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Brite Nitegown Lyrics

I dreamed I had a fever
I was pushin' one-oh-three
My mom's all upset
Crying by my bedside
Everybody's praying for me
I hear a scratchin' at my window
I somehow twist myself around
I realize I'm eyes to eyes
With the fella in the brite nitegown

Brite Nitegown
Brite Nitegown
You can't fight the fella
In the Brite Nitegown

The eagle flies on Friday
My baby wants to bash
I hit the ATM
And march down the street
With a roll of party cash
Right then a couple lit-up brothers
They gently put me on the ground
They do the steal
And they leave me to deal
With the man in the brite nitegown

Brite Nitegown
Brite Nitegown
You can't fight the fella
In the Brite Nitegown

Brite Nitegown
Brite Nitegown
You can't fight the fella
In the Brite Nitegown

Ten milligrams of Chronax
Will whip you back through time
Past Hebrew kings
And furry things
To the birth of humankind
I shared in all of nature's secrets
But when I finally came around
I'm sittin' on the rug
Getting a victory hug
From the fella in the brite nitegown

Brite Nitegown
Brite Nitegown
You can't fight the fella
In the Brite Nitegown
3 Meanings

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Cover art for Brite Nitegown lyrics by Donald Fagen

The CD liner notes pretty much tell what this song is about. Actor/comedian W.C. Fields refered to death as the "man/fella in the bright nightgown"

Each stanza details a different way one can die: option one is by natural causes...fever. Mom and family say goodbye and the fella in the bright nitegown is waiting at the window

Option two is murder. A guy is getting money at an ATM to go to an Eagles game with his date. He heads down the street with his cash, but is attacked by a pair of robbers "high" on whatever who leave him to live or die.

The final option is self-destruction. The song suggests a drug. (Chonax?) W.C. Fields was alcoholic and depending on reports died of cirrhosis or pneumonia.

Guess the end message is we are all going to die sometime, why do yourself in when there are so many other options out after you?

"The eagle flies on Friday" is decades-old slang that means Friday is payday. (Eagle emblem on the dollar bill.) Your "chonax" actually is "Chronax" which clearly is a drug that sends you back in time -- or at least makes you THINK you did. That said, I love Fagen's sci fi mentality through all his solo efforts. (e.g., I.G.Y., all of Kamakiriad, this bit in Brite Nitegown, Mary Shut the Garden Door and Great Pagoda of Funn on Morph the Cat, and Weather in My Head, Memoribilia and New Breed in Sunken Condos....

@Arbiter, Chronax is an oil (of Compagnie Francaise de Raffinage) for lubricating clockwork systems, very famous and used in Greenwich observatory for example (in the 30’s approx.) so : “ Ten milligrams of Chronax it will hip you back through time ” ?!

103 seems to be a reference to 9/11/01 " That morning, Lamprecht was on the 103rd floor of the south tower of the WTC, standing in front of a large window, about to give a presentation for AON, the company he worked for". on CBC news, Robin Lamprecht survived and told the story on cbs news he was on the 103 floor.

The...

Cover art for Brite Nitegown lyrics by Donald Fagen

Such an upbeat song to be about death lol.

Cover art for Brite Nitegown lyrics by Donald Fagen

I think The Fella in the Brite Nitegown is the Lord. Our Hero is about to meet the Skyfather

 
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