Any news was good news
And the feeling was bad at home
I was out of mind and you
Were on the phone
Lonnie was the kingpin
Back in nineteen sixty-five
I was singing this song
When Lonnie came alive

[Chorus]
Bring back the Boston Rag
Tell all your buddies
That it ain't no drag
Bring back the Boston Rag

You were Lady Bayside
There was nothing that I could do
So I pointed my car down
Seventh Avenue
Lonnie swept the playroom
And he swallowed up all he found
It was forty-eight hours til
Lonnie came around

[Chorus]


Lyrics submitted by AbFab

Boston Rag Lyrics as written by Walter Carl Becker Donald Jay Fagen

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

The Boston Rag song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

29 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +10
    General Comment

    I understand this song very well, even though it is very short on detail - by design. You don't need too much detail with a subject like this... it's about a basic set of circumstances, but moreso the feeling that goes along with it. Obviously it involves drug use and some interpersonal drama between the narrator, Lonnie, and the narrator's girlfriend. Lady Bayside is Walter's reference to ladies with 'tude that come from Bayside in NYC, which is where Walter grew up. So the narrator is caught between Lady Bayside and Lonnie, his friend, the drug kingpin, and surely the person he likes to hang around and do drugs with, and the fact that, and this is important, the party is about to come to an abrupt end. This is precipated by the whole lifestyle but is culminated, as is often the case, by a very real tragedy - Lonnie's overdose due to his overzealousness with the partyin'. This puts the author into a tailspin. He tries to turn to his girlfriend, but she doesn't even care because they're in the middle of a fight... so the bottom really falls out on this guy, especially because he's getting that gnarly depression that comes along with too much drug use immediately followed by the situation where no more stuff is avaialable and the shit is hitting the fan at the same time. A young person doesn't have the goods to handle this kind of turmoil, but many have found themselves faced with it. The narrator is the type who will probably eventually right the ship, and maybe this becomes just another song to him... but for many others they just get taken down for the count. The reference to the Boston Rag is also somewhat vague, but not when you take it in the context of the lyric itself in the chorus... bring back the Boston Rag, as a song the guy is always chanting, has a fairly understandable meaning... especially to me because it's something I've often thought about... it's about nostalgia with a touch of sadness... about the passing of a 'better time'. The feeling that you just want the Boston Rag, that perfect song or perfect time (1920's was when they had all the famous 'rags'... the piano tunes with the jump bass) that you are so nostalgic about, when you could be crazy like you are now, but not feel so worn out and depressed at the same time. And the knowledge, whether it is exactly true or not, that there is no way in hell that you can ever go back... and just that knowledge, right when it hits you... you are suffering a mental breakdown. All hail the Boston Rag. Better days will come down the road, or else (the guitar solo is one of the greatest and tells a lot of the story in itself that the sparse lyrics can't..) Writing sparsely is a real talent, because you still have to make things rhyme... so don't get too stuck on the exact words... it's meant to connect with you on a more simpler, you lived it yourself kind of way..

    caucasianon March 21, 2010   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Magical
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Blue
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Album art
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.