In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
That must be her again
She's leaning on my bell
That cold psychotic ring
The one I know so well
So I'm nailed to the floor in the no-option zone
There's about zero chance she'll give up and go home
This endless afternoon
It started on the day I met her
Lunch with Gina is forever
She's coming 'round the corner
Her body's just a blur
I peel out like The Flash
It don't mean boo to her
So I duck into Nino's, she's barred from the place
The minute I walk out she's right in my face
She's got nothing but time
No use in trying to be clever
Lunch with Gina is forever
Now I'm in my apartment
The blinds down the lights out
The phone rings God help me
There's nobody home
I crouch on the carpet
Not breathing just being
Like meat on the bone
I'm in a cozy booth
Maybe my watch is fast
Another Tanqueray
I'll wait 'til twenty past
I'm about to go postal when she waltzes in
I guess she's a knockout, hey where have I been?
The waiter never comes
God knows the service could be better
Lunch with Gina is forever
Coffee and a kiss
Maybe later maybe never
Lunch with Gina
She's leaning on my bell
That cold psychotic ring
The one I know so well
So I'm nailed to the floor in the no-option zone
There's about zero chance she'll give up and go home
This endless afternoon
It started on the day I met her
Lunch with Gina is forever
She's coming 'round the corner
Her body's just a blur
I peel out like The Flash
It don't mean boo to her
So I duck into Nino's, she's barred from the place
The minute I walk out she's right in my face
She's got nothing but time
No use in trying to be clever
Lunch with Gina is forever
Now I'm in my apartment
The blinds down the lights out
The phone rings God help me
There's nobody home
I crouch on the carpet
Not breathing just being
Like meat on the bone
I'm in a cozy booth
Maybe my watch is fast
Another Tanqueray
I'll wait 'til twenty past
I'm about to go postal when she waltzes in
I guess she's a knockout, hey where have I been?
The waiter never comes
God knows the service could be better
Lunch with Gina is forever
Coffee and a kiss
Maybe later maybe never
Lunch with Gina
Lyrics submitted by blackiswhite
Lunch With Gina Lyrics as written by Walter Carl Becker Donald Jay Fagen
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Gina is slang for the recreational drugs GHB and Meth used together. I've always considered Lunch With Gina a drug song.It discusses paranoia, addiction, avoidance, physiological effects, and all the typical drug stuff. Another brilliant Dan lyric.
Well, it's a simple tale where verse 1 and 2 details our narrator's trouble in avoiding Gina. Why he's avoiding here is not hard to figure out when he mentioned that she's barred from Nino's but was motivated enough to just wait for our hero to leave.
The bridge describes his panic attack when Gina called him at home, render him cowered in fetal position.
By verse 3, he's resigned to his fate and actually agree to a date with her, and she shows up late. But hey, the up side is that she's at least a knock out looker. You just have to deal with her psychotic tendency.
@BigFire good thoughts. I was also thinking verse three was a flashback to when he had his first lunch with her, not realizing she’s nuts which then explains verse1and 2. But I actually like your interpretation better.
I love it when the lyrics of a tune can be seen overtly as referring to one thing, usually some sort of human relationship set of issues, but covertly has something else as its true subject matter, like is done here. I'm not a drug user, but I don't doubt for a minute that the comments from SpittingLama hold water. Great songwriting!
My take on the third verse is that it is chronologically out of order with the first two and refers to the very start of the forever lunch with Gina. The protagonist is saying to us, "So now that you know what's going on now, let me tell you how it all started."
Lunch with Gina…is forever, because this is a classic SD song about drug withdrawal, and the formidable symptoms following him everywhere he goes until he finally gets a hit. Nailed to the floor in the no-option zone. Gina, is a slang term for a drug. Sex Drugs Rock n Roll.
She's a charmer like you never seen...
Yeah this is one of those kinds of women who is a horrible person but she's so fine that you can't stop letting her use you.
A would-be romantic hero has a date with a woman who's so beautiful he either forgets or doesn't care that she's a total psycho
Ah! Yet another mad woman inhabiting the Steely Dan universe. Gina, you're irresistible - and indeed user like GreyBlue Eyes says. One day you'll come to cry on my shoulder, and I'll have to tell you to drink your big black cow and get outta here.......
My friend Perry.
This woman is a stalker. Come on
@kamakiriad Yep, my interpretation too. A stalker that he finds easier to give in to than call the cops.
STALKER