Steely Dan – Jack of Speed

Thanks, durable1,
Nice explanation.

Very eloquently stated. Thanks for sharing.

Perfectly stated!

@thedurable1 Nailed. Former meth user here, hooked for its weight loss and aggression properties. Sadly she delivers on both, which is how she hooks you. I'm clean now but this song absolutely nails it. Fagen's not mincing words in this one. Meth does make you think you're productive at first, and tricks you by making you the antisocial person scared of other people suddenly social and no longer scared; but there is a heavy price. God help the ones who have the addiction gene because they can't hear their brain's and body's alarms warning them something's seriously wrong, and escape Tina early. I do not posses the gene and heard the alarms and got out.

Today I can see how Tina could have seduced me. I'm sad I have to do without now and can't be as slickly social anymore, and I mourn it's not QUITE as easy to stay stick thin without her (though she stays in your system forever and you will eat less after having used her awhile - ED folks stay away, do not see this as an endorsement), but rather that than become her drooling slave hiding behind lowered blinds, shut curtains and paranoia. When Fagen sings "He's changed - in a thousand little ways, he's changed" BOY does he ever nail it. You do not realize how drastically and fully crystal changes you unless you're lacking the addiction gene and can keep your sanity and objectivity afterward, and until you're miles away from the shit.

Trust me, the Dan, despite being unrepentant cokeheads both, nailed speed on this song.

Envious perhaps because our high is 3x better and costs 10x less? :D

@thedurable1 Completely wrong. The rest of you are too. Donald Fagen himself said in the "Two Against Nature" songbook: "Jack of Speed" is really just about when one member of a couple starts to lose it in some way. The most obvious question is, Are you talking about actual speed, like the drug "speed"? It's really not that; it has to do with sort of manic stages people get into for one reason or another. The cautionary smile. He's out there; he is living too large.

i think the girlfriend has been tweaking too, although to a lesser degree than Teddy.
he is destined for the shriek express, and if she doesn't get out now then she'll be trading fours with him. i.e., first he will shriek for four bars, and then she will shriek for four bars, because the meth will have made them both insane..

@thedurable1 Former addict here. Yep. You nailed it, Durable. And you know too much. Steer clear of this ish, man.

@milhous451 Metal is also Don's dry smartaleck flipped bird to the heavy metal listeners who make up a disproportionate amount of meth users. But not all. I was one and am a jazz fan and Dan head.

Simply? Seems you got a lot of complicated 'splainin' to do to justify that one. Where you at Sheena's Party?

Moving on metal is like "metal on metal", i.e. no lubrication, grating metal on metal, dry contact; creating friction and heat that will eventually destroy the engine (in this case, Jack's life).