I am gonna add an alternative meaning. This song came out during the first wave of a huge nostalgia boom for simpler times. Happy Days was a new show on TV. Capitol Records had released "The Beach Boys Endless Summer" which went double platinum. Disco was rearing it's ugly head on the far horizon.
The first verse gives it away: "Your everlasting summer..." - obvious reference to "Endless Summer."
The "girl" in the song was a metaphor for the record buying public. Steely Dan had spent years becoming a top notch jazz/blues/rock act, and now the public wanted "endless summer" rather than progressive music.
"You wouldn't know a diamond if you held it in your hand, the things you think are precious, I don't understand." - compares the progressive music of Steely Dan to the simplistic music of the nostalgia boom.
"The college" likely refers to early 1970s college and freeform radio, where obscure artists were played, and the weirder, the better.
"Reelin' In The Years" - trying not to grow old by trying to relive endless summers of the past.
"You've been tellin' me you're a genius since you were 17" - obvious references to Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon.
"I still don't know what you mean." - I never got it. I'm into a different groove.
"The things you think are useless, I don't understand." - there was a conscious effort during 1974 - 1976 to reject all things progressive. Maybe it was the advent of the nation's 200th birthday? Maybe just a time? But, the record buying public came to feel that progressive was useless, and nostalgia was in.
Fortunately, the public came to their senses about 1978. But, can you sense the disdain the the SD lyrics, as they rag on the record buying public, who they compare to a wayward girl who can't make up her mind?
This may not be the correct interpretation, but it makes sense to me. Add to it that SD never wrote about the obvious, but about the obscure. Attributing these lyrics to a real girl just doesn't jive with their style.
interesting take, @donutbandit! there are a FEW SD songs that aren't obscure (IMO)say,"King Of The World" and "Hey Nineteen", but i hope i find some other takes you have the songs of the Masters Of Mystique".
interesting take, @donutbandit! there are a FEW SD songs that aren't obscure (IMO)say,"King Of The World" and "Hey Nineteen", but i hope i find some other takes you have the songs of the Masters Of Mystique".
Kind of off the mark a bit... all the references you noted... "Endless Summer", "Happy Days" and even disco did happen until at least 1974. Song has nothing to do with commercial nostalgia... perhaps some Fagen/Becker personal nostalgia or melancholy.
Kind of off the mark a bit... all the references you noted... "Endless Summer", "Happy Days" and even disco did happen until at least 1974. Song has nothing to do with commercial nostalgia... perhaps some Fagen/Becker personal nostalgia or melancholy.
@donutbandit I don't Steely Dan was being that deep as to bury a metaphor about the music industry inside this song. It's about a girl - like most SD songs. Fagen's disappointments with women.
@donutbandit I don't Steely Dan was being that deep as to bury a metaphor about the music industry inside this song. It's about a girl - like most SD songs. Fagen's disappointments with women.
I am gonna add an alternative meaning. This song came out during the first wave of a huge nostalgia boom for simpler times. Happy Days was a new show on TV. Capitol Records had released "The Beach Boys Endless Summer" which went double platinum. Disco was rearing it's ugly head on the far horizon.
The first verse gives it away: "Your everlasting summer..." - obvious reference to "Endless Summer."
The "girl" in the song was a metaphor for the record buying public. Steely Dan had spent years becoming a top notch jazz/blues/rock act, and now the public wanted "endless summer" rather than progressive music.
"You wouldn't know a diamond if you held it in your hand, the things you think are precious, I don't understand." - compares the progressive music of Steely Dan to the simplistic music of the nostalgia boom.
"The college" likely refers to early 1970s college and freeform radio, where obscure artists were played, and the weirder, the better.
"Reelin' In The Years" - trying not to grow old by trying to relive endless summers of the past.
"You've been tellin' me you're a genius since you were 17" - obvious references to Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon.
"I still don't know what you mean." - I never got it. I'm into a different groove.
"The things you think are useless, I don't understand." - there was a conscious effort during 1974 - 1976 to reject all things progressive. Maybe it was the advent of the nation's 200th birthday? Maybe just a time? But, the record buying public came to feel that progressive was useless, and nostalgia was in.
Fortunately, the public came to their senses about 1978. But, can you sense the disdain the the SD lyrics, as they rag on the record buying public, who they compare to a wayward girl who can't make up her mind?
This may not be the correct interpretation, but it makes sense to me. Add to it that SD never wrote about the obvious, but about the obscure. Attributing these lyrics to a real girl just doesn't jive with their style.
interesting take, @donutbandit! there are a FEW SD songs that aren't obscure (IMO)say,"King Of The World" and "Hey Nineteen", but i hope i find some other takes you have the songs of the Masters Of Mystique".
interesting take, @donutbandit! there are a FEW SD songs that aren't obscure (IMO)say,"King Of The World" and "Hey Nineteen", but i hope i find some other takes you have the songs of the Masters Of Mystique".
Kind of off the mark a bit... all the references you noted... "Endless Summer", "Happy Days" and even disco did happen until at least 1974. Song has nothing to do with commercial nostalgia... perhaps some Fagen/Becker personal nostalgia or melancholy.
Kind of off the mark a bit... all the references you noted... "Endless Summer", "Happy Days" and even disco did happen until at least 1974. Song has nothing to do with commercial nostalgia... perhaps some Fagen/Becker personal nostalgia or melancholy.
@donutbandit I don't Steely Dan was being that deep as to bury a metaphor about the music industry inside this song. It's about a girl - like most SD songs. Fagen's disappointments with women.
@donutbandit I don't Steely Dan was being that deep as to bury a metaphor about the music industry inside this song. It's about a girl - like most SD songs. Fagen's disappointments with women.