6:05
Outside the stadium
Special delivery
For Hoops McCann
Brut and charisma
Poured from the shadow where he stood
Looking good
He's a crowd pleasing man
One on one
He's schoolyard superman
Crashing the backboard
He's Jungle Jim again
When it's all over
We'll make some calls from my car
We're a star
It's a glamour profession
The L.A. concession
Local boys will spend a quarter
Just to shine the silver bowl
Living hard will take its toll

Illegal fun
Under the sun

All aboard
The Carib Cannibal
Off to Barbados
Just for the ride
Jack with his radar
Stalking the dread moray eel
At the wheel
With his Eurasian bride
On the town
We dress for action
Celluloid bikers
Is Friday's theme
I drove the Chrysler
Watched from the darkness while they danced
I'm the one

It's a glamour profession
The L.A. concession
Local boys will spend a quarter
Just to shine the silver bowl
Living hard will take its toll

Illegal fun
Under the sun

Hollywood
I know your middle name
Who inspires your fabled fools
That's my claim to fame

Jive Miguel
He's in from Bogota
Meet me at midnight
At Mr. Chow's
Szechuan dumplings
After the deal has been done
I'm the one

It's a glamour profession
The L.A. concession
Local boys will spend a quarter
Just to shine the silver bowl
Living hard will take its toll

Illegal fun
Under the sun






Lyrics submitted by stoolhardy, edited by CaptBackslap, savino76

Glamour Profession Lyrics as written by Walter Becker Donald Fagen

Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Glamour Profession song meanings
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    General Comment

    The basketball stuff is just a guy showing off; he hasn't played serious hoops in years, but he's still got it (or needs to prove he does). Someone living this large--i.e. drug dealers at the top of the totem pole--are above it all. These people ARE like Superman in their invincibility. They have to be. I'm reminded of the line from JFK where the DA lamely taunts the shady tycoon he's investigating (but can't nail), "Guys like you just walk through the raindrops." Yeah--they do!--and not a drop falls on their Armani suits and $200 haircuts.

    In this song they're celebrating wretched excess, piling on (and on and on) the references to wealth and conspicuous consumption. "Off to Barbados just for the ride"--you expect they already own cigarette boats--or indulging in the latest "theme" for the clothes they'll wear when going out on the town. These days, it seems difficult to imagine: but at the time when this song was written, a carphone was a luxury most people had never seen in real life. It was one of the ultimate status symbols...owned primarily by drug dealers and Hollywood producers.

    And yeah, we also know about the other end of the scale, spending a quarter shining the silver bowl. For every guy on top, there's gotta be an awful lot of losers on the bottom.

    It's not Steely Dan's first song to glamorize drug dealing (or should I use the British spelling, as they did in the title?) "Kid Charlemagne" is a pastiche of stories about Owsley the legendary LSD chemist.

    Yeah, to delve into this material involves a kind of brash "fuck the rules" attitude, but that's a part of what Steely Dan has always been about. You just know Fagen and Becker have seen it all. (I mean it's in the background of the lives they've led; I'm not saying they've been kingpins themselves.)

    foreverdroneon July 25, 2008   Link

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