| Steely Dan – Negative Girl Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Yes, I'm sure this particular girl is an addict ... but she's not the first ... This is about a man who attracts the wrong women ... and as such he could very well be an addict himself. The most important word in the lyrics here is "ANOTHER" ... "Another negative girl." In my mind, it seems obvious. A man or woman attracts lovers with their aura, appearance and mindset. I personally know this. After my divorce, some of my reasoning seemed to fly out the door and I once again grew my hair long, into a ponytail and experimented with different beards. After 20 years of trying to compare every woman I became entwined with to my ex-wife, I gave up. The array of women I attracted was just pitiful. I regret the changes I made after leaving my wife. Had I carried on, clean cut, and progressed naturally instead of curling up to more past comfortable scenarios, I could have perhaps met someone who was very appropriate for me. I certainly could have learned more about my life during this long transition, but for some reason I chose not to. I now have no regrets though. I have two wonderful sons in their late thirties and life never ceases to be interesting. Making mistakes is part of life. I think what I'm trying to say is this - Without mistakes, life would just be too boring and worthless ... As I always do when possible regarding SD, I'm listening to this song with my Koss studio headphones. Using good headphones is the only way to really hear the perfect image of their compositions ...... Sadly, SD is over and will never be replicated ........ |
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| Steely Dan – Dont Take Me Alive Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[Hoops:28929] McCann - Hi Hoops .. Thanks for your reply to me ... Once again, the lyrics DO specify that this song points to a standoff with the law somewhere. One of the reasons for it has something to do with his father who was a salesman (past or present when written) ... Fine had no standoff with the law ... he was taken peacefully in early 1976 by the FBI. I've read and viewed interviews with SD and they have have always pointed their future towards musical structure. They have always hinted that they loved to cynically portray characters who lived on the outskirts of society, but the studio was always "HOME" ... musically. You mentioned that they were extremely weird ... they have admitted many times that they were not touring material .. they didn't have the personalities for it. They were a very gifted musical duo. After their first 2 albums, they "cast" sax, drum and guitar solos in a way that Hollywood does actors until they heard what they wanted. They were relentless. Becker has claimed that he wouldn't have cared is hadn't even played a note on many of their compositions. They have both said the music came first - it was their goal. They have admitted that their lyrics were written so their followers would want to listen again and again but also that even though their characters were specific, they often were left with "holes" that THEY had to fill to match the music. IE - Custerdome. By the way, the links you left me were all dead ... Whatever. You also mentioned that SD didn't write about love and relationships. NOT true. Not at all. Goodnight. And just remember that slews of lyrics in history have been written to flow with the song structure, whether simple or a out of bounds, just as a jazz guitarist or saxophonist would sing a song without words. |
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| Steely Dan – Dont Take Me Alive Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| @[Hoops:28888] McCann - Firstly, Fine and three others built a bomb consisting of dynamite, gasoline and fertilizer, It was put in a van that they parked outside a campus building, It detonated after 3 am. There was no "Holed Up" confrontation with anyone. The next day, after hearing on the news that one man had been killed inside and three wounded as well, he fled but was eventually peacefully captured by the FBI in 1976. So there goes your story. Straight out the window. | |
| Steely Dan – Dont Take Me Alive Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[Hoops:28887] McCann - Hi Hoops .. I've read a few of your historic replies here .. I'm not considering your references to this song as untrue, but I can somehow imagine that perhaps you could be a friend of SD or Fagen or Becker in disguise. Then again, I think not. There are many people out there who love the internet and who relish the thought of trying to link up historical facts and of course stretching the facts they find to adhere to an explanation of a song. One thing puzzles me here regarding your take of this song; Why is the phrase "I crossed my old man in Oregon don't take me alive" sung a number of times? I was 18 years old in 1970 and I remember the shootings at Kent State ... It was common practice in those days to refer to your Father as "My Old Man" ... Please tell me why you don't mention this phrase in your view here. Is it not obvious that his Father has something to do with his barricade? If the Father isn't lyrically included in this way, well then it's a bit of a different story isn't it. The Father/Son relationship is somehow very strong here though. He crossed his Old Man back in Oregon. Is it possible that he killed his father? Fortunately, it isn't overly important what the lyrics are ... it's the incredible structure of their music. The bridges and even double bridges in many songs. It's their open cry for perfection in the studio that matters. Larry Carleton or other ultra talented guitarists could have plucked every word of every song they wrote and perhaps taken the whole band to a new level towards Heaven ... We'll never know ... |
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| Steely Dan – Dont Take Me Alive Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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@[Hoops:28886] McCann - Hi Hoops .. I've read a few of your historic replies here .. I'm not considering your references to this song as untrue, but I can somehow imagine that perhaps you could be a friend of SD or Fagen or Becker in disguise. Then again, I think not. There are many people out there who love the internet and who relish the thought of trying to link up historical facts and of course stretching the facts they find to adhere to an explanation of a song. One thing puzzles me here regarding your take of this song; Why is the phrase "I crossed my old man in Oregon don't take me alive" sung a number of times? I was 18 years old in 1970 and I remember the shootings at Kent State ... It was common practice in those days to refer to your Father as "My Old Man" ... Please tell me why you don't mention this phrase in your view here. Is it not obvious that his Father has something to do with his barricade? |
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| Steely Dan – Dont Take Me Alive Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Certainly sounds like a bad childhood, definitely linked to his father. I think we can all imagine it - Perhaps abuse, whether physical or sexual, both or more, I think that this man is another typical SD character from our world and culture that has slowly crossed the line and become a mentally deranged criminal and outlaw on the run ... Let's be realistic ... SD has always used socially inept, troubled individuals in their compositions and in the process have usually stretched metaphors, analogies, and whole sentences to suit themselves. At times, I have found this a little unfair to their audience, including me. Nevertheless, I still can't help but revel in how they tell a story. Some of their lyrics are fairly straightforward, but then again most are not. I think most of their songs are written from personal experience and of course there are characters in our world that they love to comment on. Fagen and Becker are and were not only top notch musically educated (RIP Walter) musicians but very intelligent as well. They have carved out an extremely unique niche in the musical world that no-one has yet to rival. In my 66 years on this earth, I have have never heard a band that comes close to their style. Something tells me we never will. Ok .. enough Kudos ... In my 20's, in the 70's, when a young guy like me was stoned, getting laid when women just let you have it and just being happy, a lot of my male friend's personalities didn't seem very important to me as long as they were friends. But thinking over the years here and there about my past has made me think about those friends ... long before I ended up here typing this ... one in particular (I will omit his name) despised his parents. He especially hated his Father, for who he was in that time (A lawyer) and how he was dishonored as a son for quitting his last year in high school. When my friends went out prowling and drinking at night, this particular friend always seemed to drink far too much and then would always proceed to relentlessly degrade his parents. We usually had to try to calm him down to the point of telling him on occasion to "shutup" ...He was an angry young man ... We knew why and when he wouldn't stop his parental tirades, we would try to console him with the best common sense we had at the time. I still wonder about him. I wonder where he is and how his life turned out. I'm just hoping that he let loose and became himself. I always loved my parents and they always loved me, God rest their souls. Back then, I really never knew what this friend was actually going through ... But I can just imagine where he went to in later years if he hadn't come to terms with his upbringing and hatred for his parents. I'm thinking that this particular friend could very well be the product of this song - Don't Take Me Alive .... |
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| Steely Dan – Do It Again Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| @[Steve:28885] alexander You mention addiction .. As I mentioned somewhere in here, addiction is insanity ... the cure for insanity is a strong learning capability ... That is what this song is all about ... If the narrator here has the cells to learn, he obviously doesn't want to ... it's a circle of madness ... | |
| Steely Dan – Do It Again Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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The word INSANITY means attempting the same process over and over again, expecting different results. Since all three choruses "You go back, Jack, do it again, wheels turinin' 'round and 'round You go back, Jack, do it again", I would assume the narrator doesn't have a firm grip on reality and when it comes to his personal life, has a major learning disability that has certainly led him to a very dark place in this world. |
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| Steely Dan – Aja Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Just a PS here - I shouldn't have mentioned how "obvious" the meaning of these lyrics are. The interpretation I described has for 40 years been MINE. But one thing rings true .. The narrator is obviously running between two powerful forces in his life .. The Hill and Aja. Let them be what they may. At this moment in time, I'm sure Donald Fagen could very well describe 10 very different scenarios for his lyrics. He's the man. This is who he is. In the early 80's, I was in a store and while waiting in line I looked at magazines racked in front of the counter. One of them, I'm sure it was Guitar Magazine, revealed it had an interview with Mr Fagen, so of course I bought it. I forget quite a bit of it but what I remember most was his anger regarding their last contract album with their label. Becker and him wanted to leave the AJA album in the air for a very long time. After all, it was by far the greatest thing they had ever done. Apparently their label was bought up, legal issues arose, and they were forced to record their last contractual album under new ownership. They were extremely unhappy about this and Fagen said in the interview that this reflected on their performance with the production and writing of Gaucho. I've read in later years that the duo purposefully wrote and recorded a song about homosexual lovers and their problems with a third younger party as resentment against their wishes regarding AJA. Not sure if this is really true but I certainly regard the song Gaucho as another musical masterpiece. In fact the album was a certain success - awesome tunes! Lastly, Donald Fagen was asked in the interview about the AJA album. Excuse me I have to make one more White Russian .... He claimed that Aja was a woman, and The Hill was the first site of a very serious weekend lifestyle seminar invented in the late sixties by a used car salesman - EST .. It was situated on a cliff in Southern California ... it was expensive to attend and contrived to convince the clients to completely forget how their past had formed them into who they were at the moment, to take charge of their life and become who they wanted to be. I remember thinking that this was indeed relevant and didn't know whether to believe it. He didn't say anything much more (including what EST was) but here we go ... Is the Narrator telling us about trying to improve his life and perhaps finding it negative then running for comfort to his lover? Is EST scaring him? Is Aja reality and solace? One thing IS obvious .. Aja is a blanket, somewhere to curl up into a fetal position or someone who can console him and make him smile and stare into eyes. This is the thought I was left with after reading that interview with Fagen. I've listened to this song thousands of times. Loud, louder and even louder. For myself, a man or a 20 year old kid living in the seventies, when sex was a very giving thing by women, I'll continue to hang on to the premise that our Narrator just cannot control his erections. I learned much later that EST became very successful and moved to many locations throughout California and beyond. I also learned from reading that the initial location upon a cliff was nicknamed "The Hill" ... I have always wished that the ending to this song wasn't wound down so fast ... it should have lasted at least another 30 seconds ... |
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| Steely Dan – Two Against Nature Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Lyrics have nothing to do with this song ... the music is evil, gorgeous and fills your head with sex and makes you dance and forget what happened an hour ago. The whole album is simply incredible ... |
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| Steely Dan – Things I Miss the Most Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Yes, Narrator has lost someone he loved ... | |
| Steely Dan – The Goodbye Look Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Federal protection gone bad ... | |
| Steely Dan – Cousin Dupree Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Nice big stab in the back towards Country Music! | |
| Steely Dan – Bad Sneakers Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Narrator is in jail .... | |
| Steely Dan – Glamour Profession Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Narrator is the coke dealer for a famous basketball player ... | |
| Steely Dan – Time Out of Mind Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Yes .. great tune about getting stoned ... ! | |
| Steely Dan – Turn That Heartbeat Over Again Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| Short and Sweet ... Have a life and don't go to prison. | |
| Steely Dan – Aja Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Well ... I've once again stumbled upon another wonderful website! I fell in love with SD when I was about 20 years old when their first offering was released - Can't Buy A Thrill ... Since then, I have managed to collect just about everything Fagen and Becker have done and continue to listen to them as I slide towards my 70's. What has always thrilled me about these guys was not just their lyrics, but mostly the skilled musical structure of their songs, along with the incredible musicians they hired to pull everything off to perfection. BTW: Walter Becker - R.I.P. Ok ... The song AJA ... one of my all time favorites! Structure, once again here, is absolutely amazing and dramatic with high tension. Incredible bridges. The ending is simply amazing. Without Steve Gadd on drums, this song would never have been what it is. AJA's lyrics have two simple elements - The Hill and Aja. I think The Hill makes this song confusing for a lot of listeners ... They think the location is so important that they really lose the simple meaning to this song. When listening to the whole song, it's painfully obvious that The Hill is where our narrator escapes to party, get stoned and meet other women. Everyone seems to like him. "There's no return" - He loves it there and doesn't want to leave. He also thinks of his true love Aja while he is there - "Chinese music always sets me free" - When his "Dime Dancing is through" or his partying is done, he simply ends up in his lover's arms once again. He knows what's right and wrong - He simply has a problem with it. Two quick things here .. My Father, rest his soul, told me what Dime Dancing was after asking him. He explained that it was a subculture and business where a man in his time could dance with hired women for 10 cents a song. It's quite obviously the narrator's partying time. Palos Verdes, a rather affluent and laid back southwestern suburb of LA has been nicknamed The Hill for decades and decades. SD created the first phase of their career in LA. I read this in a book I read and still have - The Falcon and The Snowman ... The place was quite renowned for beach parties, extremely low crime, and parties and parties in the 70's - depicted by the book on where Chris Boyce and Daulton Lee grew up. Coincidence? |
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