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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
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
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I read this on a website that's long-since dead, so I'm not taking credit (or blame) for it, but I agree with the interpretation...
The song seems to me to be about a cyborg or robot of some sort (think 'The Terminator' here) who has gone crazy and has holed itself up in a warehouse of sorts. The line about "I hear my insides...the mechanized hum of another world" and "I'm a bookkeeper's son" (since AI machines were first designed to do mundane tasks such as accounting) seem to bear this out somewhat. The robot has apparently become self-aware ("I know all at once who I am"), to the point that it thinks of itself as a real person ("A man of my mind can do anything").
No, not cyborgs! Cylons! LOL