic tale, and all artists know someone like this -- hit it big right out of the box, couldn't handle the sudden fame and fortune, threw it all away on Lost Weekends, never caught lightning in a bottle again. Heartbreaking. Did anyone else notice that the story is basically lifted from Harry Chapin's "Taxi," updated for the new millennium? Except in this case, the girl really is successful, and the guy doesn't take her up on her offer to relive their glory days. sooutrageous (GB, 3/13/00): I don't want to micro-criticize but what's up with Donald using the "like" totally street-hip word "like" twice on the disk. It's almost as if he's trying to come off as conversationally flippant on "What a Shame about me" when he says "But like this is lower broadway and you're talking to a ghost", but instead he just comes off as trite. When he "like" uses the word again in "Almost Gothic" (first she's old school; then she's like young", he's trying to come off as fauningly reflective but once again simply sounds like another X-Gen writer trying to catch the crest of the Tarrantinoesque-Zeitgeist wave breaking just West of Hollywood. Mike (Digest, 3/27/00): Just FYI the term "Da Kine" is also Hawaiian slang for "The Kind", and is frequently used to describe a certain breed of 'illegal Hawaiian smokable substance' - from what I'm told there is no better 'stuff' than 'Da Kine'. I can't tell you how I know this.... Chris Lonn (Digest, 3/29/00): The info on Robert DaKine in interesting. If DaKine has some drug connotation (big surprise) then the lyrics for "Shame" make more sense. Perhaps Bobby DaKine winning the BUNSEN prize refers to a Bunsen Burner. That is to say, Bobby is using a Bunsen Burner to make dope. The next line -- that he

is coming out with something new -- may mean that good ole Bobby is brewing up a new concoction to sell on the street. Maybe Bobby ought to meet Mr. Owlsey from Kid C. Steve Polevoi (Digest, 3/30/00): Ask anybody from Hawaii -- DaKine is used as a "catch-all" phrase when you don't know the name of a person, place or thing. Sort of like when you're trying to describe someone's name that you've forgotten, old "Whatshisname." DaKine is used the same way, but not limited to a person's name. It makes total sense in the context of the song as Frannie is relating to "our old crew" and can't really remember Bobby's last name. You know that great guitarist that played on "Black Cow," Larry DaKine? Lolita (Digest, 4/2/00): The Strand is a famous discount bookstore in NYC on 12th Street and Broadway. It is huge; many publishers send the review copies there and most of the books are almost 50% off. I think cutouts are these marked down books. That's where the line comes from 'this is lower Broadway and you're talking to a ghost'. NYU is located in that neighborhood, so when he refers to the two of them being classmates at NYU, it shows that he hasn't come very far because he never left the neighborhood after graduation. Michelle Soto (Digest, 4/3/00): cutouts are what they used to call overprinted albums way back in the olden days when i worked in record stores. they had the upper corner of the cover cut, hence "cut out". i'm in publishing now and our version of the cutout is called a remainder. the line in this song made me laugh because it brought together my past and present. yesterday's cutouts = today's remainders. sooutrageous (GB, 5/15/00): [Is] steely dan Lyricism is a bastion of reflection and reverie on secure, wellgrounded relationships? listen to brooklyn, dr. wu, everyone's gone to the movies, black cow, peg, everything you did, gaucho, the goodbye look, on the dunes, janie runaway, cousin dupree, west of hollywood. contrarily, the entirety of their work addresses askewed relationships of some sort. i honestly can't think of more than a scant few tunes that speak to the promise, the redemption of love. even these raise suspicion! (Almost Gothic, Aja) perhaps none of us really knows what the fuck a 'healthy relationship' is. it's clear from the lyric that the 'Shadow Man' from steely an isn't holding out hope for a healthy relationship any longer. his ideals are blown away. His dreams which were so much a part of his life, have began to give way to bleary resignation. maybe bad love is better than no love; he opines. we've all been faced with that question. loneliness is a tough act to swallow.only someone aquainted with grief could be the poignantly honest bookclerk in what a shame about me. Candelightly (GB, 5/15/00): who started the healthy relationship kick? these guys are (big R) totally smitten and intoxicated with the scent of a woman. There are as many valid interpretations of their take of woman's give as there are tasters. Aja (GB, 5/15/00): D&W seem to use their female characters (on 2vN, anyway) to illustrate the emotional states of the men. You deliberately don't know much about the women because it would be a distraction from the story the song is telling. We don't know a whole heck of a lot about Janie because the song is about the disillusionment the narrator has found with middle age, and how he's revitalized by an underaged runaway in a pathetic way (taking her to Binky's place for a threesome, as if that will change anything about his dreary life in the long run). We don't know anything about the woman plotting against Abbie except that she's as amoral as the narrator, wearing Abbie's clothes while planning to get rid of her. The women on 2vN are almost used as different hues in each song, painting the overall picture D&W have created. wormtom (GB, 5/18/00): the What A Shame About Me last verse is simple he thinks he is totally losing it and washed up she doesn't see it, and sees the old him with potential in tact and no focus on his negativity she

wants an afternoon of rekindling and he is so down on himself that he can't even follow through on a simple request Mr. LaPage (GB, 5/18/00): RE: SHAME-They do speak to Shame being an urban tragedy about resignation and the realization that there's a point in life when introspection brings us to enlightenment that what we are today is all we're ever going to be. Sort of like; we ARE what we're going to be when we grow up. Needless to say, it's not always a pleasant epiphany. I personally equate the man in Shame to the sadly-resigned dreamer in CBAT's 'Brooklyn.' They were both so full of promise. They were indeed 'charmers', exuding brut and charisma et.al. They both realize that the reality of their day-to-day brown-shoe existence is so much different than what they had dreamed, had hoped for. You can picture "Brooklyn's" lonely front-stoop dweller as a young man. So full of promise, handsome, cocky, unbowed by life. 'He's a real charmer', the girls in the neighborhood can be overheard saying, while sharing a black cow over at the sweetshop. He marries one of these beautifully wistfull girls from the block. He promises her the world. His promises have gone unfulfilled. She's disenchanted, world-weary. Her beauty's fading, yet she's still so in love wth him.(His lady's aching to bring her body down.She daily preaches on where she wants to be) He's disillusioned; still dreams of a better life. Even fantasises that his wife is someone wonderous, an exotic woman(an evening with a movie queen). His most poignant dream is the wish to recapture his lost hope, his youth, his promise of tomorrow. The heart-rending line 'the whole of time we gain or lose and power enough to choose," is the heart and soul of this song and pretty much encapsulates the spirit and soul of the 'Steely Dan Everyman' throughout the works that followed.(Brooklyn is probably our introduction to this character) The clerk in Shame is simply the sad dreamer from "Brooklyn" who has crosses the river with a milion other computers each morning to 'do his 9-5' and head on back home to his wife and family and the chilling realization that 'maybe...just maybe...this is it.' For the things this Steelyman has sacrificed, lost or gambled away in his life, "Brooklyn" indeed owes this charmer so very, very, much. He'll take the debt to his grave. Hank Silvers (GB, 5/18/00): One quibble to the otherwise spot-on What A Shame analysis: The guy in Shame wasn't so much lazy as merely stranded between the Green Acres of good intentions and the Twilight Zone of zero self-control. Yes, seems we've heard this one before. CHI-RIVAL (GB, 5/18/00): How many of us have become all that we aspired to be? If any of you have attended your class reunion(s) there is a underlying pressure to be successful to your peers. This guy in shame graduated from a class of superstars so the pressure was even greater. He probably never expected to see Frannie walking through the door so he was immediately humbled by that meeting. She also started bragging about herself. What I thought was very interesting and also showed how D&W's Story telling skills are excellent. Despite the narrators constant be littling of himself Frannie stil remembers how great he was and still liked him for him. Yet he still couldn't bring himself to go for the gusto. I tell you what, if I went to school with Jennifer Lopez and she saw me working at McDonalds and asked me to grab a cab to my hotel so we could make believe were back in our old school. I would say lets grab a limo, so we can get started on the way. Mr. LaPage (GB, 5/18/00): Chi~ sort of like we're a harsher judge of ourselves than others are. We find it hardest to forgive ourselves for our shortcomings. SHAME- Franny's into her own trip. She's not assuming anything about her old college flame. He's still got that glow. She still sees the man she once shared so much with back in the day. She's certainly not being judgmental. After all, she doesn't make the proposition for the afternoon tryst until AFTER he's bared his soul about rehab, giving up on the novel and his resignation that the present pretty much holds the key to his future. He has already cast judgment on himself. He's found himself wanting. In actuality it may not be too late for him. He's still surrounded by literature and culture in one of the grooviest bookstores in the city. He's faring

well with the rehab(so far). He hasn't ACTUALLY quit writing his novel. He's still plugging away. Still dreaming. Still plodding along. I'm may be wrong about his ultimate fate. He hasn't resigned from life. At least, not yet. Perhaps Franny's visit will serve as a catalyst for him. Perhaps he'll recommitt himself to the completion of his novel. He was obviosly very talented. She remembered him that way. Other's have told her about his great potential.(Somebody told me in the early eighties, you're gonna be the next big thing. *High praise indeed for any NYU alum.) If he gets his demons under control, recommitts to success and begins to dream again, perhaps this 'ghost' can find new life. "I'm worrying about the future now but maybe this is it.' Well......in his case, with alittle determination:maybe NOT. What A Shame if he gives up! CHI (GB, 5/18/00): La Page, You know how D&W leave their characters. High and dry..... I think our boy in shame will always be a slave to his own shortcomings. I agree with you about Frannie seeing the old him. But often times our vision of ourselves is just like hindsight. We have grown up hearing that most stories have a happy ending. But we also know that those are fairy tales.... In real life they oftentimes don't end happy and in The land of Dan... They never end happy. "See the glory(then the backup singers sound exhalted) "Of the royal Scam.(contradiction. twist of words Smile hiding a frown) you get the picture... Skip Waring (Digest, 5/27/00): The guy is a writer and a doper, self-deprecating, always sorry for himself, with suicidal tendencies, but a great writer. He was always that way, even when he and Franny were an item at NYU. In fact, his artistic self-loathing was a turn-on to her - - that, and the fact that she was insecure and liked drugs too. She climbed the ladder of success in Hollywood based more on the fact that she's gorgeous and willing, less on talent. She knows that he sees through her, and she still likes to get high, so an afternoon with him in a hotel room is a chance for her to let her defenses down. He's reluctant, morbid, and defeatist, so he says no to her advance at the Strand. But when she licks her lips at him in that special way he gives in, as he's always done with her in the past. Of course, she's holding some dope at that very moment, and they go to the hotel to use, then engage in sexual escapades for hours. He's off the wagon again, and has probably lost his his job in the bargain. Yeah...that's it. He's lost his job and crawls back to his hovel, goes back to writing and lives off ATD: Aid to the Totally Disabled. She goes back to her life the next day, and he...What?...I don't know! Just make it up! He probably finishes the book in spite of/because of his red pain and becomes a huge literary hit, his personal sufferings and weaknesses only adding to his dark artistic persona. Not My Nancy (GB, 8/29/00): Just read a comment on Ole's Fever Dreams from Hank Silvers noticing that "Steamer Heaven" is both in the liner notes for 11TOW and in the lyrics of Wet Side Story. It being the Nance's job to serve as resident low-hanging fruit-plucker, I remark that Alan owns a chain of Steamer Heavens. What in the hell is a Steamer Heaven? Some Maui take-out joint? An Annandale-on-Hudson beanery? Ed Beaty (GB, 8/30/00): Back east, Clams are referred to as Steamers... So the reference Steamer Heaven is .....for CLAMS... Maybe... rumblestrip (GB, 8/30/00, with recipe hints): You're right & I'm glad somebody brought that up! In fact they sell certain kinds of clams expressly for that purpose. They are easy to cook although it is imperative that you wash

them thoroughly and check that they are alive first. They are SOOO good. I must point out that 'Down the Cape' they pronounce it 'stee-mahs'! Steamer heaven is (GB, 8/30/00): A brothel in New Orleans? A simple hot-dog joint? A place you end up in if you haven't been really good or really bad? Clas (GB, 8/30/00): Tina Turner sang the song "Stevie Winwood", which rhymes with steamy window. What you get when you make love in a small room with only one window is a "steamy window". So, Steamer Heaven is the room you're making love in. You're making love, you sweat, and you're hopefully in heaven. Blaise (GB, 11/20/00): What's the Steamer Heaven intrigue that a few songs refer to lately? Alan owns a chain of them. The lovely Janine worked at one before it went up in flames. There's Aunt Faye and Dupree and some kids... It's less a subtext than a storyline unfolding on the side, at the margin. It spills into the lyrics sometimes. Hank Silvers (Digest, 2/20/01): I've seen this question asked in various regions of Dandom, but haven't yet seen it answered. After DF sings "tell the truth" at the end of What A Shame About Me, he mutters another line. What's he saying? Well, I used GoldWave to try to separate the vocal from those few seconds of music, and although it wasn't perfect, it sounds to me like he sings "I'd prefer not to." On the 2vN DVD version of WASAM, DF sings it twice, and it's a little clearer on the second one. I believe I've heard that line "tell the truth" in R&B songs; then "I'd prefer not to" just twists the prior line in a Steely way. That narrator feels like a schmendrick (or is it schlmiel?) anyway.

For Hoskyns' great interview in its entirety, go here. And don't forget his Waiting for the Sun: Strange Days, Weird Scenes, and The Sound of Los Angeles. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.

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"Two Against Nature"

David Menconi, Raleigh News and Observer (7/21/00): Oddly enough, the voodoo-suffused title track is the one song on the album that's least concerned with sexual matters. "I wonder how we missed that," Fagen says drily. "If I'd known that, I would've put some in. But there's a lot of voodoo imagery in that particular song. We're kind of elevating ourselves to a heroic position. Our fans are being troubled with demons of aging, insanity; and we're offering up ourselves as someone who can deal with it -- kind of a 'Ghostbusters' theme, if you will, the idea that art can be curative. Listen to this, maybe it will cheer you up." "Ghostbusters." Oh my. My fantasy lobe is overheating already.

Miz Ducky (GB, 2/5/00): Heh. The song "Two Against Nature" is in fact crammed chock-full of Voudou references. Madame Erzulie and Baron Samedi are just two of the loa that I count amongst the lyrics, along with other and stranger spirits, all despatched by our two valiant and enterprising hoodoos. Can the Guyz have been consulting with Dr. John, I wonder? Diane (Newsgroup, 2/14/00): that lyric-fitting thing [as seen in "Surf And/ Or Die"] is something i also notice on the title track of 2vN. it's hard to do this well, and another time they did it very well was on 'reelin' in the years,' which seems even more lyric-packed when heard live. But on Two Against Nature, the lyrics just seem to spill over from one line into another in many places, making it very hard to follow without a lyric sheet. Dr. Mu (GB, 2/28/00): Yeah, I like the notion of Walter and Donald as a couple of New Orleans witch doctors: "Yeah, we gwine beat that human nature right outta you...'Western Science she *still* strictly rinky dink'" at handling the demons, the doubts, the Id (not the Edd), the changing hormone pulses as the hypothalamus settles down for a long winter's nap and the limbic system goes for a walk - wait 'til the hippocampus starts to go! But, life is somethin' ya get over. Vitamin E + lipoic acid is the only safe way now to smooth out the bumps long term. It's a chronic irritation/inflammation thing. Titration of cytokine inhibitors, inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitors and NF-kappaB inhibitors and ikappaB activators are still a ways off (damn, I come her to get away from this on occasion)...gotta stick to ratbone to sooth the gnarly downside 'til we know bettah. Slint (3/1/00): Do you know what happens to me when I listen to the song "Two Against Nature"? I suddenly stop whatever I'm doing and within moments, the song has taken over my mind and body. I'm suddenly dancing like a wildman while deep dark subconscious thoughts ooze into my mind...hot sex...fast driving....many many evil thoughts....this doesn't stop until the song has faded to an end and I can think again. Within 30 seconds, I listen to it again and transform once more. This song is another finely crafted Steely Dan masterpiece. It is an absolute KILLER tune. Lyrics are irrelevant in this song. It casts a magic eerie spell upon the listener. Don't drive a motor vehicle while listening to this song... I'm still looking for the disclaimer in the liner notes... Bill (Digest, 3/2/00): Excellent lyrics calling to mind a cross between Ghostbusters, The Exorcist and the X-Files (Wm Gibson connection??), but these poltergeist-hunters really love their gig! From the sax-squawks to the odd piano stabs to the percussion to DF's most "Countdown to Ecstacy"-style lead vocal in decades, this track is worth the 20 year wait in itself. (P.S. Lou Garou is a reference to the Louisiana werewolf legend Loup Garou). Gyro Gearloose (GB, 3/3/00): Q: What in blue blazes is the title track all about? WB: We made the unfortunate decision of choosing a name for the CD before we had a song. Before we knew it, boom, a million inserts printed and no title track. DF: And, I might add, the original art was in color but had to be scrapped due to this glaring omission. WB: Yes, much like that pie-in-the-sky project with Dr. Krueger. DF: Thanks for bringing that up, Mr. "I'm the lead guitarist". Q: So you're implying that at least some of your cryptic allusions are really just emotional outbursts in reaction to severe bungling? DF: It's all there in black and white, fella.

WB: You should have seen it in Krueger Color! Fantastic! diane (newsgroup, 3/4/00): In the voodoo (or voudou or voudon or vodon whatever way you prefer to spell it) ti bon ange [ French, "petit bon ange"] is one- half of a person's soul. It's the half that travels during sleep and leaves the body when a person is possessed by a loa during a religious ritual. It is depicted as somewhat vulnerable, even though it's simultaneously a guardian, apparently of the body. It's believed that evil spirits can sometimes capture ti bon ange while she's out there traveling around. When a person dies, ti bon ange leaves that body for good, joining the spirit world, and is never reincarnated or used by another person. Steely Dan have used voodoo references in songs before--at least, they used 'zombie.' [ also see Andy's note above re: Mr. Becker's credits on "Kamakiriad"] I've always wondered how much they actually knew or related their ideas to true voodoo--the religion of voodoo--as opposed to New Orleans and other styles of voodoo, which owe more to a sideshow mentality than they do to the roots of this ancient African religion. 10cc also make reference to voodoo--Baron Samedi--on one of their albums from the Seventies... is it "How Dare You?" I have it around here someplace. And of course, there's Doctor John, a/k/a Mac Rebbenack, say na more, say na more... And I'm sure there are many, many other voodoo/occult references in rock and roll songs. I'd say, though, that when Steely Dan make reference to something as arcane as the subconscious part of the soul (as in 2vN), it has more effect with me than some toss-off attribution in some other average rock and roll tune. That's part of what intrigues me about the title tune on 2vN, and sort of seems to extrapolate into the suite of songs on this album. Everything can be taken in part or as a whole. There may be messages there, and there may not be. But the images invite the poetically inclined (as well as the highly imaginative, which is what my mother always said I was, with great disdain, by the way) to take it all in and then run with it. Donald and Walter seem reluctant to explain their lyrics. I think part of the reason for that is that these groups of words are not necessarily intended always to make sense. Many songs have the feel of a 'cut-up,' which is a form of writing conceived by Brion Gysin and perfected by William S. Burroughs, where essentially, random groups of words are cut up and then pasted back together, creating entirely new thoughts. In one long-ago interview Donald mentioned that if he got stuck for a line, he'd just ask Walter for something. In a more recent interview, the duo seemed to intimate that sometimes they put words together simply because they like the way they sound, and not to make sense. Corvid (newsgroup, 2/29/00): "Two Against Nature" (the song) seems to be railing against the icky inevitability of "things unknown /unseen / undead" i.e. the creepy-crawlies both literal and figurative that pervade our lives, no matter how hard we try to ignore them or make them go away. "Soak the timber with special spray / Nuke the itty bitty ones right where they lay / Whip the bastards while they still green / Take the firemop - sweep it kissing clean". Seems to me like Don & Walt will stick around and fight the good fight for a while longer. "Two against nature, love this gig / Pull up the weeds before they're too damn big". Kind of gives me hope for another album before too long. diane (newsgroup, 2/29/00): I think trying to interpret it begins with committing to a point of view. One POV is gotten by seeing it as a rallying cry not to give up the good fight. Another one is to view it as a dark, nihilistic condemnation of society, vis-a-vis a protest song. Still another is some combination of both, and another could be that it's simply an abstract-expressionistic word painting. ... I feel D&W are making a sincere, human statement about the inhumanity of our world today. The numerous references to killing, destroying, etc., especially the "itty bitty ones," "maggoty ones before they hatch" "while they still green" and "weeds before they too damn big" seem to me to be metaphors for children--perhaps children with guns. I don't mean to say they are advocating genocide of children, but rather, that they are POINTING OUT our own unacknowledged genocide of children (at least here in America, where a first- grader can take a gun to school and kill another, as happened again just today).

Taken further, treating timber with a "special spray" could be a call to reform. Timber IS treated with chemicals which are intended both to kill any invasive insects and their eggs (maggots) and to preserve the life of the wood itself. There's a metaphor phor ya. ... If you listen to this song with images of teenagers in long black dusters carrying automatic weapons, backlit, coming out of the fog (a cinematic cliche), you might hear the words entirely differently. If you try to listen to it and take the various occult references literally, you'll get all balled up. That's why I'm convinced the metaphors run deep in this one. It's also why I don't accept Donald and Walter's own explanations, in radio interviews, that this is some simple allegory about the two of them getting older, any more than I accept their explanation in the Aja documentary that "Black Cow" is merely a soft soda fountain drink. They are disengenuous about this stuff. I imagine that's because they really don't feel like explaining themselves too much, to interviewers or to anyone. wonderwaif (GB, 3/6/00): I just think it's so funny that they managed to get in a line from Ralph Kramden of the Honeymooners into the song Two Against Nature "bang-zoom to the moon". All it's missing is Alice! FazChanders (GB, 3/7/00): I think D&W are picking up on the recent medical news that soon we'll be able to fundamentally (genetically?) alter our bodies to defy the ageing process. Instead of growing old, and dying, we can choose to extend the lives of our bodies by hundreds of years. But, if you do this, you're living for living's sake. And if you're living for no reason other than to live forever, then maybe you too are just a zombie, walking, talking, shagging (Madame Erzulie) and so on. D&W are perhaps prophesising a world one day where all there'll be are zombies roaming the earth, living forever and ever. Terrifying, isn't it? Daddy G (GB, 3/7/00): FazChanders: Your last post sent chills down my spine, especially the part about D&W are picking up on the recent medical news that soon we'll be able to fundamentally (genetically?) alter our bodies to defy the aging process. Meet if you will, Doctor Warren Kruger: http://www.fccc.edu/research/reports/current/kruger.reportframe.html [custodian's note: Much as I admire the crack team of Steely detectives, PLEASE don't pester the guy with email questions about whether the ref is to him. It has been done at least a few times, with the answer, "I don't know."] The second sentence of the text says it all: The focus of this laboratory's research is to identify and understand how alterations in DNA influence the formation of disease states. Mom-mee Uncle Donny and Uncle Walty are scaring me again. Hank Silvers (3/23/00): The way Donald's voice fades rapidly on the last "things unknown" of the first chorus of the title track. I can almost see him tossing his head back a la Ray Charles as he sings it... M. LaPage (GB, 5/7/00): My take on the title track: the madame is not only a horny voodoo priestess but she's also............A MAN!(aggggggggggh!!) Thus the 'call your Dr/shrink' lyric. The passage graphically describes what is probably one of the top 3 worst things that can befall an unsuspecting male-on-the-prowl: The Jaye Davidson thingy. Fletch (from New Zealand) (GB, 5/7/00): Just talking to a friend last night, about cool words and meaning etc, and I brought up the word 'grok' from 2VN etc. He reminded me that I had seen the word before when I was a kid. You remember those british 2000 AD comics with Judge Dredd? He used to use 'grok' as a swear word.....lol Like of like saying, 'shit!', he'd say 'Grok!' when someone was blown away or whatever.

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"Janie Runaway"
Evan (GB, 2/4/00): Some of the most beautiful love lyrics ever: Who makes the traffic interesting?/ Who rescues a dreary Sunday? / Who makes me feel like painting again? / Honey, it's you, Janie Runaway Of course, the ironic twist is that the girl is probably underage (anyone see a theme on the album...) and the guy is really creepy (Who goes to Spain on her birthday? / Possibly you, Janie Runaway) How condescending! jon (still @ his yellow stripe) (GB, 2/5/00): Janie Runaway--Opening suggests "Daddy..." is here and sure enough we find ourselves in NYC. D+W have the uncanny ability to screw you into a time and place, wherever and with whomever they please, and 45 seconds into it I'm soiling myself. This tune alone was worth waiting 19 years for. kd (GB, 2/25/00): it's clear to me that Ms. Runaway is performing tasteless deeds on the narrator while he's stuck in traffic, thus making it interesting. Hutch (GB, 2/25/00): I think the narrator in Janie Runaway has become jaded by simply living in the world and hitting that mid-life crisis. Believe me... it happens! His new found young lover has re-awakened his appreciation of the simplest things. She's let him rediscover the innocence and excitement of youth. She not only rescues a dreary Sunday but she rescues him from the dreariness of every day of the week. The dark cloud of unfulfilled dreams dissolves for a while to reveal the blue skies of creative possibilities he would have otherwise ignored. He's got money alright. They're going to Spain for her birthday. But money doesn't equate with happiness or contentment. It never has and it never will. They may not live out the rest of their lives together. Most likely they won't. He will always remember what she did for him though in the time they were together. And Janie will probably remain oblivious to it all. Mitch (GB, 3/1/00): Janie`s new friend could well be Mr. La Page! (see Dr. Pretorius below--11/27/02) Jive Miguel (GB, 3/1/00): Mitch / DJ, that's it, Mr. LaPage has resurfaced in Janie Runaway! His lucrative 8mm film business from the late '70's has afforded him a lush lifestyle and some very nice caprices ("I know you're used to 16 or more, sorry we've only got 8")! Maybe LaPage lived in Southern Florida in the seventies!?! Now he's the "Lucky Guy" of Gramercy Park! Brent (Digest, 3/2/00): [reporting on the Rockline special] Walter characterized "Janie Runaway" as "an exuberant song, all about life." Lolita (Digest, 3/2/00): Dean & Deluca is a gourmet grocery store in Soho NYC - the home of the $5 head of lettuce and $2 imported apple. The food is great, but definitely not for the plebian masses - you don't run there for a gallon of milk. diane (newsgroup, 3/4/00): Janie is a runaway--probably lived in one of our classically American dysfunctional families--who probably had ideas of living the Big Life in the Big City. Once she arrives, she's plucked like a ripe plum by an opportunistic older man who offers her treats like she's never seen in Tampa--gourmet deli food, grown-up wine, the luxuries of a Gramercy Park townhouse, money--and he is a Svengali of sorts to her. He likes the little sex games--"You be the showgirl/I'll be Sinatra"--and sex is, in fact, his one and only interest when it comes to this gullible but nubile nymph. She's indebted to him, and he raises the stakes--"Who gets to spend her birthday in Spain/possibly you"-- to the point of blackmail, in exchange for Janie arranging a

threesome with another of her nubile friends. It's really as simple as that. The guy is just another sleazy archetype in the Steely Dan catalog. Chris (newsgroup, 3/4/00): Maybe it's just me, but "Janie Runaway" sounds like a parody of several old TV themes, mostly notably the one from the Mary Tyler Moore show. ("Who can take a nothing day/And suddenly make it all seem worthwhile."), not to mention banal light rock songs like "Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes." In the Dan's subversive take, "That Girl" becomes underage jailbait from Tampa. I love that oh-so-subtle way that the adverb "_possibly_" abruptly enters the picture at the end. Yeah, she'll spend her birthday in Spain -- possibly -- if she agrees to a threesome with the narrator and her best friend. Oh, yeah, she loves to try new things. Hank Silvers (3/25/00): Just occurred to me...D+W cheat in that final chorus of Janie Runaway. The first two choruses, they rhyme something with "runaway" (fun day/Sunday) So what if that last chorus doesn't follow the same rule? I mean, lines like "who makes me feel like painting/sailing" can almost make you believe there is honest affection between the singer and Janie. Then, bored with jailbait, he reveals what he wants next, and Donald and Walter expose him for the creep he is in just a few lines. It's great storytelling. It just might not get them an "A" in a songwriting class, that's all... Daddy G (GB, 4/21/00): That reminds me ... of another classic lyrical twist, when the boys say, "That black mini looks just like the one she's been missing, FEELS good on you." Anybody else would have said "LOOKS" good on you. That one tweak makes all the difference in the line, IMHO. Daddy G (on a roll. GB, 4/26/00): The letter I just got from General Motors... Dear Mr. Daddy G: Thank you for your interest in our new line of Chevy Blazers for 2000. We feel confident that you will find the Blazer to be an elegant, yet rugged vehicle perfect for all of your transportation needs. From the streets of Manhattan to the rugged terrain of Pennsylvania, Chevy Blazer is equipped with all the features youll need to take on whatever Mother Nature has to offer. To address your specific questions: 1. Mirrors. Heated, adjustable outside mirrors and vanity mirrors on both the driver and passenger sides are standard equipment on Blazer LT and LS. However, at this time, there are no plans to offer optional, ceilingmounted, hideaway mirrors on any of our models. 2. Rear seating. Chevy Blazer LS comes fully equipped with a rear split-folding bench that can accommodate your gear without requiring you to give up all of your rear seating space. Unfortunately, we cannot at this time accommodate your request for a built-in hot tub. Please refer to the Customization section of the enclosed brochure for recommendations and precautions. 3. Sound system. Our engineers have never heard of a vehicle equipped with 16 speakers. We realize that, at home, youre used to 16 or more. Sorry, we only have eight. Chevy Blazer comes with an optional Bose eight speaker AM/FM/Cassette/CD Player. Additionally, while you are most certainly welcome to test the low end of the systems range before making your purchasing decision, were puzzled as you why you have specifically requested us to loop the first few bars of Almost Gothic by Steely Dan. We cannot guarantee that your local Chevy dealer will have a copy of the recording you requested, so you may wish to provide one of your own for the test. 4. Tinted windows. We appreciate your desire to reduce heat, glare, and fading problems in your new Chevy Blazer. Window tinting is available at a nominal charge. (Percentage of tint subject to applicable state and local laws.) 5. Entertainment center. Blazer LS comes with an optional VCR or DVD player, but not both. Yes, remote control is included and yes, the PAUSE button is fully functional. 6. Color. Due to unprecedented demand, Chevy Blazer is no longer available in red for this model year. We hope your questions have been answered to your complete satisfaction, and wish you well in the purchase of your new vehicle.

Best regards, Chevrolet Division, General Motors Incorporated Big Red, the Blazer (GB, 4/30/00): Janie Runaway seems to have an interesting soft drug subtext if you consider that what "makes tonight a wonderful thing" can also "rescue a dreary sunday", make you feel like doing spontaneous fun stuff like sailing again or impersonnating Sinatra or even give you a case of the "munchies" ("Let's grab some take out from Dean and Deluca!"). Sounds like the workings of some fine Hawaiian Bud. You see Melanie is a friend of the weed and she's not afraid to try new things. But would that be a federal case? In fact, if you play the song backwards (which you can't, at least not until the vinyl is out) Janie Runaway becomes Mary Juana. No shit. ... "Who makes the traffic interesting?". Most people picture heavy petting while stuck in traffic. Right? Now let's consider that the narrator is alone with Da Kine Bud and just happens to be reflecting on such an obvious everyday thing as traffic while zoned out. In fact, shouldn't you worry, knowing the Dan, that the song is too obvious? Here's another lead: the word "marijuana" was originally coined in spanish so it has its birthday in Spain. Naturally. Gotta go. I'm starting to freak myself out with this thing. Aja (GB, 5/10/00): My take on Janie is it's the narrator who's running away. I always saw Janie as some ordinary, simplistic girl (saying things like "today's a fun day") but she takes the narrator away from facing middle age and all he (feels he) hasn't accomplished in life. His heyday was 1959, but Janie's too young to see him as the rest of the world does, and that makes him feel like he did when he was younger (sailing again, etc.). His attraction for Janie is based on her youth and innocence, rather than her being some babe. wormtom (GB, 5/11/00): who is the runaway in Janie Runaway? a)is Janie a Runaway from a bad situation, her past? b) is Janie the person the protagonist would like to run away with? c)or does Janie runaway with her feelings? here's my bit on Janie Runaway I choose a) and b) with the emphasis squarely (mostly) on b) Janie is clearly the wonderful diversion for the narrating older man Yes Janie left a past and her dad's actions (first verse). Did he go postal or simple try to buy his daughter's affections. I read a divorced set of parents into this, but the boys keep it nicely mysterious. Why? because you focus on her as the runaway but don't know exactly what she is running away from when the deeper meaning of the song is in the fact that Janie is the great escape, the adventure that allows her companion his flights of fancy and inspire him back to his loves (sailing, painting) I've heard a huge sexual tinge inlayed in this song and I actually enjoy perceiving it with much less sex and much more flair. I don't see Janie as this underaged love toy but rather she is slightly younger, maybe mid twenties and has grown up in Florida in a state of relative sophistication, but nowhere near as cultured as a Gramercy Park lifestyle. Janie is smart, alluring, sexy and has it all there mentally. Not just a pretty face and hot body. She enlivens her mate, she makes him challenge himself and she makes things fun. And we are not talking constant sex here, but rather really spicing up and engaging his life. A true equal companion. The Sinatra scene to me is more a role play in their apartment than a sexual provoking.

Why must the "traffic interesting" line refer to sex? Yes she may be going down on him, but I like to read this differently. Sorry I see Janie as such an engaging conversationalist and fun to be with that her beau can't help but see even the most mundane things like driving in traffic as enlivened when he is with her. She is the escape that makes the weary aspects of his city life tolerable. The song twists abruptly at the third verse where Janie's man can't be content simply with her alluring nature, but since she is so moving and seemingly consenting in so many ways, he must stretch his luck and suggest a menage de trois. Notice - lets getaway (out of state), let's leave the city behind (run away with you), just you and me... and.... well why don't we throw your friend in for good measure. Who knows, maybe she has already suggested that she is a little more open minded than a straight monogamous relationship. But he asks "would that be a federal case?" Am I offending you with my request? He then goes on to coerce her with the prospect of spending her birthday in Spain if she plays along with the threesome idea. SO is he a total creep or just thinking he can have his fantasy and eat it too (with no consequential strings attached). And yes it probably does hurt to ask, but he takes that chance so there you have my take Janie is luscious, Janie is fun,Janie is sophisticated Janie is the one you want to run away with. Just don't push your luck and ask for Melanie too, chump. Edd (GB, 5/11/00): >"would that be a federal case?" "Does the Mann Act cover this situation?" rubybaby (GB, 5/11/00): Janie Runaway makes me think of the movie, "9 1/2 Weeks." The guy seems a lot like the Micky Rouke type. He will keep pushing the envelope to see how far he can get. It's all part of the game. And Janie's just like Kim Basinger's character, but younger. She keeps running away because deep down, she knows he'll never stop going for newer, more dangerous thrills. And she suspects he'll break her. But he always finds her - he knows her all too well. That's scary in itself. But she just cannot resist both him and those lovely trips to Spain. She's at a crossroads in the song: she could be strong and refuse, but I think she goes for it again... Razor Boy (GB, 5/11/00): She is a young girl (under 18) who saw an opening to bail out from her 'desperate' home life and took it. She must have felt she had to in order to evade the aftermath of her father's 'spree'. Running instead of accepting and dealing. The Bright Lights of the Big City being the first place she thinks of. Perhaps going there to begin a modeling/ACTING career which will allow her to run away even further from her 'dark' reality. Now, this is mostly all conjecture, because the song really seems to be about the narrator and how she makes him feel, 'I'll be Sinatra way back in '59'. I love Sinatra and he was the original 'Bad Boy of Rock' at that time. That's another thread for some other time. He is looking to relive the old days with his new found 'wonderwaif' (perhaps he is an agent/directer/photographer) knowing full well she will follow him for his promise of getting her 'in'. Her intelligence is pretty well hidden, it could go either way. She could be very smart and using him to get what she wants overlooking what it takes (the Sugar Shack, Melanie) as a means to get her end. On the other hand she could be naive and 'young and bubbly' thinking that he really 'wants' to have her around and teach her about

life even though we all see that he is using her to get to his own ends, that is to be 'young at heart'. I am leaning toward the naive road myself because if things were really that bad back in Fl. to cause her to run, she would probably latch on to anything or anyone that offers her a happier more fulfilling life. I also think that the 'interesting traffic' is not due to the placement of her mouth rather what is coming out of it. She must feel the excitement of being 'free' and can't stop going on about everything she sees. There you have it. Daddy G (GB, 5/18/00): I'm surprised nobody has pointed this out yet ... re; the line "Who makes me feel like sailing again?" We're not necessarily talking boats out on the lake here. It's a metaphor for ... um ... you know. You've heard the expression "the wind in your sails"? You know, when there's no wind, the sails are just hanging there limp. Not that I ever ... because I haven't ... uh, is it getting warm in here? Mr. LaPage (GB, 5/18/00): RE: JANIE-In a recent interview Fagen & Becker mention sitting in a restaraunt and a bunch of Wall Street types are boisterously imbibing and sharing war-stories at the next table. They over-hear the perverse shit they're spewing and just want to jump out of their easy-chair and rip their faces off. (this is para-phrasing of course but it's very, very close to D&W's comments about the inspiration behind the protagonist in Janie) CHI-RIVAL (GB, 5/18/00): We all know that often times D&W's characters in songs that we have all grown to know (and in some ways probably already know) are ongoing and interchangable. This is the beauty of being a Dan Fan. Its like the ultimate inside joke. Or it could be compared to that goofy Ray-Ban commercial where you see all these kids sitting on the stairs with their sunglasses on and the one idiot doesnt have his, and he explodes because the sun rises and they are all vampires! Just by pondering the lyrics of their songs we have enrolled in a private club Wink, Wink, nudge, nudge. ... I see the guy as our buddy in hey 19 and babylon sisters. This brings about the question that was posed to Razor: 1) Is janie the runaway who runs away from any and all situations? 2) Is Janie the one that the narrator wants to Run away with. I think It starts out as some abusive relationship in Tampa. "Before the crew put out the fires" did she burn something down? "When dad went on that spree" Did she burn dad down? Kinda aerosmithlike,(janie's got a gun) She may have bailed because she knew the law would be looking for her. Even though it seems as though the narrator is using Janie she's the one who says today's a fun day. and how does a runaway from Tampa just happen to have a friend named melanie who's not afraid to try new things. Altamira (GB, 11/17/00): I've been reading some books on Florida lately, and I've learned about the dry winters and wet summers. As I was listening to Janie Runaway this morning, I was wondering if the song might take place in the winter, when the dryness contributes to brush fires like those mentioned in the song. The story starting in the winter would be somewhat symbolic--Janie's and the narrator's lives improve as warmer weather and longer days arrive. Cringemaker (9/28/01): Janie is running from not her father but her "daddy" as in "top." He is a Lawrence Singleton-type, a real evil incarnate. Singleton was convicted in California for raping and then hacking the arms from a 15-year-old runaway in the late 70's. After his release from prison, he relocated to Tampa, FL where he was last arrested for the brutal murder of a prostitute. Singleton tried to cover his crime by burning his home. Thus, the "fire, crew," etc. Nothing could get more "desperate and dark." So, Ms. Janie, bless her heart, quickly relocates to NYC where she hooks up with "daddy" no. 2. No. 2 takes full advantage of exploiting and enjoying the pleasures so eagerly and readily provided by Ms. Runaway. I pretty much agree with everyone until we get to "federal case." It is a federal offense for an adult to transport a minor across state lines for sexual purposes, or at least it used to be. So Mr. Wall Street is contemplating the risks he is willing to take to convey Janie & "Big Red" across state lines to Binky's Place. I propose there are multiple meanings here: 1, Mr. W. is planning to sexually transport Ms. Runaway via his very own "big red" as in "honey, let me introduce you to my red neck friend," (Jackson Browne, 1973;) and 2. Mr. W.

is luring Ms. Runaway out of state to Binky's place for a menage a trois along with adventurous Melanie. Janie's reward for the escapade is her birthday in Spain, maybe. Jill of Speed (10/24/01): "Janie Runaway" is not a love song. It's an exploitation song. The protagonist is just about the slimiest Dan character this side of LaPage! In his cynical, boring life, he needs a distraction --- and this poor young girl falls into his path. He feeds her. He flatters her. He makes her promises. But... underneath it all, it's just about sex. He knows he can't take her to Spain! heck he can't even take her to Pennsylvania, not legally anyway --- she's underage. This guy knows what he is doing is wrong, but he doesn't care. He's probably too much of a loser to attract a real, grown woman. But, don't get me wrong --- I LOVE the song. The lyrics are perfect in getting the point across... when he says "Who has a friend, named Melanie?" it's like he's talking to a pet, not a person. It's such tasty lyrics, paired with the tasty music, just the usual Dan greatness. Dr. Pretorius (11/27/02): Regarding Mitch's assertion that Mr. LaPage has resurfaced as Janie's perverse father figure, I think you're close. However, it's not LaPage, but one of the "kids" who got to watch the projection machine at such a tender age. It's a vicious cycle. My 7 year old boy loves this song. He makes me play it over and over and over. Luckily, he has no clue how sardonically perverse and cleverly ironic the lyrics are. The chorus lyric is definitely funnier than anything Alan Sherman ever composed. Yes the boys write about sex and drugs a lot. But, more interestingly than that, they write about losers, freaks, assassins, cons and rapists. Men and women with weaknesses, pathos, quirks, obsessions, fetishes, e.g. (FEZ). Thus, we enter the world of glorious asshole archetypes we all know and love somewhere in either the collective unconscious or the Custerdome. THAT's the story. Sex and drugs is no big deal. Consider the personalities through the years.... Minor Dude (10/2/03): This song seems to have been covered somewhat already but I'll add my twovcents here. It seems pretty clear that this is an exploitation song not a love song. The narrator is a sneaky, manipulative, cunning Heff type ("...or would that be a federal case?") who characterizes his "Lucky Thursday" as the day that Janie was (one assumes) molested by her father in a incestuous "spree" for the final time before she torches his home and promptly "hops a bus to NYC". She's clearly underage as has been adequately discussed ("wonder waif" "..or would that be a federal case". ) What is interesting about the song is how it subtly morphs from a silly love song to a creepy exploitation song. In the beginning, the narrator is giddy and full of glee and wonderment. By the last verse, he has become bored and impatient with his plaything, Janie. His tone has shifted from gushing to annoyed. He wants to work a new plaything--"Melanie" into 3 way action and uses a "birthday in Spain" as an inducement for a presumably reluctant child. The height of songwriting craftsmanship here is that in the first verses "Janie Runaway" is the nickname of the girl in the song. We are slyly induced to think thinking that she is perhaps a model (Janie RUNWAY") who's name he just has to repeat over and over because he's so deeply in love with her. In the last verse, Walter and Donald, nature photographers, step into the scene. They have sympathy for the poor bunny rabbit that's about to be devoured by the python. Donald (in his own voice) urges her to "...Janie, Run Away!". Note that for the in the rest of the song, Donald uses a breathy, whiny voice-- playing the part of the Heff. Notice though that when he says "Janie. Run Away!" he's singing in his own natural voice. By the way, do you remember in high school and college all the beautiful, badassed streetwise girls (Josie) that we were in love with but who were way out of our league-- dating, gangsters and pro football players? At best we were the platonic pets that they would use for brotherly emotional support or in whose basement they would hide out until whatever mysterious dramatic episode they were then embroiled in blew over. Those damningly sharp girls who "knew how to hustle" and "had been telling you they were a genius since they were seventeen" and did all kinds of exotic things like "praying like a roman with her eyes on fire". The girls about

whom we some day "Get the news" (jail, AIDS, tragic death under sleazy circumstances, lesbian porno films, call girls, streetwalker, working as a greeter at Target. Fucking Target! Last time I saw her she was dating a fucking Sheik from Saudi Arabia. She winked at me from this fucking 8 wheeled stretch limo. She's working at fucking Target!? )? This song gives us a look at their "glamorous" lives from a different perspective. Wow.

Been thinking about the sugar shack (in "Janie"). Originally, "sugar shack" referred to those little houses they used (and still do)in Vermont, Michigan, etc. to reduce maple sap to maple syrup, that nectar of the gods. Then in 1963 Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs released this tune: SUGAR SHACK There's a crazy little shack beyond the tracks And ev'rybody calls it the sugar shack Well, it's just a coffeehouse and it's made out of wood Expresso coffee tastes mighty good That's not the reason why I've got to get back To that sugar shack, whoa baby To that sugar shack. There's this cute little girlie, she's a'workin' there A black leotard and her feet are bare I'm gonna drink a lotta coffee, spend a little cash Make that girl love me when I put on some trash You can understand why I've got to get back To that sugar shack, whoa baby To that sugar shack, yeah honey To that sugar shack, whoa yes To that sugar shack. Now that sugar shack queen is a'married to me, yeah yeah We just sit around and dream of those old memories Ah, but one of these days I'm gonna lay down tracks In the direction of that sugar shack Just me and her yes we're gonna go back To that sugar shack,, whoa uh oh To that sugar shack, yeah honey To our sugar shack Yeh, yeh, yeh, our sugar shack It was an infectious little ditty just at the end of the beat era and right before the onset of the Beatles and hippiedom. Espresso was pretty exotic to AM radio listeners of the day, thus the explanatory modifier "coffee." This song always sent me into unattainable bohemian reveries--when I was 12, Kerouac and Ginsberg were not on my map yet, but I could intuit that cool, soft underbelly.... Given that Messrs. Fagen and Becker were in their early teens when it was released, my money is on this song as the ref for "Janie" rather than the traditional definition of sugar shack. Fits, no? Then again, who knows what went on in those cozy little sugar shacks while the sap was boiling down? Then yet again, they don't make maple syrup in Pennsylvania (do they, Hank?). The sugar shack girl could be the prototype for any number of Steely females, except the guy settled down

with her. And doesn't the sugar shack ring some bells with "Teahouse on the Tracks"? Maybe they reno'd and added on the club? steviedan (GB, 11/5/03): ole, a couple of details about "sugar shack": a little bitty one would be that it was number one for FIVE WEEKS in '63. jimmy gilmer was an amarillo tx native. he and the fireballs followed "ss" shortly in early '64 with "daisy petal pickin'" which actually got to #15. i always dug "sugar shack" which, while almost sickeningly "cute", had a groovy beachy feel... Rajah of Erase (11/6/03): Oleander - absolutely the sugar shack is from the tune. Hey there are soo many references to 60s songs and lore. The ones I liked from EMG were "Stone Soul Picnic" and "I peel out like the Flash." Top 40 and comic book references recall a happier time for most geezers around our age . Doctor Mu (GB, 11/6/03): That's a cute coyness with a taste of sophistication...a device Steely Dan and Fagen have used well to bring up deep, dark subjects...stuff that elicits the mental double take...I think this approach is much better to stir the imagination and true enjoyment of an art from, even a pop one...in contrast with the visual and aural bludgeoning we receive today from Britney or the Iggles single in current pop music...and presents an even more stark, shadowy contrast than in the 70s... The Sugar Snack song is sneaky in how it moves from it's the syrup!, no it's the girl!, no it's the time and place ya little Cringmemaker!...I only remember it from the oldy moldy goldy stations, but it has that kinda bouncy white R&B groove similar to Blues Beach (same kind of hook) or beaucoup of Dan tunes for that matter like Janie Runaway... ...Funny, you should mention that time, because Dan uses very little of the pop vernacular (except black R&B and funk from the 70s and electrified Bob Dylan) post Sugar Shack...they used everything Dobie Gillis would have listened to if he were brighter, and everything Fats Domino could play... Minor Dude (11/17/03): I am of the opinion that the way to officially drive yourself crazy is looking for the SINGLE meaning of any SD reference (lyrical or musical). They are too clever and seem to simply work too hard at showing a limited number of facets of every jewel. This Sugar Shack discussion presents a perfect example. In addition to the forgoing discussion which seems perfectly reasonable, there is a restaurant, Anthony's Sugar Shack (Italian food. (voice) 814-368-7881) in Bedford PA. Seems worth crossing state lines for but where's the sex? In the Blazer possibly? On the other hand there's a Sugar Shack "gentleman's club" In Clarion County PA. From the article referenced below, it seems like just the sleazy, out-of-the-way cesspool to which our narrator would take his nubile nymph Janie. http://www2.theclarionnews.com/General_News/20145.shtml But notice from the article that this Sugar Shack has only been open since Feb 14 2003! Could this be a Steelyinspired sexually oriented business? Just when I think it's far fetched, I remember that I'm talking about a band named for a dildo in a sex novel. Probably the work of a sex-obsessed Steely fan who Started the business with the sole intent of giving tangible meaning to a SD reference. Please forward my mail to Saint Elizabeth's Mental Hospital
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"Jack Of Speed"
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, "Steely Dan Words + Music" (copyright 2000 Giant Records): DF: "Jack Of Speed" is really just about when one member of a couple starts to lose it in some way; guess the most obvious question is like, you know, are you talking about actual speed, like the drug speed or something. It's really not that; it has to do with the kind of manic stages people get into for one reason or another, and it's

a cautionary song. He's out there, you know. He's living too large. WB: I think for the most part these are not particular people that we know. Rather than that, they're either sort of exaggerations of our own experiences or products of our own imaginations or fantasies or conjectures... DF: Or, you know, based on people we know, maybe, but no one specific... WB: Yeah... DF: ...maybe combinations of things you hear, or just trying to isolate some impulse that someone our age might have, not necessarily us, but someone like us. Andy (GB, 1/1/00): I've been listening to this tune quite a bit lately, so I figured I try to explain its meaning (I could, of course, be completely wrong). Briefly, the protagonist, Eldon, a teenager is a "good kid" who gets in with the wrong crowd (or guy, the Jack of Speed). His mother becomes concerned with her son's acquaintance(s) and tries to rescue him from the rebellious and sly Jack of Speed. The weird thing about this song is that we never find out how the story ends-if Mom saves Eldon from the Jack of Speed. Here's a deeper analysis: The first verse goes: Eldon's rollin' now most every night Skating backwards at the speed of light Well he's changed, all in a thousand little ways He's changed, whoa darlin', yes indeed You know he's stuck all in the middle He's hangin with the Jack of Speed This is the narrator telling the mother how Eldon is hanging out with the "bad crowd," he's "rollin' every night," the diction suggests that Eldon is definitely hanging out with the cool folk. The verse goes on to say "he's changed." That's pretty self-explanatory, but key to the story. Okay, now for the second verse: Sheena's Party, babe, is a case in point That bogus haircut just stunk out that joint Well, he's gone, he may be sleeping in your bed But he's gone, oh darlin' guaranteed, he may be Laid out on the sofa, but he's smoking with The Jack of Speed The second verse actually precedes the first verse chronologically. It's the uncool Eldon. He shows up to the party with the "bogus haircut"...he's not cool. However, the next line tells us that "he's gone" -- the "uncool" Eldon is now cool, or at least trying to be. Now the line that says "he may be sleeping in your bed" refers to Eldon's mother. Eldon's become so cool and so bad, that he's using his mother just so he can sleep in her bed (think of the macho-slick-rebel high school type). He's not his mother's little boy anymore; he's "smoking with the Jack of Speed." Now for the bridge: Yeah, I know that you're thinkin' How it might be just fine For one full blown tear across that thin white line But will you be laughing when you're all alone Lookin' down on the upside, locked out of the danger zone This is his mother's point of view. The bridge is actually the mother thinking about or scolding Eldon; it's no longer the narrator speaking. She's telling him how the Jack of Speed is "using" him; that their companionship

won't last-- he'll be "locked out of the danger zone." The third verse: Well, he can't hear you honey, that's okay Throw your luggage in that Chevrolet And you're right on, you run out on that lane stampede Right on, oh angel, guaranteed You got to get out little darlin', cause you're dancing with The Jack of Speed This narrator talking again. He's telling the mother to chase down Eldon, who by now has left home to run with the Jack of Speed. It's obvious that the narrator is talking to the mother now-- he's calling her "honey," "darling" and "angel." That's the end of the story-- we never find out if the mother rescues Eldon from the Jack of Speed. A very interesting song. F#maj9 (GB, 1/2/00): don't get mother in picture or that Eldon is necessarily a good guy [he's changed- but he's stuck in the middle... not down in the bottom yet. maybe he still has a sentient choice] The jack is not a person its a drug [and the monkey in our collective souls, i fear. not exactly a personification]. skating backwards at the speed of light. entendre-rich for amphetamines and also refers to the "self-aggrandized "fast-lane" E and his cronies are supposedly part of, the legend in your own mind factor, which is part of the tractor what pushes the factor- all perceived control, ability/capacity to "steer" is an illusion. the track only leads to one place. he may look crashed out but there's still a chorus of 10,000mgs of crank shouting hallelujah in his brain, give or take a few mgs. he's "smokin'", hot pants. make you want to dance... make you believe you as good as james brown [but everyone's haircut might, after all, be bogus. he's skating BACKWARDS. sorry. i shouted]. Eldon can't hear you, honey- he is crashed out but even if he were awake and listening he wouldn't hear. he hasn't hit rock bottom at which point wringing of hands, gnashing of teeth etc etc etc gets him to the precipice of either still not giving a fuck and celebrating slow-suicide in a romanticized spasm of self-hate top-o'-the-world ma, i'm going over [call me Deacon Blue?] ain't it great? or, "going in" [the first step is to admit you are powerless, which may or may not involve another eleven]. His stuck in the middle, there's still time [D.Blue wants to die behind the wheel- how romantically tragic, they'll remember my name; The Deacon is a self-deluded fraud, his plight is worth the sweat off the back of a midget ant. For Eldon, think train wreck ] Who get's the warning? Not mamma-san. Just some liddle birdy purty thang [the narrator would probably like to give her a ride, too. you can't trust anyone in a steely dan song, can you?] who can still save herself once she stops seeing E and his colleagues as cool; bogus all over us, baby. get out while you can still change lanes. drive your chevy to the levy, babe... you can't steer a train. sugar (GB, 2/6/00): I keep thinking of "Jack of Speed" as being sort of a musical version of the recent "Amercian Beauty" movie. DartWoman (Digest, 3/2/00): Here are a few thoughts as to what might be influencing Teddy in Jack Of Speed: a) A chemical substance, probably of an illegal nature b) A non-specified mental disturbance that would appear to be incurable c) Brain-washing as a result of subliminal messages received by listening to Rush Limbaugh Doug Morrison (Digest, 3/3/00): "Trading fours" is a jazz term for a back-and-forth between two or more musicians for four measures or bars, e.g., the tenor plays four bars, then the drums respond for four bars, then back to the tenor for four, and so on. Roy.Scam (GB, 3/5/00): Having listened many times to both the old and new versions of this song, it is my humble opinion (and my humility is legendary), that all the changes are for the better. When I first heard the

2vN version , my reaction was to nickname it "Lack of Speed"; why would you want to put a 'Black Cow' tempo to a song about someone spinning out of control? especially, as someone here pointed out, when the word 'speed' is right there in the title. Now I think the tempo is perfect; it seems more dramatic and tragic to watch someone descend slowly while you stand by helpless. Teddy isn't just skittering away like a popped balloon, he's systematically and inevitably separating himself from everything he has (and is). -- A lot is written lately about the value of perfectionism in Becker and Fagen's work, and I don't buy all of it, but this song is a strong argument for obsessively tampering with something that was already great. The reworked bridge of Jack of Speed represents the absolute best of pop music; I'd have bought the CD if it had only this bridge on it. In fact, if I was forced to choose four lines to represent Steely Dan melodically and lyrically, these would be them (those? (it?)). -- Another magical aspect of this song is that I can relate completely with all three characters: the person slipping away, the person close to him watching it happen, and the not-as-close person issuing the warning. The narrator may be the most tragic, since he's apparently been through this scenario on one side or the other and now he's watching it happen again. -- Great lyrics, a horn/guitar mix that's precise and gorgeous, a classic Steely Dan quality guitar solo, and some of Fagen's most expressive vocal work ever. This has become one of Steely Dan's primo numbers. It was more than just nostalgia that made me say that my initial favorite on this CD was the only one I'd heard last century. Kush (Digest, 3/7/00): Someone inquired about the phrase "movin' on metal" in Jack of Speed. I was thinking about this also. Maybe "metal" refers to the implement (such as a razor) the subject uses to prepare his amphetamine of choice. Here D+W lay down a blissful level of abstraction through innuendo (as usual). It's like, c'mon, we all know our hero isn't hooked on blow, he just prefers the aesthetic of mirrored coffee tables. Or maybe it's another musical metaphor (akin to "trading fours") for the sliding action of playing a guitar. What an awesome groove. Norvis Pidner (3/6/00): "he can't hear you honey...move up to the light" bit is clearly a reference to near-death experiences (although in this case it's probably a death experience). Bill by the Bay (Digest, 3/12/00): is Jack of Speed just so obviously about an amphetamine junkie, or what? I suppose that would make Jack the ups themselves, a la Katy. Chris (GB, 3/13/00): Someone thought trading fours was trading four letter words, and I dissagree. As mentioned, it is a musical term, when you trade four bars. When you are, you are in close communication with the other person, and often expand on their musical ideas. You have to play close attention what to they're playing. I think what W&B meant by trading fours is that he's spending a lot of time with the Jack Of Speed, paying close attention to his ways, and copying them, which is really what you do when you trade fours for real. Also mentioned that Jack Of Speed might be a prelude to Deacon Bluse...Teddy could be the sax player and the Jack Of Speed could be drums or whatever, and could be trading fours for real. Who knows? Not My Nancy (GB, 3/26/00): I agree with the folks who said "trading fours" means trading four-bar solos. But I'll bet the four-letter word interpretation crossed D&W's minds and they liked it. "Trading eights" has an internal consonance that would keep the line moving a little more. (I've got a lot of nerve, copy-editing Becker & Fagen, but this is all among friends.) I will grant that hearing Fagen sing "fours" gives the world a classic FagenVowels(tm) moment--"tradin' FAHHWNS." Right there with "ain't nothin' in Chicago for a monkey woman to do -- AHH-EH-YAH-HAAAWWN." Paul (5/5 & 8/00): This has become my favorite on TvN album as it is a great throwback to past SD grooves. I like to think of Jack of Speed (shadowy figure) similiar to Jack the Ripper (unknown/unsolved murderer) and Mack the Knife (immmortilised in song) as almost intangible beings that scare the shit out of you! The line "movin' on metal" and word "throttle" make me think of a motorbike?? Dont know why, Jack cruisin on a Harley with Teddy ridin pilion?!?!

I like the last verse as I think it is space cadet Teddy getting "his honey" to follow, and Jack is there to pounce and "Trade Fours" with her. This is another of those "gothic" moments that keeps popping up throughout this CD.... My crazy beatnik, jazzy father reckons Jack of Speed is a train, movin on metal, metal tracks!!! Hey not bad!?!?! Le Blazer Rouge (GB, 7/3/00): Ever notice that Jack Of Speed played backwards says "deeps fo kcaj" pretty intense Danophile Dave (8/2/00): If one examines the evidence carefully, the conclusion that Jack of Speed is about a guy the drug Ecstasy is unavoidable. Much by conincidence, about a week after 2vN came out, I read an article in a mag about this drug which convinces me that Teddy is no ordinary tweeker. Here is the evidence: 1. Ecstacy is a powerful stimulant (i.e. "speed") with hallucinogenic properties (i.e. it puts you on a "trip"). The references in the song, including the title (which implies something other than just ordinary garden-variety methamphetamine "speed" since it is the "Jack" of speed) clearly point to the fact that Teddy is amped to the max. (eg. "Skatin' backward at the speed of light", "On the shriek express", etc.). However, the lyrics imply that he is also on some type of mind-bending substance. For example, the fact that he's sittin' in the kitchen but steppin' out with the Jack of Speed infers that although he is physically present, his mind is somewhere else (i.e. he's trippin'). The fact that his new best friend is at the throttle more or less again implies that he's not in control of his mind and that he is on a trip. Thus it seems clear that the drug Teddy is on is both a stimulant and hallucogen. 2. The effect of using Ecstacy over time is to slowly destroy braincells, and to deplete the brain of serotonin which leads to mood swings, depression, anxiety, etc. The article pointed out that it is sometimes hard to detect an Ecstacy user because the person can get high at night, but go to work the next day and appear to function normally, even though subtle changes will begin to appear over time. The references in the song to the fact that Teddy has changed in a thousand little ways, or that he walks through the old routines are consistent with the effects of the drug, which are not immediatly noticeable. Conversely, you can usually spot a meth user a mile away. For more info see website: clubdrugs.org 3. Probably the most convincing piece of evidence in the article was the fact that "rolling" has become druggie slang for "gettin high on Ecstacy". The article gave the example that if a person says "I'd rather be rollin' than gettin' durnk", what he is saying is that he would rather get high on Ecstacy than drink. Now back in my early days of modest drug experimentation, the term "rolling" was always associated with a pack of Zig-Zags. Apparently, the terms has a new street meening among among the "club drug" crowd. Also, the fact that Teddy does his rolling "almost every night", again implies he is on Ecstacy, since it is a drug that is popular with the nightclub crowd. Ordinary speed freaks do not usually distinguish between night and day. Now that the evidence is in, it is clear that the "Jack of Speed" that Teddy is hangin' tight with is Ecstacy. But the bottom lines is: So what! I could actually care less as to the meaning of any Steely Dan song, or whether there is any meaning at all. To paraphrase a famous politician, "It's the music, stupid!" Jill O'Speed (10/26/01): This recording is exquisite. It could be half as good as it is and still be perfect. As for the meaning of the lyrics --- well, have you ever been in a long relationship with someone who begins to slip away from reality? While there are clearly drug references in the song, the sentiment can also be applied more generally to a variety of afflictions, including addiction, obsession, fanaticism, depression, and wanton narcissism. Anyway, you might really love the individual. You should stick it out --- after all, love lasts forever, doesn't it? Well, yes and no. Once the person inside that you loved is gone, empty, void, vacant, beyond the point of no return let's say, you have to get out of the relationship, preferably quickly, or you'll be dragged down into the abyss right with them, competing with their affliction, and losing. You could debate a long time about this line or that line and its exact meaning, but Steely Dan lyrics aren't meant to be taken 100% literally. You have to use your intellect, and emotional sense, and look "into" them. That's what makes them so compelling.

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"Almost Gothic"
Tomorrow's Girl (GB, 2/15/00): From the fearless, satirical snarl of Bodhisattva and Show Biz Kids to the pussywhipped whimper of Almost Gothic. The domestimasculation is now complete. My work here is done. Slint (3/2/00): In response to your comment, "Tommorrow's Girl"; Two extremely talented songwriters decide to get passionate and write an eloquently soothing and gorgeous song...and the batteries in your dildo decide to die... People with your mentality always seem to have "bad timing" in their lives... Edd Cote (GB, 3/2/00): Little Eva hit it big with Goffin/King's "Locomotion". I'm thinking the Bleeker St Brat might be a young Bob Dylan. Now you can get a hip/not-hip dichotomy going, possibly alluded to in the preceeding line... Geena (GB, 3/2/00): Little Eva was Carole King's babysitter, so I'm thinking the brat could be Neil Sedaka rather than Dylan, since both Carole and Neil worked so close together, you know they were one big happy family! But then I could be wrong. DartWoman (Digest, 3/5/00): I see the singer as being somewhat of an "innocent", based on the way Donald sings the lyrics. A possibly strange pairing, but that's love. The lyrics in the latter part of the song are what I really find off the wall. Can any of us actually picture Don/Walt spelling love L-U-V? Probably with little hearts drawn around it, right? The line about hearing her rap--while I've heard and understand the phrase (no problem with that)--sung in this innocent voice . . . Okay, I have to get it out--I get this visual of the singer, okay? It builds until I hear the line "Unless I'm totally wrong . . ." and then it comes into focus. The picture I have is of a young Jerry Lewis, okay? I know, I've lost it. I'm going back to the home now . . . RowJamie (Digest, 3/5/00): the song is about a woman, but could she be a symbol for our 2 favorite guys?? The song sounds like it is from the POV of a danfan who has been waiting (and waiting) for a new album and now finally got it - "she's way gone then she comes back", ""She's all business and she's ready to play" "when she speaks its like the slickest song I ever heard" "then she hits me with the cryptic stuff" and my favorite "she's old school then she's like young" RBBaird (Digest, 3/11/00): While I think the dominatrix bent is probably the right one, it is a little wierd - "way gone", "then she cools down", "then she's noise free" - all ways of describing dead folks. and what about "she's almost gothic in a natural way" = "She looks so natural"? coincidence? chris (Digest, 3/11/00): I second the motion. It looks like Almost Gothic is going to be the one on TvN that everyone tries to figure out. So far, we've heard the S&M theory, the heroin theory, and the Night of the Living Dead theory, among others. ... The protagonist of this story is yet another somewhat older guy, "slumming" with a young girl (Who'd have

thought? In a Steely Dan song?!). There are too many references in the lyrics to ignore, not the least of which is the title, if you pursue the Goth Girl theory. This guy is so taken with the young thing that he doesn't care if her looks are "so severe." He knows that the "wise child walks right out of here", but he's so smitten that he asks us for leniency: "I'm on fire, so cut me some slack." Then the entire second verse confirms that -- he's fallen for this girl, even to the point of loving her babbling. "Pure science with a splash of black cat"? C'mon, folks, GothGirls are notorious for latching onto all sorts of pseudo-mystical nonsense. And then there's the bridge: "This dark place so thrilling and new... kind of like the opposite of an aerial view." Our hero is *definitely* slumming! He's looking at life from the bottom here, hanging out with the marginal people for a change, like our old friend Deacon Blues. Donald and Walter, two fairly normal guys, have always had a fixation with the fringes of society, as does the man in the story. The clincher for me is the "Little Eva meets the Bleecker Street brat" line. As anyone who's spent any time in Greenwich Village knows, Bleecker Street is a hangout for all sorts of young bohemian types, Goths included. It's one of the areas in the Village for the tattoo and pierce crowd. Our older man sees in his young paramour some Little Eva (a pop culture figure from his own youth) mixed in with the "Bleecker Street brats" he's seen over the years -- only this time, he's drawn in by it for some reason, enough to overcome his common sense and send him down what we all know is probably a dead-end street. Earl Fox (Digest, 3/12/00): I am not sure what type of "fetish" they are describing overall in the song, but I have a strong feeling that the song has to do with just the complete difference in the way she is perceived in real life, and the way that she acts when in an intimate situation. Probably a dominatrix type of relationship, where she's a very shy, sensitive person in real life, then a real bitch in the bedroom. And opposite of an aerial view...bondage could be perceived as the man laying in bed looking up. And "This dark place so thrilling and new"...possibly his first encounter with her...sounds almost like a sexual reference to me. Or, it could just be his first s/m encounter. YGK (GB, 3/20/00): AG could be a romantic and nuanced description about a house cat.... The song does have fantastic moments/lyrics describing common feline behaviour. aja (GB, 3/20/00): "She's all buzz, then she's noise free"-sounds like a purring cat to me. Brain Dead Dawn (GB, 3/21/00): Interesting comments on Almost Gothic. It does carry with it a certain feline stealth. I find the song quite similar to Billy Joel's Always A Woman. Of course, not in a musical sense. But rather they seem to be thematically parallel. Both extol the marvelous dual nature of women, and do so in a way that illustrates the yin/yang of girly mystique. They allow the listener to grasp the inherent dichotomy and leave with a feeling of sentimental acceptance. Simply wonderful. elrod (3/21/00): In the song "Almost Gothic", the first thing that comes into my mind is the image of a young "Goth". But this is not a particularly attractive thing; but, ALMOST Gothic... The young woman described is reminisent of a Goth, but comes by this look " ...in a natural way." The character that I see is Daria-like. She is severe, smooth, cool; the ultimate Steely Dan woman. The religious imagery is strong: ".. working on Gospel time..." "This house of desire is built foursquare." "I'm in the amen corner now... ". The woman who is here, gone, and returns: and the wordplay to bring this picture alive; "First she's all buzz, and then she's noise free." This song in paticular left me "sizzling like an isotope." just a purrrl (GB, 3/21/00): almost gothic = adventures in menopause. A love song. Steely Girl (GB, 3/21/00): The woman... has some type of bi-polar disorder. That is why she needs to see her Dr. uptown. Could this be the same Dr. Warren Krueger that makes an appearance in WOH?

Almost Gothic is about a professional lady who works in an (GB, 3/22/00): S&M dungeon and the narrator is one of her clients. JW Malibu (GB, 3/22/00): "Almost Gothic" is about a dominatrix. Paige (Digest, 4/5/00): I too, think that Almost Gothic is a classic. It is clearly one of the better tracks on the CD. It is also one of the more difficult to interpret. Once again, I don't claim to have the definitive view, perhaps only Donald and Walter have that. Yet, in some cases, I'm not even sure that they know the direction of full meaning of their own work. Perhaps that is a part of the mysterythese great mental puzzles that have as many meanings as those who would attempt to interpreting them. I'm afraid that I am one of those that believes that "Almost Gothic" is a song about a young man visiting a house of S&M. Having said that, I think that there is some validity in those who believe that it deals with death. I'm just not a full subscriber to this. There are too many references that point away from this. This is a beautiful song. However, I am firm believer that SD has this creative tendency to draw you in with beautiful music, which often masks a darker side. Perhaps this is why I am so drawn to this (non) band. I am basically a person who enjoys darker and sometimes depressing themes. I enjoy movies like "Taxi Driver," "A Clockwork Orange," and "One Flew Over the Cookoos Nest." It is for this reason that I find SD appealing. Anyway, back to "Almost Gothic." "I'm working on gospel time these days" (Sex as a religion) "The sloe-eyed creature in the reckless room.." (Reckless - without limits, anything goes) "She's so severe" (severe - extreme) "A wise child walks right out of here" (Those who have self-control and can turn from temptation) "I'm so excited, I can barely cope" (Doing what is perceived as wrong or perverted is excitinga turn on) "Cut me some slack" (I'm not sure what to expect, so be gentle) In all of the choruses refer to a person who lives essentially two lives. As often is the case, many who participate in alternate lifestyles, lead very normal and/or mundane lives. You would never guess that the "normal" appearing person next to you may be involved in a wide variety of sexual deviations. "This house of desire is built foursquare" (House of desire is self-explanatory) "the cleanest kitten in the city" (This obviously refers to the female anatomy in light of AIDS) "When she speaks it's like the slickest song" "I'm hanging on her every word" (He voice is siren-like and he must obey her every word) "As if I'm not blazed enough" (blazed - skin is on fire) "She hits me with the cryptic stuff" (Cryptic here might refer to "primitive" - a new level) "That's her style, to jerk me around" (Not only her style, but her job, to abuse) "This dark place is so thrilling and new" (Our friend is excited, yet scared) "opposite of an aerial view" (Laying on the bed) "Unless I'm totally wrong"

"I hear her rap and brother it's strong" (Rap - as in hitting) "I'm pretty sure that what she is telling me is mostly lies" (It is her job to create a wold that is no real) "stand there hypnotized" (At her total control...as a part of the game) "have to make it work somehow" (Our friend must find a way to get through this) "I'm in the amen corner now" (Not sure - perhaps praying for his survival) "It's called love, I spell L-U-V" (Rationalizing the situation and the relationshipit's a minor form of "love") Okay, so I got a little carried away. But, this is my interpretation of the song and is not unlike SD in the least (as long as Walter is involved in the lyrics). Mtroy (Digest, 4/6/00): Another possible interpretation of Almost Gothic - it's the boys' homage to their muse! Not a sexy, dark, subversive interpretation, but... muse; noun 1 capitalized : any of the nine sister goddesses in Greek mythology presiding over song and poetry and the arts and sciences 2 : a source of inspiration; especially : a guiding genius Mr. LaPage (GB, 4/17/00): -Now....., does anyone care to hear my theory on Almost Gothic? It's about this "house of ill-repute (desire)" in the town of "foursquare" New York, circa, 1965. Paige (Digest, 5/8/00): Okay, so I've received my share of e-mail regarding my post of several weeks ago. I offered the idea that "Almost Gothic" was a story about our young hero entering an S&M or Dominatrix salon. Well, I don't want to give the impression that it was a lot of e-mail. I received teneight of which disagreed with my interpretation of this great song. Most felt that it was a true love (LUV) song, which is to be taken simply for what it is. (Let's give credit where it is due, one of the chaps that agreed with me was the original poster who first proclaimed this interpretation.) I admit itI tend to read more into Steely Dan lyrics than I should. It's great (intellectual) fun. Actually, I don't disagree with those that think that it is a simple love song. Even with my "dark" interpretation, it is STILL a LUV song. However, who can deny the words themselves? Why would Walt and Don choose such verses as "a splash of black cat" - (cat-of-nine tails), "house of desire is built foursquare" - (dungeon?), "I hear her rap and brother, it's strong?" For a "simple love song" it sure has a lot of strange connotations. Is there a reason for this? Is it such a far stretch to consider that they went beyond the "simple love song" to throw in a double interpretation? Isn't it just like them to introduce this kind of angle? Or are we to simply ignore the ironyI think not. For all of you that are closet Existentialists, you understand the absurdity of life and that the Dan have captured it in all its irony and wonderful misery. Gary (Digest, 5/9/00): I was at first very skeptical of the S&M/dominatrix theme of Almost Gothic when it was first proposed here, instead believing this to be a truly beautiful love song. Now, I'm a believer. The references are too numerous and clear to be coincidental. I'd start citing lies, but I'd have to quote about half the song. It's *both* a love song a l-u-v song! B&F have done it again. Clas (GB, 5/9/00): I now know what gothic architecture is, thanks to the lyrics in "Almost Gothic". The girl is a complex nature, so is the architecture, listen: "The Cathedral in Reims. Built 1211-41 Here the Gothic cathedral facade was brought to perfection. It is both broken up into a myriad of sculptures,

niches, windows and decorative details and at the same time held together by a firm and logical composition." (from Swedish Nationalencyclopedia) And the girl is ALMOST Gothic. Are you with me guys? Negative Girl (GB, 6/1/00): maybe she IS a hooker. The guy sees her in a 'house of desire' - but is it necessarily a brothel? or is it just his favourite haunt and she goes there a lot too, (and likes expensive gin) Maybe she's got money and she plays hot and cold with him. Lots of christian references, but hey: perhaps "Gothic" means that she buys her clothes at "Religious Sex" down on St. Mark's street? ha! wormtom (GB, 6/1/00): yes is he really in a brothel well that all business then ready to play line had me toying with the prostitute the sloe eyed creature line is when he first gets to observe her and doesn't yet know her I took her to be a sophisticated gal forced to hit the streets in early 60's new york ala 63 ish he may perhaps be running into her in a coffee shop, knows he should stay away from her charms but soon falls for her beauty, wit and innocence in a torn and ragged city street scene does she have to be a hooker, no perhaps a gal he keeps seeing in a cafe "gospel time" meaning wow, she's there again, man am I lucky don't know, but he is smitten and enjoys her darker side remember much like Charlie Parker in his day this is not the moral norm and he risks being totally ostracized for his actions which only spurs him on more F#maj (GB, 6/1/00): the protagonist is on the edge of an edge he's never edged up to before [so thrilling and new] so why isn't he more edgy? too busy sizzling to care- or, perhaps because he feels safe and relaxed about it... he's cool enough to joke about it "kind of like the opposite of an aerial view" gives me the image of a six inch spiked heel [in basic black] poised thirteen inches above the hardwood floor...underwhich he eyes the spectacle with delight. [aside: that line is as sterling as "i jumped out of my easy chair/it was not my own!", architected to tacitly conjur a much stronger image which is the real thrust of (in the case of wanting to hear everything you did) his shocked appall... worse than finding a condom wrapper in the garbage which was not his brand. ouch. i mean OUCH. whew. the sub-sole-ar view our almost gothic 'hero' sings so sweetly of is equally [and oppositely] funny semantic fun] is she a pro? maybe that is why he can croon without impugn... a victimless crime? i mean he volunteers to be the victim as though he were in an amusement park and is tall enough to go on this ride. sure she wants him to feel safe [s&m within the parameters of "healthy behavior" stems from trust... you wouldn't let just anyone tie your hands to the bed posts [which may also be part of the "four square" architecture of this house of desire- i see BIG fucking bed posts... four of them?] unless you get off on the chance they might actually suddenly shout "action" as the snuff-flick begins. oy gevalt, no. this roller coaster ride will thrill and stimulate but the ride will end as you pull up and step out on the platform. nyuk nyuk. sorry. i was thinking about where she got those shoes. where was i? suree, she wants him to be safe so he'll buy more tickets and ride again. why scare off a customer? but the darkness may very well be there- powerful, reeking with potential to seek and destroy-but with such low probability- i mean people *have* been hurt, even killed dead when disaster strikes at the amusement park. but the probability is so low you don't consider it. so this all leading to the point regarding your "let me justify it, i am in love with her" interp... he spells L-U-V! this i take as crucial to his take on the whole thing. there is no indication that he wants to save and rescue [and ruin all his good clean fun?]. He sings to celbrate this healthy indulgence!!! He croons a hip-ogothic oath: first, do no harm? She's *almost* gothic [the rest is an act? the roller coaster will not jump the track] and he likes it like that. It's somewhere beyond pretend but still several clicks shy of actual factual austerity. He *knows* he's not gonna get the spike in the eye or he'd be singing a different song altogether.

The song has a rhapsodic hook!!! there's no sturm und/ur drang static at all! he has no other agenda and is satisfied with everything the way it is. HURT ME! Lie to me! Make me grovel and do things! No one needs to be saved if no one is doing anything wrong, so, is this fucking great or what?! Interesting- there is no mention of explicit sex, is there? It is said that rape is a crime of violence [as opposed to the other]. I'm not saying I buy this, but allow that it is about other pathologically compelling things. oy, some more. I don't really want to say likewise here but will for the sake of brevity [!]; likewise, our hero's vicitim-esque participation is just as much, if not more, or perhaps entirely, about getting jerked around on the ride... process oriented rather than goal (climax) oriented. He may not even be allowed to touch her, according to her rules! Is it all sight and sound? Olfaction? [God, he just loves the smell of sweaty leather after a long day at the office?] how come he never mentions or alludes to any physical contact with her at all! hurt me. lie to me. what do you think, i'm having such a great time. oh. wormtom (he's smokin', baby) (GB, 6/1/00): I like your foursquare analog to the bedposts and a captive audient and what is the opposite of an ariel view flying over and free but to be on one's back and totally submissive yes the rope game works and all too well so mr clean enjoys his adventures in voyeurism with the most scrupcious of working girls (cleanest kitten) yes he probably isn't able to touch her and this may be part of his tearing concious to not give to temptation, "still I remain tied to the mast" indeed and this leads one to his "sizzling like an isotope" she probably prolongs this each time to intense levels only to back off ala... "she's all buzz then she cools down" and leaves him in that almost euphoric state I like the spin can I borrow the rope girl for a ron day voo with opp of air i elle too? Roy.Scam (GB, 6/7/00): One more song-analysis-rebuttal: I opine that Almost Gothic is NOT about leather clad sado masichists and Negative Girl is NOT a chemical. The songs work too well on the obvious level. Why would they write a neurotic song about a trivial subject and hide it within a good song about a meaningful subject? B (GB, 6/20/00): Consider this: Rose Darling: "Although I could be wrong" Almost Gothic: "Unless I'm totally wrong" The more things change... princess of cairo (Digest, 6/27/00): i'll make a farout guess that this song is about dorothy love coates, a gospel singer, who is most popular, in my house, anyway, for her song, "city built foursquare." this would explain all the religous references; it would also explain the lines, "this house of desire is built foursquare," "first she's all feel then she cools down (style of singing)," "it's called love - i spell l-u-v," and the anti-religion line, "i'm pretty sure that what she's telling me is mostly lies." unfortunately, i couldn't find much other than amazon.com pages on dorothy love coates, but, i think it's an educated guess, anyway... Vancouver Murph (7/23/00): I thought Almost Gothic was basically about (pardon crudity) eating pussy - my 1st time in NYC 20 yrs ago, a friend pointed out a girl he knew: "She's got the cleanest kitten in the East Village." "Huh?" " 'Cause that pussy gets licked all the time, man.". The dominatrix/falling in love w/a hooker interpretation is better than mine, but "What is this warm dark place, so thrilling & new/It's kind of like the opposite of an aerial view" made me conclude it's at least partly about cunnilingus.

DanaG (Digest, 8/27/00): Honest to gawd, I don't usually get fixated on SD lyrics. I figure they mean what I think they mean (although I may be just too lazy to look beyond my own worldview!). Anyway, there's a lyric on 2vN that's giving me headaches. What I'm talking about are these lines from "Almost Gothic": This dark place so thrilling and new It's kind of like the opposite of an aerial view The problem is that I live in the SF Bay Area, and, like everyone living here, I spend much time driving over bridges & on freeways. But it's definitely fun to drive with the stereo cranked up high & the sunroof open. Of course, 2vN is in heavy rotation on my stereo, so I have many chances to hear "Almost Gothic" while I'm driving in my car...with the sunroof open...and clouds above occasionally catching my eye. So, what I wanna know is....is this inside-the-car-looking-up... "kind of like the opposite of an aerial view"??? Fred (un fr`ere d'ame, 9/15/00): I have some comments about "almost gothic". Will you pardon my english... Though I never really got into the S&M interpretation (to me, AG is about Don & Walt as Steely Dan, they just describe their music & style in a very brilliant way), here's something more. The S&M could be here, though, brought by "Little Eva". You may know the Gerry Goffin & Carole King classic "He hit me (it felt like a kiss)", produced by Phil Spector and sunbg by The Crystals. For this song(sadomasochism in disguise), the authors were inpired by a confidence from their then baby-sitter, Little Eva, who complained about her boyfriend beating/hitting her... The story is quite well-known among Brill Building fans so I wonder... Schwinn (5/10/01): This song is about Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. Liu Chang (her brother) (10/23/01): The Bleecker Street Brat, IMO, is 'Suzuki Beane,' an 11 year old beatnik in the book of the same name. She's a dark-haired, dark-eyed pale girl who defies her pinko parents to 'elope' with a square boy in her class. It could be! Clean Willy (4/14/03): "Almost Gothic" is the space between the truth and lies. Among the other definitions mentioned, gothic is a grotesque and mysterious style of FICTION. So what the hell is almost gothic? Is it some area just on the bubble of the imaginated realm. Understood enough not to be myseterious, true enough not to be fiction? Look at the beginning of each of the three verses: 1) I'm working on gospel time these days - gospel is an ultimate truth, a universal agreement of occurances. 2) This house of desire is built foursquare - another meaning of foresquare is "firm, unwavering conviction" or a believed truth, though not neccesarily a real truth. 3) I'm pretty sure that what she's telling me is mostly lies - this is the understanding of being lied to. When you're in love, it's often hard to see what's really happening. Even when you realize you've been duped, something keeps bringing you back. The chorus keeps screaming the dichotomies: First she's THIS, then she's all THAT. Just like the way an aerael view let's you see everything with a God-like omnisicence, the opposite is a dysfunctional relationship: a complete veil. In the end, you have to make it work somehow. It's called Love. In the June 15, 1998 New Yorker an article appeared which I think may have served as an ingredient in the stew which is "Almost Gothic." Titled "Nurse Wolf," it is a profile of a professional, high-end dominatrix by Paul Theroux (an unlikely pairing, that, from the get-go), with suggestive photos by Helmut Newton. Theroux candidly describes her practice through conversation and observation, and this woman is gregarious and blunt. Many phrases in the song ("kind of like the opposite of an aerial view," "she's all business then she's ready to play," "I'm so excited I can barely cope," "I'm hanging on her every word," "that's her style, to jerk me around," "she's pure science with a splash of black cat"--I could go on, as Paige did above) can be construed, as many have noted, as either direct or subtle references to Nurse Wolf or to a similar practitioner of the dark. The article details some of the nuts and bolts, so to speak, of her methods, which the song so suggestively sketches. Check it out and see what you think.

Oh, and by the way, those who remember the 2vN rebus contest might recognize this:

--it's the cover of Little Eva's "Back On Track," from 1989, which apparently is unavailable these days. Earl (Blue Book, 1/8/02): I believe that the "amen corner" line in the song "Almost Gothic" has a dual reference to both religious settings as well as Augusta National. Amen corner is a famous stretch of holes at Augusta (1012), where the Masters tourney is played. You can't win the tournament at those holes, but you sure can lose it there. "I'll just have to make it work somehow, I'm in the amen corner now" could definitely mean he's in a situation where he's gotta find a way just to get through his dilemma (wait out the storm), and not try to bite off more than he can chew. On 10-12 at Augusta, you take your pars and get out. If you get greedy on Sunday, you will probably end up out of contention. Dr. Pretorius (11/24/02): The narrator in this song is quintessentially square as well as naive and innocent. Like the lyric that constantly negates itself with absurd contrasts, so too is there an absurd contrast between the narrator and the young woman's personalities and professions. I believe the narrator is a priest who is fascinated by this psychotic woman who is screwing with his mind - the only screwing this innocent man will experience. Their meetings take place on his turf - a church, ironically, the "house of desire"; they might even move to the confessional for extra kinky conversation. Ultimately, the lyric, the relationship, and the situation are implausible mysteries - just like Catholicism.

"Nurse Wolf," by Paul Theroux, The New Yorker, June 15, 1998, pp. 50-63.

Top

"Cousin Dupree"
Jeffrey B. (Digest, 1/10/00): The lyrics are cute. Cute? Yeah. Like that part about "saying 'ouch!'" - how many of us actually do that? Our friend Dupree reminds me of the narrator of Jim Croche's "Workin' at the Carwash Blues" - flopped out, trying to convince the world that he's a genius. The way he so casually merges the innocent "Well we used to play (doctor?) when we were three" to a fullblown lust for his Aunt's daughter. We've seen lots of these semi-incestuous relationships before in the music (Babylon Sisters, Everyone's Gone, etc), but this is the first time we see the actual "move" in progress. Seems just a bit seedier... The blame apparently doesn't solely fall on Dupree, though. From the description, Janine does her own to encourage him. Hitting on her boyfriend in front of D is really uncalled for. Not to mention that Dupree doesn't understand the subtlety of her put down (or is body-slam more like it?). The comment about the dreary soul and mind of applesauce would turn most guys off, but our hero deluxe asks the question of the century. Makes you think that it's a miracle if he scores at all, period. Schwinn (GB, 1/14/00): I think we can safely add "incest" to the diet of the world's wiliest coyotes... Skate A Little Lower Now....

Scott Mainella (Digest, 1/28/00): Great playful lyrics, Donald talking about singing in a voice he never knew he had. Nyarlathotep (Newsgroup, 1/30/00): Does anyone catch the Nabokov/Lolita allusion? Some discussion on the meaning and etymology of "skeevy": Lexicon Lenny (GB, 2/9/00): Huh? Did someone say "skeegy"? What the fuck is that? The correct term, whether the dilduo knows it or not, is a derivative of "schifo," which connotes shame, mortification and cooties. Donald seems to want to say "schifie," or the 'hood's more common variant, phonetically "skeevie." This term is an appropriate if rather unlikely adjective to use in West Kentuckasee to describe the protagonist's "look." diane (newsgroup, 3/1/00): I think it's a combination of the words sleazy, creepy, smarmy, needy and conceited. David Spiro (newsgroup, 3/1/00): Skeevy? Oh very much an NYC word. Grew up with using that word in the Bronx allot. Skeevy I guess could be best translated as slimy, or someone who you just don't want to touch. Think of someone infected with lice, and you've got skeevy. Chris Lumb (newsgroup, 3/2/00): If it's a noun, then to Australians, it's an item of clothing. Jigme Dorje (newsgroup, 3/4/00): ... sleasy, nasty, gross, greasy, slimey, funky, underhanded, trashy... Fearless (newsgroup, 3/4/00): From the DAN themselves: skeevy is a NY word meaning slimy, scuzzy, etc. jon (polishing his yellow stripe @ newsgroup, 3/4/00): We used to pronounce it shkeevy. And it also acted as a verb as in: "That guy really shkeeves me." Here's a great example of "skeevy" usage, thanx to the inimitable Hank Silvers, from Alison Bechdel's comic strip, "Dykes To Watch Out For," which is excellent. Seek it out.

jive miguel (GB, 3/21/00): I just finished listening to "This All Too Mobile Home", which should have found its honourable way onto the Countdown Album, and a revelation just struck me... The narrator in the song is Cousin Dupree...seriously! On the new one Cuz tells us that he's "spent a lot of time in a Rock 'n Ska band", or "hauling boss crude in those big rigs"...but how do we know that this is true???...he could easily be lying to us...what if he was just as morally bankrupt way back when???...what if it was he who was chasing "a girl" in his "All too mobile home"??? And what if his "girl" was actually another cousin, or perhaps a "busty aunt"???

Dragon (GB, 4/7/00): Anyone else notice this similarity? oo ah oo ee how about a kiss for your cousin Dupree oo ah oo ee I told the witch doctor I was in love with you... cara mia (GB, 4/13/00): Of course there's more buzz about Janine. She's a woman who is in charge of her life and most likely her orgasms with choice men. Why would we want to identify with poor Janie, another tragic victim of abuse/neglect, doomed to the cycle of being targeted by opportunistic lecherers and worse. I hope Janie DOES get to Spain for her birthday. I hope she hides out in the Caves of Altamira, gets strong, and learns to deflect and defend against those DanMen/BeDamnedMen. ***Maybe Janine is the survivor Janie all grown up*** Yeah, I like my theory an' I'm stickin' to it! jive miguel (GB. 4/14/00): I watched the Donald Fagen/Warren Bernhart jazz piano instruction video, AGAIN, last night...and while it was spilling through the credits, I was intrigued to find a "Thank You" section... In it, the producers wished to thank... >Libby Titus (Donald's wife) >Craig Fruin (SD's promoter/agent) >Robbie Dupree (perhaps his cousin...hmm!) I kid you not...for those of you who have the video, fast forward to the end credits and see for yourselves! Interesting...very interesting! John (Digest, 5/12/00): I was listening to 2vN again after a bit of a break, and this time noticed that "Cousin Dupree" is NOT "a song about incest" -- as some posts have stated. My dictionary defines incest as "sexual relations between persons so closely related that their marriage is illegal or forbidden by custom." The only reference to any kind of sexual activities is his cousin pins her date up against the wall (within Dupree's line of sight, apparently, I might mention). Yes, Dupree "propositions" his cousin, and she quite clearly and (I am convinced) quite successfully spurns him. It would be a very different song, with an altogether different impact (and meaning), if it really were "about incest." My 2-cents worth... Jason (Digest, 5/16/00): Re: Why Cousin Dupree is NOT about incest Yes. I think the interesting thing about this song is that it is not really incest. It's sort of on the line. I'm sure many people have experienced an attraction to a cousin at one time or another (uh, no admissions here though). But, of course, because he/she is a "relation" it would be completely forbidden. Dupree seems like a sleazy character and that adds to the sense of amorality--although I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe because he just seems to be laying around, maybe because he acts on his attraction, maybe because the 'cuz has a pretty cutting rebuke, or maybe because he seems like a fool. Surely they could have been far cruder (ala "Everyones gone"), but chose for a more ambiguous circumstance. David O (Digest, 5/16/00): I've read it a number of times, but I still can't tell if John Lukes' post, "Why Cousin Dupree is NOT about incest," is a put-on. The song is easily the most straightforward, literal tune on 2vN, and yet Mr. Lukes evidently finds it necessary to correct some misperceptions he believes have taken hold in the fandom. He points out that because Dupree and his cousin do not actually engage in any sexual activity, the song is not about incest. What a revelation: The song is actually about incestuous yearnings. I'm sure the rest of the fandom is grateful to Mr. Lukes for identifying this startling distinction. He also offers his observation that Dupree's cousin "quite clearly and (I am convinced) quite successfully

spurns" his proposition. Another epiphany. Geez, did anyone else detect this? If anyone has wondered what exactly a fever dream is, here is a quintessential example from the incomparable Hoops!: Hoops! (Digest, 5/16/00): They don't know how to love him So here I am waiting in a reception area and I thought I would put my indulgent notes into my laptop. Every now and then, certain non-Dan Fans erroneously call Steely Dan the "drug and sex" band. And now they get all in bunch about "Cousin Dupree" being a song about incest. We all know that D + W are mocking the loser protagonists in their song. Yet folks who know little about Steely Dan, find songs like "Cousin Dupree" to be disturbing. This all reminds me of when Randy Newman parodied prejudice with his song "Short People" and then short people everywhere got incensed and offended. This was topped by the mayor of L.A. and middle America honoring Newman and his song, "I Love L.A." as if it were a complement of the city when actually, it was a searing satire of the city and its lifestyle. But all this hub-bub on US Television about the CBS mini-series "Jesus" (just in time for sweeps, with the word "jesus" in a lovely lip-stick -like-written type-face) reminded me: "I Don't Know How to Love Him." Suddenly, I am transported back to circa 1969/1970 and I am in Catechism at St. Francis Borgia with Sisters George, Ann, Jenny and, Dominic-ko-nic-ko-nic, this one hip sister with a guitar (she *was* cool! Can I say I had a crush?). And every year during Holy Week, they'd play the original London cast album of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's "Jesus Christ Superstar." Father Stokes would saunter in as we wrecked this beautiful pristine, unscratched Hi-Fi Stereo LP of JC Superstar on a $29.95 Saphire-needle mono record player: "Hello Sisters, what are we doing today." "We're listening to our 'Jesus Christ Superstar'." "That's great Sisters, just great! Happy Easter." "You too, Father." So one year, during this annual Holy Week ritual, it hit me. I kind of inquire to one of the sisters, "Sister, what in the world is Mary Magdalene singing about in "I Don't Know How to Love Him"? Does she want Jesus for a boyfriend or to marry him?" Kids say the darndest things and I was no exception. Sister gets all red and pissed, "How dare you..." and all that...I'm sure you can imagine. To hopefully state this as a neutral observer (I'm not trying to bash nor defend a religion), I don't think these clergy realized that Tim Rice's lyrics were probably controversial by THEIR standards. They probably just thought it was a musical literally about the week leading up to Good Friday and that was a good thing for the kids to hear; maybe it would be a way of keeping up with the far-out and groovy kids. But I don't think these Sisters actually comprehended all of Rice's implications when he wrote lines like, "I don't know how to love him/I don't know why he moves me/he's just a man/.../and I've had so many men before/...yet if he said he loved me, etc." Or another Rice lyric, with "apostles" singing like stoners, "Always hoped that I'd be an apostle/knew that I would make it if I tried/Then when we retire we can write Gospels/So they'll all talk about us when we die...what's that in the bread/it's gone to my head." Sister--Whadda heck does THAT mean? What IF he said he loved HER and what IS that in the bread? Indeed, what HAS gone to their head? Whaddadey mean by THAT?! From the Sisters' vantage, I wonder if they ever pondered why the musical doesn't even seem to cover Easter. Well, you know, if you pay attention to Tim Rice's lyrics, you know he probably WAS suggesting that Tim Rice's Mary Magdalene kinda had this thing--not for her Cousin Dupree--but for (smack my forehead) Jesus Christ! Methinks Cousin Dupree is lightweight by comparison in many religious value systems. And unlike "Cuz," I don't think Rice's lyrics ever refute the story as "Cuz" does in the final verse. Seems JC Superstar is OK by at least some people (Example, a local Christian high school performed it recently), but I bet it would upset the same people for them to hear "Cousin Dupree" or to fully understand "JC Superstar." My point is not really about religion, but that mainstream America collectively doesn't pay as much attention to lyrics as probably many of us Steely Dan fans here do. So when they hear a record is about "Jesus Christ," their

reaction is "Jesus--good." "Cousin Dupree" wants to kiss his cousin? Baaadd." No thought about the context or details. Kinda like when I was growing up in another time and "pregnant" was a word not uttered on TV or said unless whispered. Tangentially, in this strange train of thought, (have my rantings lost you yet?) I thought of Helen Reddy who also sang "I Don't Know How To Love Him", and, of course, "I am Woman." I won't dis the latter. In its own kitschy way, I seriously think it reached certain women and inspired them to rightfully stand up for themselves. I know, Helen's passe and clearly not in the same league as Steely Dan. But she was mainstream. And despite her generally bad choice of material, she is the epitome of a warbler, that is when she's not saving an airplane load of people or visiting Dr. Dick Van Dyke. Yet how come none of these same people didn't dis Helen for subsequently making three big hits about emotionally disturbed women: the gospel sing along "Delta Dawn," the ironically bouncy "(Leave Me Alone) Ruby Red Dress" and "Angie Baby." Why all the disturbed women, Helen? There goes middle America shopping to "Rose Darling" and 'Ruby Red Dress" on the store muzak. There's the marching band dancing to "Kid Charlemagne" on the "Today" show. Gotta love it. BTW: After listening to "Jesus Christ Superstar," I thought Jesus also sang "Smoke On The Water;" which I subsequently thought was about a bong, but then more recently discovered was not, and, in fact, Jesus was Ian Gillian. And Clapton was God. But I didn't think about it back then. As I come back to reality, I realize the 100s are not as different as the 60s and 70s as I thought. Bruuuuuce (Cameron) (Digest, 5/17/00): Something about this song was giving me that "Dejavu" sort of feeling, ever since I first heard it. I have finally made the connection. The opening line referring to him kicking around a lot since high school, is reminiscent of Paul Simons opening line of Kodachrome where he looks back on all that crap he learnt in high school. I have managed to borrow, I repeat, borrow, a Paul Simon CD and listened to Kodachrome again and that opening line does sound sort of similar. (I am in no way indicating that it was copied but I guess with all the song writers out there, from time to time similar phrases do occur). Earl (Digest, 5/17/00): I'm intrigued by the discussion regarding Cousin Dupree and how the status quo decides what's OK and what's not. The funny thing is that D+W are not advocating incest at all. As a matter of fact, if anyone wanted to be upset about it, Southerners (or hillbillies in general) should be offended to be labeled as incestuous people. D+W are obviously condemning the behavior...even showing how off-the-rocker this guy is by him asking why she's turned off. They not only put the moniker of a pervert, but also the label of an idiot on this guy. In addition, the fact he gets off when he sees her getting it on with her boyfriend... that's just plain ole' perversion. "Heard myself sing in a voice I never knew I had before" is not what I envision when I think of a jealous admirer. He's just one sick pup that hasn't been laid in a long time. So anyway, guess I got away from the point, which is that most of America, when hearing CD on the radio, would never get that deep into the song. Instead, they'd hear the catchy "How about a kiss for your Cousin Dupree" and go "Ewww!" That's what D+W want. Instead, the song is a rather sad portrayal of a horny insane hick. As for America, Top 40 radio and playlists have turned FM radio into one big commercial. Record companies have figured out that they can sell one topic...love. Every song you hear is about love, whether it's Britney, In Sync, Celine, Mariah, or Enrique. It's very difficult to name a song that's not about love that's broken the charts. People don't wanna think...they just wanna be happy when they listen to music. That's why love songs sell. In contrast, I like Steely Dan mainly because the songs have a peculiar way of conveying a feeling directly from the music, and that mood tends to mirror the song's theme. For instance, the rather simple tune to Cousin Dupree reflects a rather simple man. Jack of Speed has a rather skanky, dark tone to it which goes along nicely with the overall theme of drug abuse

and sex. To be able to convey those feelings with music alone is amazing. My point is, D+W are of a dying breed. Commercial radio has dictated that you can't break onto the scene, let alone succeed, without selling out. I just hope that Steely Dan's music will encourage a few youngsters in the coming years to decide that Jazz, Blues, and Rock 'N Roll work well together, and that music can encompass more feelings than just love. Peg (really!) (GB, 7/22/00): ... has anyone else out there caught the relation between that grand standard called Oh Susanna! and Cousin Dupree? You know, it rained all night the day I left, the weather it was dry in Oh Susanna -- and having a distinctly Southern name and song title, yet mentioning skis and a crackling fire? Both songs juxtapose opposites in order to make humor. Jon (7/22/00): I wonder if anyone else has noticed Janine does not list "being my cousin" as one of the reasons she gives for being able to resist that "boyish charm"... apparently it is not the consanguinity that bothers her, either! Steviedan (GB, 8/28/00): ... was listening to some cab calloway earlier and was giggling at the tune "What's Buzzin' Cousin" which is a sort of predecessor to "Cousin Dupree". then i thought of "Kissin' Cousins" by elvis and i realized. between that and jerry lee lewis... this incestous cousins thing is virtually it's own genre. anyone think of any others ? The Late Budie Holie (1/12/03): I just scrolled your page for the first time in a while, and I noticed that nobody has seemed to share the "Cousin Dupree/Frank Zappa" urban legend yet. I'll check again to make sure I'm right, but in the mean time, here's my two cents. In 1988, Frank Zappa has released a set of live albums called "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore." Volume 2 of this series is a concert that his band and him performed in Helsinki, Finland in 1974. During this concert, they performed a rousing rendition of "Dupree's Paradise" in which FZ sang, "Rickki dont lose that number/Don't you lose that number, Rickki." This could have inspired Don and Walt to retalliate with a song about a man lusting after his cousin. Some time ago, I asked alt.fan.frank-zappa if there are any other Zappa connections in the song, and Marc Zeigenhagen made the following observations: "Haulin' boss crude in the big rigs," and "string beans to Utah" from No Not Now "Aunt Faye's couch," and the songs Sofa #1 and Sofa #2 "If you teach me how to do that dance," and the song Dancin' Fool "Down-home family romance," and the song Harder than Your Husband? That's all I got, really. This may be subject for further deliberation. I thank you for your time.
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"Negative Girl"
jon (GB, 2/5/00): Amazing! As soon as I heard DF sing, '...it's happening again...' I thought it's either the same girl or at least the same situation as we encountered in "Black Cow."

moray eel (GB, 2/29/00): I like the way Fagen's voice falls to the earth when he sings, "In the summer r a i n..." Clas (GB, 3/24/00): That dr Friend uptown She Has To See in "Negative Girl" wears a thread to John Lennons "Cold Turkey", dr Roberts, a celebrity doc, upper East, Manhattan. The Negative Girl is a Showbiz Queen. Miz Ducky (GB, 3/24/00): Clas: like your theory about the "doctor friend uptown." I fear there's one problem, though--Fordham Road is up in the Bronx, north of Manhattan. That would still be referred to as "uptown" in NYC parlance ("uptown" and "downtown" are used there as directional terms, rather than specific locations). Our negative girl could have spaced out and overshot the stop on the subway, but somehow I doubt her drugcraving reptile brain wouldn't allow it. My guess about Negative Girl's occupation is fashion model, based on the refs to "at the edge of the frame" and "spinning out of the frame" -- plus a play on "negative" itself. Just a few weeks before 2vN came out, I saw a made-for-TV movie called "Gia," a based-on-a-true-story biopic about an ultra-negative-girl/junkie-girl high-fashion model (they use the term "chasing the dragon" in the movie as a matter of fact), who had the dubious distinction of being the first "famous" female to be public about the fact that she was dying of AIDS. (At least I think I'm remembering that last distinction right--ant any rate, after lots of wild-ass behavior she dies a messy death.) Astonishingly well-made for a made-for-cable-TV piece--it's available at video rental joints, if anyone's interested. Clas (GB, 5/3/00): Hey, I got it! Or let's say; I aint got it: I re-watched de Niros "A Bronx Tale" the other night. De Niros character is driving that fucking bus down Fordham Road thru the whole movie. And I couldn't spot a doctor in sight. So what does that tell us? She's going up Fordham Road "to see a doctor friend" and there are no doctors there! She's not telling the truth damn it! Okay, she's ill, but what the hell, there are certain rules you have to live with uh? squonk (GB, 5/3/00): Anyone noticed the similarities between the Negative Girl and the Almsost Gothic girl? Seems that the narrator of both songs may be the same person contemplating his relationship in different ways. wormtom (GB, 5/15/00): So if Janie is Jailbait where's the negative girl in age??? seems the dan protagonists can't handle someone their own age (unless they are a hottie cousin) notice the use of the word "couch" on TaN featured in two songs NG and CD kind of like the overuse of "float downstream" on the Beatles Revolver album Hutch (GB, 5/15/00): How 'bout the use of the word "crew" on three songs in a row! sooutrageous (GB, 5/15/00): and skeevier still; the over-use of the discriptives: 'delicious' and 'luscious' to describe women throughout the narrative. they employ these orally-fixated adjectives in the dialouge of gaslighting, shame and negative girl. i actually talked with aja about this awhile back. anyone else think this is especially creepy? any gb bar-trollers out there ever employ either of these words when approaching a member of the opposite sex? I think not. especially if in fact the person you're approaching DOES look luscious or delicious!

this is so in keeping with the middle-aged idiosyncratic perversions displayed by the whining steely dan protagonists in recent years. it's creepy, but o-so-subversively-entertaining! nightcrawler (GB, 5/26/00): The 'negative nymph' is already living with some rich international business-type who's intermittently away leaving her to her feline-clever machinations. While he's away in San Franciso, London or Sao Paulo, she's vamping around town, blowing rock, partying till dawn, drinking Peppar Vodka Martinis, hanging with her jet-set crowd and fucking her way to the bigger-better-deal that constantly eludes her profoundly-shallow grasp. The milky pallor of her skin is simply the result of her vampiric lifestyle which dictates that she sleep till sunset and rise to wander the city in unending revelry with her fellow denizens of the moon. A pathetic coven-of-thenight indeed. According to literary lore, 3:00AM is 'the soul's midnight." During her endless "dark night of the soul" she seeks out unsuspecting hearts who are attracted by the allure of her beautifully lonely decadence. Our protagonist is simply a withering moth who's been caught in the 'heat of the cold white flame' emanating from her eyes.... .... The line about not calling her at home reveals so very much. This chick would never live with a female 'roomie.' She needs her femme'-fatale space. She's territorial and possessive with what she's amassed. She's the 'pearl of her quarters' so to speak. She's not sharing her catbox with another feline competitor. If by so small chance she DID live with a 'roommate'; she certainly doesn't strike me as a girl who'd give a fuck about what her housemate had to say. She strikes me as the type ever-so-ubiquitous type of self-assured New York City woman on the cusp of the millennium who hides behind a mask of faux-self-confidence and makes statement like, 'When i want your opinion,; i'll give it to you." When all the while, she needs a man to feel selfactualized. Thus the crying on the phone jag; 'I need you here.' Implying, that she's home all alone and needs comforting. She needs instant gratification and she needs it NOW! Nevermnd that once you arrive at her place, she's already left with a group of friends who drop by with reservations at Blathazar for drinks and french fries with gravy. Bruce Cameron (Digest, 11/13/00): Negative girl, she's zooming on a couch somewhere. What is the american meaning of zooming. We have a thing happening at work at the moment, where if you are late for a meeting, you have to stand on a chair and spell the word zoom by motioning your bottom (bum,arse,butt,fanny or whatever you call it) in the shape of the letters. When i hear that line i am picturing a young woman doing the afore mentioned action, so was just wondering what it really meant. Lisa G (Blue Book, 7/5/01): the references to "coke" and the "original classic thing" cannot be accidental.

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"West of Hollywood"
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, "Steely Dan Words + Music" (copyright 2000, Giant Records): DF: "West of Hollywood," we were trying to write a love story, really, but reducing it to the main points, almost telling it from a theoretical framework, like the outline someone would make for a screenplay or something. WB: Yeah, and I think in a way, as far as the lyrics went, it was a stylistic exercise, trying to come up with a narrative mode that was different than what we usually do or what people usually do in songs. DF: Although it is also, it occurs to me now, it was sort of like when someone's trying to tell you something about some extreme experience and being carried away, either a love affair or whatever, where there seems to be no language to communicate it to someone else, so we're trying to think what language would you use.

WB: Right. And the other thing is that you can imagine some sort of transforming experience that leaves you off in a place where you're no longer really able to offer a coherent account of how you got there, you know, and all you can sort of do is allude to various stations along the way that you stopped at, and it doesn't really make sense as an explanation. DF: Yeah, it's like, it's a really incoherent person trying to tell a really serious story. WB: Right, and in sort of typical postmodern fashion, the narrative mode or voice sort of overwhelmed the actual narration a little bit, so it becomes... sort of... DF: The style almost takes over... WB: Right. Hutch (GB, 2/11/00): Donald's voice is part of the music... it kind of wraps around the music and becomes another instrument in the arrangement. And he uses it to throw in little musical "jokes", if you will, like the way the vocal line goes (almost in falsetto) quickly up then down on the line "Riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of Hollywood". Makes you feel like you're going over that wave! Tim K. (Digest, 2/13-14/00): Regarding West of Hollywood...there was a passage [in Reeling In The Years] describing that Becker and Fagen had a *long* drive from their apts. to their office in West Hollywood. This sounded similar to the lyrical refs in West of Hollywood. Not My Nancy (GB, 3/2/00): An earlier poster thought of Glamour Profession, and the LA decadence theme that mused Gaucho certainly takes an unambiguous bow on this one (um...the TITLE?). I think it feels more like Babylon Sisters lyrically (musically, a little Your Gold Teeth II), though it's a more desperate cruise down Sunset to the sea, and with more of a romantic focus than Babylon. The relationship is the story, not the city. Then, Dr. Warren Kruger. He is just the perfect anti-romantic romantic rival, Mr. Practical LA Urologist to appeal to Anne de Siecle's need for security and creature comfort in her old age. The end is a half-hearted concession, an attempt to find inspiration in vapid partying. Still, I can't help hearing a more spiritual musical ending in the outro, and remembering that west of Hollywood is the East. Corvid (newsgroup, 2/29/00: I'm not sure now if this is intended to be autobiographical, or a character reference within the context of the song, but it just nailed me during my first listen. Sort of like the boys know they're way past their prime, they've "Burned right through the summer / 'Till the axis of pain/pleasure sheared the arc of desire" and now they're into their "rainy season". I guess I'm assuming it's a thinly veiled, and as usual, quite obscure account of the last thirty years. As I say, I could be wrong, and hope to be corrected if I am, but..... wow, talk about a "Brother in tears", that was me. The sax solo portion of the song now makes sense to me as a reflective coda to the emotional walloping that they've just given you. Bob Mc (GB, 3/8/00): WoH is about a man an a hooker..... Dr Warren Kruger I am sure informs the man he has aids.... read the words Thinking about (GB, 3/8/00): Sounds like it's about a woman (a prositute or a swinging partner) telling a man she has aids and he should get testing. And the guy gets tested, and he tests positive. Schwinn (GB, 3/9/00): Interesting "aids" take on WOH. Is Dr. Warren Krueger the Negative Girl's "...doctor friend uptown"? Not sure I'm looking for a positive answer concerning this. F#maj (GB, 3/9/00): Positive to HIV+ undertow of WOH. he was Kid Clean... was. however, do not see any evidence that Anne [ya, if that's her real name...] is a pro. no pictures of dead presidents evident. more like consenting adults who said yes yes yes a whole bunch of times. which lyrical hook says hooker to ya? and imagine the ice 9 of receiving a positive result... after your ears stop ringing. story being told to a brother in tears perhaps as they await the next blood series in the dismal reception area of

a public health clinic? the CD 4 count is hey 19. okay, that was a stretch. gonna be a long rainy season; but, time is elastic when you're in a trance. Dr. Mu (GB, 3/9/00): No, I don't think Anne hooked much of anything except perhaps the virus. She may be waiting for the results of her test. The consequences of the Hollywood Lifestyle. Perhaps a view 20 years later after Glamour Profession??? aja (the younger) (GB, 3/9/00): WOH makes me think of River Phoenix, had he lived. I see two people on the brink of breaking into the spotlight, living hard and oblivious to hardness of their living, the "gnarly downside" of the business. Somewhere Kid Clean picks up HIV(IV drug use fits in well here) and gives it to Anne De Siecle. Since HIV takes some years to manifest itself, my take is that these two kept going with the lifestyle, never did make it big, and HIV+ status is all that they have to show for it some 10-20 years later, where we find our despondent narrator telling his story at a public health clinic. He analogizes his life as a weekend of bliss followed by a long rainy season. A parallel with WASAM: both men pull back when the female interest reaches for their hand, saying "I've lost my dreams/you're looking a ghost". Miz Ducky (GB, 3/9/00): It's simply the (first-person) tale of a man who is emotionally locked up, perhaps to the point of psychological disturbance. ("Look in my eyes/Can't you see the core is frozen" -- the mysterious Dr. Kruger I take to be his shrink). He overintellectualizes, he distances with words--but there's no hiding the fact that he is well and truly stuck. He's so distanced from his ability to feel love that, when the woman with whom he's been having this swinging affair all summer reaches out to him for true connection, he watches himself as if it's another person lurching forward and missing -- sounds like a classic description of a dissociated (sp?) state to me. The tragedy of the story is that our protagonist is not so emotionally frozen that he can't feel anguish for the love he let slip between his fingers. That anguished cry of "And I almost got there" is for my money one of the most haunting Don&Walt have yet committed to music. For all that he tries to distance himself from that loss with more intellectualism ("tyranny of the disallowed"!) and escape into hedonism (chasing the easy girls of post-season Port Blanc), he can't escape the pain ... and the long frenzied sax solo at the end plays out what he's really going through behind those frozen-blue eyes. cara mia (GB, 3/9/00): Enjoying all y'all's takes on WOH, my favorite obsession these days from the moment I heard it. I like the themes of love lost and therapy, and I think it is *totally* about his relationship (purely appropriate, but with all the transference and unconscious stuff that goes on when being shrunk) with his jaded/knowledgeable therapist. Maybe the chorus serves as his representation of classic "resistance" where he drifts around not wanting to deal with recognizing the pain, riding along something about to "break" like that wave or his own breakthrough---the important realization coming to the surface (consciousness) in his personal therapeutic journey, calling it "way deep into nothing special". I especially like the lines: "She reached out for my hand/While I watched myself lurch across the room/ And I almost got there..." ---and this I think signifies a therapist and her client forming that "therapuetic alliance" and getting our fellow to accompany her where she sees he needs to go... (Also musically, is this not the "bridge" of the piece?---god, these guys are so great painting a musical palette so sublime!!!) "Look in my eyes/Can't you see the core is frozen?/ You can't ask me to access the dreams I don't have now"--He does not have the breakthrough and his resistance remains strong that summer of examining his "chain of sorrows" "Sadly for us/ Our little talk is over/ So together we'll endure the tyranny of the disallowed"---Typical of therapy sessions, they have to end at that 50 minutes to an hour thing, sometimes just when something important is about to happen, but has to be held back until the next session, even when both know the value of it and want to continue, but can't as that is the tyranny of keeping with the clock. Maybe the last stanza is the relief he feels at the end of his therapy of that summer presented as a visual of the

literal place he inhabits at the time?...Port Blanc, etc. ... additionally in WOH that monotonous beat of the drums is SO like a clock ticking...YES? ticking away the minutes of his therapy sessions and representing the tyranny of the clock...YES? rubybaby (GB, 3/10/00): Warning: HIV theory. Scroll if you don't want to hear it! Bob Mc: You could be right about her being in the oldest profession. Here's my take, for what it's worth: "Brother in tears / look at this chain of sorrows" - there's always a long chain of sorrows with hiv. "I was Kid Clean" - No drugs, safe sex, not a hint of disease "She was Anne de Siecle / just a thrill away from punching though to the cosmic wow" - siecle does mean "forever". [custodian's note: that would be "toujours." "Siecle" means "century."] I think it symbolizes a certain unawareness of mortality that young people naturally have. "It started out good / then it got much better" - the part that makes me see a relationship "Makin' up the rules as we went along" - it's a feeling of being in control and things are working out so well. This is where they may stray from 'safe' sex. "But with a business like this / there's a gnarly downside" - I can see why you link this to her prostituting. Could be, but sometimes the word business is used as just a phrase. "Swinging so hard / we burned right through the summer / till the axis of pain/pleasure sheared the arc of desire / from the Rebus affair/ to the streets of Culver City / Places and event slip below the horizon line" - I see a couple of lovers that are on fire for life and for each other. They're in the clouds. So far, so good. "The truth compels us / to bring a certain name / Meet if you will/ Doctor Warren Kruger" - this is where the bottom drops out. I believe that Anne began to show symptoms and went to the doctor. She is diagnosed with hiv. She invites him to meet Dr. Kruger. "She reached out for my hand / While I watched myself lurch across the room / And I almost got there " - this could, in my mind, be one of two scenarios. 1) she is asking him to stay with her through the disease. He either wants to, but can't bring himself to, OR he'd rather run out, but can't bring himself to do that. 2) He's stayed with her through the whole ugly progression of aids. As she's dying, she reaches out to hold his hand and it's just too much for him. And now he knows what he's in for, because by now he's tested positive. "Look in my eyes / can't you see the core is frozen / You can't ask me to access the dreams I don't have now" His soul is not on fire anymore. He can't even talk about the dreams & plans he used to have. Understandable. He's going to go through a slow & terrible death sentence. "Sadly for us / our little talk is over / So together we'll endure the tyanny of the disallowed" - I don't know why their little talk is over. Could be any number of things. But he has something in common with this guy in that they both will endure the tyranny. The disease becomes the main force & focus of life. No longer is he in control. Society also is a disallowing force, as is the condition of his inner self now. "Don't you love Port Blanc / when the hooterie is over / when the girls get easy / and the crowds go home" - is he escaping his present ugly situation in this way? Drugs? I don't know. "A weekend of bliss / then the rainy season" - to me this symbolizes the brief happiness he had with Anne de Siecle as compared to the sad rest of his life. "I'm way deep into nothing special / riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of Hollywood" - He finds no real purpose to his life now. He doesn't see himself accomplishing anything at all. He just missed it. bob mclaughlin (GB, 3/10/ 00): "She reached out for my hand / While I watched myself lurch across the room / And I almost got there " ---untill i read it this time i wondered, but hell, everybody now i know she does have aids and she was sick and dying her last dying moments she reaches for him and he feels a sence of slow motion as he sees she is about to pass and she dies before he can get there to comfort her in her last breath of life? "Look in my eyes / can't you see the core is frozen / You can't ask me to access the dreams I don't have now" --he is cold inside she is gone an his dreams of them together is shot she has passed Sadly for us / our little talk is over / So together we'll endure the tyanny of the disallowed" ---a eulogy?

Mike (GB, 3/11/00): Let me weigh in with some comments about West of Hollywood. First, the title might be a reference to Santa Monica, which I believe is where WB lived. [custodian's note: I don't believe that the latter is accurate.] The song seems to be a re-telling of the Junkie Girl story from 11TOW. That song talks about how the junkie girl tried to lure the author into her world and he wouldn't let her. WOH has several lines that seem to be telling the same story, especially the lines: She reached out for my hand While I watched myself lurching across the room And I almost got there. These lines tell me that she was trying to lure him into the depths of her addiction and he almost let her, but managed to pull back somehow. The Kid Clean/Anne De Siecle names reinforce this theme. The author is "clean" while the girl is decadent, which is partially what the Fin de Siecle movement in art was all about. steelygirl (GB, 3/14/00): So, I'm thinking that West of Hollywood is a Deacon Blues part II. Not only is this guy a loser in love, but he's also a loser in life. Dr. Warren Krueger can't help him. Barely Glibb (GB, 3/21/00): About Doctor Warren Krueger. The "D" stands for Donald. The "W" stands for Walter and the "K" stands for Krantz. Roger Nichols, of course, is the RN. Star Thrower (3/23/00): the name "Anne de Siecle" rhymes with, therefore (right?) it MUST refer to the phrase "fin de siecle": the end of the century, the end of an age, the living end? Jeff (Digest, 3/25/00): Ann De Siecle is a reference to the rhyming French term "Fin de Siecle" which means "End of the Century." Donald pronounces de siecle in such a way so that we Americans would detect the spelling and thus the reference (those of us who know French and are familiar with the term). Native Frenchmen actually pronounce it like "See-eck," without the "L" sound. I for one appreciated Donald's pronunciation. It seems evident to me that an initial goal of Don & Walt was to have 2vN completed & released before the fin de siecle, as there are a couple or more references to Millennium. Rick Mealey (Digest, 3/27/00): ... Anne de Siecle would appear to be a woman, cleverly disguised (probably by Fagen) as a play on words. The French would of course say Fin de Siecle, which means "turn (or end) of the century"... ... which would make our Anne the girl from (drumroll please) Century's End. I hadn't considered that this *might* be the same Annie being gaslighted in Track 1 resurfacing in this lovely story... but hey, it's a tantalizing thought.. or is it just me? Anyway, thanks, you've been great, drive home safely. Mr. LaPage (GB, 3/29/00): get this! Dr. Warren Kruger was this character in Frank Sinatra's 1950's heroineaddiction flick "the man with the golden arm." The good Dr. tried to help a strung-out Frankie by administering tough-love but was killed-off without ceremony by a hilariously stereotypical drug dealer in a rain-soaked alleyway when he tried to persuade him to "get straight" and turn himself in. KD (GB, 3/29/00): -- so, with Ms. Abbie' hand of solitare and Janie Runaway's showgirl, then we'd have three Sinatra references on one album. I love these guys. Ronald Vos (Digest, 4/4/00): For those of you who wanted to know where or what Port Blanc is: it's a village on the isle Guadalupe (the French Antilles). Clas (GB, 4/7/00): Hey, I think I got the lyric interpenetration on West of Hollywood. Listen: The line "look at my ice, can't you see the car is frozen" must mean that Kid Clean aka "Kid Charlemagne" has

ended up somewhere in Alaska. Wich brings us to wonder; will Fagen sing "is there gaslight in the car?" on the next tour? Jane (Digest, 4/7/00): My take on West of Hollywood is a simple one. Abortion. Dr Warren Kruger is the doctor who performs it. She reaches her hand from across the room hoping that he will have a change of heart and stop the procedure, but he knows that in the long run this is best for him anyway because as he says later he has no feeling in this direction and can't pretend that he does. I believe that he is talking paternally. Penny (Digest, 4/8/00): "Way deep into nothing special" - I lived in various parts of Los Angeles for 37 years. Many folks, especially those living in West Hollywood, West L.A., the San Fernando Valley (all within Los Angeles County) are "into" things (or they're focusing on concerns) that those living in other parts of the country consider superficial. "Riding the quest of a wave just West of Hollywood" - There is a community called West Hollywood (which is west of Hollywood geographically). West of West Hollywood (driving west on Sunset Boulevard) leads to the beaches along the West Coast and (thus)the Pacific Ocean. There also is a community called Culver City, which is west of Hollywood (and in between West Hollywood and the Southern California beaches with some other communities in between). I'm probably being too literal since I know the geography. sooutrageous (GB, 4/13/00): ~in light of d&w's recent comments in the wonderful article in songwriter magazine; and the time i've spent poring over pete fogel's exhaustive metal leg archives,i've come to the conclusion that a lot of the lyrics in the sd songs that we bicker & banter about in our pedantic crusade to find some hidden meaning, are actually rather straightforward. D&W are extremely concerned with phonetic meter in the composition which subjugates literal translation on any number of levels,(they're down by decree on that issue). their desire for rhythm, feel and meter is quite evident in their statements concerning the minutae behind the WOH composition. any of the variations that were discarded before deciding on the "riding the crest..." line would have been loosely appropriate given the narative of the piece. it's a variation on a theme. nothing hidden, no particular enigmatic message. WOH is about people living the "lala-land lifestyle" during the morality addled late 70's/ early 80'. big fucking deal. there's no epihany here. these guys were not/ are not the bastian of insight into the human psyche. witness their pathetic personal lives. don't take me alive is about a demon-tormented "everyman"-cum-terrorist hold up against society. black cow's about a guy who breaks off an emotionally rocky relationship with an emotionally immature and singularly selfish mate. royal scam speaks of the pervasive evil perpetrated on immigrants, searching for the "good life" here in the land of plenty. deacon blues talks about unfullfiled dreams of nirvana/shangri-la, artistic success and emotional contentment. this isn't allegorical. we're not talking jonathan swift, thoreau, or even (heaven forbid) burroughs. is it satirical? yes, bitingly sarcastic? undoubtedly. cryptic? only insofar as phonetic integrity has taken precedence and legal exposure has been pondered; vis-a-vis kid c, dr.warren kruger. incest, may/december dalliance, addictive tendency, unrequited emotion: this is social commentary. subversively-moral fulmination. comic relief. good songwriting. when faulkner was questioned repeatedly throughout his life about the so-called "hidden agenda" rife in his body of work, he steadfastly debunked the idea as absurd and avered 'he wasn't smart enough to be that profound and quick-witted." if you read joyce's biography, you'll see that he was plauged by this particular line of questioning also, with similar disdain. let's not diefy these guys for something they're not. after all, D&W are from brooklyn and passaic respectively. lol! seer, sage, prophet, oracle? gifted songwriter, composer, wholly human? ... if you'll indulge me while i babble on in an incessant tirade, i'll endeavor to state my premise. i too have spent many an hour pondering the "hidden" meaning baying like the hounds of hell in the souls of these songs.

i have willfully suspended disbelief any number of times and it pretty much comes out the same. these are two guys who are moderately educated, voraciously well-read and socially miscast, (for the purposes of this piece, their musical gifts notwithstanding). we've known these people throughout our lives. they sat off in a corner, eating their tuna salad on wonderbread-sans-crust in the school cafeteria. they lurked in the shadows near the bleachers at dances, too insignificant to play the wallflower. even as "rock stars' they were pariahs. spent time alone on the road. never got the feel for the groupie thing. didn't have the belly or the rap for it. (while skunk partied his ass off. i heard an interview where skunk admitted he only learned to play guitar to attract women. i was astonished. such dynamic chops. his means-to-an-end). d&w were the suffering artists. like the protaganist in glamour profession, they continued to watch from the shadows while others danced, loved and found emotional contentment. love and fulfillment were elusive, unattainable.to this end (imho) deacon blues is hauntingly autobiographical of the emotional black hole that were/are d&w and once again, lyrically straightforward. don't get me wrong; their music has had a tremendously positive impact on my life and undoubtedly the lives of countless others, given their extensive catalog and dorian gray-like staying-power. as music, literature and art are the balm of the inner man, their work has soothed me to the core. once again, i can say without equivocation that their music has provided the soundtrack for my life. d&w were never much about making a social statement ala barry maguire, csny or dylan. they simply held trueto-form as the socially maladept spectator; standoffish in their own private torment, casting judgment and disdain toward the ham-handed performers, type-cast as the "collective human race"the ignorascenti(sp). they didn't give a shit about us.(ie. didn't tour for 20 years. no new material for as long. lived rather nicely on royalties from their oh-so-marketable body of work). they made music for themselves and if we were pleasured in the process, it was completely incidental. it was not the primary or perhaps even secondary desired result. as music-lovers; as humans; we bit and we bit hard. they're only now getting a feel for what this sd thing has meant to so many. the huddled ugly masses, US. Two Against Nature? Or better yet, (walking in their "brown shoes"), Us Against them. souout (another guy on a roll. GB, 4/25/00): ....the lyric to WOH commencing with "she reached out for my hand" and ending with "don't you love port blanc, when hooterie is over......then the rainy season" is (imho) the epitome of the sd wordcraft. don't you love it? ain't it cool? who else writes contemporary lyrics such as these? I do-so love "port blanc". in my mind, my store of tomorrows; i've been there. i've enjoyed the rocky outcropping, the gull's plaintive cry, that lonely crescent of beach,the relentless surf, the offshore breeze, the long afternoons by a crackling fire during rainy season. i've planned my summers; my life for "hooterie". the sailboat regatta, open-barbecue spits, ladies adorned in crimson and black hoop-skirts. castanetts keeping time to the pulsating salsa beat. the edge-close frenzy. the unending wellspring. i live for the elusive moment when the "girls get easy" and the lovin' is langourous and sweet; the after-glow unending. we are indeed fortunate. we're the honored initiates. it's like we've been admitted into a little secret society, replete with other-worldly oaths, absurd passwords and macabre initiations. these guys are getting better, craftier, cagier, skeevier,more sublime with age. i'm glad i "get it"! Red Blazer (GB, 5/8/00): "...watched myself lurch across the room" refers jokingly to the description a rag writer once gave of Fagen's bodily ways. lucky henry (Digest, 5/22/00): On March 8th, Jim McKay asked: " What IS THE DEAL with this Warren Kruger guy. Is he real? " Around then, Barry Braksick e-mailed Doctor Kruger about this, who replied stating: "Your the third person to E-mail me to ask this very question. The answer is I don't know :-) " (Note the smiley face.) Hoops then commented: "I hope everyone leaves the guy alone...sounds like he's got some serious work on his hands." Following these comments were astute and gripping observations on the topic from Danscribe-Of-The-Year-

2000 Candidate Mam'zelle Daphne Canard, and others. Thanks also to Chris Lonn for spurring on the discussion (back in April.) Imagine my surprise when i picked up this call at the Knowledge Center today: "Hello, this is the Fox Chase Cancer Center." I listened to the requester's not-so-pretty story, gladly providing her with her Knowledgerelated needs, but the inevitable question would need to be asked. After some sincere gushing about the important work they do, having visited their website and learning they are among the Nation's best cancer research facilities, I finally asked the caller whether she knew one Doctor Warren Kruger. I heard her eyes brighten as she replied, "Oh, yes. Doctor Kruger is not only very intelligent but he's also one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet..." (hmmm..didn't somebody once say that about a certain Mr. William Gibson?) Since LaPage's initial supposition that the West of Hollywood character might have been inspired by a 1955 Otto Preminger movie [ "The Man With The Golden Arm"] my curiosity around this character intensified, so I purchased the video. The similarities between this film and Steely Dan lyrics in West of Hollywood and Jack of Speed are striking, to say the least. In fact, it could be outrageously surmised that Sinatra is the Jack (Jack Duvall, after all!), Darren McGavin is his new best friend and the throttle is the hypodermic. Dealin', steppin' out, tradin' fours' and right wing hooeys stinkin up the joint (some lyrics verbatim) fit in perfectly with historical themes about drugs, gambling, addiction, animosity toward Skunk and throw in an acknowledgment for Joe Jackson who has apparently returned the favor. While theories of AIDS, abortion and others were advanced, I believe LaPage's theory as to the identity of this individual, and Steely Dan's obsession with addiction fit the overall thematic structure of West of Hollywood. (I was also inspired by ruby baby's excellent synopsis of this composition which was posted sometime in April, i think...i'm unable to ftp at present.) I can only believe that Dr. Martin Lennox the Detox Specialist assumed the role of a randomly-named Doctor Warren Kruger and the poor Real Doctor Kruger happens to be an innocent bystander. Unless there happens to be some other connection...we're still working on it. somewhere in the arc between the axis of pain and pleasure, lh. grateful purple (GB, 5/30/00): Trane kicked H (Kid Clean), spent the rest of his career trying to punch through to the cosmic wow (alienating a lot of folks along the way), almost got there, then died way too young. His music often was all about enduring the tyranny of the disallowed (Alabama, etc.). He was criticized for not swinging but, really, he was swininging so hard, he burned. Other more obvious references are the "waves of sound" style and C. Potter's solo which is certainly Cotrane-esque. W likes Trane and I've always thought this was a W tune. Mr. LaPage (GB, 6/20/00): "Till the axis of pain/pleasure shears the arc of desire" depending on what school of thought you're proceeding from: ~the LA drug wheeler/dealer with female sidekick scenario ~the LA-niceguy-meets-decadent-Anne-De-Siecle-who-gives-him-AIDS scenario The axis of pain/pleasure refers to points A-B along a graph with the verticle axis representing pain and the horizontal; pleasure. The arc of desire is the connecting point between these two extremes. Our desires are generally what initially spur us to action along this axis and we're constantly balancing these desires with our insatiable pursuit of pleasure and our natural aversion to pain. Generally the pain we experience in regards to the pursuit of pleasure (physical, monetary, morning hangover, drug jones, crashing, relationship conflict)is a deterrant to our unbridled desire to feed the Freudian Id within each of us.(Satisfaction and Satisfaction NOW!) They 'burned right through the summer' till the pain they were experiencing to feed this incredible jones became overwhelming and sheared the natural arc bridging the chasm between pain and pleasure. If their particular jones were drugs, this pain would have been manifest in deteriorating relationships, employment problems, money issues, physical ailments, legal ramifications. If the jones was love/sex and the protagonists discovered that they had contracted HIV or AIDS, then the ramifications are indeed obvious. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Brain Dead Dawn, oops, Blazer (GB, 6/21/00): -- Swingin' so hard We burned right through the summer Till the axis of pain/pleasure sheared the arc of desire From the Rebus affair To the streets of Culver City Places and events slip below the horizon line -This part evokes touring for me; a rock 'til you drop or 'til we decide to stop summer concert series in the past, but of course, it will still apply in the near-future. These guys tour 'cause they like it, It's their new philosophy of road life they present here, I think. As well as there, maybe: -- Don't you love Port Blanc When Hooterie is over When the girls get easy and the crowds are gone A weekend of bliss Then the rainy season -I'm not saying this is the main theme of the song. I do believe that Steely Dan songs present, generally speaking, different themes at once. They definitely stray from the straightforward pop songwriting formula. WOH is the ultimate example of this. Lines put together mainly for their musicality which can still make sense in a subjective manner for the listener. This is how I see it, although that meaning may not have been intentional on their part. Isn't it poetry in its essence, though? That plurality of meaning thang. Finally found that old article refered to in the song: "Fagen exudes seriousness. He talks slowly, he LURCHES ACROSS THE ROOM laboriously. He looks like Victor Mature reflected in a funhouse mirror that widens and elongates. He speaks in a slow, laconic New Jersey drawl(he was born in Passaic), and when his wide mouth smiles, the grin resembles a sneer." Source: Granatino/Readings/New Times article 1977. The rest of the song probably refers to different personnal events taking place around the same time as this work on the road, or more generally, in the past. CHI Rival (GB, 6/21/00): BD Dawn, its so ironic how just as you mentioned WOH's lyrics there was a recent discussion about the royal scam. Both songs are similar in theme (go with me on this) That theme is the smile that hides the frown. Deception, this is what makes these guys so @#$%&* cool! Royal Scam in just the title alone is a play on words. When you think of the term Royal you see elegant, perfect. flawless, etc. but the scam is dark, deceptive and so on. Another credit to

SD and their sublime actions is displayed in the music. Listen to RS how the tempo rises and falls throughout the tune. It reaches its highest whe Don says "See the glory" then the backups take it even higher and hold the note till Don chimes in again and says "Scam" as though he just lost his days wages in a game of 3 card monte on the subway. WOH rises and falls as well Like? The crest of a wave? Hmmm. This is not coincidence. to prove my point check out the part: Meet if you will Dr. War(higher) ren(higher)kru(higher)Ger(crest,highest) the wave breaks, next line I'm way deep into nothing special. and if you notice the next part after they sing just west of hollywood there's a little riff where the music goes up (higher) and then a legato slide into the bridge (middle of the song) which is lower and it starts walter's solo. This happens throughout the song with the music and lyrics. Lyrically they (kid clean, and Ann) were exact opposites he described the good and bad in every line. It started out good then it got much better (higher) Breakin all the rules as we went along (higher) BUT with a business like this(business IMHO refers to the business of doing whatever you want with no regard for the consequences be it SEX, DRUGS, or Whatever) There's a gnar(higher) Ly(Higher) Down(higher) Side(Crest highest). Just imagine a wave at its peak, and then imagine ebb tide. They are exact opposites. Dont you love Port Blanc" A weekend of bliss (higher) Then the rainy season. Mr. LaPage (GB, 7/11/00): ... on the Glamour Profession/West of Hollywod connection. Juxtaposing the lyrics and following the story lines, the people and places are the same; only the name's have been changed to protect the 'guilty'! No one makes it out alive in this derranged dreamscape. West of Hollywood's Frozen-souled Kid Clean could actually be a character-continuation of Glamour Profession's shadow-lurking Steely Man as he finally crosses the line from isolated voyeur to willing participant now drowning in the roiling undertow, silver bowl in hand, of the white-tipped wave cresting somewhere near Malibu's exclusively decadent 'Colony.' Though now, the Chrysler has become a Jaguar XJC and he's cruising west, descending from Pacific Palisades on Sunset and emerging like a suntanned god on PCH near Gladstone's, the wind in his hair, Anne stradling the shifter to seductively bite his earlobe, Sonny Rollins testifying, heading north toward Point Nowhere and the last vestiges of Hooterie. The price exacted by the fates from continually tempting the sirens of pain/pleasure is indeed heavy. ~ (GB, 7/11/00): remember, 'swinging so hard'="living hard will take its toll' Hank Silvers (GB, 7/14/00): "again show me a dan song that you can tear apart and say that's Don and that's Walt" Not entirely, no. . .that's a mighty tall order. But I figure that the same man who came up with "the laws of curved space/time / susponed without warning" was also responsible for "Till the axis of pain/pleasure sheared the arc of desire." Also "Bang-zoom to the moon on things unknown" and its Honeymooners allusion was IMHO as much a WB line as "The Green Acres of my good intentions / and the Twilight Zone of zero self control." Not My Nancy (GB, 11/25/00): 59 Down in the Friday Boston Globe crossword puzzle Three letters "West of Hollywood" Answer: Mae How 'bout them apples, lit crit Dan Fans? South of Muswellbrook (pronounced Muscle-brook, BTW) (10/19/03): There are some interesting interpretations of WOH on the feverdreams site. Some have it that the chap is in therapy, others that the girl gives him AIDS. But is there is anything in the lyrics to clinch it one way or the other? And why in heaven's name is the girl named Anne de Siecle? End of the century and decadence are interesting interpretations but why chose that particular name? It must all tie

together somehow. I think you need to look at three key phrases: Anne de Siecle, arc of desire, and tyranny of the disallowed. These all appear in prominent positions at the end of lines, one in the first half of each verse. Nice symmetry. Try writing them like this: Anne De SIecle, Arc of DeSIre, tyranny of the DISAllowed. Looks pretty clear what D&W are saying or have I been doing too many cryptic crosswords? The girl was Anne de Siecle (the girl was AIDS whist he WAS Kid Clean). Together they are enduring the tyranny of the disallowed (the tyranny of AIDS). I can't quite work out how the axis of pain/pleasure relates to HIV/AIDS but I'm sure it does too. Remember, their path leads from here and now to hell and gone. AIDS is their hell and gone, their gnarly downside, their rainy season. For me the key image in the song is in the bridge: "She reached out for my hand / while I watched myself lurch across the room / and I almost got there". He's just seen Dr Kruger and got the bad news, she reaches out to him and he tries to go to her but collapses in grief. I doubt you'll find any prominent phrases containing "A", "I", "D" and "S" is any of the other songs on the album. One per verse in WOH does not seem to be mere coincidence. The SD world doesn't work like that. Someone must have figured this lot out already. Maybe that's what Bob Mc was one about, GB 3/8/00: "WoH is about a man an a hooker..... Dr Warren Kruger I am sure informs the man he has aids.... read the words." Dammit I wish this spell checker would stop changing WOH into WHO.

Whoa! This is some bodacious fever dreaming! Don't forget "gnArly downSIDe." The pain-pleasure axis is an area deep in the human brain that includes the hypothalamus and the septal area--the limbic system. Sound familiar? As in "reptile brain"? Remember that many themes/ phrases seem to show up twice in Steely albums. So in this axis, and especially in the hypothalamus, is where our deepest abilities to feel pain, pleasure, hunger, satiety, lust, etc. reside. I'm more of an amygdala person. And actually, the amygdala may be where the arc of desire shears that axis. Caution comes from the amygdala; unprotected sex comes from the axis of painpleasure. Maybe there's your HIV connection--especially since the joys of the summer in WOH seem to end with the intersection of the two. To get a little less physiologic, maybe where "the axis of pain/pleasure shears the arc of desire" is that crucial balance point of sexual risk. Desire's trajectory is at some point (different for each person)intersected by an axis that has on one side pleasure, desire + pleasure being a good thing, and on the other pain, because desire can also cause pain, or accompany pain. Which is often but not always a bad thing. I would think contracting HIV would be on the latter end of the axis. And perhaps sadomasochism is an area of indeterminacy, like the uncertainty principle, around that balance point--where desire is for pain, where pleasure is pain. I think "a weekend of bliss/ then the rainy season" subtly underscores your interp. At any rate, I think this phrase is about appetite, transcendence, and consequences. Yoga and Buddhism seek to transcend desire and thus abolish pain--and pleasure--to achieve awakening, to obviate this geometry. There are actually several geometric images in the song which punch up the sense of relationship and loss--the horizon line, which looks flat, but hides a curve you lose things behind; the frozen core of the globes; the crest of the wave; the chain of sorrows stretching to infinity. They give the narrator some emotional distance. I also keep seeing the map graphics on "Kamakiriad." And don't forget "the Rebus affair": a rebus is a puzzle in which you decode images to get words or phrases--just as in this song, except we hear the images. SOM has done some major decoding, for sure. Now if we're really going to deconstruct, "axis" may also refer to the system of delineating mental illness in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, the shrink's how-to). Axis I is your mood disorder (e.g., depression, bipolar disorder). Axis II is your personality disorder (and, again, I am an advocate of Steely Dan lyrics' being a surprisingly complete and accurate compendium of Axis II disorders--see "Don't Let Me In" and "Second Arrangement" in particular.) (For completeness, Axis III refers to medical disorders, Axis IV to psychosocial/environmental stressors , and Axis V to overall level of function.)

"EVERYTHING MUST GO"

Introductory Notes
Walter Becker (Steely Dan Confessions): "It's a goddamn party record.... The lyrics are sparkling and bright and scintillating, even the grim, depressing ones--of which lord knows there's plenty." Donald Fagen (Steely Dan Confessions): "It's really not my place to analyze this music.... We have other people doing it." Incidentally, Maria the snake woman is quite talented. Catch her at http://www.venommagic.com/ John L. Walters (The Guardian, 6/5/03. See the whole interview here): Do they ever choose a word merely because it sounds good? Fagen: "We would never do a thing like that." Becker: "There's a songwriting guild that we're members of, and we promise, among other things, not to do that. We're only allowed to write three songs a year using a girl's name." Fagen: "But there are ways of getting around that." Becker: "Yeah, right. Pixeleen, who knows what that is?" And: "Y'know, Freud said that pop songwriting is the royal road to the unconscious," says Becker. "But he also said that the unconscious always says yes, so that doesn't leave you many options," replies Fagen, quick as a flash. William Gibson (from his blog at williamgibsonbooks.com, 6/16/03): That thread about my chapter titles, a while back? It should be evident to all that it was Steely Dan taught me the art of titling, as witness this fine batch from their new one: 1. The Last Mall 2. Things I Miss The Most 3. Blues Beach 4. Godwhacker 5. Slang of Ages 6. Green Book 7. Pixeleen 8. Lunch With Gina 9. Everything Must Go Of which, on as yet a single listening, I'm most taken with "Godwhacker", a little deicide ditty with lots of that carbonated guitar they do so well. "Pixeleen" seems to be a Walter Mitty routine about a girl with possibly Molly-like anime-heroine fantasies, ever brought down by the quotidian. Dr. Mu (GB, 5/29/03): This was based on the cover shortly after a picture was discovered on the 'net: We hadn't heard a note yet. But the themes expressed on The Last Mall, Things I Miss the Most, Blues Beach ('Medicine Park"), GodWhacker, the title track are consistent with the vibes I picked up in my pre-sculpted gray matter... "Everything Must Go: Cover or Cover UP? Gazing at the cover now on my eMac in Qucktime double size. Here's my take which may or may not represent even a smidgeon of what Donald & Walter have in mind.

I think the cover and album represent the New Paradigm. Most folks in the formerly increasing Dilbertian fantasy land that represented the mid to late 90s through 2000 had the notion that the new millenium began in 2000. Those who know the Gregorian calendar and Stanley Kubrick understood that the Gregorian calendar began with the year 1 AD, not 0...therefore, 2001 was the first year of the new millenium... ...and in that year, coincidentally or not, the World and the mathematics of profit and the disengenuous of greed and the faux New Economy model caught up with us, and how...laying waste to structure and dreams that were in the end just a house of cards dispersed as easily as a whisper in a digital dream...However, the human and material wreckage were grim and Real... Twisted metal, dust echoes of concrete and humanity chased us down the street and into a New Age, as different as each new age in Tolkien's Middle Earth...and the World again appeared as it indeed is: a tough, but frightengly beautiful place where the wolf is always at the door... Everything that was new is gone, and that which was old is new again...for better of worse... Also, a fractal of new paradigm is crystallized by the "new" back to basic approach that Steely Dan 2 used in molding EMG...In other words: Everything Must Go! digital drum machines Wendel Pro-Tools studio musicians playing to "clicks" over and over and over dubbing revolving plans hot licks and rhetoric They ALL MUST GO!!!! ...and in the musical universe, the Kenny G's, Yanni's, and Britney Spears' of the planet All Must Go! So we thus see a return in a sense to the recording paradigm and purpose of Katy Lied in the Dandom annals, where they first entered as a full-fledged non-Steely band, but took a core of musicians in (Becker, Fagen, Omartian, McDonald, Porcaro, Parks, Felder, Dias, and Randall) into the studio with the same strategy as the Miiles Davis albums of the 50s... ...In a large sense, the album represents not only a way of dealing with the New Paradigm, but the fallout of 9/11. After all, D&W had just begun early recording EMG at that time...following the 9/11 tragedy, they tried to go on, but the horror and ghosts, dust, and stench of death forced a retreat back to Hawaii within a few short weeks by October, 2001. What followed were recordings that dealt with, at least psychologically the collapse of the old paradigm...and as it fell corruption at Enron, Worldcom, Global Crossing were exposed, the flow of capital at the pork barrel trough shut off while both Republicans and Democrats still continued to lap it up... Whether it was at this time, D&W decided to return to analog or later I do not know, but I wonder if Things I Miss the Most is more a reflection of the New New Thing that is gone gone gone rather than an old lover...a reexpose of corruption at the nexus of the human heart. In 1999, Randy Newman wryly and ironically living the New Economy in his song "The World Isn't Fair" about Karl Marx revisiting Randy N. to find his plan in shambles; "...If Marx were living today He'd be rolling around in his grave And if I had him here in my mansion on the hill I'd tell him a story that t'would give his old heart a chill It's something that happened to me I'd say Karl I recently stumbled Into a new family

With two little childrend in school Where all little children should be I went to the orientation All the young mommies were there Karl, you've never seen such a glorious sight As these beautiful women arrayed for the night Just like countesses, empresses, moive stars and queens And they'd come here with men just like me Froggish men, unpleasant to see Were you to kiss one Karl Nary a prince would there be Oh Karl the world isn't fair It isn't and never will be They tried out your plan It brought misery instead If you'd seen how they worked it You'd be glad you were dead Just like I'm glad that I'm living in the land of the free Where the rich just get richer And the poor your don't ever have to see 'It would depress us Karl' Because we care That the world isn't fair" Case in point: while at a conference I see the potential of human scientific and engineering endeavor, a new billion dollar monument to the idols of professional ball, and those practicing free speech against a war that is sorta over, de poor people sleeping without de shade or de light!...nary a panhandler or criminal as on the streets of Baltimore, but the physically handicapped, the mentally challenged and mentally ill...strewn blocks from restorations and fancy hotels...I gave what few piasters I could in these overbudgeted times...while watching women in cell phones shrieking at the tattered walking slowly but too closely like they're barely Alive in America... So I think of this EMG in anticipation as a reverse Kamakiriad, a clever look at the immediate future and its ramifications told through the unique prism of the Steely subconscious...the warts and despair of America exposed...The inherent evil and folly, once glossed over in a corporate world and post-yuppie Clintonian fantasy enabling reared again, like the nightmarish skyscraper on the cover of the Royal Scam... the themes of Show Biz Kids, Charlie Freak, Any World, etc. revisited now told from their unique perspective of the new Paradigm time, age, and point of view...a thinking man's "The Rising"...as usual with Steely Dan, I expect more from the process and the pictures dealing with "what is left" painted than pedestrian sledgehammer themes... ...to the cover: a shroud or wall of doom surround the mostly back and white photo where only gold/precious stone in color...is the man, decendent of fallen kings wiping a tear with his left hand, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion or in acceptance of his fate? The precious rings and stones in a suitcase is kind of a metaphor for the once powerful Ken Lay no longer using their suitcases for transport of important papers (like plans to count foreign plant aquisitions and employees' stock options and 401ks as "profit." ...But in the end, and I have a feeling especially from the reviews that the album also addresses the opportunity of a new beginning, to set things right...despite despair, some teahouse on the tracks may be wating for us after all... ...to no longer live in a place where, to borrow from Randy Newman again, "of all of the people that I used to know

Most never adjusted to the great big world I see them lurking in book stores working for the public radio carrying their babies in a sack on their back moving careful and slow... ...all of these people are much brighter than I In any fair system they would flourish and thrive But they barely survive They eke out a living and they barely survive" Or NOT" DACW (GB, 6/10/03): ... Cole Porter on Deludin... steviedan (GB, 6/10/03): WOW lunch with steely dan is forever oleander (GB, 6/11/03): The album cover--the watches listing the song numbers are great. And the last one, within the jewel case at the back--5 o'clock, quitting time. Pix on the back: just the axe, ma'am. And inside an actual picture of themselves--but weird--looks like 2 different photos fused. Danorak (GB, 6/13/03): TLM - Capitalist House of Cards crashes to the sound of insistent altered blues. A recurrent Steely theme carried of with usual aplomb. Pixeleen -Gibsonesque cyber uber-babe. Filmic, breezy, vocally fascinating. Lunch With Gina - Monkey on back, chip on shoulder - a lateral song - probably a classic. Godwhacker - Object lesson in groovometry. Placement of the beat, placement of the meat. Angry, subversive lyric - Can't get my fill of this one. BB - Fromage - a mature Brie. Perfect with a crisp Chardonnay. time zone guru (GB, 6/14/03): Well, what can I say... I want to thank W & D for placing those various time pieces all over the new one... and they were even kind enough to set them for almost every concievable time zone! Of course, knowing our heroes' penchant for triple and quadruple entendre, they could represent Groovetime, cryin' time, stompin' time, gospel time, your two timer, the time of our tiime, stowing away the time, closing time at the Guernsey Fair, our little wild time, better times, another lifetime, the misty nightime, time to burn, hard times befallen, time out of mind, a glorious time, Springtime, Nervous Time, lantern time, shredding time, space and time, time that remains, sometime, or even party time. Oh, before I forget... the moving sidewalks are almost perfected... and I have the bruises to prove it. I definitely recommend you take off your cape before trying one. The jet packs are going to take a little longer than I'd hoped due to a little testing mishap involving some high tension power lines. We'll finish testing those suckers as soon as we get a new test pilot... Razor Boy (GB, 6/14/03): After almost 30 years of listening to SD, they continue to be an enigma. Corny as it sounds, they are ultra cool. They may be the two biggest milktoasts around, but they throw out their commentary on all that is around us, and weave it with the richest music I've ever heard. It's like, "if the words don't get you,the music will; or vice versa.

Javier (6/15/03): It would be the new Gaucho, in my opinion. But listening carefully and reading the lyrics, I can see it's like a compendium of everything Becker and Fagen did since the last MCA Records release. Divided in nine songs, just as 2vN and TRS, includes reminiscings of "Green Flower Street" (Godwhacker), "Big Noise, New York" (Everything Must Go) and the Becker solo album is remembered in "Slang of Ages". Definetly this is a new step on the Dan's career. I hope they still keep releasing albums; but judging from the title, I don't know this is going to happen. It's been 22 years since Fagen and Becker broke up with MCA (now Universal Music), I really hope Warner Brothers release a collection of B-sides and rarities. It would be as fresh and fun as this record. Jimbo (GB, 6/16/03): THE LAST MALL- Th e last day of shopping before the big one obliterates us all.... THINGS I MISS THE MOST- Brooding about the end of a relationship or living in the 9/11 world. Lyrics are very reflective.... BLUES BEACH- A happy,jazzy sounding tune about the going on vacation before the end of the world. Fagen sounds sinister and that's good. GODWHACKER- Funkiest track on the CD. Some say it's about assassinating God, but I really think it's about killing someone who acts like they're God. Examples of people who think they're God- George Jr., Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Bill Gates, anyone from Clear Channel.... SLANG OF AGES-A historical first. Becker takes center stage. GREEN BOOK- Jill St. John should be sent a copy of this Cd. More of the sinister, yet sneaky side of Becker and Fagen. PIXELEEN- Virtual Sex with a Virtual woman. Clever. LUNCH WITH GINA- A female stalker who turns off and on the protagonist. Not bad. Another highlight. EVERYTHING MUST GO- A sequel to The Last Mall? Possibly. Or it's about losing our freedom to compete in a screwed up economy. Sociable Hermit (GB, 6/16/03): Everything Must Go. The title of the album. Also, the one inevitablity, the one actual fact of life. Everything Must Go. There is no forever. For either people or things. We're not talking about a liquidation sale, we're talking about life. And... please bear with me, this is why I feel that this album is themeatically about September 11th. The Last Mall. I believe this is actually the World Trade Center, and the "announcement" is made just after the first plane struck. "You'll need tools for survial and medicine for the blues." You need to calm down, don't panic, use your head, and we can get out of this. But, inevitably, it's time to do your shopping, the final inventory of your life. You know you're going to die, and the next morning will be a gospel morning, either when you reach Heaven, or when youo are prayed for at Church, so what do you do? You make one final human connection ~ kiss the check out girl, the last person you see after shopping, then ride the ramp to the freeway of the blood orange sky. The color of the building on fire. The Things I Miss The Most The list of things missed is too varied for this to be the lamentaions of only one person. I see this as a group of dead souls, sitting around in the after life, all sharing with each other what they miss the most. Blues Beach This is a song about a guy who skipped work and went to the beach. No big deal, unless you consider that this man works in Tower Number One, and the day he played hooky was 9/11. Maybe he was having an affair with this woman, and spent the day with her at the sea, while his wife or girlfriend died in the attack. Now this beach isn't so much fun anymore, and never will be since it will always remind him of this day. I'm getting this from the chorus that says he's sizzling in the mercifal rays, like he was granted an escape from death by a god that is shining down on him, and the long sad Sunday of the early resigned is a group of people praying to be saved, but the narrator knows that those prayers will never be answered. Godwhacker I think this is about bin-Laden, how we were once "friends", (him with previous administrations), but now we're trying to capture him. "In the beginning we could hang with the dude...Now they curse your name and there's a bounty on your face." If bin-Laden played God by killing all of those people, then those trying to kill him consider themselves Godwhackers. Slang Of Ages I'm not entirely sure how this fits in with the rest of my theory, (give me time), but can I ask this? When did Walter start sounding like Lou Reed? Listen to him sing the line, "Now, did you say you were from the

Netherlands, or was it that Netherworld". Anyway, (and this is a stretch), but Lou's from New York, so maybe it's an in joke, or another clue. At first, I thought this was a guy standing at Ground Zero talking to woman who is visiting. Then I wondered if it was a ghost talking to another ghost, since she seems to not only skip a dimension, but she opened his head. "Are you all part of my dreaming, or the end of my life so far". Could be that the narrator is hallucinating in the moment before death. Green Book I believe this is Limbo, or some level of the afterlife. Perhaps the Green Book is THE book that catalogues all that we did when alive, and all you have to do is look in the book, and you'll know where your stop is. Pixileen I believe this is a satire of the way our war coverage was handled and presented to us. It seemed disassocaited from real life ~ more like a video game. And since most of the player, (soldiers) were only kids themselves, why not have one of the women in combat be a sexy warrior? Lunch With Gina I was wondering if this was Hell. He's known Gina for sometime, and things just aren't working out. Maybe they really went to lunch at the Tower and died, but instead of Heaven, he's in Hell, and his hell is an eternal lunch with Gina. Everything Must Go The opening reminds me of the opening of John Coltrane's, "A Love Supreme". In fact, I found myself inadvertently singing those four syllables while the intro was playing. Now, if this was intentional, it could be another little in joke. A Love Supreme was supposed to be a song to God. Maybe that's what this is supposed to convey. As I said before, this is it. This is the final moment, and everyone is trying to make the best of that small amount of time they have left. They suggest drinking margaritas, lighting up all their Lucky's, and even a quick fling with the secretary, (no one's ever going to know). Hell, I don't even mind if that little freak Dave in Acquisitions videotapes it. Anyway...I know it might be a stretch on a few levels, but the thought hit me, so I figured I'd play it out and see what I could make of it. If any of this is close to being right, we have yet another record of light bouncy music accompanied by dark morose lyrical content. Audi TT (GB, 6/16/03): Herm, the songs operate on so many different levels and I do think 9/11 figures into some (all) of them in some either direct or oblique way. TIMTM could be the lament of somebody that lost both their "adorable ghost" and their fortune in the attacks. There is really no reason explictly stated in the song. Perhaps the Dan are imagining a "King of the World" style economic apocalypse. It really wouldn't take much more than the WTC attack to cause it. Another little gem in "The Last Mall", the phrase the "Big Adios". Adios literally means "with God". Toby (GB, 6/16/03): NO, NO! A THOUSAND TIMES NOOOOOOOOOO! IT ISN'T !!!!!! Walter specifically and VERY CLEARLY says in the "One Hour Sale" interview that 9/11 happened AFTER they had written the material, and that the new one is NOT about 9/11. Just Katy (GB, 6/17/03): The biggest unresolved questions is history may well be: 1. Is Jesus really God's son? 2. Who killed JFK? 3. Did George Bush really win the election? 4. Was EMG about 9/11 or not, a thousand times not? My own two cents: If they did write the lyrics before 9/11, then perhaps EMG is nevertheless influenced by the realization that 'the way we're doing things in the world these days (politically, economically, spiritually) really isn't working' and 'everything must go' if we are to create something lasting and truly meaningful in the world. Hence, The Last Mall, -- shopping as we know it will continue to change drastically. By the end of the song, the last note is missing because the end of the mall came even before we thought it would, abruptly, while we weren't paying attention. We didn't get to plan its demise in time to have the best workable alternative in place -- we waited too long. Maybe that's what it's all about -- the need to pay attention, to learn from the past, to see the calamities that come because we go on blindly, hoping for the best, unaware on some level that the good times we carve out in life aren't going to take care of the big picture, where even those who set themselves up as spiritual leaders are not able to lead us, and need to be 'Godwhacked themselves' by their own kind.

Peter Q (Blue Book, 6/18/03): ...too, the use of historical personages as narrators (Christopher Columbus in Night by Night, Ulysses in Home At Last) is actually somewhat less effective than that of "lifelike", but not real, people from the news of the day (Columbine types narrate Don't Take Me Alive and Third World Man) although the appearance of the hiply intellectual loser (Caves of Altamira, What A Shame About Me, Things I Miss The Most) is now starting to border on self-parody, like Weird Al Yankovic does Steely Dan. Many of the lyrics seem to be based on the novelist Paul Auster's comment that "the reader writes the work as much as the author does." DACW (Blue Book, 6/18/03): Fred(dy) at Slate.com gets it. I believe it is first time "recombinant" had been used in reference to the stylings of a pop band...Recombinant animals (usually mice) have a gene removed ("knockout"), or added ("overexpressed"), or mutated to test the function of genes and proteins in disease and normal cell function and physiology.... anyway....recombinant works in the review and pertains to SD music as it is is reflects the twisted and incomplete information contained in Steely Dan songs while evoking powerful imagery in the imagination... Peter Q (Blue Book, 6/18/03): ..unless it's the endless references to automobiles as safe havens from the chaos of the big bad world in Dan lyrics - the Kamakiri, the Audi TT, the beloved white Aries, I drove the Chrysler, is there gas in the car?, midnite cruiser, you in your Lark you're a mark, daddy don't drive in the El Dorado no more, - and those are just the ones I can recall off the top of my head. In proxemics we were told that there are 3 places where people feel most comfortable - home, job and car. The systems-thread of Dan characters who feel most at ease in their cars is a little bit of insight into the Dan world-view. Dev (Digest, 6/19/03): Now the gold letters on the front cover anagram out to "shoe style." This raises the eternal question "where did you get those shoes?" William Wright (6/20/03): It was only after coming across your site a couple years ago that I began to really get into Steely Dan lyrics and the interpretations thereof. I began to realize that their lyrics are a) indeed creepily clever and b) indicative of a larger story in our society, i.e., the seamy, searing underbelly of a subtly dangerous world. Today, I found out by accident that a new SD album had been released and picked it up right on the spot. Took it out to my car, read some lyrics, and knew right away what the album was saying (well, "knew" as much as anyone can know about any poetic/lyrical endeavors). Let me start by saying that before I even listened to the album, I read some online reviews, most of which were critical that SD put out another album in a span of three years. "Why the rush?", they all asked. "Don't they care about the quality of the album?" Of course they do. But the message of this album is one of URGENCY, hence the shorter time interval between these last two studio efforts. I'll get to the message after a few other observations about the album packaging. The cover: the guy on the album is obviously a salesman, one of which you've seen the like if you've ever been to any major metro area. But look at him; something doesn't look right. Is he crying? Is his head in his hand in despair? Maybe because he realized that selling fake Rolexes is no kind of life. Or maybe he realized that 'everything must go' because soon everything's going to be gone. Hence, a breakdown on the street (or at the office, so to speak). Next, you open the case, take out the CD, and there's a big clock saying 5:00. I'm assuming it's 5:00 P.M. and we working slobs all know what that means, right? Time to call it a day, stick a fork in it, IT'S DONE. Finally, you have a huge picture of Becker and Fagen. Huge. Which wouldn't be noteworthy were it not for the fact that the only other time they've shown themseleves on a studio album were the two little snapshots on AJA. And look at the picture. The message of the album is one of URGENCY, and looking at the photo of these two, they seem to be saying, "Assholes. We've been trying to tell you all along. You never figured it out from us or from anyone else (anyone else being Orwell, Huxley, Bradbury, Bob Dylan, etc.) and now look where we are." And where are we? The end of the world. I've only listened to the album and read the lyrics a few times today, but I think this is what the album is saying.

The jihad proclaimed by W's administration has come to fruition and this is what it may be like when all is said and done. It's not unlike KAMAKIRIAD in that it's a tale of an impending journey, an escape from loneliness. But where KAMAKIRIAD has a message of hope at the end, this one has a bittersweet nostalgia. "It was fun while it lasted, but now it's time to call it a day, stick a fork in it, IT'S DONE. 'The Last Mall'--people lining up, rioting even, to get supplies for CODE RED. The fingers are on the buttons. Get in to your shelters, kids, or ride out of town into the blood orange sky before the electromagnetic pulse puts your engines out of commission. 'Things I Miss The Most'--About a failed relationship? Or maybe about the things the narrator misses since humanity is not around as much as it used to be. After the final war, there are no more funky attitudes or fights from anyone: lovers, neighbors, politicans, soldiers, world leaders. 'Blues Beach'--narrrator hits rock bottom and ventures out from his shelter (or whatever) and finds manic transportation out of town for everyone but him. Still manages to hitch a ride out with 'friends' and cryptic warnings abound (Things may get a whole lot worse before suddenly falling apart). 'GodWhacker'--I don't know who the dude is. Bush, Sr.? Bush, Jr.? Osama? Sadaam Hussein? But this song has to be about the Bush family and their active and conscious effort to destroy the entire planet. As long as they're doing it for God, it has to be okay. And the initials GW? Of course this song is about Bush. I haven't figured out how the next few songs fit into my theory. But maybe after a few days I'll come up with something. 'Everything Must Go'--Who are 'the bastards that beat us'? One guess: whoever it is that sings "Change of the Guard" on CBAT. The lyrical interp that I read on this site for that song is one of the most unsettling I ever read. But it makes sense. Maybe this is one of the messages SD has tried to pass on to people trying to live in this world: the right wing is not looking out for the little guy, unless it's to use him as a stepping stone. But people chose not to listen, let others do their thinking for them (whyt else would we need politicians?), and everyone missed it. The change of the guard happened and no one noticed. So now do you see why Becker and Fagen look so pissed off in the picture on this new album? CHI RIVAL (GB, 6/24/03): Alright, Down to business.... The last Mall. D& W always make you smile with their dark under tones. This song reminds me of a story i read by Stephen King, called You know they got a hell of a band. 2 lost travelers stumble on a town full of dead rock n roll stars. The things I miss the most. seems to pickup on our boy Kid Clean years later when his next stop is the last mall.Could also be an aging belly up star. Blues beach. Another knock at the aging hipster, tring to hangout with the young folks. Hes got the blues because he's too old and out of place. Godwhacker. This song is so tight. I've got 2 spins on this one. Sometimes when stars make it big, they forget where they came from, forget all the little people. I always joke with my friends about new artists, that blowup, then they fall off. we as the fans are the godwhackers, because if You dont remain consistant in your craft. You better step back son, give the man some Whackin space. 2) I looked at the way they spelled Poppie. In spanish its spelled, Papi, meaning daddy. Poppie isnt that an old school drug? here comes the drug song analogy. Slinky redfoot, and the angel girls might be his friends doing an intervention. whacking that almighty God. Addiction. That Clavinet solo followed by the guitar, reminds me of Home at last. Slang of ages. I must admit I sort of cringe when I think of Walt on lead vocals. I wanna hide when I hear Book of liars. However theres a place for walt as a spoken word poet. Also he is a helluva Bass player.I have often times heard D& W talk about their jazz influences. I bet sometime they wish they could go back in time a groove with all of their idols. Green Book. Damn Don's voice sounds as good as ever. This is one of those songs that showcases the smooth structure of Fagen and Becker. Try driving on a warm summer night with this disk playing. This is what good music is all about. In a world of American Idols, pop sensations, and sampling, its good to see 2 old pros doing it the old fashioned way. Pixieleen. Older guy caught up in a silly teenage world. But damn, dont those old dudes go thru a lot of unnecessary foolishness dealing with these over developed young girls. Everything has its price. Once again Walts bassline is off the hook. Lunch with Gina. N0BODY tells a story in a song like Steely Dan! I peel out like the flash! LMAO. This stalking woman is so persistant, in the end he seems to say forget it I might as well just accept her. Sadly enough its almost like battered womens syndrome. Cant you see Don running from another one of his Negative girls. It

started on the day I met her! Anyone who ever met someone through a dating service is feeling his pain Lmao. The waiter never comes, maybe later maybe never, Stalker Hell people. Everything Must Go. In light of the folding of all of the Large Corporations, as of late, I love the way that they remain arrogant till the end. Becker and Fagen love to poke fun at these holier than thou types. You know that those high powered clowns, left with all types of perks and golden parachutes. I think Red Blazer from Janie Runaway was in the service elevator with an unnamed secretary and Dave from aquisitions. Service was apt word in that elevator. Becker and Fagen are the sultans of Sarcasm. Well thats my 2 cents.(more like 200 cents) Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 6/25/03): [Commenting on a review of EMG by Glenn Kenny in Village Voice, 6/257/1/03] ...He writes something I wish I had, "Both teams are masters of the sort of songwriting irony many of us used to enjoy before irony got confused with sarcasm and was subsequently pronounced decadent if not dead." he'so right, huge numbers of folks just don't get irony, it's too subtle (when done well) most times for their tiny receptors, it's off their scales and reads to them, if at all, as sarcasm which I always felt was a comment intended to hurt someone. Most times, when we fight with people the interplay devolves, unfortunately, into sarcasm. That's when we've ceased to argue facts and feelings and just start trying to hurt the other person. Our boys' lyrical landscape tells abstract stories peppered with comments by various narrators and active characters who say and do things that reveal to us their inconsistencies, their fears, their weak-mindedness, the dreary architecture of their souls, to borrow a phrase. And it makes you think, man, I don't wanna be a schmuck like, oh, the guy in Things I Miss the Most, Cousin Dupree, EMG, What a Shame About Me, on and on back through the catalogue of Dan. That's irony in there. Lance (Digest, 6/25/03): As WB says on the Confessions DVD, EMG is about "renewal" and getting rid of the old. This is a lot different from the standard "this too shall pass" concept (which is more passive) and it beautifully captures so much about the current condition of things in America. I'd love to be a research analyst at the EMG Foundation. :) This is a well-timed concept (a zeitgeist if you will) that is much needed in these troubled times. I love the commercial metaphor of "pushing inventory" as a means of thinking about renewal. Personally I'd like to see a lot of things "go" but I guess if I follow the logic through, my agenda should rightfully go too -something I'd be perfectly willing to give up if the EMG Contract for America were passed into law. :) Thanks, guys, for an inventive idea that gives us an alternative to "fearful reaction".\ angel (GB, 6/26/03): Random musings on some of the words on Everything Must Go. Throb - In Pixeleen her pager starts to throb. Not vibrate, as one would expect, but throb. Like a headache, or something else....? Frankly - In EMG the narrator says frankly I could use a little face time. It reminds me of that line in Gone With the Wind, Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. It is also a feeling that (not only) I get about the album, as a whole. Donald and Walter definitely laying it all out there. The Sex - (Mentioned in other posts, but worth noting again) They are much more open and up front with some of their comments. Let it all hang out, seems to be their theme, this time and frankly ;-) I like it. Girlie Magazine - First time I remember them mentioning this. Still think it might be that nod to Mr. Heff. Big Dog - I don't know how far their reach is, but Big Dog is a company that sells shirts and such. They are based in Santa Barbara. Another Dean and Deluca, it looks like. Almighty Ass - Tempting the deity with a curse word? Ooooh Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 6/26/03): I think the use of all the overwarmed and passe slang in the mouths of the narrators and active charcters these last two albums is hilarious. Especially in the mouths of - how shall we put it - older, mature, might as well say it, middle-aged people. Just keeping it real, or whatever. They were NOT this funny in the 70s. Donald voice delivers just the right comic touch. They both love to pretend to be these schlomos, losers, miscreants. It's also their schtik on almost every interview and probably even when they're just hangin' out. You know how sometimes friends develop this lexicon or even play on alter-egos? It's an adolescent thing and some of us carry it on through to our adult years. That's if we're lucky, most of the time we just become deadly serious and boring and just not any fun at all.

John Galt (Blue Book, 6/27/03): Ok. The title track is the best track on the album, IMO. That being said, D and W are narrators of what they see around them and then they throw in a little fiction/sci-fi and voila...you have an interesting story complemented with delightful music. There might be hidden meanings but why rack your brains to try to delve deep into their psyche to figure it out. Take the meaning you get out of it and run with it. i.e Cuervo Gold and the Fine Columbian = getting fucked up. Hutch (GB, 6/28/03): Thinking recently about the way Donald pronounces words. Not only "roll your caht right up the aisle" but things like "a-dah-rable ghost" in TIMTM. Mike McDonald mentioned in Making of Aja how particular they are about saying words a certain way. It's all part of creating an aural landscape that we just love to explore. I remember a thread in here a couple of years ago about the idea of "vocalist as actor". Does the vocalist become an actor in the sense that he assumes the persona of the narrator? Seems to me the answer is yes and Mr. Fagen does quite a good job of it in my opinion. Sometimes it's just the way one word is said. wormtom (GB, 7/1/03): the sequencing of the tunes is very engaging do I sense a loosely fit common thread - then again these numbers stand well on their own the world is going to hell in a hand basket and meanwhile there is 1)tlm - non-chalance 2)timim - remorse and longing 3)bb - escape 4)gw -self inflicted vengence 5)soa diversions (drug induced or otherwise) 6)-8) cyber reality ((6)gb - virtual physical 7)p - gamecube fem fatale 8)lwg - match.com run amuck) 9)emg - corporate implosion DACW (GB, 7/1/03): TLM: Shopping before the dropping TIMTM: Kennedy family in Fallout Shelter BB: On the Dunes Post-Apocalypse GW: Wascally Wabbit SoA: rap flap GB: Inflatables with OverByte Pix: The digital Pee Wee Herman LWG: answer to Gollum's riddle EMG: Perks I'll miss the most Roy.Scam (GB, 7/6/03): Twenty-three years of maturity: Gaucho: Man approaching mid-life crisis Everything Must Go: Man approaching post-life crisis. Johnny Jumbo (Blue Book, 8/8/03): Anybody else noticed the dark joke, of EVERYTHING MUST GO being the cynical, material-world underbelly of George Harrison's ALL THINGS MUST PASS yet?? How muffed Spirituality has become a bargain-basement clearance war at Mall-Mart? How "My Sweet Lord" became "Godwhacker," "Apple Scruggs" is now "Pixeleen," "I Dig Love" morphed into "Green Room," etc.?? (Just wondering.) Yes (Blue Book, 9/5/03): Now about Steely Dan... Just trying to keep up to speed here. Now that "Time-Beings" combo on the ODP picture page, that's Heidegger. Donald's "the media is a mere organ of the State", that's marxist theory. Add that to Godwhacker and what do you have? You get references to most major figures in modern german philosophy. So reading EMG here and there, keeping in mind some of the Freud-inspired talk in the Plush video and you get a certain philosophical profile made up of Budhism (meditation, Rajah), psychoanalysis and German philosophy. Bottom line: they were students in the 60s and carried on. Well, that is content, a rare thing nowadays.

Slint (9/21/03): ... been listening alot to this album, EMG, nobody seems to see that this work is actually a depressing look at the the demise of capatilism and the US ... worse than living in a bomb shelter ... looking at useless dollar bills ...Everything Must Go has a HUGE contrast compared to 2 AgainstNature, which in my humble opinion, was and still is and always will be a perfectly concocted studio effort that was waay waay out there ... music candy to be rivaled .... EMG is a mixture of pure adult themes that make you dance, think, look in the mirror. It's complex simplicity, meaning flawless work in the studio but, with looser/funkier difficult writing and looser notes on the board. I would THINK the former statement holds true. ... I'm totally pleased with EMG in every way .. perhaps in every Steely Dan way. We don't need detail here ... the vast majority of you know exactly what I mean.

"The Last Mall"

oleander (GB, 6/11/03): OK, so it's not about the Rapture. Or, maybe, but I'll buy simple apocalypse, with culturally dead Americans unable to think of anything to do with their last hours but shop. "Gospel morning"-when the trumpets sound. I already talked about how flippin' brilliant the blood orange image is. Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): I can hear the gospel undertones of "Confide In Me" but this is better. Somehow the end of civilization seems sadder now than it did thirty years ago when I first heard "King of the World". EMG--week one (GB, 6/17/03): ... funny thing is, if they had waited until after the song they could have gotten all that stuff free when the looting began... angel (Blue Book, 6/20/03): Donald mentioned that he and Walter take turns writing the lyrics. He said that his lyrics advance the plot and Walter's are (I don't remember what he said precisely, but they are Walter's). :-) I was listening to The Last Mall and this is what came to my mind. I have no idea if it is right, just an impression. Roll your cart back up the aisle (Donald)(plot advances) Kiss the checkout girls goodbye (Walter)(sounds like something Walter would say) Ride the ramp to the freeway (Donald) (plot advances) Beneath the blood orange sky (Walter) (Reminds me of "Wine Dark Sea", Walter) Clas (GB, 7/1/03): Before I read the lyrics I thought that "The Last Mall" was about one of those bands, coverbands or just, you know, small time musicians who's playing Malls and stuff. And now, burned out, they'd decided to bring the meaningless touring to an end (like the Band, see, everything goes around!) So what I heard Fagen sing was; Its the last call To do our shuffle At the last mall And while they were rolling their amps down the aisle, they kissed the checkout girls goodbye. javi-z: (8/9/03): al last thethey recognize that their music is broadcasted in the malls all over the country and ridiculize this fact makin a mall-song, one off this subliminar songs that induce you to buy like there is not another day

Slint (9/21/03): The lyrics to this song have obviously flown right over your heads. I wish you well in Gardening .. :) Bill (Blue Book, 12/5/03): ... just dug out a Horace Silver CD from 1997 that I hadn't heard in a while, at least not since EMG came out, and it struck me that the album's title, "A Prescription For The Blues" (with it's pharmaceutical-themed cover artwork) may have influenced a line in The Last Mall. Anaxagoras Frank (4/28/04): - I was just thinking of the sublime irony of this text, you know, the narrator/mall owner would probably make a lot of money on that Sweetheart Sunset Special - a lot of people would actually go shopping one last time, if they knew the world was going to end in a couple of hours. And whats even more hilarious: a lot of people would actually think of it as an excellent business opportunity.

"Things I Miss The Most"

wormtom (GB, 6/2.03): dan does Julie Andrews with a hint of remorse- "things I miss the most" when the dog bites, and the bee stings Gap Brandy (GB, 6/11/03): I detect something troubling: The hurried, almost after-thought delivery of, "The house on the Gulf Coast". Is this the new "Florida" of DF lore? Is he making fun of us? I say, "Yes". The Audi TT (GB, 6/11/03): One theme I find running through the album (aside from the cybersuite) is mortality and death. An interpretation I have of Things I Miss the Most is not that the narrator is divorced and bankrupt to the point of losing cookware, guitars and furniture, but that he's DEAD. In his afterlife, his spirit haunts his Gramercy Park apartment unable to interact with our world, barely able to perceive the living much like ghosts would be to us. He can't affect the living world's environment, he's got to "hunker down" to read the newspaper his adorable ghost has left by the couch. The "girlie" magazine is not girlie as in porn, but girlie as in something she would read and leave lying on the bed. He's learning to meditate (since that's all he can do) and he's (metaphorically) building the Andrea Doria out of balsa wood, passing time doing nothing. The birdie verse is literal, as in the old superstition that animals can see and empathize with ghosts. So he's resigned to an eternity of lonliness and absolute boredom doomed to remember the emotional and material Things I Miss the Most. Perhaps this is the Dan's version of hell for their more morally bankrupt characters, an eternity of suffering and longing for that which they can no longer have.... Where would you get "sad cuisine"? Why, at the Sad Cafe of course! Yet another Eagles reference, and a song which has a lot of religious imagery and loss and resignation themes itself, including this line: "I don't know why fortune smiles on some, and lets the rest go free". Passing Through (GB, 6/11/03): Audi TT: Interested to see your take on Things I Miss The Most. I had thought of the play "Our Town" after a few listens -- where the dead townspeople reminisce about what they miss about living. "The days really don't last forever But it's getting pretty damn close." Eternity? DACW (GB, 6/11/03): AudiTT: Excellent...apres the nookyular fallout of Blues Beach...rack 'em, Oleander...yes, they're laughing AT him, not with him as well as Dave in Acquisitions...I'll have my Reuben on Wry please... oleander (GB, 6/11/03): Hilarious song about a pretty clueless yuppie divorced guy. Wonderful lyrics: the pokerfaced chorus. You start to feel a little bad for him, and then "...the Audi TT." "My sad cuisine"--speaks volumes. "Adorable ghost." "And then ba-boom!" Mr. F's delivery is so deadpan. Best line: "I'm learning how to

meditate/So far so good." Yes, the Andrea Doria was a famous wrecked ocean liner a la Titanic, but more recent. It was a lavish Italian luxe liner, which fits superbly in the imagery of the song. In 1956 it made a wrong turn in the fog and another liner smashed into it amidships. Within 20 minutes it was clear the AD was going to go down. Most passengers were saved; about 50 died from the collision. So here's our hero, a guy floating aimlessly in the fog just waiting to get broadsided by something big, building (while he's falling apart) a pointless model of a doomed 50's luxury icon, out of balsa wood, which floats spectacularly but is quite brittle and extremely lightweight. Now is there ANYBODY else who could invest an apparent throwaway line with so many layers of meaning?... The song is chockablock with yuppie semiotics. Everyone probably knows what an Eames chair is--a modernist icon, now considered by jaded youth to be campy. The Eameses, Charles & Ray, were a brilliant design couple for whom furniture was only one creative outlet. Depending how much of a completist you are, Eames chairs are still available (as are copper pans). luckless pedestrian (GB, 6/11/03): audi tt - great take on "things I miss the most" kind of the sixth sense twist? like the slant you present - although walter asks one of his cab riders if 'she's ever been divorced" when addressing this song Howard (GB, 6/12/03): On "Things I Miss" I took the birdie lines at face value. Maybe I'm missing something, but "I had a little birdie friend, by morning she was gone, birdie good bye" more or less sums up the whole song, given the hints of sadness and darkness in the vocals and harmonies at the end of that bit. wormtom (GB, 6/12/03): I can understand the car and beach houses but what does the ex want with the 54 strat - sounds like pure spite Hutch (GB, 6/12/03): Wormy - A '54 Strat in good condition is probably worth about 20 Grand. That was the first year Fender made that model. wormtom (GB, 6/12/03): hutch - yes a 54 strat is big greenola so did he loose it to the ex wife in spite? or did he have to sell it in the post divorce downscaling??? not something I'd ever wish on anyone enimen (GB, 6/12/03): My first impression of EMG was that it was unflinchingly about death. We're beyond midlife crises here (Hey 19, What a Shame), we're deep into endgame with the guy in the black robe carrying the sickle. I didn't like Things I Miss too much for that reason--it seemed to be a more mundane break-up song. I liked an early poster's comment about the narrator being dead; although I didn't buy it, it was an attempt to tie in the theme. But this is no ordinary break-up. The narrator is facing the things he misses and is probably never going to have again. When she left, he was not about to jump back to the mate market. He's too old, or too withdrawn. The litany is a funny yuppie gift list, yes, but it's also reminiscent of all the things that go when you age. Death comes in stages. The Audi TT and the house on the Vineyard remind me of the list of things the old man loses at the end of the "All the World's a Stage" speech from "As You Like It." The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans* teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. Hank Silvers (GB, 6/12/03): Here's an early whack at it: In "Things I Miss the Most", the protagonist is alone in the aftermath of a failed romance, but he doesn't sound as though he's about to break down. Even though she cleaned him out, taking 2 houses and a car -- and, perhaps for spite, his prize guitar -- he doesn't sound particularly bitter or despondent. Instead, he dispassionately lists his former possessions as though he was itemizing the losses for an insurance claim. Perhaps he's just numb, or maybe it's a positive side effect of those meditation lessons. DACW (GB, 6/12/03): I can't believe this...as a child I vaguely remember, from a couple visits to the Empire State, that my mother's 2nd cousin's husband (are you still with me?) in NY was the President of an Italian ship corporation...but what I didn't know until last night (the balsa wood crack came up) that his company owned the freakin' Andrea Doria! Mum said he was never the same after that... Hey, what if Things I Miss the Most is a post-Nookyular Last Mall lament - then the "birdy" could be a "Canary in a Coalmine" If it doesn't come back...then things could get a whole lot worse before falling apart in the merciless fallout rays of Blues Beach...or whatever... Hank Silvers (GB, 6/12/03): In "Things I Miss the Most", the protagonist is alone in the aftermath of a failed romance, but he doesn't sound as though he's about to break down. Even though she cleaned him out, taking 2 houses and a car -- and, perhaps for spite, his prize guitar -- he doesn't sound particularly bitter or despondent. Instead, he dispassionately lists his former possessions as though he was itemizing the losses for an insurance claim. Perhaps he's just numb, or maybe it's a positive side effect of those meditation lessons. Bill (Blue Book, 6/16/03): While hunting for that last quote I glanced at some 11TOW lyrics and was struck by the similarties and contrasts between the reclusive protagonist of "Girlfriend" and the guy in "Things I Miss The Most." WB's tune is considerably darker in tone and the black humor is mainly conveyed by his delivery and the wisecracks about his faithful companions, TV and liquor. "Alone in my cave It's corn flakes and Camels And the long restless shadows of my life None but the brave Jim Beam and Jack Daniels Channelhopping these empty days and nights Glued to the screen Rerun by rerun At the dark outer limits of my soul Stranded between The Green Acres of my good intentions And the Twilight Zone of zero self-control *** Dust and despair Cobwebs and confusion Collecting in the corners of my room All of my dreams Bitter illusions I just can't be rid of them too soon Tired of my brain Tired of this movie Too tired to get up and shut it off The time that remains

What good can it do me Now that I know that too much is not enough" (Of course the prototype for both songs may be the Statler Brothers' "Flowers on the Wall," [http://www.lyricsmania.com/soundtracks/pulpfiction/008.html] which was used as the basis of an essay by another favorite curmudgeon of mine, Kurt Vonnegut) And in the same song you get something that sounds a bit like the overarching theme of the entire EMG project: "I'm pullin' in a picture now Up off my back pages And all at once am privy to The entire grim design Of a great civilization In the terminal stages Of a slow but steady mental moral spiritual decline" Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 6/20/03): What must have gone down when they came up with, "I'm building the Adria Doria -- out of balsa wood"? I don't know how Don is going to bray out that line on the tour without cracking up. Personally, I almost fell out of the Barco-lounger when I first played it, lyrics in hand. It's soo whacky and far afield but soo right on. The poor schlep in TIMTM reminds rings with an incredible degree of truth and honesty. And I seriously wonder about his values. Then again, men just don't handle break-ups well at all. We're basically spineless in that arena. Peter Q (Blue Book, 6/20/03): Actually there's a bit of trickery in the lyrics of TIMTM. What appears to be psychological explanation is not - no reason for the disintegration of the relationship is provided at all, and the actual things he misses are not in and of themselves the things that make a difference in a relationship ( maybe sex, but obviously that can exist for itself just like a car or a chair ). We could actually make the case that this guy is a shallow boob and B & F are saying this is what love and relationships have become in our society - cars, houses on the Vineyard, talking, ie superficiality and not real emotional connection. Lady Bayside (Blue Book, 6/20/03): Maybe it's just with TIMTM that when it comes down to it, if the singer/writer's ending a *bad* relationship, the things you do miss the most may not have much to do with the person with whom you were involved. The human contact, the sex (is bad sex better than no sex?)--those are expected. I love the line "the Audi TT". It is so sly, so snide. And so classically Steely Dan. Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 6/20/03): The only thing that seems to convey some modicum of true regret from this guy in TTIMTM is "somebody to trust." You can be able to talk to lots of people satisfactorily, of course have sex with anybody, it being one of the basic of human functions, but, that trust thing. Now you can truly trust relatively very few people in your life. What do we make of the "trust" element here? Does this schlub have a saving grace? Peter Q (Blue Book, 6/20/03): Of course the point being - and this is another stalwart in the SD lexicon - the gal is the source of his misery, emasculating him to the point where he can only curl up with girlie magazines. The guys in these songs are so weak! And their women - only bitches, whores, cannivers or runaway Lolita types. The lyrics are eternally incapable of embracing a normal, healthy female at all, a rather bleakly misogynistic viewpoint.

Man with no face (Blue Book, 6/20/03): The protagonist in TIMTM is perhaps another in the line of put upon male characters as in Black Cow or Negative Girl. He doesn't miss her funky attitude or their fights, but he does miss their talk and the trust he had for her, and he still calls her adorable. From the depressive way he's reacting, it sounds like she ran off with another guy and then cleaned him out in the divorce settlement, even getting his prize guitar. I read the "Birdy" verse as a girl. Donald sings it really plaintively, as if he wanted more than just casual sex out of his birdie friend. Maybe he couldn't even perform. Anyway, he sounds like an emotional wreck, wallowing in self-pity. Duke of Earl (Blue Book, 6/20/03): I think it's a song about losing your lover, but not just any loss. It's the death of his "Sugar Mommy"...the guy married (or maybe didn't marry, just a physical relationship) a wealthy old lady because he had a thing for old ladies (an old bird, per se). He enjoyed the talk, the sex, and all of the great amenities of being married into money. They didn't have the greatest of times (fighting with the kids and about the kids from her first marriage who are entitled to the inheritance), but he enjoyed a few of the things. Now that she's gone (sees the adorable ghost), he's lost it all because her children were in the will and he wasn't. He quit his job when becoming associated with her, and now he's basically got nothing. Also Birdy byebye could be a reference to her dying in her sleep (by morning she was gone). Bill (Blue Book, 6/20/03): I suggest there are some parallels between the newly-impoverished schmuck in TIMTM and an even shallower character in "Fall of 92" (a Becker/Fagen composition), you know, the guy that drives his beloved dog to the pound in his Beemer cause he can't afford the dog food after losing his cushy job but somehow can keep the fancy vehicle.... Peg (Blue Book, 6/20/03): As I see it, the protagonist in TIMTM is a comical loser who is such a schmuck he got taken not only to the cleaners, but got stripped down to his virtual skivvies after a divorce. Classic use of exaggeration to create humor. Javier (6/25/03): In "Things I Miss The Most" I can find the same character I met 10 years ago in "Tomorrow's Girls". Obviously, he left his wife and kids for some young and beautiful girl. The girl now took the Audi TT and his house in the Vineyard. Now he jerks off with a girly magazine like, let's say... Penthouse. He could be Bill Clinton, don't you think? Chief of Theory (Blue Book, 6/25/03): I think TIMTM has the following problem: it's SD winking at us, saying Look at us put the screws to these yuppie bastards. It makes you too conscious of listening to a song. The only thing I know how to compare it to is when you watch a Godard film and you can see the boom mike hanging over the actors' heads, drawing you out of the fictional story in the film and bringing attention to the fact that you're watching a movie. Anyone else have this feeling? I am curious to know. wormtom (GB, 7/3/03): I love the melancholy of this song It even has that nearly quiet apologetic opening stanza like someone who's world has come crashing down and is resolved to resignation while everything else is busy around them obviously the big divorce - and the world is oblivious "I don't mind the quiet Or the lonely nights I don't miss the funky attitudes And I don't miss the fights I lie on the couch 'till suppertime And hunker down and read the Post And that's when I remember the things I miss the most"

our protagonist looks backwards to fill his void he doesn't mind the empty house, the isolation but he realizes there was a lot of strife he could gladly have done without his old companion's qwirks are obvious - but he isn't having to deal with them now, so fond reminisence sets it he's got more time on his hands, and nobody placing demands on him hence the relaxed spiraling pace to dinnertime the paper harkens to leisurely sunday mornings with old beau "The talk The sex Somebody to trust The Audi TT The house on the Vineyard The house on the gulf coast These are the things I miss the most" love this chorus sparse, direct (maybe too direct) he longs for the positive things she brought him and misses that core element of trust fundamental to it all then things digress to the adult toy chest materialism ala mode cars and houses - big ticket items my take is he married into bigger money and prestige and those things stayed in the family enjoyed Dr Mu and Angel's Kennedy correlation but I prefer it more vague "I kinda like frying up My sad cuisine Gettin' in bed and curling up with a girlie magazine But sometimes in the corner of my eye I see that adorable ghost And then ba-boom I remember the things I miss the most" dinner for 1 - sad cuisine probably an easy stir fry - doesn't feel the effort to cook (espec for 1) girlie mag - his ex's old evening reading material Martha Stewart or Cosmo? reminding him of her abscence (the Heff and Larry Flynt end doesn't work here it's less the physical than the emotional) adorable ghost - his departed love ba-boom - a honeymooner "I got it" moment "The talk The sex Somebody to trust The comfy Eames chair The good copper pans

The '54 Strat These are the things I miss the most" second chorus strays to the exotic materilistic thy shalt covet Eames was an expensive designer 60's chair the strat priceless and again acquired with ex's abounding affluence and stays in the family (he can't be taken to the cleaners when they weren't his to begin with) the tit for tat of divorce possessions is all in her favor here "I had a little birdy friend By morning she was gone Birdy good-bye Birdy bye-bye" a non fullfilling aquaintance younger, none of the sophistication of his former spouse she sees the state he's in and is quickly out of there he sees the meaninglessness of the encounter "I'm learning how to meditate So far so good I'm building the Andrea Doria out of balsa wood The days really don't last forever But it's getting pretty damn close And that's when I remember the things I miss the most" self help 101 - get in touch with one's real self that guy you lost in the relationship a project will keep me busy the irony - cheap balsa and a tragic leasure liner a freudian mirror of his less plush surroundings and sinking esteem brilliant just love the next line's double innuendo days don't last forever - meaning that relationship is gone but they do drag on too long - my current painfully dreadful situation timtm - the what a shame about me of EMG a ghost of his former self self absorbed,longing for that good life not the more substaintial things that might make it truly significant Atreides (7/5/03): I think you guys are being a little harsh on this guy. Consider this: His wife/lover/whatever leaves him. The first things he thinks about are the immediate losses he suffers and the weird feelings: the talk (or rather the odd silence), the sex (when youre used to getting i t and it dries up, well, you guys should know what I mean), someone to trust (and that feeling of disconnection after the trauma). As a few weeks pass, he starts tripping over little losses, things that didnt register immediately because they were below his radar after the breakup or were things he just took for granted. I can even see his thinking. Ill

make some pasta. Damn! I cant! She took the good pans! Time to lounge in front of the TVbut the good comfy chair is gone. :( Months pass. Hes getting his life back together and really analyzing it all. And he finds that the things he misses in the long term are closely tied to the earlier immediate losses. He hasnt had a really good discussion in a long time. He hasnt been able to bring himself to go out and find a woman for any reason. And he cant really get away from it all because all the things he used for escape are gone like the Audi TT and the vacation houses. Hes caught in his own little purgatory until he can find a way out. So where does he go from there? Blues Beach! Where else? I think this fits in with my idea that the album is about a man losing his woman and the stages he goes through trying to get over her. The Last Mall is her packing up her stuff. Godwhacker is a manifestation of his anger. Since hes been learning to meditate, maybe hes leaning to Eastern religions and rejecting the Judeo -Christian stuff he paid lip service to all his life. Slang of Ages is him trying to get back into the dating game after so long. Green Book is him getting comfy and hitting the clubs. Pixeleen is about how he uses technology to try to fill some of those empty spaces (playing video games, downloading porn, stuff like that). Of course, hes filling empty space with empty images and distorted idealized crap so when he starts messing around with Gina, she seems crazy in comparison. By the end, hes not the same man. Hes gone from a family man and husband to, well, a character in a Steely Dan Song. :) All he can do is surrender to the malaise and ride it rather than fight it. His sorrow has beaten him so he closes the shop that is his self-esteem AND his old life. He has to start over again. Its sad, but its also happy because hes liberated from the shadows of the past. His new life isnt goin g to be the caliber of his old life, but at the same time, theres the possibility that he might be able to find a way to live with it all. A sad ending, but one could argue that a new crappy life is still progress from his old sad one. Clean Willy (9/28/03): I always seem to come late to the game, be it because of age of schedule, but I finally got my copy of EMG and the two songs that jumped immediately into my heart were Pixeleen and TIMTM. As for the latter, I think this is the most sincere and sentimental the Dan have been since Walk Between Raindrops (we count solo right?). There, it seemed like the Post-war nervosa and the Post-war nostalgia came to terms for two-minutes with simple results, break-up, make-up, simple. Here, the situations can be seen as similar (what with world and all), but sentiment is much more depressive. When TvN came out, I predicted that the next album would not have that level of looking back, this song certainly debunks that. This is definitely a song about divorce and the way of looking at it. Dont relationships tend to be analyzed in the fourth dimension? Where instead of the breadth and length, you look at the time elapsed? The chair that came in around year ten, the scratch on the wall that happened two years later, these are determining factors. And as you walk through the environment, the reminders keep showing up, and this narrator is moving through an environment in a new way, dinner is still there, reading in bed is still there, but the other force of energy is not. The way Don sings the title in three parts seems to enforce the slow recognition/ coming to terms. These are the things. I Miss. The Most. Each more clarifying the one before, from material, to emotional, to inherent. I like the way the verses and bridge flow around the chorus. I lie on the couch til suppertime into I kinda like frying up my sad cuisine, or I see that adorable ghost into I had a little birdy into Im learning how to meditate. I was having lunch at my fathers office one day and he pulled out a pair of rickety salt and pepper shakers that wouldnt even stand on their own. This is all I got from the divorce, he said jokingly. That brand of humor is evident here. Look at the procession of things that are gone: the talk was good, the sex was better, trust, and then what, cars, two houses (Has anyone noticed how the Dan narrator are getting wealthier with every album? Now, when you cross a diamond with a pearl, its in a jewelry box and not on the tenement couch, but well save that for a Grand Unified Theory). Sting did something similar a few years ago with Im So Happy I Cant Stop Crying (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/sting/132047.html). Saw my lawyer, Mr. Good News/ He got me joint custody and legal separation. Hurray! One of the upsides of write cryptically for a living is that when you write simply, no one accuses you of being schmaltzy. I feel like, for whatever reason, this is as direct as the boys have been.

Minor Dude (5/1/04): On a dreary Sunday afternoon alone, try this: 1. Get out about 10 photos of your estranged significant other, kids, deceased pets, parents, faded vacation photos from childhood, cheesy prom photos. Get out your 5th birthday party photo where from a perspective of maturity, you are finally able to see your mother's love, angst, boredom and terror behind that organization woman smile. 2. Play Things I Miss The Most. 3. Notice the tears welling up in your eyes. 4. Notice the pool of tears on your shirt. 5. Rehydrate. 6. Cry some more. I don't know but I think that S&D (with above-noted exceptions) have always hidden their true feelings, longings, disappointments and dreams behind a steely third-person limited omniscient veneer. Even in songs written in the first person, the singer is usually playing a character. Of course D&F are not child molesters portrayed in Janie Runaway. Donald is obviously doing an impersonation of this Gramercy Park Pervert that he heard about. At most, D or W will inject hidden commentary or perspective into the narrative (e.g. when Donald urges her to "...Janie, run away!!") I think that we the listeners typically tend to assume a professional distance from the actual people in a SD song. For example, listening to Black Friday, my perspective was not "Oh what a shame about me. My portfolio is halved in value and the world is coming to an end". I said "Cool!!! How ironic to watch some anonymous, ruthless bastard in his Grey Flannel Suit and fedora jump from the 14th floor of one of those monster skyscrapers depicted on the cover of the Royal Scam." From a professional distance, we can note the irony that he dived from the 14th floor (skyscrapers typically don't have a 13th floor; bad luck). We are free hypothesize about whether or not the financial economic meltdown described is just deserts for a decedent society. Through the steely prism, we can experience the turbulence of life from a safe emotional distance; our objectivity intact. "Things I Miss..." is Donald Fagen (and hence each of us respectively identifying with Donald Fagen) singing about himself (ourselves). Our longing, disappointment and confusion is right there on the table. I feel like I'm literally looking at my own bloody heart lying on newspapers spread out on the kitchen table. There are no complex, oblique metaphors to obscure the pain. No scintillating guitar solos to give voice to anger about the evils of capitalism. No grand, hidden meanings behind these facts to justify the pain in soothing six-part radio jingle harmony. In the context of this stripped down, honest, direct album, "Things I Miss The Most" song is plainly about the end of commerce and things and the beginning of life and love. I find this song heart wrenching. P.S. Actually do the photo exercise. It will bring the THINGS described in the song into sharp focus from a different perspective.

"Blues Beach"
Audi TT (GB, 6/12/03): My take on BB's lyrics... (first a disclaimer: my theory is that if SD lyrics don't seem to be about anything, then they are about either the music business or drug addiction). In the first stanza the narrator is in bad shape and wants to "beat the mean streets of Medicine Park". Drugs is another word for medicine. He wants to overcome his drug addiction. So he "clicks his heels", Wizard of Oz imagery (which in turn has plenty of drug imagery) and "doubles down" (raising the stakes in gambling) to Blues Beach (rehab). People often use vacation images when talking about rehab. A girl I know takes a yearly "vacation" at the "dry

out place". I love the choruses throughout this song. At Blues Beach he's sizzling, frying and chilling, symptoms of drug withdrawal, in the "merciful" rays. Then one of my favorite lines: "The long sad Sunday of the early resigned". The "long sad Sunday" conjures up more vacation imagery. The last day (Sunday) of that week at the beach is always bittersweet because you know you have to go home and back to your workaday world. Rehab stays also end on Sunday. The next stanza is a little inscrutable, but the name Trina is short for Katherine, which means "pure". It also could mean Trinity, another religious and purity symbol. So anyway he's off to rehab for a little "vacation". Then the great "paranymphic glider". More vacation imagery but another word with roots in purity and yet another bride image. The listener, a "hypothetical friend", is another rehab patient. The *last* people you want as friends are your cohorts in rehab. The last stanza is about how difficult rehab is as the drugs come out of your system. The chills ("grab big dog a blanket") and how bad you feel (things may get a whole lot worse") and even the temptation to get a fix ("Before suddenly falling apart") and completely failing. "Your roommate Yvonne". Yvonne means archer. Archer... arrows... needles. And if she "still wants in" (his vein) he's gonna have to pull some strings (to get drugs at rehab, which is not impossible, trust me). And now he's dying. If he succeeded in scoring in the previous stanza, then rehab is a complete failure. In any case, he's resigned to the fact that he's not cured and never will be. He will always fight this addiction and it ain't no vacation. Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): Why do so many people not like this one? The campy early 60's sound has just enough steely surprises and unexpected chord changes to keep it from becoming "Sugar Shack". This song makes dying sound like fun. ... Like a day at the beach. Plus, I'm prone to like a song that quotes Laura Nyro, maybe twice. My biggest complaint is that parts of it sound like "Tomorrow's Girls" recycled. But no one can completely avoid copying himself. Hank Silvers (6/20/03): http://www.steelydan.com/premiere3.html (paragraph 4) "Beatsters! My brothers in the subculture of the Early Resigned! Remember it now. You lie if you say you dont." Huge props to Hank for discovering this in one of Mr. Fagen's "Premiere" articles. Quoted without permission but with utmost respect. Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 6/25/03): I love the three couplets on BB, "It takes a crusty punk to really beat the mean street of Medicine Park," "They were gassed and running every which way but unhappily not for us," and "Things may get a whole lot worse before suddenly falling apart," they are inspired satire, irony, ribaldry, whatever. Check the music behind these lines, it reminds me of sunshine, puppies, kids skipping down to the carnival rides, it's so joyful. The notes Donald hits on the word "unhappily" couldn't be more breezy. Meanwhile, everything's coming unglued and going to shit, the juxtaposition is so very sharply drawn. It's like one of those days where everything is just going so wrong, nothing's working no matter what you try, you're losing things, breaking things, and after a while it begins to actually get comical and absurd. Like that, "Look on the Bright Side of Life" song from that Monty Python movie, Life of Brian, "Life's a crock-a-shit, when you look at it." 'Sfunny. Russ (Blue Book, 6/27/03): I hear the lines in the Blues Beach fade as: "Everyone's tall and tan... I wanna be on the sand". Midsummer in New York (GB, 7/5/03): this album's "Hey Dupree" or "Cousin 19", only muuuuuuch better...

"Godwhacker"

Hank Silvers (GB, 6/4/03): WB does like those WB cartoon references, doesn't he? duncan (GB, 6/10/03): [UK translation] to ''clock'' someone means to see them. Gap Brandy (GB, 6/11/03): Sure, he's a jolly Rajah until he answers for his crimes... oleander (GB, 6/11/03): Let me tell you how brilliantly these guys evoke a period and a mood without being obvious, and also how hip my son is. He comes in during the intro, first listen, and says, "I'm gonna get you, sucka!" He immediately got that Shaftoid feel, which seamlessly melds music & lyrics.... First off, they start a song about God with "In the beginning...." Do they EVER miss a beat?? [This was noticed also by davelricky-thanx, man] Someone mentioned the ref to William Blake's "The Tiger." [see below] "Rajahs of Erase"--terrific. They always come up with some inimitable neologisms.... Is this the closest thing we have to a Steely theology? Are they holding God responsible for the bad things that happen? "For crimes beyond imagining"? Or is this a comment on the hatred organized religions harbor for each other's God? Well, if you're going to have apocalypse, I guess it makes sense to whack the Maker so this mistake of a world doesn't happen again. Slinky Redfoot--Satan? I hate to say it, but the "angel girls" bring to mind Charlie's Angels, fallen as they are.... Great lines: "And when the stars bleed out/ That be the fever of the chase" (I can see it); "Give the man some whackin' space." Audi TT (GB, 6/12/03): "Did He who made the lamb make thee?" Now there's Hell to pay. Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): Give the man some whackin' space. Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I, well, never mind. -This sounds a bit like a poke at radical fundamentalists, who get so wrapped in their own dogma and righteousness that this God character gets in the way. Or maybe Rush Limbaugh wrote it as an exaggerated portrayal of removing prayer from the schools. sharkdeville (Blue Book, 6/16/03): Are these guys quoting William Blake and Ned Flanders (hidey-ho)on the same album? The Tiger Tiger, tiger, burning bright, In the forest of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? When thy heart began to beat, What dread hand forged thy dread feet? What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? What dread grasp Dared its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears And watered heaven with their tears, Did He smile his work to see? Did He who made the lamb make thee? Tiger, tiger, burning bright, In the forest of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? by William Blake Man with no face (Blue Book, 6/16/03): Godwhacker - Interesting subtexts on cosmology, quantum physics and eschatology. "Be very very quiet Clock everything you see" - two musts for making observations of the quantum world. "Little things might matter later At the start of the end of history." - the idea that nonbarayonic dark matter (infinitesimally tiny things like neutrinos) might close the universe and lead to a particular end scenario called "The Big Crunch". "Climb up the glacier" - Fritz Zwicky, who was a renowned alpine climber, first proposed the existence of dark matter. Neutrino detectors are also built in ice. "Across Bridges of Light". Gravitational lensing, supernovae and quasar observations are the basis of much of cosmology, neutrino detectors rely on Cherenkov radiation (light). "We sniff you, Big Tiger In the forest of the night Cause theres no escape From the Rajahs of Erase". Interesting use of Indian imagery. The chapter on dark matter in Timothy Ferris' "The Whole Shebang" is titled "The Black Taj" for the Shah Jahan's unbuilt mausoleum. If dark matter closes the universe, it will truly be the rajah of erase. "Yes we are the GodWhackers Who rip and chop and slice" - One other theory is "The Big Rip". Robert Caldwell theorizes that the cosmological constant increases over time. Everything accelerates away from us. Stars and galaxies wink out of existence as they accelerate beyond our event horizon. The stars would red shift or "bleed out" out of existence until our night sky was uniformly black. The ripping force then operates on a smaller and smaller scale until finally our planet explodes, and the very atoms and then subatomic particles of which we are made are shredded out of existence. Time and space cease to exist. Pretty much a GodWhack, eh? Bill (Blue Book, 6/16/03): I think WB has been down this road before. In fact, I suspect a lot of the Godwhacker lyric is his work. "Stars imploding The long night passing Electrons dancing in the frozen crystal dawn Here's one left stranded at the zero crossing With a hole in its half-life left to carry on" >Stars and galaxies wink out of existence as they accelerate beyond our event horizon. Handicam Dave (Blue Book, 6/17/03): Fave Bit so far?.......The way Don pronounces "give the man some whacking SPACE..." Can almost see him rolling up his sleeves and looking pointedly at his audience....very focused yet aloof.Brilliant stuff. slinky redfoot (Blue Book, 6/17/03): Who is GodWhacker? The song certainly has both George Bushes in mind. And although Walter has voiced his criticism of George Bush Sr. in the past, (in the song Fall of 92 he refers to him as a Nazi) could it be that GodWhacker is hunting the likes of George Bush Sr.? Remember that it was

Bush Sr. who placed US troops on sacred Saudi Arabian soil that more or less started the Osama rampage on America. Its lyrics such as your own fault daddy and especially the line you better get gone poppie that point directly to Bush Sr. (Within the Bush family, Poppy is the elder Bushs nickname.) And line you better step back son would of course then refer to George W. Bush. That could make Osama more like the satan (slinky redfoot) in the story who could hang with the dude in the beginning (while we were their allies in Afghanistan during the Russian invasion), but have taken things into their own hands because of the stank attitude. By the way, Angel is the nickname of Air Force I. Lyrics aside, was anyone else reminded (ever so slightly) of the song Ghost Busters upon hearing GodWhacker? Musically and lyrically Ghost is of course certainly inferior, and I am sure that Donald and Walter could care less about that little ditty of a tune - but the line GodWhackers on the case brought back memories to me of the line Who ya gonna call? Ghost Busters! Not too many songs these days are about some sort of legion formed to attack the supernatural. mt (Blue Book, 6/17/03): Interesting relativistic thoughts about godwhacker, but I interpret "clock" in the lyric to be "clean someone's clock" or in other words, "whack". Also, of course, with the double meaning of the time sort of clock. Mitch (Blue Book, 6/17/03): I highly doubt that the guys wrote a song from the standpoint of Osama Bin Laden. I know people love to analyze the lyrics to death but remember...sometimes "Is there gas in the car?" means "Is there gas in the car?" father william (Blue Book, 6/17/03): I posted the same observation about poppy being the elder Bush laast week, but since then, I've heard an interview where Donald, I think, said that they had been asked about this and said that they hadn't thought of that connection to godwacker. Shaun (Blue Book, 6/17/03): "Poppy" in spanish Is a term of endearment "Hi poppy","Come here poppy". Donald and Walter I believe, are just using it as a "play on words". I don't think it has anything to do with Geogre Bush Sr. I don't believe this song is about anything other then sending out a hit man to whack God. angel (Blue Book, 6/17/03): I am sure the Bush's use Poppy as a term of endearment. It is probably due to the fact that they live in Texas, not far from the Mexican Border. I was looking for Father's Day cards on Saturday and noticed the Hispanic ones all said Poppy (as in Father). Man with no face (Blue Book, 6/17/03): "Poppy" is also what heroin is made from, the trade of which purportedly finances al queda and other unfriendly organizations. firemop (Blue Book, 6/17/03): I wouldn't be so "sure the Bush's use 'Poppy' as a term of endearment" just because they have a ranch 300 mi. from the Mexican border. I grew up in Midland (same town as "W") and as a native Texan I have never heard of 'Poppy' used in that context. Don't forget, "W" is an Ivy Leaguer (barely) and his daddy's ranch is in Kennebunkport ME. Earl (Digest, 6/17/03): Regarding the Godwhacker song, I get the impression the narrator is more of a bounty hunter than actually having a personal reason for doing this. It's almost like he's calling God (or whoever the subject is) and giving him the head's up - it's your own fault daddy, get gone poppie, run, run run. It almost sounds like he has a conflict of interest; as if he believes in and has some faith in the person (or deity) that he is destined to kill. clock'n'spiel (Blue Book, 6/18/03): I think the word "clock" in Godwhacker can be interpreted to mean "take note of" or "observe" especially as our U.S.) government, in its zeal to protect us, subjects its citizens to everincreasing scrutiny.

hoops! (Blue Book, 6/18/03): What's great is all the interpretations of SD lyrics. With all these takes about God and Bush and all on "Godwhacker," I started asking, where's the Steely Dan humor that permeates every song? Here's another tangent, hopefully a little different. Because of the sorta campy line "step back son, give the man some whackin' space," which I found very funny, I'm thinking of this song like it's "in some ol' cartoon," not unlike Roadrunner and Coyote or Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. Hey, why not? Heck, they're even on Warners ;-) ! So I'm picturing Godwhacker running around like Elmer Fudd or Coyote, but instead of using a giant rifle or string-rigged rocks propped up with sticks, I'm picturing this Godwhaker guy running around the heavens chasing God around on a space scooter (sorta like how I envision Leonard Cohen escorted by babes in rocket bras, flying ten stories-up along Madison Avenue in "First We Take Manhattan") with this huge mega whacking device that's like a pastel purple grey 10-ton hammer that floats. Only the hammer keeps missing. He has other whacking devices too like a giant pastel teal green fly swatter (I'm borrowing the Looney Tunes color pallette) that also can be used side ways in a slicing action like a machete. Hey, it's my fantasy and thanks Donny and Walty for suggesting it. Legion2 (Blue Book, 6/19/03): Does anyone feel its the greatest battle song since "Flight of the Valkyries" in Apocalypse Now? I thought someone would (as slinky redfoot did to a certain extent) see the imagery of the military hunting Bin Laden/terrorists till "the stars bleed out". Surely an attack on DF/WB's precious New York would not go unanswered. This song is notice to those who would perform such ghastly deeds as the attacks of 9/11 that we're coming for you. WE are the GODWHACKERS. If you choose to kill as the so-called hand of God, then we will kill that ideal...that God, or at least the warped perception of God you claim to follow. Its powerful stuff that ,I think, reflects an anger you've never seen from SD. An anger I'm sure we all shared when we saw the images that day. I believe Slinky mentioned "In the beginning\ we could hang with the dude\But it's been too much of nothing\ but that stank attitude\Now they curse your name\And there's a bounty on your face\Its your own fault daddy\Godwhackers on the case We supported Afghanistan in their war with the Soviet Union. I believe Bin Laden fought in that war with the Afghans as well, therefore, we supported him indirectly. We could "hang with the dude" until he turned on us. We track your Almighty ass\Thru seven Heaven Worlds. No Matter where he runs, we'll follow Me, Slinky, Redfoot and our trusty Angel Girls. In my opinion, the narrator places himself on the front lines looking for them. Slinky and Redfoot could easily be the nicknames the military always adopts for units or divisions while the trusty Angel Girls are most likely Air Force pilots, AWAC operators, satellite technicians relaying information?.....take your pick! And when the Stars bleed out\That'll be the fever of the chase We will never stop looking....plain and simple. If it takes till the end of time..... Be very, very Quiet\Clock everything you see\Little things might matter later\At the start of the end of history I'm sorry I forgot who made the Elmer Fudd connection but that was GREAT!! I'd missed at first but it works beautifully! As far as Clock everything.... Count your moments here as precious. The little things you (the hunted) take for granted are going to mean alot when your time is up. Climb up the Glacier\Across bridges of light\We sniff you, Big Tiger\In the forest of the night\Cause there's no escape from the Rajahs of Erase Again, run but we'll find you. The "Big Tiger" goes from predator to prey. Forest of the night? Brings to mind those night vision shots of Desert Storm bombings The rest seems to be self explanitory as this point. That is if you buy into my goofy theories. Either way thanks

for allowing me to throw out a few ideas. I would flesh out a few more theories but I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboaklhio;iv;i8h Peter Q (Blue Book, 6/20/03): In reality, once one understands the logic and coherence of the Steely Dan system, Godwhacker is a predictable piece. The use of evocative Christian imagery so obsesses Becker and Fagen that it appears on every single album - but whereas it ws once "I met my baby by the shrine of the martyr" it's now "Give the man some whacking space." Talk of God and death is a lot harder when you're 55 years old than when you're 25. Man with no face (Blue Book, 6/20/03): When I heard "Me, Slinky Redfoot/And our trusty Angel-girls" today I got a thought of Donald, Walter and Carolyn and the backup singers. There could be a metaphor about music and their muse in there somewhere. "You better step back son/Give the man some whacking space" let the man show his chops. LPH1015 (Digest, 6/23/03): As soon as I heard the song and read the lyrics I knew exactly who godwhacker is andwho's being whacked. The United States (or Geo W Bush) is Godwhacker chasing the gods almighty asses through 700 worlds. The gods are no less than mortal men who think themselves gods with the power of life and death in their hands...yes, right now it would be that ever un predictable duo of Osama and Saddam!! They'll be whacked for crimes beyond imagining. I understood it best after several listenings and readings...once again...great song writing! Kid Clean (Digest, 6/23/03): Mike Wrote - "And "clock everything you see" means they are going to do a hell of a lot of destruction; "clock" meaning hit or punch, whatever they see and as all true believers know, you can't see god/God." I'm sorry but I disagree him on that. Here's the definition from www.M-W.com: Main Entry: 2. clock Function: verb Date: 1883 transitive senses 1 : to time with a stopwatch or by an electric timing device 2 : to register on a mechanical recording device <wind velocities were clocked at 80 miles per hour> 3 : to hit hard Yes, #3 is to hit hard, but I don't see that working in the context of the lyrics: "Be very, very quiet. Clock everything you see Little things might matter later At the start of the end of history" I'd have to go with #2, to register/record. When the end comes, 'everything you did' can and will be used against you (or for you, I imagine) even if it's the Almighty's ass. Also, if you are going around whomping everything you see, it's going to be hard to be very, very quiet. Just stating my opinion, which has been know to be way out of the park from time to time. Thos. (Digest, 6/25/03): On the 'clock' front, the English slang version works for me. To 'clock' over here means to watch something (carefully), to notice. If it's a little wild supposing Don/Walt would access some old fashioned vernacular from Blighty, try 'clock' as in time it, like you would with a stop watch. You use the it to measure something (time). The Godwhackers have to notice and weigh up every sin, because at the end of time.....well, you know the rest. The second meaning is pretty much the same as the first. I can't think what else it could mean if it isn't this. Joe (7/3/03): Surely the first line of the chorus is Donalds contribution and an homage to Warner Brothers star Elmer Fudd. "Be vewy, vewy quiet."

CL (8/15/03): Not only does the "step back son" feel like a reference to Jesus. The "daddy" in "It's your own fault" is obviously directed to "the Dude" himself, who we cannot hang with anymore since he obviously doesn't care about his creation. "Poppie" could be a reference to the Pope. MacSweene (the critic formerly known as Mexuine) (9/2/03): I've been struggling with this for a while. Thought I'd give it a whack. According to the Becker NanoThesaurus of 11ToW, the word WHACK has three aspect of meaning: (1) a small blow, (2) a first stab or crude attempt, (3) murder. It's a comic word (even in the cynical hitman usage, reducing homicide to something intermediate in intensity between a smack and a wallop,) and the title/job description GODWHACKER utilizes the comic effect of bringing a small word and a big word together. (The so-called Zarathustra Jones-effect). Seems to me the narrator of GodWhacker pops his cork and runs more or less amok in the last verse: "Yes we are the GodWhackers/ who rip and chop and slice". What was once a noble crusade (as it were), the very very important task of eliminating this Dangerously Uncaring GodPerson, has now become a case of mere whacking for the sake of whacking itself. Thus the last stanza, the appeal to the bystanders: "Give the man some whacking space". (Which I first misheard, incidentally, as "Give the Manson Wagon space.") The initially heroic narrator is now reduced to a rabid zealot developing a taste for blood. Only the whacking is left, God is nowhere to be seen, and the people in the streets are told to step back. In this text, I find the joke, albeit a fittingly (this is, after all, a Steely Dan tune) cruel one, is on the whacker, not on the whackee: "This might get messy/ GodWhacker's on the case." In short: You wanna whack the Supreme Being? Sure, give it a whack, but a whack is all its gonna be. Chances are, though, you'll end up jus' plain ol' hurtin' your fellow man. The thing is, I don't think this lyric can be read as an all-out Go-GodWhackers! atheist-anthem. It's equivocal. It's the Dan. Mad AND wiggy. Clean Willy (9/30/03): I think idea here is the distance between God and man. The In the Beginning is obviously a biblical reference and links back to this Genesis idea that certain men can walk with God, talk with God, that there is a concrete relationship that fades over the course of the history too much of nothing to the point where now entire philosophies are built on the existential/ Nietzsche idea that God is dead, i.e, theres a bounty on your face. The genius of the song is that the accusations are reversed, in that the Godless society we live in is not the fault of humanity for sinning, but of God for not being around, and therefore the justice is executed (no pun intended) by man, not God. In the song, I think that the narrator is a hit-man whos been assigned to kill God. The problem, of course, is that if you believe that God is holding up creation, then killing God would destroy the world the start of the end of history, which is very messy. At the same time, the reversal is so absurd (and when previously attempted (at the Tower of Babel) God just sat there and watched, ultimately ending the project without even ending lives) that the sadness and humor come out of the same moment and we need not say how important that conjunction is to the beloved Danon (which is my new term for the Steely Dan canon).

"Slang of Ages"
Neil Strauss, "They went back, Jack, to do it again," NY Times, 6/21/03: [Strauss]You do, however, sing, "Let's roll with the homies" on the new album. Becker: That's exactly right. We may not be in the mainstream of musical thought, but we're willing to co-opt any catchy expression that comes along, however silly. luckless pedestrian (GB, 6/10/03): what is the following reference in slang of ages: "these tabs look iffy you say they're good"? drugs? apparel? Robin (GB, 6/10/03): I took the Slang reference to tabs as drugs ...

Steveedan (GB, 6/10/03): It could also be refering to music notation. Tabs could be connotative of guitar tablature. Let's roll with the homeys - knock on wood. There could be a doubt as to whether the chord changes in some song were accurate, or whether the chord progression was even a good one. Let's hope for the best (knock on wood) ... count it off ... 1,2,3,4 ... duncan (GB, 6/10/03): [UK translation] tabs = cigarettes Blaise (Blue Book, 6/11/03): "I can tell by the planes on your face that you're from out of State" carries on the "I can see by what you carry that you come from Barrytown", tolerance theme. DACW (GB, 6/12/03): I'm thinking of Slang of Ages (something timeless) as a continuation of a SD thread, music itself...Monkey in your Soul and Throw Back the Little Ones were veiled commentaries on the contract with ABC-Dunhill and the record producing then tour merry-go-round...done in an ultra sly way - here it seems like a commentary on the musical generation gap, but frankly, I'm less assured about the meaning of this song than any in the Dan collection... Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): I thought it might be about music bridging gaps of communication. But my son listened to the album and said," I think that Becker song is about drugs, probably acid." I suppose when you start seeing the planes in people's faces, you're either at a Dali exhibit or headed for Groovetime. -- The opening phrase "let me put it this way..." reminded me of another favorite song of mine that Walt started with, "In case you're wondering..." Hutch (GB, 6/14/03): The character in the song says, "These tabs look iffy, but you say they're good". Since I think this song may be about an older guy hooking up with a younger girl and going to a dance club then I take it to mean that she gives him some pills to take. Perhaps it's LSD or maybe Ecstasy. He's not sure, just by looking at the pills, if it's safe to take them. They look "iffy". DACW (GB, 6/15/03): Becker tries to pick up "fresh meat"...Instead of dancing - they trade fours...the Slang of Ages is music and tabs a chords/vocings...however, the young buckette shows him a thing or two, and he's left hi and dry as stunned as Ronny Cox in Deliverance (OK, that's a bad analogy)...hi hat Too Flat... steviedan (GB, 6/20/03): seems to me that the tune is about the ageless ritual nature of the drug deal, the routine edginess. a career man who's seen, snorted, shot it all... in places it has that lotus blossomy, pentatonic asian feel like parts of "countermoon". for me, it's the most effective medium for walter's voice ever, and i really liked 11tow. kinda primes me for another becker solo effort. damn nice work... YGK (Blue Book, 6/20/03): I think it's Walter's "Hey 19". He's trying to relate to a younger thang, and then she disappears...... Man with no face (Blue Book, 6/20/03): Slang of Ages also seems to be a metaphor about music wrapped up in a tale of the older guy trying to relate to the young doll in the club scene. "These tabs...", "Roll..." and "Opened up my head" sure sounds like he's talking about MDMA, but tabs could easily be tablature. Commentary on the famous Dutch jazz scene? Duke (Ellington) and Earl (Hines)? The chorus sounds like just pure love of music. Almost like he's imagining playing with his revolutionary jazz heros. Jamming can be very "Be Here Now". Very Zen like. Peg (Blue Book, 6/20/03): The narrator in Slang of Ages is a guy from some science fiction story..(those wierd sound effects in it are a nod to Tribbles, those critters in that Star Trek episode, and don't say they aren't!!!) Slang is referring to jazz/music throughout...there's even a reference to (guitar) tabs in it...

Only a fool (Blue Book, 6/20/03): I'm pretty sure the "tabs" in Slang refer to drugs, not guitar tablature. Also, one of the first sounf effects (right before the words start) sounds like somehting alien. But it also sounds like a whistle (wolfing a lady walking by). The lyrics that follow also match this. I see "Slang of Ages" as a juxtaposioning of 3 favourite Dan themes 1. Drugs (Tabs, hit me with the Slang of ages, etc.) 2. Young women (all my deraming... end of my life so far... something half-way in between..) 3. Sci-fi (out of state... skipped dimensions... oppened up my head) So, it looks like the pratagonist is hitting on a young lady when he notices that she is an alien and decided to get some unworldly drugs from her instead. Duke of Earl (Blue Book, 6/20/03): I am thinking maybe the tabs are the way that the alien experiences sex, and so does the narrator. Or at least he's convinced she's an alien (Netherworld, opened up my head which would mean read his mind). OK...so my theories on what the Slang of Ages is: A) the drug-related high the narrator gets from the pill he's given, or B) a sexual experience he and the alien receive from the pill, or C) a combination of both, where maybe it's something halfway in between. One way that would make C) intriguing would be if this were the case: "Are you all part of the dreaming" - his drug induced high "Or the end of my life so far" - a lot of times, sex can be looked upon as maybe a change in your life...an epiphany "Or something halfway in between" - maybe it's just both...it's a drug induced high that creates a sexual experience. John (Blue Book, 6/20/03): re: narrator in Slang of Ages I agree with Peg's perception of the narrator as an "alien" or, at the very least, that the song is an extended diversion into science fiction. Alien could be extraterrestrial, or it could just be someone who's out of step with the rest of the world. The musical cue is there in the sound effects. He perceives the woman to be from "out of state" (which sure sounded like "outer space" until I listened closely). Out or state is reminiscent of the Coneheads who are from France (not). The woman "skips dimensions." And of course the whole song sounds as if it's kin to "Hat Too Flat" from 11ToW. Peter Q (Blue Book, 6/21/03): Re - Slang of Ages - Groovetime, if I'm not mistaken, is a very distinguished radio program in Holland about American jazz, thus linking the narrartor's desire to be "dropped off" there (cars again!)and showing that the girl is either lying about being from there, because she doesn't know what Groovetime is, or else she's too young to know, which is even worse for our narrator because he keeps making bufoonish gaffes like calling her "doll" and "babe". (The desperate whining line, "You oughta know, you oughta know" suggests that she oughta know what Groovetime is if she is who she says she is.) Slang of Ages may refer to, as I read in one British newspaper that I unfortunately lost the link to, sleazoid chat-ups. However he has no substantive, concrete knowledge of how to approach women other than to use cheap pickup lines which is why, upon noting her disgust at his behavior, he begs "Show me how it's done." Doubtlessly appalled by a gent in his fifties who needs to be shown, she "skips to other dimensions", dimesnions in this instance meaning other men of a younger generation - which in fact the narrator understands, because "Be There Now" unveils his desire to strip away the effluvia of age, generation gap, difference of interests between folks of vastly different backgrounds, and connect on an as it were metaphysical plane, have their "souls" get together. An example of a socially inarticulate fellow yearning for real human contact. Isa (Blue Book, 6/21/03): Re:Groovetime Groovetime is indeed a distinguished radio program about jazz music. The first broadcast was on Radio 1 at the 13th of may in 2001

oleander (Blue Book, 6/21/03): I think "Slang of Ages" is about slang. But inasmuch as a Steely Dan song is rarely about one thing, its also about music and the art of pick-up and put-down. Mr. Becker is an aficionado of argot, a practitioner of patois, a virtuoso of vernacular, which you can hear on "11 Tracks of Whack" from the title on in. I think hes doing a little tribute to the richness and malleability of the language; the tune is one slang phrase after another, from various times and places. Slang isnt just popular catchphrases. Its the incubator of linguistic change. Its the reason a language doesnt die. Think about Orwells "1984," in which limiting language is one of the tools of oppression. Big Brothers goal is to whittle Newspeak down to as few words as possible, so that each word has only one meaning and each meaning only one word. If people dont have the language to express ideas, then they wont have the ideas, which are dangerous to the status quo. And while you have that thought in your mind, take a momentary digression and think about the Bush administrations "No Child Left Behind" and "Clear Skies" ini tiatives (not to mention the many other Orwellian aspects of his reign). So Mr. Becker spins a situation in slang. Hes simultaneously trying to pick up his conversational partner and assuring that he cant. This is how I imagine Zaphod Beeblebrox chatting up babes at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, or Han Solo a few decades down the road at the space lounge on Tatooine. Mr. B is trying his pick-up lines while putting her down, scratching through her veneer of sophistication "If you grew up in Amsterdam, then Im the Duke of Earl." She cops to his scorn and splitsthen hes all "Heywhered she go?" His version of "piss off, then" is to offer to "make it right"right all right, by telling her to "Be There Now," i.e., get lostand ending with the classic hitchhiker drop-off line, "This is where I turn." This is the kind of guy I love to run into in bars. This is also a tribute to jazz and rocknroll, the slang of music, always rich, layered, mutable, surprising. Just as styles in language change, so they do in music. If youre lucky, someone in the know, like Mr. B, will show you how its done. The tabsguitar or pharmaceuticalmay look iffy, but hell tell you which ones are for real. Or maybe someone like Gene Chandler or Eddie Floyd will, who get a tip of the Steely hat for their "Duke of Earl" and "Knock On Wood." Soul survivors. Like the Dan. Soothe me! Slang me! Bill (Blue Book, 6/22/03): This description of Slang of Ages sounds like another similar semi sci-fi tale, told in the third person, Wet Side Story: >>An example of a socially inarticulate fellow yearning for real human contact. Also, I'm glad someone else was reminded of the work of the late great Douglas Adams, whose trademark combination of sci-fi and odd humor is very compatible with Don & Walt's despite its intense Britshness - for me it was the concept of the Last Mall that recalled this particular eating establishment: >>This is how I imagine Zaphod Beeblebrox chatting up babes at the Restaurant at the End of the Univ Gina (GB, 6/21/03): ... read the notions in both yellow and blue about these lyrics ... to me a main frame is communication between "Walter" and this girl, or his thoughts and impressions in a monologue, like thinking out loud .. he's telling the story and questioning as well as filling in the blanks .. describing events happening, she's showing him a new world in a way but the funny thing is he did tune into her world by describing in the same kinda vague way that makes you feel the illusive nature of it all ... can't help but feel something very sweet which is also present in Book of Liars ... music and melody wise ... as far as lyrics and/or story is concerned, both Slang of Ages and Book of Liars sound like they're about this gender trap and maybe even attempts to understand the other sexe but it's clear there's a distance and from the storyteller's point of view he couldn't really care less in a way ... like in Lunch with Gina an example of attraction or contact between a man and a woman and how this can differ depending on the nature of the relationship, expectations or knowledge and sentiments, fantasy, imagination involved ... bway Steve (Blue Book, 6/27/03): I think Slang Of Ages refers to the word "fuck" .I keep trying to make something more out of the lyric but always come back to this.Do you think Walter is trying a little too hard to sound buzzed ? LOve the chorus melody. wormtom (GB, 7/4/03): worst DAN lyrics ever "roll with the homeys and knock on wood"

like the song but I cringe every time I hear that one reminds me of some dreadful "look I'm hip" dr evil verbosity Rajah of Erase (GB, 7/4/03): The cliche lyrics suit the narrative; we witness an older man on the make, about 7 years behind the curve, spout with bravura, "let's roll with the homeys and knock on wood". That trite couplet samples vernacular usage of English, as spoken by Americans, from maybe 1958 through 1993. It's satire, it's funny, there's TONS of it this record...or whatever. Midsummer in New York (GB, 7/5/03): (I *finally* got my mind wrapped around these lyrics a bit tonight. From what I can tell Walt is looking for a band to sit in with, perhaps it's after hours on tour, and he's being given a tour of the nightlife by one or two of the locals. I'm thinking "Groovetime" is a jazz or blues nightclub, or maybe the groove of the late night jam; the "slang of ages" those well known time honored jazz or blues cliches that musicians use to communicate)

"Pixeleen"

Beerberian (GB, 6/9/03): Roppongi is Tokyo's current active nexus of sin where the highest concentration of foreigners can be found any night after 6pm. An unusual plethora of Nigerian men work the doors of bars and work the street - "you, what kind of ladies are you looking for tonight?" luckless pedestrian (GB, 6/10/03): is pixelene a hot video game? a cyber-porn star? an updated janie runaway? Robin (GB, 6/10/03): I took... Pixeleen to be a movie, possibly along the line of the Final Fantasy movie -- with a totally computer-created cyber character. However--what is with the noodle shop??? The Roppongi reference -a Japanese red-light district? The bogs of Jersey -- a nod from Donald? luckless pedestrian (GB, 6/10/03): hubby said he loved the tokyo/japanese comic book reference as well in pixeleen - brought us back 2 years from now when we traversed by those skeevy but clean and happy comic book and video game shops in tokyo, music blasting out the front door - bright neon moving signs - it's all there... as well as a red light district in tokyo there is also an electronics district that's really a hoot to walk through.... just about every street corner has this strange video/comic book/video game/cyber-everything outlets....now the song makes perfect sense Steveedan (GB, 6/10/03): Pixelene - equals Tank Girl, Tomb Raider, any Japanese super hero nymphet Blaise (Blue Book, 6/11/03): You're right about one thing, Pixelene is Lara Croft or better yet, a young Angelina Jolie. Which would explain the "as if boyfriend" (Billy Bob Thornton) and the stupid father (Jon Voigt) references in there. Fits like a good old go go boot. enimen (GB, 6/11/03): Pixeleen is Negative Girl three years later, and is Peg 25 years later. The girl whose appearance is her soul (or at least so it appears to her male observer). Ogling and worshipping are one. angel (Blue Book, 6/11/03): Pixeleen is a teenager. No video game character. She is in a fantasy world and then she gets interupted by things like her cell phone ringing or her pager going off and she is brought back to harsh

reality. Be home at 10 - again, or her as/if boyfriend Randal trying to get her and interupting her video game fantasy. Bookworm (GB, 6/11/03): Just a thought re Pixeleen - given SD's and William Gibson's mutual appreciation, perhaps the inspiration for the character comes from his book All Tomorrow's Parties which as aficionados will know features a certain Rei Toei, the idoru - beatiful girl, virtual icon, post-human being. DACW (GB, 6/11/03): ...there is some Gibson in there. Check out the first 30 pages of Count Zero...some of the best prose ever written - sounds like Donald... oleander (GB, 6/11/03): Bookworm: BINGO!! I was thinking exactly that. Where do all these people think Lara Croft, Kim Possible, et al. came from? I would argue they largely grew out of "Neuromancer." Molly Millions was the original cyberpunk girl samurai. This song feels like an hommage a Gibson. Actually, the Idoru started out in "Idoru" and made another appearance in "All Tomorrow's Parties." In "Idoru," one member of a band suspiciously reminiscent of Steely Dan falls in love with an A.I. construct, Rei Toei, the idoru. (Steely refs abound in this book.) There already have been computer-generated girl pop entities in Japan; Rei Toei is on a whole nother technological level. Much intrigue ensues with respect to nanotech, love with the abstract, fandom, stardom, international theft, Japanese cultural weirdnesses, etc. But what I think Pixeleen has to do with it is: what if Rei Toei had been a teenager? What could she have been like? If she were a teenager now, as opposed to '96, when the book was released, I think she'd be a lot like Pixeleen. A regular adolescent with parents, pager, and cell, but able to do or be literally anything, informed with video gaming, Western culture, and action movies. And talk about bankable! Thus the movie chat.... There is a big scene, in "Neuromancer" I think, where Molly does this gladiator thing on a catwalk in a warehouse. And in Gibson, somebody is always landing in Roppongi and getting in trouble, most recently Cayce in "Pattern Recognition." DACW (GB, 6/11/03): Ole: When the iteration swings around, notice the mobius striptease "Medicine for the Blues" becomes "Medicine Park" on Blues Beach and on Pixeleen the blur between realility and virtuality of the ultrateen model computer videogame (penned by a hack in the Palisades) or comic book teen hip heroine cum movie spy Laura Croft/Charlie's Angels meets Power Puff Girls sensation causes a clever lyric scramble...filmed in digital video - so editing and mergin ultracool special effects by Final Cut Pro or another program is a breeze...definitely a brunette...the film makes a short run and now is on DVD-V at Blockbuster... "...Pixeleen Born in the bogs of New Jersey Trained how to love and spy hard Dropped on the strees of Roppongi Soaked through on the floor of a noodle shop..." [a dropped comic book lies under a ebb mini tide?] TO: "...Pixeleen Born on the floor of a noodle shop Dropped in the bogs of Jersey Shot by a guy from Columbia Soaked through all in digital video..."

Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): Technology is just as good as reality. Hell, it's better. If the movie panders to youth, has enough proven successful gimmicks, and a catchy theme song, we won't need real people or real life. Show Biz Kids are now running the studio. Clas (GB, 6/14/03): Pixeleen - she's the female Indiana Jones. bway Steve (Blue Book, 6/17/03): Have you noticed that after a few choruses of Pixeleen the top third of your body starts to disappear or possibly merge with the room ? What's with that? It like evaporates, except when Lunch with Gina rolls around you have a body again. John (Blue Book, 6/17/03): "noodle shop"... Child labor? (I'm just free-associating here, don't mind me.) Delia (Blue Book, 6/18/03): Abu, Re: "soaked through on the floor of a noodle shop" I think it refers to him eating at a Asian restaurant and the concept of Pixeleen came to him almost by osmosis. Man with no face (6/18/03): Re: Soaked through. If Pixeleen is a manga/graphic novel/comicbook, she could be both literally "dropped on the streets...", and "soaked thru on the floor...". A noodle shop being the asian equivalent of fast food. I'm sure they have plenty of them in Hawaii. This is becoming one of my favorite songs on EMG both musically and lyrically. I love the way that it can be interpreted differently based on who the narrator is and who the various points of view are coming from, One can come up with a huge cast of characters to voice the lines, each one adding information for the next interpretation of the lyrics. For example, in verses one and two what if its a teenage girl playing a computer game, and its her cellphone that rings and her pager that goes off, not Pixeleen's. The narrator is a teenage boy (Freddy), smitten with the young lady (and perhaps the character Pixeleen too) and its above his garage that they play. Unfortunately, all she wants to do is "cut to the chase" (in the game, meaning restore it to a certain point that she likes playing). So Pixeleen is a comic book, a computer game (which would explain being shot in all digital for a million and change) and a big budget movie screened at Sundance. Thus she's "three times perfect". DACW (Blue Book, 6/18/03): Delia: I like it....that has a very-Gibson like stream... The narrator seems to convey mentor-like qualities. Either he is a real-life writer/producer or possibly another character like the Professor on Power Puff Girls "stepping out of the box," which has become more of a common narrative hip trcik common in cartoons, first sued effectively by Bugs Bunny abd the Looney Tunes gang. "...dancing in the video with gun and tambourine..." here, the versatile and ultra modern hip Josie and the Pussycats thing...a hybrid virtual cartoon character indistinguishable visually from the real thing...PIXAR in 5 years... Man with no face (Blue Book, 6/18/03): Re: the tambourine. If the line is voiced by the unnamed studio exec being pitched the movie version of Pixeleen, he's just cynically netting it out to contrast with some other character's (Freddie?) reality-lines-blurred view of it. The movie is just a "girl in girlie trouble" and the requisite MTV music video from the movie (strictly for the profit maximizing marketing purposes the exec is already thinking of) is Pixeleen dancing with gun and tambourine. Why tambourine? I don't know. Because Pixeleen would look sexy? Because she would appear to be part of the band in the video, thus making them look cooler to the teen market and increasing sales? Because it evokes some kind of 1960's Girl from U.N.C.L.E. vibe? (The Slate article makes an interesting point about the Nightfly connection in which Donald reminisces about a future "Symmetrical and clean"). Because it rhymes with "clean"? Anyway, its interesting that the song goes off in a different direction musically, they voice the cynical character (or the realist), then go back to the chorus. Mitch (Blue Book, 6/19/03): Another thought on Pixeleen: How about this? Freddy (the narrator) is pitching a new movie character that is a cross between the chick on

"Alias" and the movie "Spy Kids". There's your high level pitch right there - "It's Alias meets Spy Kids!" (In fact, I think this movie has kind of been made already with a boy in the lead - "Agent Cody Banks.") This way, the father calling and the boyfriend paging are actually things that are happening while Pixy is hanging onto the train for dear life in a Catholic school girl ensemble. It's kind of an adventure comedy - a popcorn flick for teens and skeevy older guys. Verse 1 he's pitching it. Verse 2 he's directing the lead. (In fact, the line "Better keep it real - or whatever" is the director trying to use the parlance of the young demographic.) Carolyn's parts are coming from outside the pitch (with the exception of the bridge). Kind of an omnipotent narrator calling this movie what it is - high concept summermovie schlock. The third half-verse confirms my thoughts, I think: This is what I see Just a girl in girlie trouble Dancing in the video with gun and tambourine He's pitching the video-cross over for MTV to promote the movie. Bill (BlueBook, 6/19/03): Mitch, I'm with ya, except that there's lots of computer-gaming tie-ins involved, too and I still think that the "this is what I see" section is the reaction of the studio exec - cynical (just a girl in girly trouble) and opportunistic (dancing in the video, etc.) Carolyn is the Greek Chorus commenting on the scholckiness of it all. Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 6/19/03): I think you're right on with Pixy but those lines "this is what I see..." I get an image of a studio boss or whoever this thing is being pitched to, standing up - he has to have huge eyeglasses on, don't know why, he's lanky, gauky, kinda like Don but of course he's a complete idiot and all he can visualize after that onslaught of action imagery is Pixy mincing around with gun and tamborine. Mitch (Blue Book, 6/19/03): I am thinking the video game comes later because there really are no video game references nor computer references in the song. Rajah of Erase (Blue Book, 6/19/03): Well, "cyberqueen" seems to imply the virtual world, but I mean the way things go today, it's like, what comes first the video game or the movie? Lara Croft and that whole crew. The pitch is like looking at a story board. Man With No Face (Blue Book, 6/19/03): No computer references? "Pixel" is pretty much a information technology term. Computer games are shot in digital video so the visuals can be easily manipulated. KMITB (Blue Book, 6/19/03): Verse one He's playing the game and seeing the potential of the chick in the game making a good action flick. I think maybe three-times perfect ultrateen refers to the number of lives you usually get in a game. And a lot of times the number is on the screen to let you know how many is left like 3X. Verse two He is directing...maybe in his head....maybe on the set ...how the scene will go. Abu rams the clip, is upon the catwalk....Pixel...you whip the knife from your go-go boot. Camera....we get a nice shot of her thigh. Pixel, your pager goes off and you have the look of disgust because it's your as-if boyfriend Randall...you don't have time to talk with this bozo. ect, ect, ect. Then we get a sense that maybe our director/gamer guy has a flashback to when he played the game in the room above "your" garage. Then we get possibly another point of view with "This is what I see". Could be the producer chiming in....could be a studio exec....who knows. Sharang (Blue Book, 6/19/03): Three times perfect means that Pixeleen is a virgin. Mary (mother of god) is said to have a virginity that is three times perfect. When I first heard "soaked through on the floor of a noodle shop" I pictured Pixeleen dissolving (in a pixelated

way) into the drain on the floor of a noodle shop in Japan. Also, I first imagined Pixeleen as Japanese but I now know that can't be true, otherwise she'd be Pixereen. Legion2 (Blue Book, 7/19/03): Kudos to Andy on his interpretation of Pixeleen. I think we're simpatico on a majority of your ideas. Also, Man with No Face, I believe is correct about the line "Soaked through on the floor of a noodle shop" although I would tend to believe it refers to how the Pixeleen phenom has flooded society with her image. Think of the posters pasted everywhere to promote a record or movie. Its easy to see a "Pixeleen" flyer on the floor of a greasy noodle shop. (Brings to mind the advertising blimp in Blade Runner). Peg (Blue Book, 6/20/03): I don't think Pixelene's narrator is her father; he's a fan or someone involved in her creation... SouthofHollywood (Blue Book, 6/20/03): Has anyone else considered that the "Sweet Backstory" line in Pixel might be an anotomical reference?...Hmmmm... Bill/Pittsburgh (Blue Book, 6/26/03): re Pixeleen types Interesting recent article about female action heroes from MSNBC. Sound like anyone we've been debating lately? http://www.msnbc.com/news/931064.asp?vts=062620031010 "All of these 21st-century women do have one thing in common: Theyre todays new female action heroes, women who dont have to sacrifice their femininity in order to get the job done, and done right. Theyre younger. Theyre tougher. Theyre smarter. Theyre braver. Theyre out to save the world and, thank you very much, they can do it without the help of men. And yes, they are our new role models." Chief of Theory (Blue Book, 6/26/03): This belief that Pixeleen is a girl in a video game worries me. The more and more I study the lyrics, the less I agree. What video is shown at the Sundance film festival? Roppongi, if I'm not mistaken, is a fashionable neighborhood in Tokyo and must have something to do with the noodle shop. This popular belief warrants further study. John (Blue Book, 6/26/03): Pixeleen: Movie or Video Game Chief of Theory expresses concern about which medium is featured in Pix, although I'm not sure how much it matters. First, I try not to take anything in a Dan song too literally. Sure, a Utah festival is mentioned and Sundance is the likely suspect, but can't this just be a sly slam at the marketing of characters/treatments/properties in show biz? Don't today's show business kids cynically try to get their ideas "placed" at Sundance, so that they can hop the independent route to movie success? And isn't that cynicism in stark contrast to the relative innocence of the fans of vid games and action movies?(Perhaps even our Pixeleen, the ultrateen)? And doesn't that play in well with one of the major themes of the CD, of the rot of business, at least as practiced in the early 21st century? Furthermore there's all kinds of crossover between video games and the movies. Final Fantasy started as a game and became a movie. Lara Croft likewise. Kate Archer (whose James Bondian antics in the vid game "No One Lives Forever" make her the more likely role model for the first two verses) makes three. So it's not like a video game concept couldn't end up being shown at Sundance. I agree that the Japanese angle needs further deconstruction. I think anime. But Roppongi is not just a location in Japan; it is also a symbol of East-West fusion... not a surprise from a band that created Aja. ssssnakehips (GB, 6/26/03): i think it's somewhere, uh, something else that starts to "throb" and i don't think it's a headache

DACW (GB, 7/1/03): Heres what I see for Pixeleen. The key is call and response. Interaction between the instruments, including vocalists, is key throughout EMG. Here, a virtual/real interaction occurs at a high level. Its unclear whether this is a Purple Rose of Cairo moment or whether the interactions has simply become real in the protagonists mind, because it seems to real. OK, I imagine Pixeleen as a cult to famous 3 -D DVD holograph (SurroundVision 5.1) digital movie character set in the near future. Ive debated in my mind whether the protagonist is a mentor, father, professornow it seems that he is simply a BIG fan with mixed feelings of parental protection, lust, and admiration. Pixeleen started out as an on-line comic book character like the virtual Lara Croft. Shes a Superteen Spy and sex kitten with a Gibson-like edge As the protagonist watches the new 3-D DVD (for likely the 10th time) released after a run at Sundance, he recites the action as it progresseswe get not only call & response between the viewer and Pixellen, but a projected Nightfly -type moment (there Lester goes back and forth between his thoughts and memories and the action of the broadcast) as wellthe distinction between reality and virtuality blurs until it soaks throughanother example of SD and Fagens Imperfect Narrator ploy The viewer is a HUGE FAN and recites in his mind the plot an sights as they move along: Our man Abu squeezes off twenty tracer rounds And that's when she jumps the turnstile We follow the start off the action furiously as Pixeleen enters the scene with Abu protecting her back And as she clings to the roof of the speeding train The Double A down to Sheridan Square The nimbleness, power, and dexterity of spiderman packed into a knockout female bod Her cell phone rings It's, like, her stupid father Be in the door by ten again A comical break in the action, where were reminded in a hot babe/Doogie Howser way that our 3 -D superheroine is still a teenwith boring homework and stuffand a curfewI imagine a goofy Dad out of Fairly Odd Parents show or something... Pixeleen Dream deep my three-times perfect Ultrateen The admiration of a huge fan shes a 3-D marvel (nod to Oleander), Pixar in 6 more generations (note: a computer generation has a life of 18 months) Pixeleen Born in the bogs of Jersey Trained how to love and spy hard This background is likely in the SurroundVision 5.1 DVD, but also comes from the viewers exhaustive knowledge of her background from Pixeleens on-line comic book daysHere though Pixeleen, in his mind, her history soaks through in the call & response through her voice - brilliant Dropped on the streets of Roppongi Intrigue in the Far East draws Pixeleen nice Gibson reference

Soaked through on the floor of a noodle shop possible reference to digital editing and a look so real it Soaks into the mind of our viewer And when Abu rams the clip in the miniglock Up on the catwalk inside the warehouse As Abu rides a hi-tech shotgun, Pixeleen continues to amaze us in 3-D, its his favorite SurroundVision 5.1 movie You whip a knife from the top of your go-go boot With just a flash of spectacular thigh Admiration now starts to move to the Southern Hemisphere Your pager starts to throb Ironic emphasis on YOUR? Hmmmm It's your as-if boyfriend Randall The jerk he represents a loser rival vying for the attention of PixeleenI mean, shes winking at me, the viewer, right Better keep it real -- or whatever Get rid of him I dont care what he does at home Pixeleen Rave on my sleek and soulful cyberqueen You Da Woman!! Uhh-huh. Everything I always wanted Pixeleen Penned by a hack in the Palisades Backed by some guys from Columbia Shot all in digital video For a million and change Now he recites the history in his mind through her voice again - the making of 3-D Pixeleen in Surround Vision Flashback to cool summer nights Freddy can we cut to the chase? In the room above your garage Everything about me is different Symmetrical and clean The highlight of the song..errr albumerrr careerWe soak through to the making of PixeleenNote that voice of Pixeleen is now DIRECTLY interacting with the viewer, calling him by name (in his mind?) the viewer projects himself there to her creationor is he projecting Pixeleen to an attractive neig hbor (perhaps from HIS past) who in his mind becomes Pixeleenmemory and sensationi are swimming...a thousand years roll by...

This is what I see Just a girl in girlie trouble Dancing in the video with gun and tambourine A little male ego comes outthe viewer sees a vulnerability beneath the SuperTeen Queen UltraSpy PixeleenI can help herI can dance with herplay in her band...or somethingtheres that cartoon melding with real and 3-D super-real digital editing virtual reality Pixeleen Be good my three-times perfect ultrateen What a marvel of virtual video and personality Pixeleen Born on the floor of a noodle shop Dropped in the bogs of Jersey Shot by a guy from Columbia Soaked through all in digital video Very clever shuffling of Pixeleens history representing the merging of reality, fanatasy, and digital SurroundVisioin Girl with the sweet backstory Pitched in a trailer in Burbank Cast by a cool-enough yes-man Screened at a festival in Utah The viewer thinks about the wonderment of Pixeleen as the credits roll wormtom (GB, 7/1/03): " Her cell phone rings It's, like, her stupid father Be in the door by ten again A comical break in the action, where were reminded in a hot babe/Doogie Howser way that our 3 -D superheroine is still a teenwith boring homework and stuffand a curfewI imagine a goofy Dad out of Fairly Odd Parents show or something... " I was seeing that lyric section a little differently - as a switch back to reality from the game, then again the two lines before are more in line with your adolescent game cyber parenting anyway, here's my alternative take our game playing teen accomplice is in an arcade. His girlfriend or mall rat companion (who doesn't quite measure up to his cyber action gal) is probably working the adjacent game (or watching his) and her dad (immaturely labeled stupid for obviously cutting the fun short) is installing curfew again over emphasis on the virtual over the reality Midsummer in New York (GB, 7/5/03): Could they be talking about Abu from The Simpsons? Who'da thunk? The sales pitch keeps the song from collapsing under the weight of sentimentality, blending beauty and cynicism like a sonic lemon meringue pie....

Hank Silvers (7/9/03): Neat wordplay in Pixeleen -- the narrator's baby's got a sweet back (story, that is)... (that is, what I think WB was playing with was the song "Baby Got Back" -www.lyricsstyle.com/s/sirmixalot/babygotback.html ) Tosspot (8/25/03): Pixeleen strikes me as a "film", with our narrator being its video editor. Maybe he's sitting in front of his PC, having captured the bulk of the digital video in some "lo-resolution preview mode". When blown up on his monitor, there are all those familiar rectangular blotches from not having enough pixels in the source material. Hence, the title character looks "pixelated". Our man Abu sqeezes off twentry tracer rounds And that's when she jumps the turnstile. The first two lines strike me literally as instructions from the film's director about how to cut together two shots. Three times perfect ultrateen Maybe they did three takes of a particular scene, and she was great in all of them. Now they are deciding which one to use. Everything about me is different Symmetrical and clean. Maybe the preview video is masking some flaws in the full-resolution version. Freddy, can we cut to the chase. Literally, can we cut out this scene and cut to the chase (scene)? And all this buisness in the chorus about the people producing this "epic". As the editor, maybe he's met them and is commenting about their talents. Hank Silvers (10/7/03): (1) I hear "bomb and tambourine" instead of the "gun and tambourine" in the printed lyrics. Wouldn't be the first time they threw us a curve -- in Time Out Of Mind, the printed lyrics say "mystical stone" but DF sang "mystical sphere." (2) Our consensus so far: it was probably first a popular video game, then a quickie independent film thrown together on the cheap to cash in on the character's popularity, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah in hopes of being picked up by a distributor. But the film isn't faithful to the character, at least not as envisioned by the person playing the game in the first verse. They cleaned her up and pumped up her physical dimensions to babe-licious proportions, and worse still, in the eyes of the gamer, they changed her story, which is represented by the lines where they shuffle the facts in the background vocals over the chorus: "born (a) in the bogs of Jersey (b) on the floor of a noodle shop" "dropped (a) on the streets of Roppongi (b) in the bogs of Jersey" I figure a big fan would scream sacrelige at the changes. As usual, Commerce wins over Art in a knockout. (3) "Soaked through in digital video" -- someone with more video skills and experience could probably tie in the word "saturation".

Yeah, and sometimes I hear "gum and tangerines."

(Call me) Deacon Blues (1/12/04): About the phrase "three times perfect ultra-teen": I'm tempted to assume that the lyrics are describing the three primary "faculties" of girls, as seen through teenage glasses. Namely her butt, her breasts, and her face.. Also, there is an older online hentai (pornographic japanese cartoon) game called "UltraVixen". Maybe a reference? Overall, I think it is impossible to see the song as a puzzle where all the pieces can fit. In effect, the song is about different themes, such as teenage idol worship, movie showbiz, the digital age with its virtual heroes, marketed plastic stars such as Britney Spears.. All the flimsy things that have come into being since the early 90's, as seen from a variety of perspectives. Pixeleen is a single slice of the pizza of our time.. Dr. Mu (GB, 1/24/04): "everything about me is different symmetrical and clean" like "yes at Lantern time that's when comes to me" "she cools me with her fan We're drifting, a thousand years go by" "electrons dancing in a frozen crystal dawn" takes the entirety of the moment and throws a thousand mirrors up at the sky, and just there, for a split second, an image of a complete thought, the entire plan is revealed...

"Green Book"
wormtom (GB, 6/3/03): this track is very captivating and has a vampiric vibe Clas (GB, 6/3/03): I like the neon I love the music... (Green Book) I like the feathers and I love the hat... (Down In the Bottom) That's Becker. DACW (GB, 6/11/03): Green Book is virtual mail-order porno....construct your own Babe on-line...instant Pinochiette...singles site Geisha Girls programmed for pleasure - meet her in a smoky bar, slow dance to Aja...the dance, the dress, she's a concept more or less. Gina (GB, 6/11/03): ... about Green Book, i sense this Zappa-esque vibe in it, especially in the verse when Donald sings "i like the neon i love the music", then it's like he takes the listener right into what he's experiencing. and there it is, some Zappanisms. LOVE it. Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): Jill St. John? Joey Heatherton? Marilyn Monroe? Tuesday Weld? This guy was paying attention when he was young. Is this another "Springtime" thing where technology lets you live your fantasies and/or memories? Or maybe it's a book of memories and this is sentimental ode to a long time lover. I could tolerate some occasional sappy romanticism from the bakers of cynicism.

DACW (GB, 6/15/03): I'm thinking the Green Book is some kind of interactive computer Holodeck (a a la Star Trek TNG...I think Riker got laid once there. Who was that? - Minuet!)...The scenes are depicted are part of the programming, largely abstracted from the inner mind of the narrator...note "it's kinda scary to 'dig' yourself"...and "...the new cashier looks like Jill St. John. Can that be right" The narrator is surprised that such an image was lurking in his mind...where'd we sample those leg? I'm thinking sampling Marilyn (Monroe) 4.0...seems like he's introducing someon NEW to the "Greenbook" "grid of desire"...the virtual characters become real...until someone shuts of the computer ...essentially a virtual become real "blow-up doll"...beats picking Russian brides in the want ads! Roy.Scam (Blue Book, 6/23/03): "Green Book" works for me as a parade of memories mixed in with fantasies; maybe a journal or diary kept by someone who has non-factual flights of fancy. In a recent interview, Fagen said that he thinks it's important to keep your fantasies alive, even if you're in love and monogamous. I'm not admitting to anything here, but I think it's possibly when cataloguing memories and drifting down memory lane, that lovely thoughts of your one and only life partner can get overlapped with certain early Jill St. John, Joey Heatherton daydreams. I mean the brain is a complex machine and those memory cells can get their sharp edges shaved off with excessive use. angel (GB, 6/24/03): Favorite part is the "I'm so in love with this dirty city" line. That sounds so sincere, coming from Donald's lips. All I can think of is NYC. Jane (Digest, 6/25/03): I need some help with an interpretation of Green room. Here are my thoughts so please put it together for me. First, could the title be a take off on the name of the chat room green room? The other computer reference I saw was "Marilyn 4.0". The last line could also be talking about the guys seeing themselves talked about in the green room. Second, What does "three hand rose" mean? Third, what city do you think they are referfing to "boardwalk..."? hoops! (Digest, 6/25/03): I'm viewing this song as being about virtual reality pornography, in a few years from now, via a virtual reality cave or some successor to the world wide web. One of the first lines in "Green Book" is "This is where I get off." Think about it. This is where the narrator (played by Fagen) gets off, gets his sexual jollies. > First, could the title be a take off on the name of the chat room green room? No...the song was written before the "Green Room" was created. Actually, the name "Green Room" as a name for chat was discussed last November when the idea of a companion chat room was first bandied about. A Green Room is often the waiting room back stage for guests stars to hang out in before they appear on shows like Letterman, etc. Works nice with the color BlueBook. That's really all it is. Coincidence. >The other computer reference I saw was "Marilyn 4.0". This could be the latest version of the cyber sex kitten you assemble by selecting from a palette of torsos, legs, faces, etc. You could choose to experience the new and improved version of Marilyn, the vixen. Heck, you could even pick who would be the receptionist at the meeting place. This particular night, the avatar serving as desk attendant is made to look like Jill St. John. >The last line could also be talking about the guys seeing themselves >talked about in the green room. My take is that since the narrator (the character Fagen sings as in this song) went to this virtual reality pornography experience selected what the woman looked like (torso, legs, etc), what the sexual experience would be and what would happen, it's basically a reflection of his own inner sexuality. In other words, he's fallen "in love" with something of his own devising, he's basically digging himself. It's a cyber jerk-off. >Second, What does "three hand rose" mean? A "second hand rose" is an old slang for a woman who's been married before or been around the block. Not such a big deal in these times. So to me, "a third hand rose" is a woman who's really been around the block, if not an outright slut.

>Third, what city do you think they are referfing to "boardwalk..."? Not sure. snakehips (GB, 6/26/03): anyone else think "dirty city" is either the chat room or the internet itself? Audi TT (GB, 6/26/03): I think the song "Green Book" literally describes a future virtual reality technology which people can role play in and (what else?) have sexual encounters. In the narrator's case, "dirty city" is the virtual reality scenario that he plays and is also a play on words that its for sexual purposes as is "grid of desire" and "where I get off". Cities are in a grid and the term "grid" has technology/networking/sci-fi connotations. Perhaps they chose a term like "Green Book" because they didn't want to be tied down with some descriptive term for or explaination of the technology that's making it all happen. It doesn't matter if its a Star Trek Holodeck, direct sensory input like The Matrix, or whatever. So he's in some sort of Raymond Chandler 1940's film noirish scene, but there are some anachronisms like Jill St. John (can that be right? - she's from the '60s) and whatever the music is that he comments on. The festive icons along the way could be the user interface for the technology, sort of like The Matrix's telephones. Maybe you can also interact with other avatars of oneself like the last girl, who's got the mood and the moves. Its kinda scary to dig yourself in the Green Book. It sounds like a very addictive place. DACW (GB, 6/27/03): Exactly. Kind of like a Porno Matrix or the Holodeck in Star Trek TNG. The sensualist (if that's a word) selects the envirornment from probably a menu, and then can put together a la carte the components of their latest or previous virtual blow-up doll. The "dirty city" is a favorite haunt of the User yet again...just like St. Andrew's is my favorite golf course on my kids' Tiger Woods PlayStation2 DVD. The rest is filled in and garnered from the mind of the user...that's why "it's scary to DIG yourself"...The experiences are beyond virtual - there more real, like the Holodeck. This time in the song Green Book the Sensualist or User brings along someone new...does she "like to watch?" Is it a "virtual threesome?" wormtom (Guestbook, 7/8/03): the "dig yourself" comment in Green Book is either admiring your own created virtual reality portfolio on line or digging to the deeper levels of the cyber erotica Cringemaker (7/11/03): First, I view this song as a bifurcated ode to the narrator's longtime loves of partner and New York City. Specifically, "Green Book" is a reference to annual: The Green book : official directory of the City of New York. New York (N.Y.); 1985- More information at following url: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcas/html/greenbook.html The narrator "gets off" sexually and is figuratively dropped off by a cab to arrive at dark and seamy New York City night sites. Jill St. John look-alike discloses narrator's penchant for Mensa-smart attractive women. On laying eyes on his beloved the narrator draws parallel to her as exquisitely complicated and dangerously seductive as the women chracters and plot in the 1955 atomic/apocalyptic B-film noir, Kiss Me Deadly. Imho, this is a device with which our boys overlay complex meaning into lyrics. One could easily fly off on this tangent for hours. He, the narrator,imagines/recalls/relishes sexual play in location after location with his love in his beloved NYC. These two morph into one another and are inextricably entwined. It could be cyber sex, but not necessarily. Grid of desire could be street map of city. The mind is a wonderful thing. He waxes on the loveliness and merits of his beloveds. Marilyn 4.0 refers to the pleated white halter dress skirt fly-up over the NYC sidewalk grate shot of Ms. Monroe in Seven Year Itch. I would argue 4.0 refers to topgraded perfection rather than software release version. I think our boys also toy with us by using Marilyn along with Green Book as an oblique reference to Marilyn Chambers, famed porno star of 1970's Behind the Green Door. Marilyn Chambers was a photographic model prior to becoming a porn star. She was the familiar face on Ivory Snow holding a baby. St. John, Monroe, and Chambers; all stunningly beautiful women. The rest of the tune is juxtaposed images of the thrill of fulfilling love in the very real/surreal location of NYC. The last line is the narrator pinching himself declaring that his pleasure and happiness are almost frightening. oleander (GB, 1/11/04): "The eyes are keepers"--I mentioned that "keepers" rhymes with "peepers," old slang for eyes--but more than that, the peepers are keepers suggests the old song, "Jeepers Creepers":

JEEPERS CREEPERS Al Donohue/Johnny Mercer Jeepers, creepers, where'd ya get those peepers, jeepers, creepers, where'd ya get those eyes? Gosh all, git up, how'd they get so lit up, gosh all, git up, how'd they get that size? Golly gee! When you turn those heaters on woe is me, got to put my cheaters on. Jeepers, creepers, where'd ya get those peepers? Oh, those weepers, how they hypnotize! Where'd ya get those eyes? Sung both by Sinatra and Armstrong & I'm sure others of note. And of course you noticed "cheaters," used in "Everyone's Gone To The Movies."

"Lunch With Gina"

Streaming (GB, 6/3/03): The guy is probably stalking Gina. This lunch date is probably in his head. And as he get more frustrated, Gina is becoming more of a PT. Beerberian (GB, 6/3/03): Gina; I reckon she's a lap dancer and the guy is the sort who'd spend his lunchtimes sneaking in there Groovin' (GB, 6/3/03): Gina and her secret admirer live in the same apartment building. He listens to her phone ring and knows when she doesn't answer Do you think she tortures him on purpose? Or is it all in his mind? observe le skii waxette (GB, 6/3/03): it's all in his skeevy little mind wormtom (GB, 6/3/03): sounds like our protagonist lives in an apartment complex, Gina is a common visitor of his close neighbor (who isn't home a lot - gender not specific). Perhaps she rang his door once by chance to get by the front door. our faithful narrator is fixated on her, overhears neighbors phone calls with her, soon learns her times of stopping in, the car she drives and starts following her out to her lunch haunts. his nerves are on edge as he waits and his fantasies run amuck a little more subtle than Cousin Dupre DACW (GB, 6/3/03): Could be he's externailized his stalking to her...HE's actually rings her number, hangs up...watches her at the restaurant from afar...Wow, she does sound like an upgraded Sean Young model... Howard (GB, 6/9/03): "who's stalking who?" indeed. I've got quite a different idea of the story now. Sounds like our man in struggling to escape from Gina, not stalking her. She's ringing his bell, and he's hoping she'll go. He's the one with "the blinds down, the lights out" hoping she'll stop calling!
luckless pedestrian (GB, 6/10/03): if gina is a stalker as someone posted before, then doesn't he come around in the

last stanza? Steveedan (GB, 6/10/03): This is a classic example of literary irony. After trying to avoid the "cringemaker", the narrator discovers that his stalker is a beauty ... someone he might like to have relations (of some sort) with.

Howard (GB, 6/11/03): I agree, I think the narrator in Gina starts to have second thoughts right at the end of the song. Typical Dan, to leave the story hanging like that. Does he give her a chance? Does he live to regret it? Who knows. The Audi TT (GB, 6/11/03): In "Lunch with Gina", they are *both* stalkers. But then again the song is about drug addiction. Bill (GB, 6/11/03): "Lunch with Gina" is a fantastic song. It just rocks. It's also kind of funny when you think about it because in the begining of the song the guy is doing all he can do to avoid the girl; "So I'm nailed to the floor in the no-option zone There's about zero chance she'll give up and go home" But during the second half of the song he finally realizes that she's quite a bit hotter than he first thought... "I'm about to go postal when she waltzes in I guess she's a knockout, Hey where have I been?" Also is it possible that the following verse is a play on words? "The waiter never comes God knows the service could be better" The waiter never comes? Who is doing the waiting? He is of course. This might be a bit too riske' even for Steely Dan though but it crossed my mind considering who the songwriters are. oleander (GB, 6/11/03): Yeah, "Lunch With Gina" is the latest chapter in the March of the Borderlines. This guy can't get enough of beautiful women with personality disorders. Negative girls, Pegs, Josies, almost Gothics, junkie girls... drive you bats, but like you say, craveworthy. Funny take on the waiter there. Gina (GB, 6/12/03): ... from where i hear the lyrics and listen to them and or interpret, it's mainly about attraction and this game of back and forth, the fear of giving in, as we're all familiar with the gender chemistry depending on one's character and personality which can make for all kinds of actions-reactions etc etc. this song's from a guy's point of view for sure LOL. for it's still quite common for a man to wanna conquer a woman and use all means in order to get what he wants, but when a woman shows determination this usually arouses fear or something ... and again, this CD's a picture book, human nature in a groovy mode. Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): Subtitle: "Positive Girl". Donald, just find yourself a nice Jersey girl with positive values. This is your third helping of Black Cow and these oblivious schizo women are just gonna leave you staring into your coke. Nice instrumental break. The outro also reminds me of that negatively charged girl that repelled the poor guy in Two Against Nature. Roy.Scam (GB, 6/16/03): ... "Lunch with Gina" would make a killer Twilight Zone episode. I can see Rod Serling walking through a crowded restaurant just before the credits come on. "A late lunch with the girl of his dreams. Or is she the girl of his nightmares? The waiter who never comes. Bad service? Or could it be that lunch with Gina is forever ... in the twilight zone." Freeze frame on the patrons of the restaurant. The music stops. The lights grow dim, then dark, except for one small spotlight on a corner table where the two fate-crossed lovers sit frozen in mid gesture. Fade to black. dee-dee-dee-dee. dee-dee-dee-dee.

Man with no face (Blue Book, 6/26/03): Does anybody else hear "I'm about to go postal when *G* waltzes in" instead of "when *she* waltzes in"? And I dunno, Tanqueray is a premium gin, and the martini is very popular these days.... I don't know if its as decadent as kirschwasser from a shell though. Retsina emphasizes the connection to Homer's Odyssey, its Greek. angel (Blue Book, 6/26/03): I guess she's a knockout -- hey where have I been? Did he get drugged? Hmmmm..... wormtom (GB, 7/5/03): contemplate the line "lunch with Gina is forever" generally on a cyber initiated (or blind) date - best to do lunch the committment level is minimal if you don't hit it off seems our protagonist goes to set things up unfortunately he tells Gina a little too much about himself, like last name or where he lives and he's got the stalker at the door that minimal commitment lunch date that never materialized (at least till the last verse) is certainly "forever" Deacon Jones (8/25/03): The action is narrated in reverse order. The last verse tells of the first meeting with Gina. The second to last verse tells speaks of the result of the lunch, our man is hiding in his apartment. In the second verse he finally goes outside again, he tries to hide, but she finds him. And finally in the first verse she has followed him to his apartment and is ringing the bell. Patrick Cleasby (from his marvelous review on highfidelityreview.com 5/16/03): Lunch with Gina is about a fantasy stalker or a stalker fantasy, Im not sure which, and its the waiter never comes line emphasises that this albums theme is the New York equivalent of the Eagles Hotel California disillusionment.

Wow! Patrick's observation about Hotel California gives me a frisson: You can check out, but you can never leave. And you can never leave the cozy booth.... The waiter never comes--because lunch with Gina is FOREVER--MWAHAHA--cue Twilight Zone theme... Clean Willy (11/1103): Oleander, what you and Patrick say is even more interesting in light of the whole "Everything You Did" (turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening) "Hotel California" (they stab it with their steely knives) debate from 1976.

"Everything Must Go"

Mark in Boston (Blue Book, 5/30/03): Just listened to the nice pre-order stream of EMG. I have to say, the title cut might be the best Steely Dan tune ever recorded - IMHO. Yes, even better than Aja. The lyrics and the sax work are chilling. I have this image in my mind for the first 30 seconds with that explosion of sound - of the twin towers falling and crumbling to the ground. And when the dust clears we start the song. Fuck Bruce and The Rising, Don and Walt have the balls to offer up real 9/11 feelings because 'it's high time for a walk on the

real side". "let's admit the bastards beat us" "talk about your major pain and suffering" BUT!!....there's a glimmer of hope.... "Does anybody get lucky twice? Wouldn't it be nice!" A courageous and heart-breaking tune. Alone, it's worth the price of the CD. Thanks Don and Walter! Hutch (GB, 6/12/03): That little prelude to the song EMG is an interesting touch. I wondered why the final chord seems to have been cut off rather than letting the instruments ring out and dissolve smoothly into silence. Maybe it represents the money hungry bastards' majestic rise to wealth and power which was abruptly cut off at the knees. Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): Love the rhyming of 'beat us' and 'margaritas'. On Black Friday, the losers were decent enough to jump from the 14th floor. Nowadays, the Enron types just shuffle out the door singing the blues, probably to screw us again some time. That's what the last outro makes me think of. south of Hollywood (Blue Book, 6/16/03): Just an aside, but "fugazy" is an urban slang term meaning fake or phony...Can you dig it, Miss Fugazy?...Let's roll with the homeys! sharkdeville (Blue Book, 6/16/03): Are these guys quoting William Blake and Ned Flanders (hidey-ho)on the same album? TIGER TIGER Tiger Tiger burning bright, in the forest of the night, what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant lands or skies burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire, what hands dare sieze the fire ? And what shoulder and what art could twist the sinews of thy heart ? And when thy heart began to beat, what dread hand and what dread feet. Tiger Tiger burning bright, in the forest of the night, what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry? by William Blake (Duke of) Earl (Blue Book, 6/17/03): I was thinking the hidey-ho may have been a reference to Wilson on Home Improvement. Wilson never showed his full face (from the nose up), and always said "Hidey-ho neighbor."

fezo (Blue Book, 6/17/03): I took "hidey-ho" as a nod to Cab Calloway. Think Minnie The Moocher and Ken Lay or Bernie Ebbers as a possible modern day equivalent. John (Blue Book, 6/17/03): Re: Hidey-ho. Is there anyone here (Hoops for sure, and StAl, perhaps others?) who attended the PBS tapings at the Sony studio in NY? During that session, during one song there was a misstart, and Cornelius started saying some funny line about "Hold on, Boss," (referring to Donald). I have a faint memory that in the very brief interplay between them, the phrase "hidey-ho" came out a few times and that the band all laughed as if this were an inside joke. Or maybe I'm imagining it. fezo (Blue Book, 6/24/03): My first misheard lyric from EMG. After multiple listenings, I thought the line on the title track was: And if Dave from Acquisitions Wants to get in on the action With his hammer toe Chief of Theory (Blue Book, 6/27/03): Never in a million years would I have expected SD to latch on to this simplistic, overinflated, cliche-ridden, media hype nonsense about corporate greed. As if people like Bernie Ebbers or the Enron sleazebombs are the rule and not the exception...puh leeeeeze. In my company, once your salary reaches a certain level, you are REQUIRED to give ten percent of your income to a charity - it's a condition of your employment. It's like that in many firms. I'd be intensely curious to know how many people, in particular journalists, who carp and whine and moan about "corporate greed" give ten percent of *their* salaries away. How come you never see a headline that says STOCKBROKER DONATES FIFTY GRAND TO AIDS RESEARCH, although it happens every day? And irony of ages: who funded the Steely Dan PBS special, or for that matter any PBS program at all? Shaun (6/27/03): In reality "Face Time" does mean getting more time on screen. But I don't think in this particular case that's what it means. Someone posted some great newspaper clippings from a Houston paper a few weeks back. It said how all of the executives at Enron were always partying, drinking Margaritas and basically having sex with everyone in there offices and everywhere else at the Enron headquarters. (Even in the service elevator?) So my take take on "Face Time" is that it's about getting oral sex. Why would Dave from acquisitions have anything to do with getting anyone more screen time with his handicam in tow? Dave works in acquisitions, not at CBS. Dave is filming the boss having sex in the service elevator. 'I think it's a more amusing lyric from that perspective'. Mitch (Blue Book, 6/27/03): I believe the "face-time" term in the case of EMG stems from the common term for time in front of the customer - "face time". Sales reps are often measured by their "face time" with the customer. I would say it has nothing to do with time on screen. That doesn't fit the narrative. In the case of EMG which is a corporate song, I would say it's pretty certain that their double entendre begins there and ends with Miss Fugazy in the elevator. DACW (Blue Book, 6/27/03): The "face time" scene could also be a metaphor for the American public servicing Enron, Clobal Crossing etc. - they had us believing that "new economy" s**t while CEOs and execs lived a hedonistic, celebrity life. Not a week went by in the Houston Chronicle (and this was before the crash) where there was not a major article about Enron's record "profits," acquisitions, and social life...at the expense of the employees, market investors, and eventually the company themselves...and they'd "Do It Again" ...Acquiring new companies, stock options etc. made it easy to cook the books while Robert Rubin and the rest of the regulators looked the other way...anyway, I just saw another article in the Wash. Post on how everyone want to "get in on the action" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37316-2003Jun26.html

beerberian (Blue Book, 6/27/03): face time noun. Time spent interacting with someone in person, rather than via email or some other electronic link. afoolnluv (Blue Book, 6/27/03): Digging all the various takes on "face time", but my initial interp was the guy needed some time to compose himself before going back into public. But in a superficial way because Dave was invited to film the "emotional moment" for posterity, as in that movie about the losers in "Dot Com". Of course since that initial take on my part, you guys here have revealed away many different more exciting possible meanings of "face time" to me. Nice job. Studio7Dave (Blue Book, 6/27/03): While I agree that the title track on EMG is about corporate greed, I thing to a larger extent it's about the end of the American empire, the possible thermonuclear defense of that empire in its last days, and the remeniscence of our former empire. The end of the New Frontier if you will... It's high time for a walk on the real side Let's admit the bastards beat us There has finally been a successful challenge to America. We've lost a big battle and the writing is on the wall. I move to dissolve the corporation In a pool of margaritas If we're going down, let's have one last bash. So let's switch off all the lights And light up all the Luckies Crankin' up the afterglow Could be just setting up the party, but "Luckies" could be a sarcastic name for a nuclear target. "Afterglow"...mushroom cloud...radiation... 'Cause we're goin' out of business Everything must go Launch the warheads.. Talk about your major pain and suffering Now our self-esteem is shattered We're ashamed of our empire's decline. Show the world our mighty hidey-ho face As we go sliding down the ladder We've been taken down a notch...or could we be going into hiding somewhere?... It was sweet up at the top It was nice to rule the world... 'Til that ill wind started blowing

The rest of the world is turning against us or...nuclear fallout. Now it's cozy down below Down the ladder into the bomb shelter. 'Cause we're goin' out of business Everything must go We gave it our best shot But keep in mind we got a lot The sky the moon good food and the weather First-run movies -- does anybody get lucky twice? Wouldn't it be nice... Remembering the greatness of America. Aviation. Space travel. Has any nation ever been as well fed as the US? Central heat and AC. Hollywood. It would be great if we could regain our power...nicely accentuated by a line from the quintessential American band, the Beach Boys. Tell me can you dig it Miss Fugazy Now it's gone from late to later Could this be a doomsday clock reference? Anyway, since we're destroying the world, let's get back to the party... Frankly I could use a little face time In the service elevator And if Dave from Acquisitions Wants to get in on the action With his Handicam in tow Well we're goin' out of business Everything must go Can it be the sorry sun is rising Guess it's time for us to book it Talk about the famous road not taken In the end we never took it And if somewhere on the way We got a few good licks in No one's ever gonna know Why would the greatest empire the world has ever known not be remembered? 'Cause we're goin' out of business Everything must go Mitch (Blue Book, 6/27/03): Do you ever think we give Donald and Walter too much credit? I, as much as the next guy, like to find little hidden meanings in their songs...but the entire deconstruction of EMG as reflecting the decline of the American "empire"...well...to me that's a reach. These guys are great song writers. But c'mon...sometimes a song that sounds like it's about a company going bankrupt is a song about a company going bankrupt.

(This is in NO WAY a slam ad D&W...it's just that I think you can take any song lyric and intrepret the way you want. Kind of like how people have taken Nostradamous' quatrains and made them relavent to current events.) Songs like "Third World Man" and "Aja" and "Home At Last" and "Chained Lightning" have made us think that every song is some sort of deceptive narrative. Sometimes their stuff is pretty straight forward. I suppose that's why the website is called "Fever Dreams". Only a Fool (Blue Book, 6/27/03): "So let's switch off all the lights/ And light up all the Luckies/ Crankin' up the afterglow" I might be just repeating what everyone already knows, but this verse is just hinting at something similar to "face time in the service elevator". Basically, The comapany's dead. Lets have some fun, and afterwards have a smoke to crank up the afterglow (Lucky Strike is a brand of cigarettes and the pack even says "Luckies" on it). Pretty straightforward I thought. Rob (Blue Book, 6/27/03): I agree with Mitch. I appreciate the post interpreting EMG as the decline and fall of the US, as it seems well thought out. But my gut tells me that it really is just a song about a company going out of business, since the narrative all fits quite well when taken this way. Certainly, Dan tunes run the gamut from fairly obvious to quite obtuse in terms of lyrics, but I would put EMG in the fairly obvious category. Not to say that there's nothing interesting about the lyrics, though. The muchdiscussed "Face time in the service elevator", for example. Its just that the overall subject seems pretty clear. Peter Q (6/27/03): I have found a good slogan to work by in examining Steely Dan tales is that frequently what appears to be psychological explanation is not,and that is certainly the case in the story of the song EMG. The phrase "everything must go" is something we associate with RETAIL SALES - just look at the cover of the disc, the jewelry hawker. A clothing store, a shoe store, an electronics store, a store selling QUANTIFIABLE MATERIAL GOODS might put up a sign saying emg; however, this is not where our narrator is from at all. He's from a WHITE COLLAR CORPORATION, a service company, dealing in intangible products, not in hard goods. What could the phrase "emg" possibly mean here? What must go, the office furniture? The computers? The pencils? Hardly. SD is talking about attitude changes, cleaning out the wolves, about mindset. The song reflexively harkens back to TLM and TIMTM - the thematic is carried around in a circle, a first in a SD album, making this almost a kind of concept album of mood (not like The Who's glam rock Eurotrash such as Tommy or Quadrophenia, but more subtle).As always in the Dan literary aesthetic, the emotionally inarticulate schmuck who tells the story looks for comfort in booze ("pool of margaritas", is interchangeable by now with "we've got provisions and lots of beer" or "down in the bottom of the wine dark sea", take your pick). oleander (Blue Book, 6/27/03): Wait a minute. Does no one realize what REALLY happened to Enron and similar corporate execs? They ended up laughing all the way to the bank. They made out like fucking bandits, and that's what's going on under EMG. Yes, they admit the bastards beat them; they've been called on the carpet for their transgressions and their status post scrupulectomy. But memory is short; have your lawyers stretch it out long enough, and the American public will move right on to something else. Therefore, they don't dissolve the corporation in black bunting, but in the quintessential party drink. And when the lights go out on the biz, the afterglow of getting away with offshore-sheltered millions begins. They may do the whiney pro forma "major pain and suffering," but why do you think "it's cozy down below"? "Does anyone get lucky twice? Wouldn't it be nice?" Ouch. I am SUFFOCATING in the irony. They carefully planned this luck of theirs and hid it well. (BTW, this is a great line in an SD song, since what was 2001 about except the Dan getting lucky twice?) Yes, "the sorry sun is rising"--not a hot, bright judgment of their wrongs, nor a fresh new dawn, but a sucker of a sun that thinks the party's over. Get hip, Sol! The protagonist is booking it to Bimini. As for "the famous road not taken," is it too obvious to point out that this is a ref to Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken," which is used

to drum into every eighth-grader's head that we must choose; our choices make us as we make them; and that you can never go back and make the same choice twice? But the guy in the song thinks the road not taken is for saps, and that he can have his cake and eat it. He took the spacious highway to Moloch, pedal to the metal, and never looked back. And is sure he'll get away with murder: "And if somewhere on the way/ We got a few good licks in/ No one's ever gonna know..." Tax sheltered fun in the sun in perpetuity. Yeah, I'm really worried about his self-esteem... Keep in mind he got a lot, all right.... DACW (Blue Book 6/28/03): Oh, yes, those are crocodile tears...the sense of entitlement and invincibility has Ebbers and Lay thinking they can make a comeback (The OTHER DONALD trumped the real estate market in the tri-state area more than once) if they continue to avoid indictment... Enron used the the .com New Economy model. Global Acquisitions and stock options are not counted as debits...leverage the company with cheap bank loans, as they've leveraged them more than a decent sized Central American country...pump up your own stock in a rising market and funnel the market cashouts back into acquisitions, which don't count as debits...it's a freakin' money machine...stay on the front page of the business section...cook the books, while the regulators look the other way, and, in fact, cook the government books in 2000...then when the market comes stumbling down, the paper profits vaporize as capital is sucked into a monetary black hole...meanwhile Lay and Skilling tell the employees and 401k ers to hold onto their stock, while the management geeks dump theirs for big wads of cash... The party never ends...but then "let's admit the bastards beat us" indicates that this was all a game..Just this inning is over, at least in their minds...while Rome burns, let's loot the suckah...but they will miss the face time, the perks, the glowing wonderment of the business and social pages...the irony - we know who the REAL bastards are... So this has been just a Circus...and whose left cleaning up the elephant poop?? US, the suckahs that PT Barnum pegged a 100 years ago..or do we....Didn't we contribute to this and laugh and were entertained as long as the wine flowed our way?...the Louisianization of America....aren't we just pissed because their wine wtill flows while we're left with wHine? How many of us believed our broker or trades analysts, whether real or on the web, when they told us not to be concerned about our growth stocks having P/E ratios of 100:1 or more...investing in companies that never made a profit...as long as Dow Jones increased 30% per year, who asked questionis as speculation and mass action drove a market? how many of us laughed about "irrational exuberence" while we pumped our growth funds because some yo-yo from TIAA-CREF told us we were years from retirement and to stay put, despite that voice in our heads screaming BUY BONDS, BONDS!! Not that we hadn't seen this before in the 1920a...and now we're farther away from retirement than ever...just as well - better for the health anyway...while the poker players are slipping away from the table with as many chips as they can stuff in their pleated trousers... OK, so they've got Martha Stewart, just when are Lay and Ebbers going down? http://www.sagecommentary.com/ Now the new economy is done or at least we finally recognized that it never existed beyond the Green Book...but have we learned any lessons? I'm having a Memento moment with this album...perhaps it really starts with the collapse of the new economy (EMG)and ends up with the big Kablooie (TLM)...have to chew on this... Brett (Blue Book, 6/28/03): Where I come from getting "faced" means getting fucked-up and I think Don and Walt are just kids on the block. Face Time = Party Time. BTW, add this great quote to the quorum: "Behind every great fortune is a crime." tones GB, (7/2/03): 'k ... maybe this has been talked to death already, but is there a better line in a song than, "Frankly I could use a little face time in the service elevator"

? It could mean a) time to compose oneself b) a sexual favor coutesy of Miss Fugazy c) beating the crap out of one of the bastards who caused the collapse, and having Dave film it for laughs later ...or any number of things I haven't thought of yet. And the rest of the lyrics just let you make of it what you will. wormtom (Guestbook, 7/1-2/03): alright I'll take a stab at Everything Must Go this one being the closer is a nice summation piece of all preceding it the opening instrumental is not only a wild stab at what proceded it but also is the equivalent of the corporation blowup scandal (the initial disparing implosive notes - discovery and induendo), then the 'we will rise above this' ascending sax solo (all is well if the scandel subsides) and then the final fallout (the whole house of cards comes tumbling down) brilliant! then we have the aftermath - the picking up the pieces as it's falling down all around one I picture this a corporate righting whether an Enron like financial scandal or a dot.com looks great on paper fallout. Obviously the stock analysts have more say than one would like on their livelihood the protagonist has bet his career on this up and rising company. Mid to late thirties, incredibly ambitious. He's not one of the masterminds who was directly responsible, but don't let him off the hook either, he's risen by emulating them to a t and wants their corner office as well. He's pissed he wasn't clever enough to have thought it up or rewarded enough to fluff the whole thing off he's pissed, but he's such a go getter that this is viewed as only a big setback that will be righted down the line with his cool business savy surely self confident - just got caught up on the wrong ship sinking the musical accompaniment has this optimism in the face of the bottom falling out "It's high time for a walk on the real side Let's admit the bastards beat us" their companies financial woes were finally made public the bastards are the higher up corporate insiders who ran things into the ground with smoke and mirrors, cashed out the stock options and grabbed the few golden parachutes before it all goes down "talk about your major pain and suffering now our self esteem is shattered show the world our mighty hidey-ho face as we go slipping down the ladder" he's banked it all on the company and now shell shocked time to dust off the resume and act cool and collected to hopefully land the next job elsewhere (just hope I'm not too tied to the scandal) that corporate ladder he so aspired to climb is now a downhill slope all that ass kissing and pressed suit image is now all for naught "It was sweet up at the top till that ill wind started blowing now it's cozy down below"

top of his game, making a hell of a lot more than any of his college buddies ill wind of the scandel cozy down below - too many steps down to be tied in too far on a federal probe "we gave it our best shot but keep in mind we got a lot the sky the moon good food and the weather" we were really living the high life everything that money and prestige could buy love this line "does anybody get lucky twice wouldn't it be nice" he landed the ultimate job with primo stock options and bonus the good life then it all falls apart will I be as lucky next time? will another gravy train happen? and am I savy enough to ride it (and jump out at the right time?) damn if I had only cashed out those stocks before the fall this line is hilarious "frankly I could use a little face time in the service elevator" our protagonist wants an audience with his higher ups the very ones that brought it all down he's got his "face time" sharp exec lingo down and his superiors (mentors and possible contacts for his next aspirations) are surprisingly absent as he packs his office and moves on (using the service elevator) 'and if Dave from Acquisitons wants to get in on the action with his handycam in tow" can we document our fallen leaders for the impending investigations and "get a few good licks in" "can it be the sorry sun is rising guess it's time for us to book it talk about the famous road not taken in the end we never took it" the scandel's been revealed to the light of day time to exit stage left without too much sticking to me damn, if we had only cashed out sooner we could have continued living in oppulence with some time to kill before the next bmw payment

what a great ending to the album.... ....[in more detail....] our protagonist is an overzealous win at all cost mid 30's business man he really emulates the guys above him who ran the company into the ground but bailed out to peachier harbors and a place in the caymans he is upset not that they destroyed things for him but that he didnt'get a piece of the action himself he's all tied up in now useless stock options while they bailed early he lives and breathes business dealings and feels he's God's gift to the soon to be corner office. He's upset, but he's so confident, that the next one is a new challenge, no need to get down on it after a brief reprieve of magaritas he wants "face time" - business lingo for unobstructed one on one audience with the big cheese. Miss Fugazy is probably the boss' secretary (who is bluffing clueless on where the boss is hiding out). He's packing his last things and wants a little "one on one" and possible reference, new list of business contacts etc, to land the next big business job the guy is so scrupleous, ambitious and self absorbed that this downslide is more a meager challenge than a setback he's just a little pissed he'll have to slug it out to make those next few bmw payments as he's overextended in an exorbinant lifestyle Hank Silvers (Blue Book, 7/2/03): wormy, I was thinking almost the same thing about the beginning of the song EMG. The increasingly frantic effort to keep the company afloat, followed by the calm as it sinks out of sight into Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I don't have the impression the song is about major corporations and their well-publicized transgressions, though. I'm thinking it's just a generic dot-com that lived the high life on venture capital. They all put in a lot of hard work to try to help the company make it, and even though there were some successes, some semi-big scores, in the end they failed. Now that it's almost all gone, they're taking one last look around the old HQ before locking the doors. One of them has even brought a camcorder to try to keep the moment forever, but it's only going to be a flat 2-D image at best. Eventually, the digital tape will deteriorate, or the home-burned DVD will decay, but even if the recording medium holds together, someday the man himself who recorded it will be gone and no one else (apart from the odd historian) will know or care what the pictures mean. The company goes, the pictures go, the humans go too...all things must pass, everything must go. DACW (GB, 7/3/03): [wormy] -- very INTERESTING take on EMG...maybe that's where they "got a few good licks in "...course, we could double entendre that line to death as well...the kicker for these guys when they're on a roll as on the EMG album - their characters are so three dimensional and open ended with a clever peek into their minds as rationalization and perception blur...not like the mindnumbing Iggles' Hole in the Song or CashKeeper by Fleetwood Mac... "Face Time" (GB, 7/3/03): equals "sucking face." CL (8/15/03): I agree with the objections raised against the "nuclear defense theory". Being a commercial lawyer I have witnessed quite a few corporations go down the drain the last few years. The song is quite simply a very accurate observation in the aftermath of the IT-crash and the fall of giants such as Enron and Arthur Andersen. A "Black Friday" of 2003, if you will. afoolnluv (Blue Book, 9/5/03): Blind, soulless capitalism is the reason this country is going down the tubes, and I think that's what EMG as an album is about.

DEACON BLUE (Blue Book, 9/5/03): ... When W&D are critisizing the world society they just put their finger at the right place of the wound... Honestly i think there's no great difference between the Saddams,Osamas and George W's in this world.There just all bloody fucking Godwackers. Pivotal Pete (Blue Book, 9/5/03): Interesting speculation about D+W's pessimism and anti-capitalist viewpoints. I tend to suspect the "answer" to the questions "What do they think? and "What do they mean?" are about as ambiguous (or multi-layered) for our heroes as they probably are for most of us. For example (analyzing this logically) while there's a strong "This freakin' world is coming to an end" theme in EMG, I'm sure these two very-well-read creative people are aware that apocalytic literature is a genre that's been around for decades or centuries. At any point in history, people have been able to look around and conclude: "Time's up." So far, 100% have been incorrect. (King of the World is, what, 25+ years old? and them marigolds is still there ...) EMG is an artistic creation. It clearly picks up on some of the angst we who despair of Enron, Rumsfeld, recession, terrorism etc. feel -- but I kinda doubt it's predicting The End. On the contrary, for me it's a therapeutic way of dealing with that despair, making it funny and not so depressing. Kind of an album-length version of New Frontier -- having a party in the bomb shelter. Or whatever in the elevator (at the risk of starting that one again ... Whoopee!!) In fact, the push-and-pull between ideals and reality, good behavior and temptation, creepy people and poor lost souls (which one IS Charlie Freak?) is the most consistent aspect of SD lyrics. As in Shakespeare, every hero is flawed and every craven fool is human. I've felt that, while they probably weren't happy to admit it, the message of "Only a Fool Would Say That" is one of the most accurate they've written. Peter Q (Blue Book, 9/5/03): Interesting. Many seem to miss the consistency in Becker & Fagen's lyrics from, say, Show Biz Kids' disgust at crass materialism on down through EMG. In the few songs in the Mach 1 period where they get into socio-political matters it's always the same old blase', Eugene McCarthy 1968, way left of center type of liberalism. It hasn't changed in 30 years. I think we should understand that B/F's minds about their worldview, as well as their opinions about music, were established years and years ago. Sometimes they apply their beliefs to contemporary themes and events but their beliefs have been fundamentally unchanged for decades. Steven in CT (GB, 9/9/03): As I was listening to the title cut of EMG and trying to synthesize some overall meaning, I kept concluding that ultimately it's an optimistic view. After the Last Mall closes, after God gets whacked, after the corporation dissolves, after the divorce, after the summer (at Blues Beach), after it all, life goes on. There is a morning after for the survivors. The sun rises today even on the Enron pirates. Maybe the CFO becomes a deli man and trades Niemann-Marcus for Costco. He's a little older and wiser. Maybe he even has the secret smile of having gotten a few good licks in. I think Warren got a few good licks in that he shares with anyone who cares to listen. And if my friend is right and Donald and Walter have sung their swan song (God forbid!)I'm glad I got to hear their licks too.

"Here At The Western World" "Century's End" "True Companion" "FM" "Medical Science" "The Mock Turtle Song" "Don't Let Me In" "Wet Side Story" "The Second Arrangement" "Kulee Baba"

"A Horse In Town" "Sun Mountain" "I Can't Function" "Ida Lee" "Can't Write Home About You" "The Steely Dan Show" "Here At The Western World"
Okay, you're going to think I'm totally punchdrunk, but (and this is in the same territory as "Time Out Of Mind"): when I hear this song, I don't think about a brothel, but about an upscale shooting gallery. It starts out comparing "The Western World" to "The Lido," which sounds hopelessly out--"sausage and beer"? The "in"-and powerful--people come here. "Nobody cares" because they're all on the nod--"where the sailor shuts out the sunrise/ Blacked out on the stairs." (Nice alliteration, by the way.) Even in the '70's, a Jackson wouldn't get you a foot in the door with a high-class call girl; it would take at least a Franklin. However, a Jackson was probably enough to procure a hit of "the sweetness you've been crying [jonesing?] for." "Ruthie will give you the silver key"--the new needle; "to open the red door"--the vein. "Skinny girl"--I don't know much drug slang from the '70's, but a stretch of the imagination could make a syringe, with its head-like bulb top and thin body, into a "skinny girl." "Knock twice"--slap the vein to make it more prominent. Sorry. It's just what comes to mind. The line "In the night you hide from the madman you're longing to be" is one of my all-time favorite Steely lines. You want to be wild and crazy, but at night you have to face the demons that come with your dream, and it's pretty scary. This song forms another William Gibson link: in Idoru, a key scene occurs in a private club/ cafe, atop a bombedout building, called "The Western World." Charlie "freak" Melonic (4/12/99): I was listening to Steely Dan's Gold album this weekend while I worked on my garage (with "Here At the Western World") and I couldn't help but think about somebody's (was it your's?) feeling that it was about drugs. Well, it very well could be, but I happen to have more of a "House of the red light" look on it.(practical as it may be) It sounds like a very low-class prostitution house where regular "customers" (Johns) go. The sailor allusion made me think of the common image of a sailor coming into port, drinking his a$$ off, and then buying a prostitute. "Ruthie" appears to me to be perhaps the "Lido's" only prostitute, giving the customer the silver key to open the red door to the bedroom upstairs- red implying the "red light" often associated with prostitution. The "knock twice, rap with your cane" line only conjurs up images of older, perhaps "more dignified" customers leading to the feeling that perhaps Ruthie is also older, giving merit to the Jackson versus Franklin! "we've got your skinny girl" gives rise to a feeling that perhaps there isn't much lovin' left in this girl, skinny being akin to worn out, versus the more popular belief that skinny is attractive. The Western World title brings up images of a prostitute house located in a Germanic district of a city...such as "Klaus and the Rooster have been there too." Perhaps the famous line "In the night you hide from the madman you're longing to be...." refers to a guy being madly in need of a female companion, and the attachment that comes with it, but he "hides" from that way of life by taking a prostitute. Fletch (GB, 3/9/00): Do you think the word 'Jackson' in HATWestern World, could refer to a....well.....male body part? Thats the idea I got when I 1st heard the song.... tom (GB, 4/21/00): two examples of one word turns in HATWW "see" and "inside"

Lay down your Jackson and you will see The sweetness you've been cryin' for "see" - ah it's not a house of prostitiution after all but a strip joint where the ladies perform to men behind dark mirrored glass. He isn't experiencing the warm body physically but only with his eyes. "See" hits home the intimacy is only visual, huge difference. So that urging is not fullfilled physically the man raps with his cane to let the women know there is an attendant in one of the booths and they need to get up and start "performing" again part two "inside" In the night you hide from the mad man you're longing to be but it all comes out on the inside eventually they could have said "comes out on the outside" but the "inside" is such a twist the man is struggling with his loneliness he is aged (the cane) and wants the stimulation of young women it has been a visual not a physical encounter but his insides ache from his unfullfilled desires and he struggles with not having a women and all the sweetness that entails but to see it in front of you may partially gratify but really sends him to terror on the "inside" and he knows he really can't handle the women physically anyway, so the mind and the body not at one and the visual the partial fullfillment Midnightcruiser (9/8/01): Could it be perhaps that the "Jackson" in Here at the Western World refers to a painting by abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock? When I first heard the line "Lay down your Jackson and you will see the sweetness you've been crying for," I took it to mean, you obviously don't have the capacity to relate your screwed up emotions to Pollock's nonrepresentational images, so stop staring at them. Just a thought!

Idoru, by William Gibson. My raving about this guy must be getting monotonous.

"Century's End"
Clas (GB, 5/17/98): Cruel intro. Cruel groove. Dr. Mu (GB, 9/3/98, after a round-robin GB lyric guessathon): It almost sounds like "Come love" or "Young Love" but I believe it is actually "Dumb," a play on the "dumb luck" running theme and the self-centered,

cocaine snorting coulda been young turks from the Bright Lights, Big City novel and movie who are becoming numb.... "But beyond that not too much..." (my favorite turned phrase, between drugs, AIDS, loss of direction and romance, love becomes a "virtual" experience.... Dr. Mu (GB, 9/4/98): Maj: If it's a *she* with pirate radar why would she be looking for "trim?" Since the main characters of the movie were heterosexual, I'll skirt the rejoinder. Plus the charaters were all quite superficial and "trendy" until the Michael J. Fox character (miscast city) sees the light at the end. TheStranger (GB, 9/4/98): lots of interest around here these days in 'century's end,' & i can't disagree. it's got that never-get-tired-of-it glow. in same category is 'here at the western world,' which welcomes you to a hip, melancholy place with beautiful melding of lyrics and music. you just lay down your jackson for the cd and you get the sweetness you been crying for. oleander (GB, 9/4/98): I dunno, I could hear "dumb," but in spite of the resonance with "dumb luck" "young love" makes more sense to me because of its irony--young love being all peaches & cream and doe-eyes, while we're talking about shark spawn. This song especially gets me because it's so cinematic--opening scene, the roar of the Monday-morning trucks in a slightly hung-over yuppie's ears.... Cut to the floor of the Stock Exchange, with daydreams about a conquest while trading futures;;;; "We cut to this blonde/ dancing on a mirror/ there's no disbelief to suspend...." Brilliant. Conjures up Marilyn Monroe on the subway grate, or Maggie Trudeau in the infamous 54 photo. An unapproachable exhibitionist--Madonna also comes to mind. She leaves nothing to guesswork under the "trim." "She's a concept more or less"--nobody's real, it's all pose and high concept. Then the cynical dismissal of any chance at redemption through hope of heaven or whatever. Just get out there and win one for the Gipper--though here winning is scoring in a different sense. Then the blonde is using her "pirate radar" to find a likely escort or, even better, near-celebrity to glom onto--like the "XRays" in Bonfire of the Vanities or Hall & Oates' "Man Eater." But you'll do, and you know that you're the fallback choice. "Let's get to the love scene" makes more sense than "seat," again because of the cinematic theme, and because on a loveseat the idea is to do a lot of touching--which is not the case in this song. These Tomorrow's Girls allow just this much of an approach, and God help you if you try more--love as a virtual experience--well-put, Mu. I also love how Mr. Fagen draws out the "l's" lasciviously. I know this was written for a movie, which may be why he/ they chose these images, but you don't need the movie to dig it. the joKer (GB, 9/4/98): "Bright Lights, Big City" is one of Jimmy Reed's best-known songs from the '50's, I believe -- it's the song (played in that movie, even!) that made me a fan of the late Chicago bluesman. fezo (GB, 9/4/98): So does anyone know if "Century's End" was written specifically for the movie. I never thought so given its futuristic title. I half figured it was part of the recordings that eventually produced Kama. It would fit with "Tomorrow's Girls" and I believe Snowbound was actually recorded in 1986 which was a little before Bright Lights came out so "Century's End" could have been recorded around that time too as part of a bigger project. John Henry (GB, 9/4/98): Didn;t Fagen cowrite it with a guy named Timothy Meher? Don once said he really liked the way Tim's lyrics came out. Pete Fogel (GB, 9/4/98): Tim Meher did cowrite "Century's End", and unfortunately died soon after it's release. About six months before the movie came out, Joel Sill, who produced the soundtrack, gave me a copy of the original lyrics which were different from the final version. I've had a clip Donald's version of "Bright Lights, Big City" in my computer for a while. I haven't put it on my site yet, but you can hear it here (or here)....

EvivaLaughs (GB, 9/4/98): fezo--re: Century's End--my theory exactly. As Oleander guessed, the rawtha generic lyrics only tangentially allude to the situations in the movie, and some have NOTHING to do with the movie. Maybe Fagen had already written a song about a club called "Century's End" (not in the book or the movie-dontcha love the Dan's fascination with bare with double-meaning names a la "Western World") and when he got the movie deal, changed a few lyrics to meet the movie requirements. (Did you like the book too? SO much better than the movie. Jay McInerney turns a fascinating phrase like a chef turns an omelet. I couldn't believe that was his first novel.

Bright Lights, Big City, by Jay McInerney, Vintage, 1984 "Bright Lights, Big City," the movie, with Michael J. Fox and Kiefer Sutherland, directed by James Bridges, 1988 "Bright Lights, Big City," the tune which started it all, Jimmy Reed (per joKer, check out the boxed set) The Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe, also made into a movie with a miscast protagonist (Tom Hanks) in 1990 by Brian DePalma. "Man Eater," by Darryl Hall and John Oates, on Greatest Hits Volume One (volume only, that is) "Snowbound" and "Tomorrow's Girls," on "Kamakiriad." Check out the commentary on "TG". "Here At The Western World"--see above.

"True Companion"
You'll also find this song on "Gold." It was written for, of all things, the soundtrack of a movie called "Heavy Metal."

"FM"
This tune appears on "Decade," and was written for the soundtrack of, amazingly enough, "FM."

"Medical Science"
This terrific tidbit of Beckeriana appears only (as far as I know) on the Japanese import version of "Eleven Tracks of Whack."

"The Mock Turtle Song"

This song appears on "Steely Dan--Forward Into The Past," the cd I love to hate. I include this only because it's the song of the Mock Turtle, in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, set to music. It's fun to read the song in the book, and admire the pictures by Sir John Tenniel or Peter Newell, while listening to our heroes. This illustration, with the Mock Turtle at the right, is by Arthur Rackham. Thanx to Father William.

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. Revisit this and his otherworks; you'll be glad you did.

"Don't Let Me In"

This is on "Steely Dan--Forward Into The Past," which has been mentioned before. I've been having some superego vs. id/ ego struggles lately, and this hits me as one of those struggles. It's also a very Steely inversion of the usual rock theme of baby, please let me in. The narrator's superego could be warning the song's recipient to keep the door locked against him no matter what skillful emotional appeals--or threats--he might make, as Dr. Jekyll might warn against the appearance of Mr. Hyde. He reinforces this warning with his feral howl in the chorus' "nononono-woa-no-no"--straight from the id. I can hear the snakes in the basement slithering up through the vents of consciousness; the trap door flapping in the hot wind from hell. I can doublehear "bleeding arms" as "pleading arms," which gives that line even more pathos. Is he referring to a suicide attempt? And the "pounding heart" makes me hear Poe's "The Telltale Heart" (not the plot, but the incessant sound, echoing the rat-a-tat knock on the door of the brief drum intro). Shivers! Or else it's the id & ego talking. They are devious and driven enough to make this a malevolent, B'rer Rabbitstyle example of reverse psychology--the worse he sounds, the better he sounds. The music underlines this perverse plea--threatening but hooky. After all that: of course she'll let him in.

"The Telltale Heart," by Edgar Allan Poe The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson

"Wet Side Story"

IMHO (GB, 7/13/98): Wet Side is about a computer geek who takes a break at a diner or coffee shop or something, meets a girl, gets freaked 'cause it's the "real world" (The "wetside", as in wetware, a slang for biological, living matter [distinguished from hardware and software]). Clas (GB, 7/14/98): I thought "Wet Side Story" was a Womans Lib-song. -Let the man sleep on the wet side. Angel (5/25/01): Ok, the following is my interpretation of Wetside Story. Wetside Story Stop, Mickey gets hungry Dirt wrangler's got to take a break some time Got to feed the machine Steamer Heaven is empty Couple of kids in behind the counter The lovely Janine Soon as he walks in the door she's smilin' Covers his eyes with his hands Chorus 'Cause everyone knows that it's scary out there

When you jump to the wetside Where it's cold and it's loud and it's screaming with light Where it's way complex Hacking through all the harsh effects The Mick goes for a Bomber Who wants to walk with an angel who's healing We're gonna talk Gives him back a reward A few bloody tears and you can feel the flames arching Off the roof of the shop For a moment they swung on the edge of history Fell into animal time Chorus Blacked out on the tarmac It was alive with the sweet sounds of summer Oh, the Steamer's all right Mick tries to remember Somethin' kinda cool but it's already fading To straight black & white "Maybe I needed a girl at downtime" Covers his eyes with his hands Chorus Verse 1. I go along with the computer geek scenario. Mick gets hungry and stops over at the Steamer Heaven. Janine, smiles at him and he totally freaks out, covering his eyes with his hands. The very critical Verse 2 Mick orders some food and Janine decides that he needs something more physical than food alone. Things get pretty hot and with the climatic (literally) "Fell into animal time". The deed is done. Verse 3 Mick just totally overloads and blacks out. The line about the Steamer being all right refers back to verse 2 and the fact that the fire, was indeed, inside Mick himself and not the building. Then the final thought about needing a girl at downtime, causes him to cover his eyes with his hands once again. Obviously, he hasn't gotten over his fear, yet. (My money though, is on the lovely Janine). That's it.

"The Second Arrangement"

The Steely oeuvre could be regarded as a sketchbook of psychopathology straight out of the DSM-IV: you could find paranoid schizophrenia in "Don't Take Me Alive" and "Third World Man," pedophilia in "Everyone's Gone To The Movies," antisocial personality in "Everything You Did" and "Green Earrings," sadomasochism in "Your Gold Teeth" and "Take It Out On Me," borderline personality in "Don't Let Me In," sexual obsession in "Dirty Work," delusions of grandiose type in "Glamour Profession," fetishism in "The Fez," neonazism in "Chain Lightning," and mental disorder not otherwise specified in "Bad Sneakers" and "Aja." Not to mention all manner of substance abuse. OK, OK, I'm no psychiatrist, but I can make my case, except for neonazism, which should be in DSM-IV.

"The Second Arrangement" is a brilliant study of a textbook narcissist. You remember the mythical Narcissus, the unbearably handsome lad who turned into a flower after pining away as he stared at his reflection in a pool. Don't forget, though, that his sin was not vanity: Nemesis -- the goddess of righteous anger -- made him fall in love with his own image because he cruelly rebuffed all those who loved him. The narrator in "2A" is en route from dumping one lover to starting up with another, apparently a "mutual friend" whom he had been cultivating (seducing) while segueing out of the "first arrangement." Clearly, this is a well-rehearsed pattern: "You should know the program/ Just one red rose and a tender goodbye," and "Now it's time to redefine the first arrangement again." His perception of his serial affairs is binary -- they are infinite iterations of loving and leaving. He begins with a series of romantic platitudes which show his callousness: "Pour out the wine, girl/ I've got just two friends in this whole wide world/ Here's to reckless lovers/ We all need somebody." How dashing he looks in "the yellow Jag" (12-cylinder XKE?) with all he owns in his "Gladstone bag" (named after the favored suitcase of the polished and erudite prime minister of Victorian England).

So he moves on. Now, who steps out? Many have heard this in many ways; I hear it as "LaRue steps out/ With no regrets...." Lash LaRue was a cowboy star of the '40's and '50's who sported black duds and brandished a whip. Now there was a guy who knew how to scratch the itch in the American id. He also claimed to have been married ten times, and if he wasn't an ace narcissist, I'll eat that whip (I don't want to get ANY email about this comment!). Could the song have been referring to him? Discuss among yourselves. There certainly are other Steely references to the Western genre ("With A Gun," "Do It Again," "Only A Fool Would Say That"). Well, if that's too much of a stretch, Chris (at the Steely Dan Shrine) thinks it's "the roue," and lovebob sings it "the rube." I think this guy is clearly anything but a rube. Chris may have been meaning roue', a French term for lecher, but it's not pronounced "roo." Boy, it's fun to obsess when nobody knows what the REAL lyrics are. Anyway, to a narcissist, other people are there only to serve and build his self-esteem and gratify his every appetite. So dumping his lover is "only the natural thing" if she has become boring, or there's something a little better on down the road--like fresh romance and devotion. That's why he has "no regrets/ A sparkling conscience/ A new address." He makes a pretense of discussing the whole ugly business: "It's a sticky situation/ A serious affair/ I must explain to you somehow," but since insight doesn't serve his purposes, any attempt to analyze or even excuse his motives or behavior smites him with ennui. So he withdraws --"right now, I'll just move back one square"-chesslike. You may remember seeing another chess reference in "Dirty Work" (or "Knight By Knight"). Narcissists tend to dump friends the same way, and blame the falling out on the other person. Our hero mocks his friends' criticism: "Here comes that noise again/ Another scrambled message from my last, best friend/

Something I can dance to/ A song with tears in it." His fed-up (and used-up) former friends finally dump him, but, he thinks, only because they envy his dazzling personality and luck in love: they suffer from "the routine politics of jealousy" (one of my very favorite lines). What really is dazzling is how the Dan captured the nuances of this sleazeball's pathology so poetically. If you don't buy the narcissist angle, Dr. Mu thinks that he's a gigolo, just moving on to the next day's work. Which may very well be, and I'll be picking leather from between my teeth. Hank Silvers (4/1/99): This is another Dan oral report from L.A., isn't it? It's a song about a shallow, hollow man who's incapable of friendship, yet (the Irony Twins at work) "friend" pops up all the way through. Insincerity -the "Luv ya , babe!" mentality. "Old friends abandon me," as if he ever had any to begin with. "The home of a mutual friend" has to me always meant the site of the tryst. Bothe parties are married, and you can't meet at her place or at his, so rather than rent a motel room, simply find a cooperative acquaintance (e.g., "The Apartment"). Sure, he's married, he's just not a fanatic about it. He can't even stay faithful in his affairs. Who is the wife? Possibly a doormat, but I'll hazard a guess that she knows everything he did and lets him have his head, as long as she gets the material possessions and the social status he provides. (No political significance.) Now WHY should "you . . . know the program"? It's not likely to be a long-term affair, so maybe the answer is that he chooses only other experienced adulterers has been through this a time or two before. Interesting, then, that he chooses a partner experienced in deceit rather than a young single woman who's dreaming of him leaving his wife for her. No, both people in this assignation are equal partners in crime. Expanding a bit on the chess imagery: in this "sticky situation," the king is under attack and, unable even to move pieces between himself and the attacker (s), his last-ditch defense is to run away. Within the rules, though, he may only move one square at a time. It's a slow-motion chase with no real chance of escape. Roy.Scam (3/31/99): Like "Green Earrings," I didn't see it as any more than a love relationship thing: my first listen gave me the impression that he's acting cold and composed to try to console himself; looking for upsides as in "One Less Bell to Answer." Fagen strikes me as sometimes torn between narcissism and total insecurity: He doesn't think he's a great vocalist and he's indecisive as hell about putting out his work, yet he often projects the idea that he's too good to hash around with all these pathetic earthlings.... Larue: Isn't that French for 'the street'? I thought it was a clumsy way of saying he's back in the street, so to speak.... Rue also means regret so with some stretching: the rue steps out, thus, no regrets. Earl (Blue Book, 5/29/02): Well, having seen some of these files at the Metzger site, I have been taking interest in "The 2nd Arrangement." I was over at the Fever Dreams web site and there was a discussion regarding a line in the chorus. Oleander claims the line is "Larue steps out, with no regrets". I'd like to offer this...how about "The Rue steps out, with no regrets." Basically a personification of the narrator's guilt, sorrow, etc. that he should feel from playing this two-timing game. Or potentially the narrator tells his lover the bad news, and his lover leaves upset (The Rue). I think "Lash Larue" is a valid narcissist case, but noticing the song's lyrics the guy never talks about anything other than the situation at hand...and being a self-centered person it makes a lot of sense he talks about himself and the things that affect him.

Different versions of the lyrics reside in The Steely Dan Shrine and Tomas Broberg's excellent site. For the only extant live cover of "The Second Arrangement," and what a gem it is, hie yourself to Le Bar Bat and The Steely Damned. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, American Psychiatric Association, 1994. Some of my favorite bedtime reading.

Chris' Steely Dan Shrine, for lots of lyrics to Steely rarities, and comments as well. www.andymetzger.com for all your illicit wants and desires. Thanks, Andy.

"Kulee Baba"
Altamira (11/28/99): What is the Kulee Baba? It is almost certainly a religious rite since almost all rituals from early cultures are religious in one way or another. It's described as "cruel," but that is a judgment pronounced by the narrator; I'm sure the participants don't find it cruel - it might involve some sort of cutting of one's flesh, probably while in a trance state brought about by the dancing and perhaps aided by hallucinogens. However, this comment does indicate the narrator's point of view, which seems rather condescending toward the participants. This leads to which of St. Augustine's comment the narrator might find applicable to the Kulee Baba, since he seems to view it as some debauched primitive thing rather than a religious ritual - the cameraman's "beginning" the Kulee Baba as the broadcast ends and the participants leave is indicative of the view of the Westerners that the ritual is without deeper meaning; that it is something one can do without needing to know the background and be a part of the culture. However, the narrator does say that he "preserves great moments as they come," so perhaps he does view it as something important, but maybe only as some sort of interesting cultural material that hed like to record to satisfy people's curiosity. Quotes from St. Augustine that might be what the narrator had in mind: "But we are carried away by custom to our own undoing and it is hard to struggle against the stream...." "Crimes against other men are committed when the emotions, which spur us to action, are corrupt and rise in revolt without control. Sins of self-indulgence are committed when the soul fails to govern the impulses for which it derives bodily pleasure...." "I was trying to find the origin of evil, but I was quite blind to the evil in my own method of research...." "All things are fit and proper not only to the place but also to the time in which they exist." [This sounds like it fits in better with my view of the Kulee Baba than the narrator's] "I stood on the brink of resolution, waiting to take fresh breath.... My lower instincts, which had taken firm hold of me, were stronger than the higher, which were untried. And the closer I came to the moment which was to mark the great change in me, the more I shrank from it in horror." "The senses are not content to take second place...." And, finally, the two quotes that I think the narrator was most likely referring to: "[Men] are an inquisitive race, always anxious to pry into other men's lives, but never ready to correct their own...." "Have hope, and persevere until the night passes, the night that is the mother of sinners.... " [I think this is the best match, since it fits in with the "What a night" comment that precedes it and also with the part about New Orleans.]

"A Horse In Town"

Bob G (GB, 7/8/19100): On the day I'm about to see Steely Dan live for the first time since being a fan from the early 80's, down at Jones Beach Theater by the Atlantic Ocean on such a perfect summer day, I'm jazzed for another incredible reason.. After finding the official SD website in March, I wrote them a question about something my ears detected listening to the muddy mix of one of their early songs "A Horse In Town". It sounds like the first line is "Left New Hyde Park..", so I asked the source if what I heard was accurate, as I grew up and am living back in....New Hyde Park, NY!... Naturally they're a little busy these days, so I got the blanket email saying they can't answer every question, which I thoroughly understand. So today, I'm visiting different SD websites, including this one, and I hit the lyric page on one of them, and there it is!!!!

That's exactly what the lead vocalist (not Fagan) sings! I mean, I've owned this cassette of their early work for about ten years, and only recently did i hear that line possibly mention my town. To have this confirmed on the day that I'll "leave New Hyde Park" to drive down to the ocean to see one of my favorite bands for the very first time.....can you say serendipity??? Now I gotta go blab this on their website, if I can. It's pretty freaky...

"Sun Mountain"
[anonymous] (GB, 4/26/01): This bright familiar sun Rescues a dreary Sunday On Sunday morning Smoky Sunday Like a Sunday in TJ Drive west on Sunset Powered by the sun Watch the sun go brown Colors from their sunny island Where no sun is shining Where the sailor shuts out the sunrise In that sunny room she soothes me Her skin, like milk, It's like she's never seen the sun Wake up Darling, they're knocking, the Colonel's standing in the sun They're speeding towards our sun on a party run I'll rise when the sun goes down, cover every game in town In the last light of the triple sun Late line 'til the sun comes through the skylight Now I step into the sun Under the sun That noon sun is blinding Join in the search for sun and sand I've got to have some time in the sun To watch the sun rise in the dopest part Then the sunshower breaks I'm thinking of a major Jane Street sunrise From the sunny day I met you Our salad days.... beneath the autumn sun Not too far from the earth or too close to the sun A world become one Of salads and sun cara mia (GB, 4/26/01): inspired by the "sun" You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky There where neon bends in daylight sky Late line 'til the sun comes through the skylight

A shadow crossed the blue Miami sky Now and ever bound to labor On the sea and in the sky. While the memory of their southern sky Was clouded by a savage winter. Steamin' up That Trans-Island Skyway Up in the sky There's that cruel countermoon Double helix in the sky tonight Throw out the hardware, let's do it right, Keep your eyes on the sky Put a dollar in the kitty Don't the moon look pretty Then the milkman screamed And pointed up at the sky There in the corner of the eastern sky The tortured angel of your rising sign Down in the bottom where your demons fly Down in the bottom of the eastern sky Since your daredevil hang glider fell out of the sky Dusted down in shanty town behind a sky of red What are the secrets they trace in the sky, A kingdom where the sky is burning;

"I Can't Function"

NotMyNancy (GB, 6/11/01): I believe the quote is "I was a 'W'/Now I'm an 'L.'" Like, the Sixers were a W in game 1, but have been L's in games 2 & 3.

"Ida Lee"
Blaise (GB, 6/14/01): They're throwin' a party for big Ida Lee The man from the skyway, the Chinaman and me There's so much affection, it's making me crazy I've run out of reasons for keeping it neat [Now the scene is a party and probably a foresight of future danfests to be held every year on ole's birthday The Chinaman is Walter, Ida Lee is Paul and Purdie's the man flown in to overdub They all love each other very much] Everybody's laughin', everybody's makin' love Ida Lee, it's you I'm thinkin' of Threw out the favors, the hooters and the hats Put out the candle, and blew out the cat

My temperature's rising, we're all on the chaise lounge Big Ida Lee, she's nowhere to be found [Hats and hooters reversed? hmmm... I smell a looooooong subtext from here to Aja The second line hints at this reversal in meaning "chaise lounge" really is a French word mispoken meaning divan. "long chair", chaise longue Paul is dead?!] They open the air shaft as Ida walks in She comes up to me and whispers, "Honey, where have you been?" I'm stripping my gears, I'm blowing my fuse 'Cause Ida Lee's giving me somewhat more than I can use [Paul is not dead It's Rupaul walkin in (BIG Ida Lee gives it away) Donald is working on his Rhodes He can't be bothered]

"Can't Write Home About You"

Of course, no official written lyrics are available for this juicy ballad of declasse love. Of note is the line, "Gin and Rose's, hold on, we'll spiral down." Why do I say "Rose's," not "roses"? After all, a glass of gin beside a long-stemmed red rose is a cool image.... Well, because I can, and because gin and Rose's Lime Juice in equal measure make a Gimlet, the signature drink of Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's detective of the underbelly. It's the anti-martini, the drink of choice of the jaded and disaffected of the Fifties and their spawn. Any comments from you Marlowe aficionados?

"The Steely Dan Show"

Rajah (Blue Book, 6/9/04): I was leafing through this big dog-eared print out of all the Steely Dan lyrics that I keep on the shelf, I'm always revisiting this damn thing, it's like my Gideon bible or a woman from your long forgotten past that your thoughts occasionally stray back to. I really ought to just punch a hole in it, put it on a chain and strap it to the john but this time I stopped to look at the words to "The Steely Dan Show." You know, that tune they cobbled together late in the Y2K Tour to open the second set? It's a throw-away right, just a little ditty to bring the collective tush back to the cush so we could all push? That would be wrong, Bodhisattva breath. This am the Rosetta Stone ovah heer. Viewing it as I did, there's a little pearl in there that really encapsulates so much about them and, by extension, so very much about us as well. Ya know, us Steely Dan nerds? Probably the biggest collection of neurotic souls on this or any planet? One nuttier and more tortured than the next? Allow me to post those lyrics if I may: Boys and Girls They come from all around From dear old Stockholm To Copenhagen town Forget their troubles In tasty riddum n' rime So here you are And now it's party time

Wrap your mind Around this sound And let the goodness ripple down Goodbye to Lonely Street You're in the Catbird Seat At THE STEELY DAN SHOW If you got backpacks And pointy little shoes Late-model roadsters Or just those walkin' blues A case of heartache That you're too numb to fight A secret sorrow That keeps you up all night Well don't you fret It's not your fault Just lay it all on Don and Walt Just trip out on these hits The groove that never quits At THE STEELY DAN SHOW So buy a program And/or a hat You don't pass up a deal like that It's only promo stuff But hey it's good enough For THE STEELY DAN SHOW 2000 Steely Dan and their agents Do you see the second quatrain of verse two commencing with "a case of heartache?" Yeah, that's it, children we have it right there. This is them, they spill it here. Right in the damn middle of this throw-away song. You know how some of us, well, the hard core cases, bust our brain trying to crack the meaning of stuff like, I dunno, like that crazy Kulee Baba? Or how we've mused in the past about how impersonal or how detached these poetic diamonds of theirs are? How little they betray of their own human faces? I wouldn't speak for anyone else on this but for me this is the very heart of Steely Dan. There's a buttload of hurt and longing inside their songbook. You've noticed how everything is always going wrong in Steely Dan songs? You do it again, she brings you only sorrow, I foresee terrible trouble, his starving children cried, let your madness run with mine, drag yourself home half alive, gathering up the tears, there's nowhere left to turn, his lady's aching, cry a jag on me, the feeling was bad at home, dumb luck my friend, don't give a fuck about anybody else, I can't stand her doin what she did, share my poison wine. And those are just the first two albums, it gets darker, well, you all know. It's every song, I swear, or pretty damn close to it. Chaos, pain, destruction, madness, sexual dysfunction, self-loathing, violence, addiction, betrayal, dark spots on your past. Sounds like my mental health report. [rim shot] Thank you. And probably a little like yours as well, dear Blue of my heart, no? Well, what family doesn't have their little...foibles. Yes, laughing out loud, isn't that what we often say? Ridi pagliacco. And so, a case of heartache that you're too numb to fight, a secret sorrow that keeps you up all night. This is the tortured soul of Steely Dan. It reminds me so very very much of Hamlet. Have you read that lately? Do it, it's not that painful, really. It's the pinnacle of Western literature, I swear, never ever gets old, hell, it's been over four hundred years now, just a taste: "The heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to." III,2

At the core of Don and Walt's work is this pain. Now before you reach for the cutlery, don't despair. I guess it's just part of being alive. Nobody can avoid it. Awful things, terrible trouble, hurt and loss is all part of this ride. The shit happens to everyone sometime in a lifetime. But speaking it out loud, recognizing, grieving over it and finally accepting it is, I think, really important to well being. No, I'm not a Doctor but I did play one on TV once. Ever notice how Donald's voice is grieving with that whine of his, he suffers great, he has the great gift of communicating human sadness. And in some crazy fashion that seems incongruous but somehow compelling to me, maybe sadness is the road to goodness and happiness. Or maybe goodness is at the end of the road of sadness. Now some of us can just get naked and express that loss, that hurt, that sadness in front of everyone. I hear there are such people. Like Donald and Walter. For those of us whose personalities really don't run in that direction, there's these beautiful songs which are such a gift from their hearts to ours. This is what draws us to Steely Dan and it is my opinion that this is what draws us to each other. And yes, I feel the melancholy out there over the fact that we might not ever see another appearance of that thing we call Steely Dan. I sense this is part of the dysfunction that we've witnessed over here a bit in months past. But we can't let that sense of loss overtake us, we mustn't let it win out. Maybe I'm just speaking to myself here but we've got to encourage each other, and search for that goodness and happiness and outright giddy joy in whatever heart it may have been driven into secrecy and sorrow by the bad things, the unfortunate things, things that maybe didn't work out so well for you, the terrible things, the tragic things that inevitably happen to every single one of us. And not add to the misery by wallowing in it for too long, cradling that hurt of yours. I realize that isn't always possible and it's never easy. And these Steely Dan songs aren't going anywhere, we have them, all 82 of them, they are present and alive and will remain relevant probably long after you and I are gone, up there on somebody's shelf with Hamlet on Mizar 5, each one with a precious pearl inside it. They shine, as do you, my dear old Blue. And we're not going anywhere either, we're here for each other. Maybe we're oddballs, maybe we're outcasts, maybe nobody understands us, maybe we are the Gaucho amigos, but we fuckin rock like no one else, beeaatches. I needed to share that whole mess, thanks for putting up with it. The Rajah turns his human face to yours and nuzzles you warmly.