With nothing to do, you'd waste away Obscured in exile They've witnessed the times You've gone astray And whose fault now You're thinking

With nothing to do, you'd waste away Obscured in exile They've witnessed the times You've gone astray And whose fault now You're thinking

(I feel this is referring to feeling exiled from family and the world as evil or going astray for not believing as they do or being yourself so you distract yourself and just try to get by)

(I feel this is referring to feeling exiled from family and the world as evil or going astray for not believing as they do or being yourself so you distract yourself and just try to get by)

So strange are the ways They all have changed Still life, it stayed the same A break from the past Could make it last Ah, maybe just a little longer

So strange are the ways They all have changed Still life, it stayed the same A break from the past Could make it last Ah, maybe just a little longer

Now there's nothing to prove (Snapshot from the crowd to the...

Now there's nothing to prove (Snapshot from the crowd to the shore, baby)

And it feels, now Just like heaven's coming down Your soul shakes free As its conscience hits the ground

You surrender Love under will Rest assured, baby You're adored

These signs, this fate Takes a path you didn't choose Stay strong, keep faith There's a change that's coming through

Feels like heaven's coming down Hold on, my love Feels like heaven's coming down Hold on, my love

(The world is changing and people are going through an awakening but there’s that inbetween period where you’ve changed on the inside but the outer world hasn’t caught up. The awakening process is painful and involves releasing the old you and everything that holds you back including old belief systems. He’s saying to be patient and know that you’re adored by the higher powers and likeminded people and the old world is collapsing and a new age of freedom is coming)

That’s my interpretation. I cry everytime I hear it.

@alasdairforrest definitely made all the big points. There are a few more nice details in the lyrics:

@alasdairforrest definitely made all the big points. There are a few more nice details in the lyrics:

Colors are mentioned often. • The "gray" men are financial professionals, like the title character in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit." But gray is not just a description of their clothing but also their lives, lacking in vitality. The lyricist sees himself as superior to them in personality and celebrates his inevitable victory in some scenario where everyone else is losing. • A "little black book" is often a list of social contacts, but when he speaks about striking "red" words, he seems...

Colors are mentioned often. • The "gray" men are financial professionals, like the title character in "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit." But gray is not just a description of their clothing but also their lives, lacking in vitality. The lyricist sees himself as superior to them in personality and celebrates his inevitable victory in some scenario where everyone else is losing. • A "little black book" is often a list of social contacts, but when he speaks about striking "red" words, he seems to be talking about debts (written in red in ledgers). He has decided not to repay past debts. He is going to succeed, in essence, by cheating others, which is why, in the last line, he talks about changing his name. • Of course, the title begins with "Black," which here means tragic. The 1929 stock market crash had a pivotal "Black Tuesday" and here, he imagines the next such event might take place on a Friday.

The choice of a small town in Australia is probably motivated by the fact that an American could get along without having to learn a new language, but would be able to escape from past responsibilities and debts, particularly if he adopts a new name. This is also likely why he picks a small, remote town, and not, say, Sydney. By waiting out in a hole, he seems to indicate that he will fake his death as part of evading responsibility. The Archbishop sanctifying him might mean that the world believes that he really is dead, but if not, he will continue in this new life regardless and hope that nobody connects him with his real identity.

When he mentions being on a hill, he means prominent and prosperous in his new life. A song on the previous Steely Dan album, "Pretzel Logic," described Napoleon as being atop a hill.

"Staking a claim" alludes to obtaining property for enriching one's self with mining, as in a gold rush. Here, though, his scheme is not literal mining but running off with assets and skipping out on debts.

And, unstated in the lyrics: This is not a real scenario that has begun to play out but rather a hypothetical scenario that might. He is already planning on unscrupulous behavior for a scenario that he can't personally bring about, and he sees it as a huge personal victory to achieve prosperity through criminal means while others fail. What he values is not being in the right, but simply prosperity by any means, and he's clinging to a dream that probably won't even occur. The flaws in the lyricist's character stand out more than the other details. For what it's worth, the lyrics of "Pretzel Logic" are also about the unrealistic dreams of someone who wishes to be successful, which is why that song's title comments on the illogical thinking of that song's narrator… very similar to the thinking of this song's narrator.