In the mornin' you go gunnin' for the man who stole your water
And you fire 'til he is done in but they catch you at the border
And the mourners are all singin' as they drag you by your feet
But the hangman isn't hangin' and they put you on the street

You go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back, Jack, do it again

When you know she's no high climber then you find your only friend
In a room with your two-timer, and you're sure you're near the end
Then you love a little wild one and she brings you only sorrow
All the time you know she's smilin' you'll be on your knees tomorrow, yeah

You go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back, Jack, do it again

Now you swear and kick and beg us that you're not a gamblin' man
Then you find you're back in Vegas with a handle in your hand
Your black cards can make you money so you hide them when you're able
In the land of milk and honey, you must put them on the table, yeah

You go back, Jack, do it again, wheel turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back, Jack, do it again


Lyrics submitted by AbFab, edited by KDBrazell, Mike175, letelier, garrettw, mjmajor, Katt740

Do It Again Lyrics as written by Walter Carl Becker Donald Jay Fagen

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network

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Do It Again song meanings
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  • +2
    General Comment

    As a fan from China, I recently found the lyrics has association with a concept from Buddhism. I think it is just a coincidence but maybe not, because Steely Dan has "Bodhisattva" and "Banyan Tree" in their later songs, I am not sure how much they know about Buddhism (although I never saw any report referring if they ever had interest in Buddhism).

    I'm not native English speaker so I just will write my basic opinions only. For more relating background details you can simply google the concepts I refer to.

    What I want to introduce is "Three poisons" (you can find its wikipedia page), including Moha, Rage and Dvesha.

    Dvesha means anger, in the first verse the man killed the guy who just stole his water, he is in great anger.

    Moha means silly, or confusing. In the second verse the man was lovesick and made irrational choice.

    Rage means greedy. In the third verse the man gamble with black cards (making money in illegal way) to fidn his land of milk and honey.

    emily11217on September 07, 2021   Link

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