Songs mean whatever that squishy fluid floating around your brain tells you they mean! That's beautiful ain't it and that is why I think so many musical artist refuse to tell you what a song really means. Sorry to get on the soap box there but had to get it off my chest.
Here is just my interpretation:
The dude has turned down the offer to conform to society which was handed to him like a steaming turd on a silver platter. He will not walk the "line" layed out for him. So he is accused of just being morally inferior because he is lazy but in reality he is clued in to the fact that it is our society that is crazy and not himself. He is hip to it all (worldly wise). But a women's voice tells him to shut up and serve...just take it boy. It is like his mother or an overzealous corporate cheerleader is egging him on. So he asks if he has his own identity. Is he a human being or just a freak in their eyes.?
The dude is completely worn out at this point. Society has raked his identity over the coals and burned him out. He is at the end of his rope and he has nowhere left to turn. Maybe he was drafted to Vietnam, maybe the rat race drove him crazy, it can mean whatever chips away at you so fill in your OWN blank. The dude has to continue breathing though so he shakes it off and attempts to live a constructive life around the negative label (yellow strip) that people have put on him for not conforming.
The dude (gotta call him or her something but this all equally applies to females) is always kept as an outcast though so he can't really commune with people and be himself at the same time. He is choking because no one will open the door. He feels trapped.
The song takes a punch at society and its pressures with its witty lyrics and the brilliant piano adds to Its class. Long live Steely Dan!
@itwhatyouthink I think your interpretation has a general accuracy to almost everything Steely Dan wrote. Especially refusing the conformity on a hot platter. In all the photos I see of them from the 70’s (especially Fagan) I feel a vibe (in his eyes and his facial posture) of a guy who generally distrusts almost everyone except Becker. He embraced jazz at an early age when most people don’t “feel” music they just hear it, and I feel like he carried a certain disdain for “mainstream” society for not feeling what he felt for jazz. (the part you referenced about...
@itwhatyouthink I think your interpretation has a general accuracy to almost everything Steely Dan wrote. Especially refusing the conformity on a hot platter. In all the photos I see of them from the 70’s (especially Fagan) I feel a vibe (in his eyes and his facial posture) of a guy who generally distrusts almost everyone except Becker. He embraced jazz at an early age when most people don’t “feel” music they just hear it, and I feel like he carried a certain disdain for “mainstream” society for not feeling what he felt for jazz. (the part you referenced about him being clued in thats it’s the rest of society with the problem not him) Even the way he would look at the camera in photos when he happened to not be wearing shades, it was an “I don’t trust you or your ignorance” vibe. So to me your interpretation goes beyond just this song and to him in general. Even in those videos where he is with that piano expert dude explaining how he came up with the cords for Peg and Josie, he is so uncomfortable talking on camera and seems only able to conduct the session BECAUSE he gets to lose himself in his music.
In an interview he talked about having a nervous breakdown sometime after Nightfly was recorded. He also talked about the music industry keeping people out of real life and not even knowing what a mortgage was until he was in his 40’s. I am guessing the “nervous breakdown” came from what’s stated above AND that he wanted his music to be his reality. And when he finally realized it couldn’t be his full reality, and that he needed to have a better acceptance of the rest of society AND maybe society wasn’t as uninformed as he wanted to think….he had to swallow how his life outlook needed to change. And since then if you hear his interviews he seemed less guarded and paranoid. He even pokes fun at himself a little, and there is a SMALL hint that he wishes he had done things just a little different in the 70’s w Steely Dan. He says his favorite SD albums are the most recent cuz they had improved their skills and uses the term “juvenile” in reference to their 70’s music.
He’s a very complicated dude who has probably simplified himself over the years as a way to better survive. I am guessing he has a SUPER high IQ, and a lot of people like that who are genius in their field end up suicidal (Robin Williams comes to mind) and Fagan “simplifying” his view of society some prolly helped him avoid that. If you watch that live in studio piece he does with Paul Shaffer….he has so much patience for Shaffer’s obnoxiousness that he never would have had in his younger days.
I enjoyed your interpretation of this song cuz I think it gave me a little more clarity on MY views of him.
Songs mean whatever that squishy fluid floating around your brain tells you they mean! That's beautiful ain't it and that is why I think so many musical artist refuse to tell you what a song really means. Sorry to get on the soap box there but had to get it off my chest.
Here is just my interpretation:
The dude has turned down the offer to conform to society which was handed to him like a steaming turd on a silver platter. He will not walk the "line" layed out for him. So he is accused of just being morally inferior because he is lazy but in reality he is clued in to the fact that it is our society that is crazy and not himself. He is hip to it all (worldly wise). But a women's voice tells him to shut up and serve...just take it boy. It is like his mother or an overzealous corporate cheerleader is egging him on. So he asks if he has his own identity. Is he a human being or just a freak in their eyes.?
The dude is completely worn out at this point. Society has raked his identity over the coals and burned him out. He is at the end of his rope and he has nowhere left to turn. Maybe he was drafted to Vietnam, maybe the rat race drove him crazy, it can mean whatever chips away at you so fill in your OWN blank. The dude has to continue breathing though so he shakes it off and attempts to live a constructive life around the negative label (yellow strip) that people have put on him for not conforming.
The dude (gotta call him or her something but this all equally applies to females) is always kept as an outcast though so he can't really commune with people and be himself at the same time. He is choking because no one will open the door. He feels trapped.
The song takes a punch at society and its pressures with its witty lyrics and the brilliant piano adds to Its class. Long live Steely Dan!
@itwhatyouthink I think your interpretation has a general accuracy to almost everything Steely Dan wrote. Especially refusing the conformity on a hot platter. In all the photos I see of them from the 70’s (especially Fagan) I feel a vibe (in his eyes and his facial posture) of a guy who generally distrusts almost everyone except Becker. He embraced jazz at an early age when most people don’t “feel” music they just hear it, and I feel like he carried a certain disdain for “mainstream” society for not feeling what he felt for jazz. (the part you referenced about...
@itwhatyouthink I think your interpretation has a general accuracy to almost everything Steely Dan wrote. Especially refusing the conformity on a hot platter. In all the photos I see of them from the 70’s (especially Fagan) I feel a vibe (in his eyes and his facial posture) of a guy who generally distrusts almost everyone except Becker. He embraced jazz at an early age when most people don’t “feel” music they just hear it, and I feel like he carried a certain disdain for “mainstream” society for not feeling what he felt for jazz. (the part you referenced about him being clued in thats it’s the rest of society with the problem not him) Even the way he would look at the camera in photos when he happened to not be wearing shades, it was an “I don’t trust you or your ignorance” vibe. So to me your interpretation goes beyond just this song and to him in general. Even in those videos where he is with that piano expert dude explaining how he came up with the cords for Peg and Josie, he is so uncomfortable talking on camera and seems only able to conduct the session BECAUSE he gets to lose himself in his music.
In an interview he talked about having a nervous breakdown sometime after Nightfly was recorded. He also talked about the music industry keeping people out of real life and not even knowing what a mortgage was until he was in his 40’s. I am guessing the “nervous breakdown” came from what’s stated above AND that he wanted his music to be his reality. And when he finally realized it couldn’t be his full reality, and that he needed to have a better acceptance of the rest of society AND maybe society wasn’t as uninformed as he wanted to think….he had to swallow how his life outlook needed to change. And since then if you hear his interviews he seemed less guarded and paranoid. He even pokes fun at himself a little, and there is a SMALL hint that he wishes he had done things just a little different in the 70’s w Steely Dan. He says his favorite SD albums are the most recent cuz they had improved their skills and uses the term “juvenile” in reference to their 70’s music.
He’s a very complicated dude who has probably simplified himself over the years as a way to better survive. I am guessing he has a SUPER high IQ, and a lot of people like that who are genius in their field end up suicidal (Robin Williams comes to mind) and Fagan “simplifying” his view of society some prolly helped him avoid that. If you watch that live in studio piece he does with Paul Shaffer….he has so much patience for Shaffer’s obnoxiousness that he never would have had in his younger days.
I enjoyed your interpretation of this song cuz I think it gave me a little more clarity on MY views of him.