"Aja is the name of a woman. I had a friend in high school, and he had an older brother who went to Korea and married a Korean girl, and brought her back. And her name was Aja. We thought that was a good name, just a very romantic sort of image, the sort of tranquility that can come of a quiet relationship with a very beautiful woman." -Donald Fagan
Despite that, I tended to see a sort of dystopic scene hidden in romanticism, sort of like a maximum security prison or a POW camp, with images like "double helix in the sky tonight" that could be spotlights, "bring out the hardware let's do this right," which could be anything from an escape to an execution, "here at the dude ranch above the sea" an allusion to being a men's detention center "up on the hill," "when all my dime dancing is through" could be the end of a sentence or when said escape took place, etc.
Just goes to show how communication can be, even in song lyrics - where one person says one thing full of heartfelt meaning, but completely different from what another hears. (Or it's just that I've grown up with too many action thrillers.)
"Aja is the name of a woman. I had a friend in high school, and he had an older brother who went to Korea and married a Korean girl, and brought her back. And her name was Aja. We thought that was a good name, just a very romantic sort of image, the sort of tranquility that can come of a quiet relationship with a very beautiful woman." -Donald Fagan
From Classic Albums: Aja by Steely Dan 1977 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8GwEX7nn6o
Despite that, I tended to see a sort of dystopic scene hidden in romanticism, sort of like a maximum security prison or a POW camp, with images like "double helix in the sky tonight" that could be spotlights, "bring out the hardware let's do this right," which could be anything from an escape to an execution, "here at the dude ranch above the sea" an allusion to being a men's detention center "up on the hill," "when all my dime dancing is through" could be the end of a sentence or when said escape took place, etc.
Just goes to show how communication can be, even in song lyrics - where one person says one thing full of heartfelt meaning, but completely different from what another hears. (Or it's just that I've grown up with too many action thrillers.)