There's a demo of this song floating around...on this demo, in between the verses, you hear Fagen whisper the words "Thirty years later..."
That pretty much sews it up for me. The first verse is about two German youths attending a fascist rally in late-30's Germany, wanting to meet 'the great man' and shake his hand, while being "part of the brotherhood".
The second verse is the same two people going back to the same site thirty years later, and casting their memories back to what they were a part of back then.
There's a demo of this song floating around...on this demo, in between the verses, you hear Fagen whisper the words "Thirty years later..."
That pretty much sews it up for me. The first verse is about two German youths attending a fascist rally in late-30's Germany, wanting to meet 'the great man' and shake his hand, while being "part of the brotherhood".
The second verse is the same two people going back to the same site thirty years later, and casting their memories back to what they were a part of back then.