BarryTown

My father joined the Unification Church at a workshop at the Unification Theology Seminary in Barrytown. Many members lived there and worked there and witnessed and recruited youth at Bard College, where Don Fagen and Walter Becker went to college. Unificationists were known to be clean cut, wear suits and frequently carried clip boards and pamphlets. Moonies, as they are better known, were infamous and remain infamous and were frequently in the news in the 70s. This is likely about the Moonies in Barrytown.

No, no, no, whippersnappers and old timers alike, The narrator in Barrytown is the one who is conservative: "I'm not one to look behind I know that times must change" and "I like things like they used to be". The narrator doesn't read a high brow newspaper and isn't very critical: "I just read the Daily News and swear by every word". But the narrator also tries to justify himself and stresses that he isn't oppositional: "And don't think that I'm out of line / For speaking out for what is mine". He would be happy to see others do just fine. But look at their clothes! Flairs, flowery? And their hair! Presumably very long and presumably something that scares him. No, the narrator just cannot embrace the others, which I presume to be the youth. I can't see anything about moonies or race in any of the lyrics. "Go play with someone else" makes it sound like a child has intruded on the narrator's space. This theme of being pestered reappears at the end of the song with "Leave me or I'll be just like the others you will meet/ They won't act as kindly if they see you on the street". (Notice again the narrator is conservative but pleading that he's actually good at heart.) It is almost as if hippies have come too close for comfort with their flowers and free love. While you might guess that it is the conservative narrator who is being mocked, he doesn't come out of it too badly. I don't even see the song as being about prejudice, it is more about a cultural attitude that Marge Simpson summed up: "I fear the unknown".

It's about prejudice. It's an allegorical story that's really about white folks who pretend to be friendly with minorities but in reality they are as prejudiced as other people.

Exactly. Steely Dan is great. Very cryptical though.

Seems to be quite clearly about sociological barriers and prejudices. Doesn't seem particularly cryptic to me.

Ooops....my bad. I forgot to mention the Moonies also. Kudos to Dr. Wu.

OK, I can speak with some authority on this because I went to Bard College, which is the school that Fagen went to. Bard is located in a town near Barrytown. The thing about Barrytown is that there is a high percentage of retarded, Mongoloid and otherwise 'inbred' folk. I never heard anything about moonies, but a lot about the genetic weirdness of Barrytown residents.

I always thought Barrytown people lacked sophistication and open minds. The lyrics are, as per usual, tongue in cheek.

Barry Town by stealy Dan was written about 1969 and the there is a Demo Recorden from then on CD. Thet were students,at Bard Collage in Barry Town. It was recorded for the album Prezel Logic from February 1975. UTS semenary was established autmn 1975 six months later.. Unification Church bought a cristian Collage to establish a master degree in relegious science. Stealy Dan sung about the locals in Berry Town who disliked the students at Bard College,..

The song is in reference to Barryville, NY where Rev. Moon purchased a large monesterary for his church. This town was not far from Bard College where Becker and Fagan first met. The moonies, as the followers were called, wore white,were clean cut and carried pamphlets about the religion.