Most Cryptic Dan Lyrics
Christopher Lampton
There's nothing like a good list to get this newsgroup going, so let me
propose a new one. Name the Steely Dan lyrics that you'd most like to have
explained. Don't worry if these have been discussed earlier or even if
you're hearing the lyrics wrong. (I haven't seen an SD lyric sheet in years
and don't trust them anyway.) With luck, someone will plunge into the fray
and explain something that's baffled you since 1973. Here are some of my own
candidates:
"Klaus and the Rooster have been there too.
"But lately he spends his time here."
(Who's "he"?)
"Rikki, don't lose that number."
(Phone number? Lottery number? Swiss bank account?)
"Double helix in the sky tonight."
(Great image, but what the hell is it?)
"Zombie see and zombie do
"He's here with me and you."
(A corpse? A memory? An extremely boring person?)
"We've seen the last
"Of good King Richard.
"Raise up a glass
"To good King John."
(Richard Nixon? John Kennedy? John Erlichmann? Johnny Carson?)
I'll have more later. Your turn.
--Chris
Jon S.
"Love your mama,
Love your brother,
Love 'em till they, run for cover,
Turn the light on,
keep your shirt on,
Buy a Jag on me"
(...family problems???)
...Turn that heartbeat Over Again from "Can't buy me a Thrill"
Vinyltap
>"Rikki, don't lose that number."
>(Phone number? Lottery number? Swiss bank account?)
This one's easy....it's a joint.
Mick Jones
I always understood the line below to refer to the structure of DNA, which fits
with the following lyrics, "Throw out the hardware, Let's do it right" to
suggest that an attempt at procreation is on the cards.
> <snip>
>
> "Double helix in the sky tonight."
> (Great image, but what the hell is it?)
>
> <snip
Tom Donovan
Vinyltap wrote in message <19980113185...@ladder02.news.aol.com>...
>>"Rikki, don't lose that number."
>>(Phone number? Lottery number? Swiss bank account?)
I thought that this referred to an offer of help to Rick Derringer who was,
allegedly, having a bad time with drugs when the song was written.
There again, if you were trying to kick a drug habit in the mid 70's,
perhaps Walt & Don were not your ideal role models.
Cheers,
Tommy
Ian Ripsher
Jon S. wrote in message <69g5rk$q91$1...@newsd-162.iap.bryant.webtv.net>...
Buy a Jag on me"
Isn't it "cry a jag on me"?
turnip
I believe this song is about doing Heroin. Apparently
"Chasing the dragon" is slang for getting high on heroin.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hugh A. Caldwell BeDev#6074 DoD#2029 97PGT ZR750-C2
----------------------------------------------------------------
Chad Dressler
Well, that song is pretty baffling, but this line brings up an interesting topic
of conversation. That is, what is the attitude of D&W toward blacks? There are
several lyrics of theirs that could be construed as having racial undertones
("Turn that jungle music down," as another example). Opinions?
> "There ain't nothing in Chicago
> For a monkey woman to do "
>
> or the rest of "Your Gold Teeth", for that matter.
>
> matthew foley
> Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA
> m-f...@nwu.edu
verkuilen john v
"Tom Donovan" <Tomm...@dial.pipex.com> writes:
Well they might not have been heavy into drugs then after all. This song is
from early and WB seems to have gotten heavy into drugs later on. Or at least
we know he was heavy into drugs later on but he might not have been into them
then. DF I can't say. I'm sure he did his share though but how much of a
problem it was for him I don't know.
--
J. Verkuilen ja...@uiuc.edu
"Things are not as bad as they seem, they are worse than that. They are also
better than that. We do not see life as it is, but as we perceive it to be."
--Robert Fripp
matthew foley
>
>"We've seen the last
>"Of good King Richard.
>"Raise up a glass
>"To good King John."
>(Richard Nixon? John Kennedy? John Erlichmann? Johnny Carson?)
>
Always took this one to be about King Richard the Lion-Hearted and King John
of Robin Hood-era fame.
How about
"Got a feeling I've been here before
Won't you let me help you find the door
All you got to do is use your silver shoes
A gift for the runaround
Use your knack darling
Take one step back darling
Robert Bursey
Vinyltap <viny...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19980113185...@ladder02.news.aol.com>...
> >"Rikki, don't lose that number."
> >(Phone number? Lottery number? Swiss bank account?)
>
> This one's easy....it's a joint.
I'm afraid it's not so easy. If it's not a phone number, then why is the
next line "you don't wanna call nobody else"? Maybe a rehab number.
But I don't know about this Rick Derringer thing either. I think Rikki is a
female, based on the spelling of the name and "you tell yourself you're not
my kind". I don't know if you'd say that to another guy.
--
-------------------------------------
Robert Bursey
rbu...@arrowsmith.net
-------------------------------------
will...@netcom.com
Robert Bursey (rbu...@arrowsmith.net) wrote:
: Vinyltap <viny...@aol.com> wrote in article
: <19980113185...@ladder02.news.aol.com>...
: > >"Rikki, don't lose that number."
: > >(Phone number? Lottery number? Swiss bank account?)
: >
: > This one's easy....it's a joint.
: I'm afraid it's not so easy. If it's not a phone number, then why is the
: next line "you don't wanna call nobody else"? Maybe a rehab number.
: But I don't know about this Rick Derringer thing either. I think Rikki is a
: female, based on the spelling of the name and "you tell yourself you're not
: my kind". I don't know if you'd say that to another guy.
I had heard many years ago that it was a phone number for an abortionist
that the singer was encouraging rikki to patronize.
--
William E. Homer
moving to: who...@concentric.net (can't fight GUI forever)
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/wi/william1/weh.html
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/1928
Barry S. Mandel
On Wed, 14 Jan 1998 02:49:32 GMT, m-f...@nospam.edu (matthew foley)
wrote:
>How about
>"Got a feeling I've been here before
>Won't you let me help you find the door
>All you got to do is use your silver shoes
>A gift for the runaround
>Use your knack darling
>Take one step back darling
>There ain't nothing in Chicago
>For a monkey woman to do "
I'm baffled as to the meaning of the song, as I am with most SD stuff,
but I always thought the lyric was "There ain't nothing in Chicago for
a buck you wouldn't do."
-- BSM
"First, we kill all the lawyers...." -- W. Shakespeare
"Some see the glass as half-empty. Some see the glass as half-full. I see the glass as too big." -- G. Carlin
Scott Andrew Borton
Mike McNally <mcn...@quip.eecs.umich.edu> wrote:
> It might help if I knew what/where the Barrytown referred to is.. Is it a
> real place/neighborhood somewhere?
Yes. Barrytown is about five miles down the road from Annandale-On-Hudson in
upstate New York. When I visited, I couldn't tell where the town started and
ended-- it was mostly a collection of houses and a train station.
If anyone is interested in a few cheesy photographs I took of Annandale and
Bard College (and one of the train station in Barrytown that I still have to
scan), they can be found at
http://sooshi.scs.uiuc.edu/bard-college/
--scott
--
scott andrew borton
http://sooshi.scs.uiuc.edu/~scott/steely-dan/
John Birkhead
I've always assumed that the DNA reference was to the use of sexual
aids in love-making. That is, throw them out and just do what comes
naturally.
Chasing the dragon is inhaling heroin smoke. More than that I do not
know!
turnip <tur...@concentric.net> wrote:
>Mick Jones wrote:
>>
>> I always understood the line below to refer to the structure of DNA, which fits
>> with the following lyrics, "Throw out the hardware, Let's do it right" to
>> suggest that an attempt at procreation is on the cards.
>>
>> > <snip>
>> >
>> > "Double helix in the sky tonight."
>> > (Great image, but what the hell is it?)
>> >
>> > <snip
>
> I believe this song is about doing Heroin. Apparently
>"Chasing the dragon" is slang for getting high on heroin.
-------------------------
John Birkhead
Storage Dimensions, Inc.
mailto:john_b...@xstor.com
http://www.storagedimensions.com
(408) 894 1397
-------------------------
verkuilen john v
Chad Dressler <cha...@fia.net> writes:
>Well, that song is pretty baffling, but this line brings up an interesting topic
>of conversation. That is, what is the attitude of D&W toward blacks? There are
>several lyrics of theirs that could be construed as having racial undertones
>("Turn that jungle music down," as another example). Opinions?
Well since D&W are more of the "storyteller" variety of lyricists I suspect
that it would be hard to figure out what their attitudes are as opposed to
the various characters that inhabit their songs, which may or may not have
much to do with what the songwriters actually believe.
Jay
Rob
Chad Dressler <cha...@fia.net> wrote:
>Well, that song is pretty baffling, but this line brings up an interesting topic
>of conversation. That is, what is the attitude of D&W toward blacks? There are
>several lyrics of theirs that could be construed as having racial undertones
>("Turn that jungle music down," as another example). Opinions?
The "monkey woman" line is a blues quote from I forget whom, but a
friend of mine put the quote up on his web site in his never-finished
Steely Dan FAQ. I think there are a lot of other jazz and blues
quotes in that track; I seriously doubt it was meant as racist, but I
bet they could get a lot of mileage out of it if you ask them on their
web site.
As for "turn that jungle music down", Babylon Sisters is a story song
(like several of the other songs on Gaucho and many others throughout
their career) and the narrator probably shouldn't be construed as
being Donald or Walter. However, jungle music didn't exist as a genre
when Gaucho was recorded; what would a slightly reactionary San
Francisco resident circa 1980 have been referring to by that?
Rob
ku...@ties.org - http://darkknight.net/~raindog
Rob
will...@netcom.com wrote:
>: But I don't know about this Rick Derringer thing either. I think Rikki is a
>: female, based on the spelling of the name and "you tell yourself you're not
>: my kind". I don't know if you'd say that to another guy.
>I had heard many years ago that it was a phone number for an abortionist
>that the singer was encouraging rikki to patronize.
Walter has said Rikki referred to Rick Derringer originally, and "send
it off in a letter to yourself" was a cheap way to establish the date
when you wrote a song (or 'number') without filing for a copyright.
Presumably the song then became something else; I file it under "songs
that may or may not illustrate a adomasochistic relationship", as well
as "songs into which far too much is read by certain people".
Rob
mcn...@quip.eecs.umich.edu (Mike McNally) wrote:
> What is the basis of the singer's prejudice -- race? sexual orientation?
> membership in the counter-culture? ("a look at what you wear / the way you
> cut your hair / I can see by what you carry that you come from Barrytown.")
> It might help if I knew what/where the Barrytown referred to is.. Is it a
> real place/neighborhood somewhere?
It was a town near Annandale-on-Hudson (c.f. My Old School), where D&W
theoretically went to school (at Bard College). It had a
concentration of aggressive religious people (I think they were
Jehovah's Witnesses). "What you carry" referred to a book, either the
bible or some sort of literature slash propaganda. I think I even saw
this one answered in an interview somewhere.
C McLuckie
Chris -
How about: - "We reach the sprangle just at dawn " - Trans-Island Skyway -
What on earth is a sprangle?
Charlie McLuckie
Christopher Lampton wrote in message <69f1e0$8tj$1...@winter.news.erols.com>...
>There's nothing like a good list to get this newsgroup going, so let me
>propose a new one. Name the Steely Dan lyrics that you'd most like to have
>explained. ...etc>
>
verkuilen john v
kudla.at.tie...@aol.com (Rob) writes:
>As for "turn that jungle music down", Babylon Sisters is a story song
>(like several of the other songs on Gaucho and many others throughout
>their career) and the narrator probably shouldn't be construed as
>being Donald or Walter. However, jungle music didn't exist as a genre
>when Gaucho was recorded; what would a slightly reactionary San
>Francisco resident circa 1980 have been referring to by that?
I think "jungle music" refers to the general notion of "jungle beat" that
was used as a characterization of black music from the 50's on. You've
heard the "think of the jungle beat" racial characterization made by, say,
white preachers, who opposed kids listening to "that negro music", right?
Anachronisms aside, I'm sure it has nothing to do with a specific genre.
The character is probably listening to something with a funky beat (The Royal
Scam, perhaps? :) and the narrator is embarrased by the loudness of it and
perhaps the image it portrays, as I would deduce from "just until we're out of
town".
Chad Dressler
Oh, and another one that always struck me as...interesting:
"Crashing the backboards, he's Jungle Jim -- again"
Rob wrote:
> Chad Dressler <cha...@fia.net> wrote:
> >Well, that song is pretty baffling, but this line brings up an interesting topic
> >of conversation. That is, what is the attitude of D&W toward blacks? There are
> >several lyrics of theirs that could be construed as having racial undertones
> >("Turn that jungle music down," as another example). Opinions?
>
> The "monkey woman" line is a blues quote from I forget whom, but a
> friend of mine put the quote up on his web site in his never-finished
> Steely Dan FAQ. I think there are a lot of other jazz and blues
> quotes in that track; I seriously doubt it was meant as racist, but I
> bet they could get a lot of mileage out of it if you ask them on their
> web site.
>
> As for "turn that jungle music down", Babylon Sisters is a story song
> (like several of the other songs on Gaucho and many others throughout
> their career) and the narrator probably shouldn't be construed as
> being Donald or Walter. However, jungle music didn't exist as a genre
> when Gaucho was recorded; what would a slightly reactionary San
> Francisco resident circa 1980 have been referring to by that?
>
Christopher Lampton
Chad Dressler wrote in message <34BD6A70...@fia.net>...
>Oh, and another one that always struck me as...interesting:
>"Crashing the backboards, he's Jungle Jim -- again"
Funny, it never occurred to me that "Hoops" McCann might be black. (Guess
it's that Scottish name.) The _original_ Jungle Jim (not to be confused with
a "jungle gym") was a TV and movie house serial character from the 40s/50s
played by the very white Johnny Weismuller, who even earlier played Tarzan.
That Jungle Jim, however, was not a basketball player (though Weismuller
_was_ an Olympic champion swimmer).
What does that have to do with "Glamour Profession"? Damned if I know.
--Chris
Christopher Lampton
John Birkhead wrote in message <34bdd564.1539693@ceres>...
>I've always assumed that the DNA reference was to the use of sexual
>aids in love-making. That is, throw them out and just do what comes
>naturally.
You're not suggesting that W & D would do it without the fez on, are you?
--Chris
Christopher Lampton
Mike Crumley wrote in message
<3A0689B5F132FE5B.09E86757...@library-proxy.airnews.ne
t>...
>Actually "chasing the dragon" refers to the vicious cycle some people
>get into when they do speed (or some other upper) to counter the
>heroin down so they can go to work or whatever, then they do heroin to
>come down off the speed so they can get some rest, then they do more
>speed to come up off the herion then...chasing the dragon.
And all these years I've been doing the same thing with coffee and beer! I
guess that qualifies as "chasing the small but harmless lizard".
--Chris
Christopher Lampton
Mick Jones wrote in message <34BBBC60...@griffin.co.uk>...
>I always understood the line below to refer to the structure of DNA, which
fits
>with the following lyrics, "Throw out the hardware, Let's do it right" to
>suggest that an attempt at procreation is on the cards.
>
>> <snip>
>>
>> "Double helix in the sky tonight."
>> (Great image, but what the hell is it?)
The idea that this is a sexual reference is interesting, but I can't quite
make it work. Yes, DNA has a double helical structure and, yes, it can be
found in sperm and egg cells, as well as in every other cell in your body.
But why "in the sky"? Vaguely apropos of this, I saw a skyrocket last July
4th that produced something that looked an awful lot like a "double helix in
the sky."
I always thought the next line was "Blow out the hardware", as in crank up
the volume all the way and destroy the speakers, though I could be wrong. (I
often am.)
--Chris
Bryan Robson
It's good to know that - the only Barrytown I knew of is in Dublin, as in
Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy (The Committments, The Snapper & The Van).
I always wondered why they were talking about Ireland...
Bryan.
Ian Ripsher
C McLuckie <@lineone.net> wrote in message <69jdlj$o9v$1...@rockcake.bt.net>...
>Chris -
>
>How about: - "We reach the sprangle just at dawn " - Trans-Island Skyway -
> What on earth is a sprangle?
How about: A portmanteau word from sprawl + tangle, ie a sprawling urban
neighbourhood?
Ian Ripsher
Cloture140
I think for Kamakiriad DF made up a lot of words referring to inventions that
haven't been invented yet, since the album takes place in the future.
"Sprangle" being one of these.
-JSD
HeMiola302
Okay 11 tracks of Wack and Kamakiriad both contain "Balinese Tech" I think, D&W
were ripping each other off!!!
zach in the miami valley
Christopher Martin
Rob <kudla.at.tie...@aol.com> wrote:
> It was a town near Annandale-on-Hudson (c.f. My Old School), where D&W
> theoretically went to school (at Bard College).
Not theory. Proven fact.
> It had a
> concentration of aggressive religious people (I think they were
> Jehovah's Witnesses).
Moonies, actually. The most obvious feature of Barrytown is the
sprawling Unification Theological Seminary.
Christopher Martin
Bard College '88
Suzie-Q
I have heard that "chasing the dragon" is a term used to refer to
freebasing cocaine, or doing some other similar thing either with
cocaine or some other drug.
8^)~~
~~~~~ Sue
**************************************************************
Note: To "reply," replace the ph in my address with an f
Visit me at http://www.foto.infi.net/~suzanne
**************************************************************
Cloture140
>You're not suggesting that W & D would do it without the fez on, are you?
No, but perhaps without Steely Dan. :-)
-JSD
Tom Donovan
>
>I have heard that "chasing the dragon" is a term used to refer to
>freebasing cocaine, or doing some other similar thing either with
>cocaine or some other drug.
I thought it referred to smoking, rather than injecting heroin.
Shows what a clean bunch we are, if we don't know this one..
Cheers
Tommy
TomC
Seeing as nearly every possibility has been mentioned, I thought it was
smoking opium.
TomC
Tom Donovan wrote in message <69qte0$e2u$1...@plug.news.pipex.net>...
Kathryn L. Hillman
I'd like to know what the slang's all about on "Your Gold Teeth" and
especially all that stuff about The Monkey Woman --- is she just a
prostitute? I'm just so damned naive sometimes.
- Kathryn
(And some thoughts follow below):
[snip]
>
>"Klaus and the Rooster have been there too.
>"But lately he spends his time here."
>(Who's "he"?)
Good question ..
>"Rikki, don't lose that number."
>(Phone number? Lottery number? Swiss bank account?)
I would guess that this one refers back to the slang term in the Seventies
for a 'joint'.
>"Double helix in the sky tonight."
>(Great image, but what the hell is it?)
In terms of astronomy, I'm stumped too ... all I know is that a helix is a
curvature in a cylinder that splits the curve at every point. Hey, I could
be wrong here, too.
>"Zombie see and zombie do
>"He's here with me and you."
>(A corpse? A memory? An extremely boring person?)
I interpreted this as the two crooks are now dead and ended up in the exact
void where they put their rival, hence giving some irony to the song.
>"We've seen the last
>"Of good King Richard.
>"Raise up a glass
>"To good King John."
>(Richard Nixon? John Kennedy? John Erlichmann? Johnny Carson?)
>
>I'll have more later. Your turn.
>
>--Chris
Varness
In the book"Reelin in the Years" Fagen describes Rikki don't lose that number
as an older gentleman meeting and connecting with a younger woman, Rikki, at a
resort. She is leaving and the number is his telephone number.
Cathy Barbarian was a singer of Armenian descent, who "sang" in a series of
growls and moans. Very Avant Garde. She was impressed that she was mentioned
and bought several copies of the record for her relatives.
Vinyltap
>It's always been my understanding that the expression >originated with
Oriental opium smokers although I don't know >the details of that.
Sounds logical with the Dragon being eastern symbolism.
Far as I recall hearing when the track came out it
referred to smoking cocaine in the freebasing style
that was going on way back then. But who knows?
Cloture140
I did not know that. Thank you.
-JSD
Noel St. John
viny...@aol.com (Vinyltap) wrote:
I remember seeing a 20/20 show or some similar news oriented program
circa 1983 that showed someone inhaling a line of (free based?)
cocaine that was on fire - almost like a slow burning fuse. The
narrator/commentator descrbed this act as "Chasing the Dragon." Just
for whatever that is worth.
Noel St. John
Replace notlikespam with Mindspring
F.Hughes
>I'd like to know what the slang's all about on "Your Gold Teeth" and
>especially all that stuff about The Monkey Woman --- is she just a
>prostitute? I'm just so damned naive sometimes.
>
>- Kathryn
The way I hear this song is of that of a prostitute trying to pay off
a debt (to a dealer?) with sex. The man is not interested in any of
the services she is offering him (bondage, stripping), or her fake
jewellery ("I have seen you iron and your brass, can't you see it
shine behind the glass?" :)). He tells here she'll have to go out and
earn it... or would she care to pull out her gold teeth to pay him
off!?
Well that's how I hear it. Anyone wish to share their interpretation?
BTW: It's currently my favouite 'Dan song!
>>"Double helix in the sky tonight."
>>(Great image, but what the hell is it?)
>
I aways visualized "Aja" as about Chinese opium takers all "up on the
hill" staring up at the moon, which, in their drug-haze, appears as a
double-helix.
-Frank.
F.Hughes
From my knowledge of this expression (certainly not from experience!)
is the method of consuming herion by burning the heroin on, say
tin/baking foil using a flame from underneath. the smoke is then is
then sucked in using a tube of some sort.
The first time I heard the phrase "chasing the dragon" was in a play
where they said you "chase the dragon straight to your heart".
The reference to "a mystical sphere", I've always seen as a small
packet of heroin.
Any time B&F mention "snow", I usually look out for the double
meaning!
-Frank.
J. Sternberg
I forget which song it comes up in, but I've always thought the phrase
"chasing the dragon" (recently under discussion here) referred to
opium-taking (as opposed to other drugs). I think that is or was an
expression for it in China. Could be wrong, of course...
js
Kathryn L. Hillman
God, it all makes sense when you say it like that *laugh*
Thanks,
Kathryn
F.Hughes wrote in message <34c6db6a...@read.news.global.net.uk>...
>On Mon, 19 Jan 1998 14:03:58 -0600, "Kathryn L. Hillman"
><xa...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>>I'd like to know what the slang's all about on "Your Gold Teeth" and
>>especially all that stuff about The Monkey Woman --- is she just a
>>prostitute? I'm just so damned naive sometimes.
>>
>>- Kathryn
>The way I hear this song is of that of a prostitute trying to pay off
>a debt (to a dealer?) with sex. The man is not interested in any of
>the services she is offering him (bondage, stripping), or her fake
>jewellery ("I have seen you iron and your brass, can't you see it
>shine behind the glass?" :)). He tells here she'll have to go out and
>earn it... or would she care to pull out her gold teeth to pay him
>off!?
>Well that's how I hear it. Anyone wish to share their interpretation?
>BTW: It's currently my favouite 'Dan song!
>
>>>"Double helix in the sky tonight."
>>>(Great image, but what the hell is it?)
>>
>I aways visualized "Aja" as about Chinese opium takers all "up on the
>hill" staring up at the moon, which, in their drug-haze, appears as a
>double-helix.
>
>-Frank.
Steve Sauve
On Thu, 22 Jan 1998 05:43:25 GMT, NOSPAM...@usa.net (F.Hughes) wrote:
>On Mon, 19 Jan 1998 14:03:58 -0600, "Kathryn L. Hillman"
><xa...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>>>"Double helix in the sky tonight."
>>>(Great image, but what the hell is it?)
>>
>I aways visualized "Aja" as about Chinese opium takers all "up on the
>hill" staring up at the moon, which, in their drug-haze, appears as a
>double-helix.
>
>-Frank.
I'd thought it had something to do with the double helix in DNA.
Steve Sauve
Cold Lake, Alberta
Canada
remove capital letters STEVE from my address to e-mail
ssauve'at'incentre.net
F.Hughes
>I forget which song it comes up in, but I've always thought the phrase
>"chasing the dragon" (recently under discussion here) referred to
>opium-taking (as opposed to other drugs). I think that is or was an
>expression for it in China. Could be wrong, of course...
>
>js
>
>F.Hughes wrote:
>
>> I aways visualized "Aja" as about Chinese opium takers all "up on the
>> hill" staring up at the moon, which, in their drug-haze, appears as a
>> double-helix.
>
I'm not sure if maybe your ISP has already deleted some message from
the thread "MCDL" (it happens to me all time, and I have to look for
replies in Deja-News); so apologies if I'm wasting a bit of bandwidth,
but I thought it was on-topic enough to re-send some of the
discussions on this..
-Frank.
F.Hughes
On 23 Jan 1998 05:07:03 GMT, STEVE...@incentre.net (Steve Sauve)
wrote:
>>On Mon, 19 Jan 1998 14:03:58 -0600, "Kathryn L. Hillman"
>><xa...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
>>>>"Double helix in the sky tonight."
>>>>(Great image, but what the hell is it?)
>>>
>>I aways visualized "Aja" as about Chinese opium takers all "up on the
>>hill" staring up at the moon, which, in their drug-haze, appears as a
>>double-helix.
>I'd thought it had something to do with the double helix in DNA.
>Steve Sauve
It could well be, but it was just the way I hear the song; I'm not
sure whether opiates cause complex hallucinations in the same way as
LSD,or mild hallucinogens (I take NONE of the above!!!) like
marijuana ("watch the sun go brown..") where you will see intricate
patterns in a kaleidoscope of colours. So instead of a moon in the sky
tonight, there's a double-helix.
"Throw out the hardware" I think of as the mordern gadgets and devices
for taking heroin (I don't know.. errm syringes, small gas burners,
etc) in favour of a more traditional, "earthy" method (the opium
pipe?)
I also see the "dime-dancing" as a reference to other, cheaper, drugs
with less of a high to them.
Again, just the way hear it. I'm open to other people's
interpretations.
-Frank.
Kathryn L. Hillman
The song is on Gaucho, called "Time Out of Mind"
[Chorus]
"Tonight when I chase the dragon,
The water'll change to cherry wine
And the silver they'll turn to gold
Time out of mind..."
Certainly sounds like someone is going to check out for a while ... I tend
to agree with many of the interpretations here ... gives new meaning to the
song when you listen to it again!
Yours,
Kathryn Hillman
F.Hughes wrote in message <34c8ad3f...@read.news.global.net.uk>...
>On Thu, 22 Jan 1998 11:11:01 -0500, "J. Sternberg"
><strn...@is2.nyu.edu> wrote:
>
>>I forget which song it comes up in, but I've always thought the phrase
>>"chasing the dragon" (recently under discussion here) referred to
>>opium-taking (as opposed to other drugs). I think that is or was an
>>expression for it in China. Could be wrong, of course...
>>
>>js
>>
>>F.Hughes wrote:
>>
>>> I aways visualized "Aja" as about Chinese opium takers all "up on the
>>> hill" staring up at the moon, which, in their drug-haze, appears as a
>>> double-helix.
>>
Don Robinson
A "hip thing to do" (sic) when the Gaucho album was released was to heat
heroin (not opium, I think) on some kind of metal plate and inhale the
fumes, according to a 7:00 news show. I only remember it because it was
the first time I heard any song from the Gaucho album.
Kathryn L. Hillman <xa...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in article
<6aaqka$3...@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net>...
Library
i think the double helix refers to an iud ( throw out the hardware, let's
do it right)
F.Hughes <NOSPAM...@usa.net> wrote in article
<34c8ad48...@read.news.global.net.uk>...
> On 23 Jan 1998 05:07:03 GMT, STEVE...@incentre.net (Steve Sauve)
> wrote:
>
> >>On Mon, 19 Jan 1998 14:03:58 -0600, "Kathryn L. Hillman"
> >><xa...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> >
> >>>>"Double helix in the sky tonight."
> >>>>(Great image, but what the hell is it?)
> >>>
> >>I aways visualized "Aja" as about Chinese opium takers all "up on the
> >>hill" staring up at the moon, which, in their drug-haze, appears as a
> >>double-helix.
>
rhenni...@yahoo.com
Simple, right?
The old geezer
lahipp...@gmail.com
The old geezer
ppa...@pivotalresources.com
Hunter Dixon
> There's nothing like a good list to get this newsgroup going, so let me
> propose a new one. Name the Steely Dan lyrics that you'd most like to have
> explained. Don't worry if these have been discussed earlier or even if
> you're hearing the lyrics wrong. (I haven't seen an SD lyric sheet in years
> and don't trust them anyway.) With luck, someone will plunge into the fray
> and explain something that's baffled you since 1973. Here are some of my own
> candidates:
> "Klaus and the Rooster have been there too.
> "But lately he spends his time here."
> (Who's "he"?)
>
> (Phone number? Lottery number? Swiss bank account?)
>
> (Great image, but what the hell is it?)
>
> "He's here with me and you."
> (A corpse? A memory? An extremely boring person?)
>
> "Of good King Richard.
> "Raise up a glass
> "To good King John."
> (Richard Nixon? John Kennedy? John Erlichmann? Johnny Carson?)
>
> I'll have more later. Your turn.
>
> --Chris
patrick.l...@gmail.com
But any way I think that a lot of the Dan's songs are about heroin.
The old geezer
Benjamin English
Joe Williams explains it on his Grammy-winning album Nothin' But the Blues: "...and besides being poor, he had a woman with a heroin addict[ion], you know, a monkey woman... [she had] a monkey on her back."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPcHVqKHkKo
Nick L Unverferth
http://weekinweird.com/2013/01/04/incredible-double-helix-dna-cloud-appears-moscow/
Nick L Unverferth
> I always understood the line below to refer to the structure of DNA, which fits
> with the following lyrics, "Throw out the hardware, Let's do it right" to
> suggest that an attempt at procreation is on the cards.
> > <snip>
> > "Double helix in the sky tonight."
> > (Great image, but what the hell is it?)
> >
sort of works, but...What is the reference to the sky?
Chris Cashin
> I always understood the line below to refer to the structure of DNA, which fits
> with the following lyrics, "Throw out the hardware, Let's do it right" to
> suggest that an attempt at procreation is on the cards.
> > <snip>
> >
> > "Double helix in the sky tonight."
> > (Great image, but what the hell is it?)
> >
> > <snip
Donald Fagan and Walter Becker were like the Stanley Kubrick of the music industry. So many double and triple meanings in their songs.
So this Aja song meant have sex and witnessing the Manhattan project being carried out... Clever stuff hey