Gaucho

Most people here have the interpretation wrong. Some are close, others are REALLY far off (one person said its about a dog being brought home. LOL, wtf?).

The lyrics are quite obvious. You have to acknowledge two truths. Steely Dan has a lot of shock value in this album in terms of lyrics (Hey Nineteen is obviously about an old man and his young teenage lover) and they love drugs. This song is without a doubt about a gay couple, but here's the wrinkle that most people are getting wrong. The narrator and his friend (he calls him his special friend) are drug dealers. The song starts off by saying "Boy we can't miss, you are golden, then you do this". One of the top comments here makes the relationship about an agent and his client. The client is obviously gay with the "gaucho" and the agent is upset that those two are embarrassing him and ruining business. Its plausible but "we got heavy rollers" line doesn't add up.

What would be really looked down upon during this time? Homosexuals. Needle sharing homosexuals would be such a bad look for people trying to deal to "heavy rollers". You have to remember where the AIDS epidemic came from. People where afraid of homosexuals continuing to spread the disease through needle sharing. The narrator says "Bodacious cowboys, such as your friend, will never be welcomed here, high in the Custerdome". Which is an easy line to dissect. Basically saying that homosexuals such as yourself will never be welcomed here within this high society/group or more-so in this case drug dealing empire. That's what custerdome can be interpreted as. I don't see that as an agent with his client. Because lets be honest, Hollywood is filled with homosexuals. It's not like that would be an odd thing to see in San Francisco. The line "Don't tell me he'll wait in the car". Again, another reference that seems like drug dealers. They are going to do a quick transaction, he can wait in the car. The narrator says "look at you, holding the hands with the man from Rio". Key word being "man" to show how foolish it looks to have one man holding another man's hands. That's not what real men do.

The line "one more expensive kiss-off, who do you think I am". The phrase "kiss-off" is another way of saying "screw you", "taking advantage of someone", etc. So its an expensive, screw you. What's expensive? They are drug users. He says "who do you think I am?". Basically saying "Who do you think I am, an idiot? You and your gay friend are just trying to use me. You want to use drugs together, use my situation, but you are completely embarrassing me and ruining business. We are dealing with high rollers. They are laughing at me because of you two. Get him out of here!"