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Glamour Profession Lyrics
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
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
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
The L.A. concession
Local boys will spend a quarter
Just to shine the silver bowl
Living hard will take its toll
Under the sun
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
The L.A. concession
Local boys will spend a quarter
Just to shine the silver bowl
Living hard will take its toll
Under the sun
I know your middle name
Who inspires your fabled fools
That's my claim to fame
He's in from Bogota
Meet me at midnight
At Mr. Chow
Szechuan dumplings
After the deal has been done
I'm the one
The L.A. concession
Local boys will spend a quarter
Just to shine the silver bowl
Living hard will take its toll
Under the sun
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I have read "homages to the 70s and 80s", but never seen a real analysis of this song. Like most Steely Dan songs, it isn't as simple as it seems and a lot of the references are obscure even in the age of the internet.
Glamour Profession is about the misadventures of SPECIFIC LA folks with illegal drugs.
FIRST STANZA:
The "6:05 - Outside the stadium" verse refers to Pittsburgh Pirate Dock Ellis' no-hitter against the San Diego Padres on June 1, 1970. Supposedly he had flown to LA to try LSD and came back STILL under the influence at 6:05, when the game started at San Diego Stadium. The basketball references are there to obscure just WHOM Steely Dan are talking about. And Dock Ellis was a high school basketball star in Gardena, California.
Maybe they got Ellis some cocaine from a local dealer to get him amped up to play. And this dealer had a type of mobile car phone (which would have used the Dial system) on the Con-Tel Bell affiliate.
So the first stanza is clearly about the ball player Dock Ellis.
SECOND STANZA:
The "Jack with his radar, stalking the dread moray eel" is a reference to Jack Carlton Reed, a pilot and distributor for Carlos Lehder cocaine transports during his heyday. On some flights, it was said Jack would check the radar constantly to see if they were being followed or intercepted. The flights at the time in question would have been when Lehder was operating at Norman's Cay, and small Bahamian island he bought for it's proximity to the United States (and lack of drug enforcement presence) and then chased off the residents.
But the song isn't about Jack. If you want more on him, read the book Buccaneer by MayCay Beeler. It is about LA DJ Russ O'Hara.
Russ O'Hara was a popular DJ for LA radio station KROQ and well known for introducing stars as they went onstage at local LA concerts. In 1978, he met Jack Carlton Reed and started flying for Jack in a Piper Navajo for "adventure". At one point in 1980, he even quit being a DJ to work full time for Jack and Carlos, flying drugs into Norman's Cay. Russ got the full 'Norman's Cay experience', even videoing Carlos and company having fun on the island. The only thing that soured Russ on the experience was a sexual tryst he observed between his girlfriend, Reed and Reed's girlfriend Michelle. Which (according to Steely Dan) he watched from the darkness.
After testifying against Carlos Lehder and Jack Reed, O'Hara went back to spinning records - in 1981 at KRLA.
Second stanza is about disc jockey Russ O'Hara.
THIRD STANZA:
The third stanza starts differently than the rest. After the refrain, there is the "Hollywood, I know your middle name" part that is sung by background singers. Fagan jumps in on the "..That's my claim to fame" line.
From that part, we know this stanza is about someone big in Hollywood. Someone who eats (or can afford to eat) at Mr. Chow in Beverly Hills and hobnob with the stars. An agent? A producer? A movie executive?
In 1980, former Paramount movie executive Robert Evans, his brother Charles Evans and his brother-in-law Michael ("Jive Miguel") were set up in an FBI sting to buy and traffic cocaine. Robert ended up making an anti-drug commericial funded by Charles as part of his sentencing.
Third and last stanza is about the movie producer Robert Evans.
So these three successful guys all get involved in the drug business when it was 'the next big thing' and glamourous...get burned and get out.
Most of the information is obscured to NOT mention these folks by name because they were BIG names when Gaucho came out. (And who wants law suits and the like.) What is pure genius is HOW obscured they were; I've seen posts where folks are talking about Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson and the like - when that definitely isn't the case. Or some where they say the song just talks about the drug culture in L.A.
The thing about this song is that it is both incredible and credible at the same time! (Totally awesome, right?)
noise_floor@yahoo.com
@Hoops McCann I will go out on a limb and guess that based on your username you are a big Dan fan!
@Hoops McCann I will go out on a limb and guess that based on your username you are a big Dan fan!
I have such great memories of this tune... even though at the time it was 11 years after Gaucho's release, the LP sounded as crisp as any current release -- then or now! I can recall it like yesterday, my best friend and I driving from NYC back to NJ after partying all night (circa summer 1991).
I have such great memories of this tune... even though at the time it was 11 years after Gaucho's release, the LP sounded as crisp as any current release -- then or now! I can recall it like yesterday, my best friend and I driving from NYC back to NJ after partying all night (circa summer 1991).
I wasn't a virgin but was practically one as the only experience I ever had previously was with my high school sweetheart; and...
I wasn't a virgin but was practically one as the only experience I ever had previously was with my high school sweetheart; and we had double-dated with a cute north jersey guido chick I had met the previous week and her friend. After drinking ourselves stupid in the Village, we ended up back at their place in Montclair late night and I got so laid (again, I have to emphasize how sex was still really new to me at the time, was a late bloomer and the girl was fine as hell and far more experienced than my comparably inexperienced high school gf.)
I fondly remember my friend driving us back down the Garden State Parkway, mid-morning, puffing a J and listening to Gaucho... and I just recall how great I felt, how pleasurable Glamour Profession specifically sounded, we didn't say a word, just kinda smiling and nodding to each other as the end jam cruised into the fade... good times, man... good times.
@Hoops McCann How can you say that ''Hollywood - I know your middle name'' isn't referring to Thomas ' Hollywood' Henderson ?
@Hoops McCann How can you say that ''Hollywood - I know your middle name'' isn't referring to Thomas ' Hollywood' Henderson ?
@jazzamezza Amazingly, the person I thought it was, Robert Evans, died a couple of days ago. If you follow the logic of the song and one of the first lines I wrote, everyone mentioned in the song is an LA insider; someone who was not only well known, but moved in LA circles. Although Steely Dan isn't above some misdirection, Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson never played for an LA team or got into any legal trouble over dealing cocaine in Hollywood. So although it might fit - I think it is the late Mr. Evans, not the self-named...
@jazzamezza Amazingly, the person I thought it was, Robert Evans, died a couple of days ago. If you follow the logic of the song and one of the first lines I wrote, everyone mentioned in the song is an LA insider; someone who was not only well known, but moved in LA circles. Although Steely Dan isn't above some misdirection, Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson never played for an LA team or got into any legal trouble over dealing cocaine in Hollywood. So although it might fit - I think it is the late Mr. Evans, not the self-named "Hollywood" Henderson.
@Hoops McCann I don't usually go for detailed overinterpretations of song lyrics, but this is plausible and informative!
@Hoops McCann I don't usually go for detailed overinterpretations of song lyrics, but this is plausible and informative!
"Hollywood, I know your middle name" refers to Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson who was playing for the Dallas Cowboys in the late 70s, and whose "claim to fame" (more so than football) was that he got busted for selling/using blow and eventually banned from the NFL.
It's about a big time LA coke dealer. the last verse is the tipoff:
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
Miguel- Colombian connect Mr. Chow (not Chow's)- a Beverly Hills chinese restaurant(opened 1973) hence "szechuan dumplings, now that the DEAL has been done." I agree with the Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson reference since he used coke on the sideline during games, even SuperBowl XIII. Note: The Cowboys played the L.A. Rams twice that year('79), in week 3 and in the Conference Championship both times in L.A. Gaucho was released in 1980 so the timeline fits.
A lot of people miss the "thing" about this song. There's a perfection here. Each word is ideal. It's not just a word that works, or rhymes... it's perfect.
Jive Miguel isn't in from Columbia, he's in from Bogota. Say that out loud. Bogota. Great word.
He didn't drive the car, or the Chevy, or even the New Yorker... he drove the Chrysler.
They didn't have Chow Mein Noodles. They had Szechuan dumplings.
Over and over again. The whole song. Each word is the only possible word that could be used. And the way the music builds and builds, but never resolves. When I play this loud on my stereo (Which is amazing. No, seriously amazing.) I get a chill, then a chill on the chill. Literally a shiver down my spine that doesn't stop. Layer after layer of perfection.
God that's a great song. Maybe the best Steely Dan song of all, and that's saying something.
I was waiting for someone to comment as I didn't want to be the first..! The song is definitely about living the "hollywood" lifestyle. It is also one of the best written/produced tracks I think I have ever heard..!
This song is sung from the point of view of the cocaine.
@liveswithanevilb1 underrated comment
@liveswithanevilb1 underrated comment
https://youtu.be/Gadclj2F3V8?t=1088
I've always just seen this as a story about a major drug dealer in L.A.
"Local boys will spend a quarter Just to shine the silver bowl Living hard will take its toll"
To me that means that local kids are willing to do 25 years in prison just to live the high life for awhile.
It's about a Hollywood coke dealer
It's about a Hollywood coke dealer