It's about a weary drug addict longing for the company of an old friend who died of an overdose. He introduced the speaker to the habit, but he blames himself for letting his friend die, but he also blames the deceased friend for his current condition. His addiction has taken him to some very dark places, and things have gotten so bad that it's impossible for him to determine if he is currently the master of his own fortune in life. He encounters the guy's widow in the park, someone he probably hasn't seen in a very long time, and it's clear that the main thing on her mind is whether or not the speaker is still a user. He compliments the woman on her appearance and they chat for a while, but at the end of the day, he is still haunted by loss and a foreboding sense of impending doom.
The line "If I got the bear or if the bear got me" is a reference to an unused Steely Dan song that was discarded from the Aja sessions, which is itself a song about the mental confusion and disarray brought about by being a junkie. "The Bear" was another nickname for the psychedelic Owsley Stanley, aka Kid Charlemagne.
It's about a weary drug addict longing for the company of an old friend who died of an overdose. He introduced the speaker to the habit, but he blames himself for letting his friend die, but he also blames the deceased friend for his current condition. His addiction has taken him to some very dark places, and things have gotten so bad that it's impossible for him to determine if he is currently the master of his own fortune in life. He encounters the guy's widow in the park, someone he probably hasn't seen in a very long time, and it's clear that the main thing on her mind is whether or not the speaker is still a user. He compliments the woman on her appearance and they chat for a while, but at the end of the day, he is still haunted by loss and a foreboding sense of impending doom.
The line "If I got the bear or if the bear got me" is a reference to an unused Steely Dan song that was discarded from the Aja sessions, which is itself a song about the mental confusion and disarray brought about by being a junkie. "The Bear" was another nickname for the psychedelic Owsley Stanley, aka Kid Charlemagne.