Agents of the law
Luckless pedestrian
I know you're out there
With rage in your eyes and your megaphones
Saying all is forgiven
Mad dog surrender
How can I answer
A man of my mind can do anything

I'm a bookkeeper's son
I don't want to shoot no one
Well I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don't take me alive
Got a case of dynamite
I could hold out here all night
Yes I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don't take me alive

Can you hear the evil crowd
The lies and the laughter
I hear my inside
The mechanized hum of another world
Where no sun is shining
No red light flashing
Here in this darkness
I know what I've done
I know all at once who I am

I'm a bookkeeper's son
I don't want to shoot no one
Well I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don't take me alive
Got a case of dynamite
I could hold out here all night
Yes I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don't take me alive


Lyrics submitted by nicole, edited by wesley1015

Don't Take Me Alive Lyrics as written by Walter Carl Becker Donald Jay Fagen

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Dont Take Me Alive song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    After listening to this song about a million times and not understanding why he would cross his old man who is a bookkeeper I heard the real lyric, He's not saying "I crossed my old man" but "I crossed my own man back in Oregon". This small change makes the meaning of the song perfectly clear. He didn't rob a bank with his father and then cheat him but his partner, his "own man". No wonder he doesn't want to get caught alive, he's a dead man either way.

    wesley1015on April 05, 2016   Link

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