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Steely Dan – Everyone's Gone to the Movies Lyrics

12 years ago

As most have said, about pedophilic dude showing porn flicks... But a few added notes: "Soon it will be too late"--because you'll be too old. During the second round of him singing "come on" he says "babies, come on". Just noticed that. I don't think bobbing for apples refers to blow jobs because he says it can wait, which doesn't make sense since ostensibly blow jobs is what he wants. I could be wrong but I think it's the Steely Dan humor there--the idea that the kids were all doing something incredibly innocent, like having a birthday party and literally bobbing for apples, and now they're going down the hall to watch porn flicks and get each other off with Mr. Lapage. The one flaw in the song is the shift in voice from the verse to the chorus, which begs the question who is saying "now we're alone at last". Could be the parents I suppose, which is funny in a Dan way, they're so desperate to have some alone time that they'd rather the kids are getting yanked by their questionable neighbor... Cheaters line makes no sense, alas--why would children be wearing reading glasses? And I agree, it sounds like there is a T in there and it's not chinos, which would make sense. But if Cheetahs are shoes as someone suggested, then maybe that's it.

submissions

Steely Dan – The Boston Rag Lyrics	12 years ago
Great interpretation... I read an excerpt of an interview with Becker in a book somewhere (long ago, have no idea what book) where if I remember correctly, Lonnie is a real person and this event really happened (and I believe he survived).

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Steely Dan – Time Out of Mind Lyrics

12 years ago

The heroin experts on here have convinced me that this is at least on the surface what the song is about. I agree you can overlay it with religious imagery too, particularly Buddhism since Lhasa is in Tibet (although the city's name is misspelled on the album lyrics--unless there is some other place called Lasa that we're all missing) and meditation results in a similar time-out-of-mind experience, as well as the "light in my eyes, perfection and grace" which sounds suspiciously like the Buddha. So you could look at it like religion is a drug as well. I'm kind of sad, because the Dan already has so many drug songs and I always thought this particular song had a strikingly different tone than the rest of the songs on the album, and particularly mysterious lyrics if one is not a smack addict... The music is so, well, happy. The interlude is one of my favorite 45 seconds of music. So if anything it seems like an unironic tribute to heroin, unlike many of their other songs which usually end in despair. But that is a bit disappointing, because my prior interpretation involved a mystic with a crystal ball and magical things happening in some sort of seance, which frankly is a lot more interesting than either getting high or getting zen. Bummer.

submissions

Steely Dan – Babylon Sisters Lyrics

12 years ago

Ratfinkabooboo had some amazing analysis which has made me rethink the song a bit. I had never considered the black/white angle before. Although I find the underage angle someone else mentioned also extremely compelling to explain the song. In any case, I think Babylon Sisters are hookers. The narrator is a slightly older man, who should know better, but succumbs to his baser instincts and imperils himself by engaging in what sounds like an extremely expensive, sordid night of debauchery including a menage a trois, that he is trying to convince himself will be fulfilling, even though deep down he knows it won't. The person he's driving with could be either his girlfriend (or the person he thinks is his girlfriend) who's game to experiment with another woman (or maybe more than one) OR it could be a bro who is also going to this place (I imagine an exclusive resort on an island off the coast that literally requires driving over a bridge--"from the point of no return"), only the bro actually is taking it for what it is, a night with some hookers. My favorite line is "It's cheap but it's not free"--he means cheap experientally, not inexpensive--in fact, it will be quite expensive, and the cost is either A) he's going to jail because they're underage, B) he's developing a habit which will ruin him, C) his relationship, if he's in one, will be destroyed. Someone else suggested cotton candy was a cocaine reference but I don't think that really fits with the rest of the song. To me, it meant the frivolousness of it. Also, after the Santa Ana winds line, he says "Bad News". So this song is ominous and, like all Dan tunes, will not have a happy ending...

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Steely Dan – Turn That Heartbeat Over Again Lyrics

12 years ago

I always thought this went down like so: The narrator planned a bank robbery with a close friend (stocking face, gun) and thought of himself as just stealing money (a good clean game), not hurting anyone. But shit goes down, his buddy Michael is shot and he's down on the floor freaking out trying to revive him, which obviously fails. The promise might have been "no one gets hurt" or "we split the money" or "we'll go to South America". He either escapes to South America or the robbery was in South America because he drove straight through. "Turn the light off, keep your shirt on" is to me that he's still on the lam and either talking to himself or whoever else was in on the score who escaped. IE, turn the light off so the cops don't see us, and keep your shit together. I wish I understood the William Wright part. I don't know if "I saw him laid to rest" refers to Wright or Michael, but I sort of hope the latter because it makes more sense to me--he sneaks back to go to the funeral but has his plane ticket to get out of town again before he's caught. Great song.

submissions

Steely Dan – Gaucho Lyrics

12 years ago

I think Heatherfer and Jasonslyric have nicely explained this song, but I just want to add a few small things. I agree it's some sort of client/agent type of deal (or mentor/mentee) but I do think there's something drug-dealish or underworld-y about it. Otherwise, why would he need to sleep on the floor or be dropped near the freeway? I think most are in agreement that the gaucho is the flamboyantly gay boyfriend or one night stand of the "boy" (probably late-teens/early 20s, naive) who is ruining the action for the narrator. But what's interesting to me is the narrator's own ambivalence about the homosexuality. I *don't* think the narrator and the boy are currently in any kind of sexual relationship, rather, the narrator thinks he is this upstanding all-business dude and saying he is sort of disgusted by the flamboyant boyfriend, but then slips for a second and betrays that he might be attracted to the boy with the line "with the studs that match your eyes". This is followed by the "nasty schoolboy" line, which is almost too much. It's sort of the twist ending of the song, which reminds me a lot of "Everything You Did" where the narrator catches his girlfriend cheating and after getting mad orders her to repeat her transgressions exactly as she did them but with him.

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