Steely Dan lyric
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> spork wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 31 May 2003 14:07:11 -0400, Frederick Burroughs
>> <rib...@shentel.net> wrote:
>>
>>> spork wrote:
>>>>
>>
>>>>> They were a favorite years ago, partly based on their W.S.
>>>>> Burroughs reference. Funny how stuff get's lost in the head for
>>>>> years. Then, suddenly retrieved. I know this is repeated
>>>>> throughout the song: "Las Wages, Las Wages, go to Las Wages..."
>>>>>
>>>> But then what is "Las Wages"? Is it another way of
>>>> saying Las Vegas?
>>>>
>>> I always took as a play on words "Las Vegas" = "Las Wages." In the
>>> song, which makes contrast between the rich and poor, it makes
>>> lyrical sense. Or, it may be the Spanish (Mexican) pronunciation
>>> of "Vegas," and still be a play on the words. Poetically, "Las
>>> Wages" flows better than "Las Vegas" when repeated in a mantra to
>>> hedonistic commercialism. But, who the fuck knows.
>>>
>> Hey, maybe it's "Lost Wages" as a play on "Las Vegas".
>> Cause that is what happens for the lion's share of
>> working and poor folks who go there and gamble and have
>> a good time, even playing the slots.
>
> Well yeah, that's what I always thought it meant.
Surprised that it looks like I found an authoratative answer on this:
http://www.donaldfagen.com/bbc.html
"John Holland Do the backing singers in Show Biz Kids sing both 'Go to Las
Vegas' AND 'Go to Lost Wages'?
"Walter Actually they are saying "Go to Las Vegas" but they are
mispronouncing it in the way that Lenny Bruce used to mispronounce on
purpose, saying "lost wages".
Considering this is Donald Fagen's official site, I'll take this as
definitive.
--
http://www.dextromethorphan.ws/
"The victors invariably write the history to their own advantage."
Jean-Luc Picard, "Star Trek, The Next Generation", Contagion episode
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
Frederick Burroughs
I wasn't aware of the Lenny Bruce mispronunciation, but that's how I
always heard and understood it. Made perfect sense.
--
The lock upon my garden gate's a snail, that's what it is.
-Donovan's prescient response to homeland security.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
Interesting bit of Steely Dan trivia I was unaware of:
http://www.donaldfagen.com/bbc.html
"roger neal Was "Kid Charlemagne" based on a real person?
Walter I would say it was very loosely inspired by a character named
Owsley.
Walter His name was actually Augustus Stanley Owsley. He was a well-known
psychedelic chef of the day. Later a sound man for the Grateful Dead. I
believe he's still alive."
For those in the Steely Dan NG, Owsley was an illegal LSD producer of
the late 1960s (and, possibly into later times), and an advocate of its
use. At the time this song was written, LSD was out of vogue, and other
drugs had become more popular. Hence the lyrical reference to:
"All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
They've joined the human race, some things will never change
(Son you were mistaken)
You are obsolete"
Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan
---------------------------------
While the music played you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco nights,
You were the best in town
Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
You turned it on the world
That's when you turned the world around
(Did you feel like Jesus ?)
Did you realize
That you were Italian in their eyes ?
On the hill their stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your technicolor motorhome
Every airframe had your number on the wall
You musta had it all
You go to L.A. on a dare and you go it alone
(Could you live forever)
Could you see the day
Could you feel your whole world fall apart and fade away
Get along
Get along Kid Charlemagne
Get along Kid Charlemagne
Now your patrons have all left you in the red
Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange
All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
They've joined the human race, some things will never change
(Son you were mistaken)
You are obsolete
Look at all the white men on the street
Get along
Get along Kid Charlemagne
Get along Kid Charlemagne
Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car ?
Yes there's gas in the car!
I think the people down the hall know who you are
(Careful what you carry)
Cause the man is wise
You are still an outlaw in their eyes
Get along (Get along)
Get along Kid Charlemagne (Get along)
Get along Kid Charlemagne
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> I wasn't aware of the Lenny Bruce mispronunciation, but that's how I
> always heard and understood it. Made perfect sense.
Steely Dan seemed to have an interest in Vegas. Around the same time in
"Do It Again" that song has the lyric "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." I too was unaware this was an allusion to Lenny
Bruce.
Frederick Burroughs
>
> rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski wrote:
>
> Interesting bit of Steely Dan trivia I was unaware of:
>
> http://www.donaldfagen.com/bbc.html
>
> "roger neal Was "Kid Charlemagne" based on a real person?
>
> Walter I would say it was very loosely inspired by a character named
Yeah, figured that. I still sing that song to myself sometimes....
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
>> Interesting bit of Steely Dan trivia I was unaware of:
>>
>> http://www.donaldfagen.com/bbc.html
>>
>> "roger neal Was "Kid Charlemagne" based on a real person?
>>
>> Walter I would say it was very loosely inspired by a character named
>> Owsley...
>
> Yeah, figured that. I still sing that song to myself sometimes....
While I realized this was about some illegal dope producer, I never
considered that it was a reference to one of LSD. I should have perhaps
picked up on that from this part:
"Now your patrons have all left you in the red
Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange
All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
They've joined the human race, some things will never change
(Son you were mistaken)
You are obsolete
Look at all the white men on the street"
When it came to drugs, Steely Dan seemed to refer in terms of the
street scene that would be more into hard drugs. This song refers to the
users of the drug as "those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face."
Clearly consistent with looking at psychedelics and their users in a
pejorative manner.
Cliff Stabbert
<rfg...@mochamail.com> wrote:
> While I realized this was about some illegal dope producer, I never
>considered that it was a reference to one of LSD. I should have perhaps
>picked up on that from this part:
>
>"Now your patrons have all left you in the red
>Your low rent friends are dead
>This life can be very strange
>All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
>They've joined the human race, some things will never change
>(Son you were mistaken)
>You are obsolete
>Look at all the white men on the street"
There are other signs of it being about LSD and Owsley; I believe one
of them is that he got busted when his car ran out of gas ("Is there
gas in the car?"). The references to a sophisticated chemical process
("you were the best in town" who "crossed the diamond with the pearl";
"the test tubes and the scale") contribute to this reading as well.
> When it came to drugs, Steely Dan seemed to refer in terms of the
>street scene that would be more into hard drugs. This song refers to the
>users of the drug as "those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face."
>Clearly consistent with looking at psychedelics and their users in a
>pejorative manner.
I disagree, and wouldn't at all be surprised if the boys themselves
have partaken or even continue to dabble (I vaguely recall a recent
mention of psilocybin). One of the "some things [that] will never
change" is that every sweet little cool scene eventually gets overrun
by outsiders, hangers-on, belated bandwagon jumpers and fad followers.
In the case of the psychedelic movement referring to these folks as
"day-glo freaks" is pretty spot-on, much like the modern "e-tards" can
be used to nicely nail similar johnny-come-lately interlopers to the
rave scene. Of course these references can also be made in a
generally pejorative manner, and the narrator in _Kid Charlemagne_
does seem a bit ambiguous in his feelings towards the Kid.
But it's for those folks with a "special lack of grace", which would
certainly include insenitive scene tramplers, that the boys tend to
whittle their sharpest barbs. So my read of it is that "day-glo
freaks" refers to them, these...tourists. That comes close.
--
Cliff
Steve2000indeja
illegal dope producer, I never
>considered that it was a reference to one of LSD. I should have perhaps
>picked up on that from this part:
>
>"Now your patrons have all left you in the red
>Your low rent friends are dead
>This life can be very strange
>All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
>They've joined the human race, some things will never change
>(Son you were mistaken)
>You are obsolete
>Look at all the white men on the street"
>
> When it came to drugs, Steely Dan seemed to refer in terms of the
>street scene that would be more into hard drugs. This song refers to the
>users of the drug as "those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face."
>Clearly consistent with looking at psychedelics and their users in a
>pejorative manner.
>--
'Kid Charlemagne' was written in the mid 70s (I would assume, maybe they
started working on it earlier) about the psychedelic/acid scene which peaked -
the first, biggest time anyway- circa 1966-69.
During that...uh..heady time, LSD was a strong but not 'hard' drug which had a
fairly large and open culture built up around it. Guys like Ken Kesey and Tim
Leary were very visible at the forefront of a movement to get more folks to
turn on, doing their Vision of Acid things:
Trying societal things, communal living experiments (Kesey and others).
Doing research and pseudo scientific 'experiments' while simultaneously
preaching to convert the vast unconverted masses via things like Time Magazine
and the CBS evening news (Leary, an erstwhile scientist and an eventual victim
of his own hype).
Or just having a blast being highly and continuously fried on the stuff (Kesey
again -with the Pranksters in perpetual party mode nationwide, driving 'the
Technicolor Motorhome" bus - and at Bay Area acid events, with music by the
Grateful Dead.
As LSD grew popular, some makers started combining it with all kinds of other
drugs to heighten/change the trip or simply to 'cut' the pure acid and stretch
it into more product. Maybe these hybrids weren't 'laced with kerosene' -but
strichnine/rat poison and nasty things like PCP were mixed in... eewww! a long
Strange trip indeed.
Owsley was a well known early (65-66?) manufacturer of top grade LSD-25. He was
based around the San Francisco Bay area, one of the first and biggest acid
scenes. Owlsey's stuff was the best, notoriously 'kitchen clean.' His name
became a brand name, a quality guarantee.
IIrc, he was making acid when it was legal to do so. When it became illegal, he
simply continued, kept quality up and a bit of a legend began to grow. Acid
maker to the stars, or at least the ultra hip acid pioneers of the Bay Area and
eventually their friends in LA and London.
Owsley's remembered by some for his excellent acid and by others for being the
first patron of the young Grateful Dead. He'd made money from selling mass
quantities of his masterpiece drug and bought them their first good electric
gear and PA to get going -so they could play some of Kesey's 'acid tests',
allnight (and longer) parties which were basically a 60s version of what's now
called a 'rave' - replete with music (such as it was) by the early Dead and
others, and the first light shows. And sex, whatever.
-----
Sidenote: a young promoter named Bill Graham got his entrepreneurial feet wet
organizing the first acid tests in 1966 or so. Graham apparently was the only
one who stayed straight at them so he could make sure things happened sorta on
schedule, and to keep his money on the cashbox/ticket taking at the front door.
When the acid test concept (rock music, lights, drugs, sex) proved popular with
the kids, Graham downplayed the drugs and sex a bit and went commercial with
the idea, opening the Fillmore Auditorium for regularly scheduled, Controlled,
weekly 'happenings.' Thus the seeds of the modern day rock concert were sown.
-----
where was i? oh yeah..
I don't know if anyone considered Owsley the type of hero described in Kid C.
Maybe the folks who got great acid directly from him thought he was some kind
of saint, but they were higher than kites, ferchrissakes..
But Owsley - or the general idea of Owsley- is a great subject for a Steely Dan
tune.
It makes for a much better lyric (imo) to deify the underground acid maker, not
the high profilers Leary and Kesey and some of the other folks basking in the
media spotlight surrounding the acid craze in it's heyday.
Kid Charlemagne is a secret, ultra hip king of the late 60s acid culture, a
chemist/mondo dealer. Every A-Frame had his number on the wall. A guy living on
the cutting edge of this now illegal drug psychedelic drug manufacturing
thing...which actually has a minor societal movement - and a lot of
press-behind it.
Then..
The winds of change blow by and (poof!) the 60s are Over. Acid usage has fallen
off sharply. A new world order was not brought into place (at least the one
envisioned by the acid prophets) as a generation of young folks -having
succeeded in slowing down/ending the Viet Nam war- are tired of protesting and
fighting, are growing up just wanting to get on with life, getting jobs and
going to bars.
What's a former acid king to do?
Who knows? I don't know what Owsley wound up doing but I'm pretty sure that he
simply the inspiration (or one of them) for the Kid C lyrics, dramatic license
taken etc.
I do know the first time I grokked Kid Charlemagne's lyrics, I thought it was
the coolest damn 5 minute snapshot of that time in our culture that anybody
could ever come up with.
How did the guys think of this stuff? The Tom Wolfe book?
However, whatever, it's brilliant. The guitar solo is good too.
Steve
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> On Sun, 1 Jun 2003 02:00:34 -0400, "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski"
> <rfg...@mochamail.com> wrote:
>> "Now your patrons have all left you in the red
>> Your low rent friends are dead
>> This life can be very strange
>> All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
>> They've joined the human race, some things will never change
>> (Son you were mistaken)
>> You are obsolete
>> Look at all the white men on the street"
>
> There are other signs of it being about LSD and Owsley; I believe one
> of them is that he got busted when his car ran out of gas ("Is there
> gas in the car?"). The references to a sophisticated chemical process
> ("you were the best in town" who "crossed the diamond with the pearl";
> "the test tubes and the scale") contribute to this reading as well.
I hadn't been aware of the fact Owsley was busted when his car ran out
of gas. Other references are "You turned it on the world. That's when you
turned the world around." Turning on the world, and turning the world
around, are classic images associated with LSD. That best in town
reference definitely conjures up an image of LSD, since there is a lot of
myth about the quality of LSD. Other drugs tend to be seen as a generic
commodity by users.
>> When it came to drugs, Steely Dan seemed to refer in terms of the
>> street scene that would be more into hard drugs. This song refers to
>> the users of the drug as "those day-glo freaks who used to paint
>> their face." Clearly consistent with looking at psychedelics and
>> their users in a pejorative manner.
>
> I disagree, and wouldn't at all be surprised if the boys themselves
> have partaken or even continue to dabble (I vaguely recall a recent
> mention of psilocybin). One of the "some things [that] will never
> change" is that every sweet little cool scene eventually gets overrun
> by outsiders, hangers-on, belated bandwagon jumpers and fad followers.
> In the case of the psychedelic movement referring to these folks as
> "day-glo freaks" is pretty spot-on, much like the modern "e-tards" can
> be used to nicely nail similar johnny-come-lately interlopers to the
> rave scene. Of course these references can also be made in a
> generally pejorative manner, and the narrator in _Kid Charlemagne_
> does seem a bit ambiguous in his feelings towards the Kid.
>
> But it's for those folks with a "special lack of grace", which would
> certainly include insenitive scene tramplers, that the boys tend to
> whittle their sharpest barbs. So my read of it is that "day-glo
> freaks" refers to them, these...tourists. That comes close.
Doesn't seem right:
"All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
They've joined the human race, some things will never change
(Son you were mistaken)
You are obsolete
Look at all the white men on the street"
Note the reference to the "day-glo freaks" joining the human race, and
"Son you were mistaken." I interpret that as meaning that the notion of
psychedelic idealism back then that LSD would somehow change the world for
the better. At the time this song was written, the acid culture was
largely dead, and the hippie acid freaks had become part of the
mainstream. Kid Charlemagne at this point had become "obsolete." What is
possible it that the songwriter was referring negatively to Owsley himself
being responsible for the sweet little cool scene becoming overrun by
johnny-come-lately interlopers because he tried to popularize LSD. Much in
the same way some in the rave scene say what killed it was when it moved
from being a small part of the counterculture, and through marketing it
became mainstream culture. Thus, Steely Dan may not have seen psychedelic
drugs themselves as being negative, but instead are referring to the
culture that sprang up when they became popularized.
Hmm...and on the topic of another song, I always thought "Rikki Don't
Lose That Number" was a gay love song. Looks like I was wrong:
http://home.earthlink.net/~oleander1/Pretzel.htm
Roger D. Friedman (New York Observer, week of March 6, 2000): By the time
Mr. Fagenand Mr. Becker split up in '81, Steely Dan had turned out seven
platinum albums and a dozen or so hit singles, including the sarcastic
"Reeling in the Years" and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." What is that
latter song about, anyway?
Mr. Fagen: "We always thought of Rikki being a girl and the number being a
phone number. He [the narrator] was a desperate guy."
Mr. Becker: "The idea that this girl has stumbled into some kind of
debauched situation and has momentarily recoiled from it."
Mr. Fagen: "In the 70's, linear lucidity wasn't that big a priority."
---
Later at that URL someone make the argument what I had always assumed
it was about homosexuality.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
>> "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski"
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_writings1.shtml
"In a correspondence with City magazine in July 1975, Timothy Leary wrote:
"After 1966, my lectures and writings were mainly concerned with a
general
theory of psychological and political relativity and made little mention
of
lysergic acid, which in truth, had been driven completely off the scene by
Owsley speed, orange amphetamine, and the more commercially and socially
acceptable cocaine-heroin trade."
Tim Leary called Owsley's acid lousy "orange amphetamine." ;)
Strychnine and PCP in acid is a myth; you can't get an active dose of
those on blotter. There is no evidence there is anything such as "bad
acid." Just street myth to explain bad trips. This explains Leary calling
Owsley's acid just "speed", while others thought it a quality guarantee.
> IIrc, he was making acid when it was legal to do so. When it became
> illegal, he simply continued, kept quality up and a bit of a legend
> began to grow. Acid maker to the stars, or at least the ultra hip
> acid pioneers of the Bay Area and eventually their friends in LA and
> London.
>
> Owsley's remembered by some for his excellent acid and by others for
> being the first patron of the young Grateful Dead. He'd made money
> from selling mass quantities of his masterpiece drug and bought them
> their first good electric gear and PA to get going -so they could
> play some of Kesey's 'acid tests', allnight (and longer) parties
> which were basically a 60s version of what's now called a 'rave' -
> replete with music (such as it was) by the early Dead and others,
> and the first light shows. And sex, whatever. -----
> Sidenote: a young promoter named Bill Graham got his entrepreneurial
> feet wet organizing the first acid tests in 1966 or so. Graham
> apparently was the only one who stayed straight at them so he could
> make sure things happened sorta on schedule, and to keep his money on
> the cashbox/ticket taking at the front door. When the acid test
> concept (rock music, lights, drugs, sex) proved popular with the
> kids, Graham downplayed the drugs and sex a bit and went commercial
> with the idea, opening the Fillmore Auditorium for regularly
> scheduled, Controlled, weekly 'happenings.' Thus the seeds of the
> modern day rock concert were sown.
Yeah, this could be thought of as the predecessor to the modern rave.
Tom Wolfe's book is a good guess.
Cliff Stabbert
<rfg...@mochamail.com> wrote:
>Cliff Stabbert wrote:
<snip>
> Doesn't seem right:
>
>"All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
>They've joined the human race, some things will never change
>(Son you were mistaken)
>You are obsolete
>Look at all the white men on the street"
>
> Note the reference to the "day-glo freaks" joining the human race, and
>"Son you were mistaken." I interpret that as meaning that the notion of
>psychedelic idealism back then that LSD would somehow change the world for
>the better. At the time this song was written, the acid culture was
>largely dead, and the hippie acid freaks had become part of the
>mainstream. Kid Charlemagne at this point had become "obsolete."
Yes, that's a good point. The main thing I was trying to get across
was my opinion that SD weren't speaking of LSD users in general
pejoratively.
>What is
>possible it that the songwriter was referring negatively to Owsley himself
>being responsible for the sweet little cool scene becoming overrun by
>johnny-come-lately interlopers because he tried to popularize LSD. Much in
>the same way some in the rave scene say what killed it was when it moved
>from being a small part of the counterculture, and through marketing it
>became mainstream culture. Thus, Steely Dan may not have seen psychedelic
>drugs themselves as being negative, but instead are referring to the
>culture that sprang up when they became popularized.
Yes, that's pretty much what I was trying to say, although your point
about Owsley himself being accused of responsibility for this is
interesting.
>
> Hmm...and on the topic of another song, I always thought "Rikki Don't
>Lose That Number" was a gay love song. Looks like I was wrong:
>
>http://home.earthlink.net/~oleander1/Pretzel.htm
>
>Roger D. Friedman (New York Observer, week of March 6, 2000): By the time
>Mr. Fagenand Mr. Becker split up in '81, Steely Dan had turned out seven
>platinum albums and a dozen or so hit singles, including the sarcastic
>"Reeling in the Years" and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." What is that
>latter song about, anyway?
>
>Mr. Fagen: "We always thought of Rikki being a girl and the number being a
>phone number. He [the narrator] was a desperate guy."
>Mr. Becker: "The idea that this girl has stumbled into some kind of
>debauched situation and has momentarily recoiled from it."
>Mr. Fagen: "In the 70's, linear lucidity wasn't that big a priority."
>---
>
> Later at that URL someone make the argument what I had always assumed
>it was about homosexuality.
Well, Mssrs. Becker and Fagan are not, repeat not, the most reliable
sources -- they are notorious for messing with interviewers, as well
as having a long-established position that their lyrics should stand
alone, in all their multi-layered poetic ambiguity, etc.
That said, note the answer that they "always thought of Rikki being a
girl" -- surely such a statement is interesting itself, and would be
superfluous had they used a different name -- "Vicky", for instance.
IMO they chose the genderly ambiguous "Rikki" for a reason -- these
guys aren't sloppy with the slightest, smallest detail, let alone a
main character's name.
Similarly, given their command of the english language I strongly
doubt they would use the word "kind" instead of "type" in the line
"you tell yourself you're not my kind" unless making a point...
So one way to read the song is that young Rikki was invited over for a
little vacation, literal and figurative, to the other side, but
couldn't really handle it. Slow hand drive, stay inside and play
games, whatever you want...certain nuances seem to fall into place.
This has been my experience with a few other SD songs (Kid
Charlemagne, Chain Lightning are all I can think of offhand), where
what seemed like vague, ambiguous or dreamlike details suddenly fit
and make sense. Sort of like a version of Charades where you can only
write indirect poetry about the subject.
BTW glad to see your interest in SD (at least, lyrically) -- I've
enjoyed your writings in other groups, especially the Spider Robinson
lead.
--
Cliff
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> On Sun, 1 Jun 2003 05:28:52 -0400, "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski"
> <rfg...@mochamail.com> wrote:
>> Note the reference to the "day-glo freaks" joining the human race,
>> and "Son you were mistaken." I interpret that as meaning that the
>> notion of psychedelic idealism back then that LSD would somehow
>> change the world for the better. At the time this song was written,
>> the acid culture was largely dead, and the hippie acid freaks had
>> become part of the mainstream. Kid Charlemagne at this point had
>> become "obsolete."
>
> Yes, that's a good point. The main thing I was trying to get across
> was my opinion that SD weren't speaking of LSD users in general
> pejoratively.
The "day-glo freaks" likely was limited to just a subset of LSD users.
And, they may have just used the phrase not because they thought this, but
to just use language that represented the opinion of the average American.
>> What is
>> possible it that the songwriter was referring negatively to Owsley
>> himself being responsible for the sweet little cool scene becoming
>> overrun by johnny-come-lately interlopers because he tried to
>> popularize LSD. Much in the same way some in the rave scene say what
>> killed it was when it moved from being a small part of the
>> counterculture, and through marketing it became mainstream culture.
>> Thus, Steely Dan may not have seen psychedelic drugs themselves as
>> being negative, but instead are referring to the culture that sprang
>> up when they became popularized.
>
> Yes, that's pretty much what I was trying to say, although your point
> about Owsley himself being accused of responsibility for this is
> interesting.
That "Son you were mistaken" seems to me a reference to Owsley didn't
turn on the world. Possibly though they weren't blaming Owsley for
popularizing LSD, but were saying Owsley made LSD on the mistaken
assumption it would make the world better. Instead, it just ended up that
Owsley became "obsolete" because LSD was just a passing fad.
Steely Dan definitely were meticulous with lyrics.
> Similarly, given their command of the english language I strongly
> doubt they would use the word "kind" instead of "type" in the line
> "you tell yourself you're not my kind" unless making a point...
Exactly why I decades ago and interpreted this as being a reference to
homosexuality. "Kind" is the wrong word here. And notice "I guess you kind
of scared yourself, you turn and run." Why "scared yourself" rather than
"were scared of me" if this was a girl who had stumbled into some kind of
debauched situation and has momentarily recoiled from it? Makes more sense
Rikki is scared to accept he is gay.
> So one way to read the song is that young Rikki was invited over for a
> little vacation, literal and figurative, to the other side, but
> couldn't really handle it. Slow hand drive, stay inside and play
> games, whatever you want...certain nuances seem to fall into place.
> This has been my experience with a few other SD songs (Kid
> Charlemagne, Chain Lightning are all I can think of offhand), where
> what seemed like vague, ambiguous or dreamlike details suddenly fit
> and make sense. Sort of like a version of Charades where you can only
> write indirect poetry about the subject.
I also have to wonder about that comment "He [the narrator] was a
desperate guy." The lyric doesn't come across as making the guy seem
desperate, but concerned about Rikki. That phone number is the only one
Rikki knows. As if he is concerned about Rikki being away from him. That
"we always thought of Rikki being a girl" also seems damned odd, as if
they are interpreting the lyric from a third person perspective. If they
had a girl in mind when writing that, then there should be for them no
ambiguity. They could have been playing with the press. Perhaps hoping for
people like us to debate the lyric some more. ;)
> BTW glad to see your interest in SD (at least, lyrically) -- I've
> enjoyed your writings in other groups, especially the Spider Robinson
> lead.
Thanks. I've liked Steely Dan since the 1970s. I listened to them a lot
when I was a teenager. As for Spider Robinson, I'll do have a number of
books of him on an unlinked to URL. I'll have to check on what that is
next time I FTP something to the server.
Frederick Burroughs
>
> Cliff Stabbert wrote:
> >
> > "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
> >>
> >> Note the reference to the "day-glo freaks" joining the human race,
> >> and "Son you were mistaken." I interpret that as meaning that the
> >> notion of psychedelic idealism back then that LSD would somehow
> >> change the world for the better. At the time this song was written,
> >> the acid culture was largely dead, and the hippie acid freaks had
> >> become part of the mainstream. Kid Charlemagne at this point had
> >> become "obsolete."
> >
> > Yes, that's a good point. The main thing I was trying to get across
> > was my opinion that SD weren't speaking of LSD users in general
> > pejoratively.
>
> The "day-glo freaks" likely was limited to just a subset of LSD users.
> And, they may have just used the phrase not because they thought this, but
> to just use language that represented the opinion of the average American.
Day-Glo freaks were the population most consumed and participating of
psychedelia. The realization that they've "joined the human race"
results in a submissive resignation that "some things will never
change." The song is a dialogue between Kid Charlemagne and an
observer of psychedelic culture in decline. There's no pejorative
intent. It's just a recognition that the party is over.
> >> What is
> >> possible it that the songwriter was referring negatively to Owsley
> >> himself being responsible for the sweet little cool scene becoming
> >> overrun by johnny-come-lately interlopers because he tried to
> >> popularize LSD. Much in the same way some in the rave scene say what
> >> killed it was when it moved from being a small part of the
> >> counterculture, and through marketing it became mainstream culture.
> >> Thus, Steely Dan may not have seen psychedelic drugs themselves as
> >> being negative, but instead are referring to the culture that sprang
> >> up when they became popularized.
> >
> > Yes, that's pretty much what I was trying to say, although your point
> > about Owsley himself being accused of responsibility for this is
> > interesting.
>
> That "Son you were mistaken" seems to me a reference to Owsley didn't
> turn on the world. Possibly though they weren't blaming Owsley for
> popularizing LSD, but were saying Owsley made LSD on the mistaken
> assumption it would make the world better. Instead, it just ended up that
> Owsley became "obsolete" because LSD was just a passing fad.
"Son you were mistaken" is in the authoritative voice. Law
enforcement, culture, the people pulling the strings, 'THE
ESTABLISHMENT,' whatever, is reasserting its authority and stating in
no uncertain terms that psychedelia/counterculture was a mistake.
Again, the party is over.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
>>> Yes, that's a good point. The main thing I was trying to get across
>>> was my opinion that SD weren't speaking of LSD users in general
>>> pejoratively.
>>
>> The "day-glo freaks" likely was limited to just a subset of LSD
>> users. And, they may have just used the phrase not because they
>> thought this, but to just use language that represented the opinion
>> of the average American.
>
> Day-Glo freaks were the population most consumed and participating of
> psychedelia. The realization that they've "joined the human race"
> results in a submissive resignation that "some things will never
> change." The song is a dialogue between Kid Charlemagne and an
> observer of psychedelic culture in decline. There's no pejorative
> intent. It's just a recognition that the party is over.
Another possible interpretation. Although this part:
"Now your patrons have all left you in the red
Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange"
makes me wonder.
>> That "Son you were mistaken" seems to me a reference to Owsley
>> didn't turn on the world. Possibly though they weren't blaming
>> Owsley for popularizing LSD, but were saying Owsley made LSD on the
>> mistaken assumption it would make the world better. Instead, it just
>> ended up that Owsley became "obsolete" because LSD was just a
>> passing fad.
>
> "Son you were mistaken" is in the authoritative voice. Law
> enforcement, culture, the people pulling the strings, 'THE
> ESTABLISHMENT,' whatever, is reasserting its authority and stating in
> no uncertain terms that psychedelia/counterculture was a mistake.
> Again, the party is over.
I definitely interpret that part differently. Seems to me more the
objective observer is just commenting that the psychedelic movement was a
failure in its attempt to turn on the world, and had collapsed on its own.
cde
'Good' is an understatement. It melts me every time I hear it, the outro
just kills me. It's got to be in the top 5 of SD guitar solos, if not the
top 5 guitar solos of all time! Ok, maybe those top 5 are all from Steely
Dan tunes in my book ; )
Thanks y'all. Enjoyed the discussion although I was aware of some it
already.
CE
"Steve2000indeja " <sslag...@aol.comnospam> wrote in message
news:20030601050704...@mb-m02.aol.com...
Stuart Resnick
> Hmm...and on the topic of another song, I always thought "Rikki Don't
> Lose That Number" was a gay love song. Looks like I was wrong:
Others have purported that it's a dope love song ("number" being slang for a
joint).
"Rikki don't lose that number
You don't wanna call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself."
Stuart
sres...@attbi.com
http://home.attbi.com/~sresnick2/mypage.htm
Frederick Burroughs
>
> Frederick Burroughs wrote:
> > "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
>
> >>> Yes, that's a good point. The main thing I was trying to get across
> >>> was my opinion that SD weren't speaking of LSD users in general
> >>> pejoratively.
> >>
> >> The "day-glo freaks" likely was limited to just a subset of LSD
> >> users. And, they may have just used the phrase not because they
> >> thought this, but to just use language that represented the opinion
> >> of the average American.
> >
> > Day-Glo freaks were the population most consumed and participating of
> > psychedelia. The realization that they've "joined the human race"
> > results in a submissive resignation that "some things will never
> > change." The song is a dialogue between Kid Charlemagne and an
> > observer of psychedelic culture in decline. There's no pejorative
> > intent. It's just a recognition that the party is over.
>
> Another possible interpretation. Although this part:
>
> "Now your patrons have all left you in the red
> Your low rent friends are dead
> This life can be very strange"
>
> makes me wonder.
Again, the party's over. There are bills to pay. Just guessing, but
"low rent" friends are real friends, not the one's drawn by a shared
celebrity, and they're all dead. Is "life can be very strange" an
allusion to "what a long strange trip it's been?" The dialogue may be
between KC and himself, ruminating about better times.
> >> That "Son you were mistaken" seems to me a reference to Owsley
> >> didn't turn on the world. Possibly though they weren't blaming
> >> Owsley for popularizing LSD, but were saying Owsley made LSD on the
> >> mistaken assumption it would make the world better. Instead, it just
> >> ended up that Owsley became "obsolete" because LSD was just a
> >> passing fad.
> >
> > "Son you were mistaken" is in the authoritative voice. Law
> > enforcement, culture, the people pulling the strings, 'THE
> > ESTABLISHMENT,' whatever, is reasserting its authority and stating in
> > no uncertain terms that psychedelia/counterculture was a mistake.
> > Again, the party is over.
>
> I definitely interpret that part differently. Seems to me more the
> objective observer is just commenting that the psychedelic movement was a
> failure in its attempt to turn on the world, and had collapsed on its own.
"Son you were mistaken" is definitely expressing an authoritative
viewpoint. It's declarative, an accusation. On top of the worry
about being recognized, having to move and avoiding arrest, I see an
active effort to quash the dream.
Stuart Resnick
> "Son you were mistaken" is definitely expressing an authoritative
> viewpoint. It's declarative, an accusation. On top of the worry
> about being recognized, having to move and avoiding arrest, I see an
> active effort to quash the dream.
I once listened to this song near the peak of an acid trip. This lyric
(which I heard as "Sir you are mistaken"), I interpretted thusly. Kid
Charlemagne was the big man, the big hero when everyone was into LSD. Then,
suddenly it seemed, everyone got tired of all that hippie shit, & tried to
get into the mainstream. Now, when KC is wandering the streets & sees one of
his old friends or customers, he approaches them excitedly, wanting to
re-awaken old times & the magic of those trips. But the others are trying to
forget or deny their past (how can you concentrate on making a living etc if
you're thinking about that time you saw God?). So they act as if they've
never met K.C.; "Sir, you are mistaken."
From that same trip, that same song, when I heard the line, "Careful what
you carry," I thought, OK, throw away all the scriptures, all the Bibles,
all the words of eminent teachers. "Careful what you carry" is all you need
to know.
Stuart
sres...@attbi.com
http://home.attbi.com/~sresnick2/mypage.htm
Paul Westcott
And later in the song, "... cause the man is wise ...". "The man" is, of
course, established authority/the Establishment. So the authorities are wise to
what KC is doing - they're on his tail. But the narrator immediately says that
KC is an outlaw in "their" eyes, implying that he doesn't necessarily concur.
Paul Westcott
Paul Westcott
I tend to see this as an interpolation, a "voice off" (although it's not in
brackets on the LP lyric sheet, unlike someone's transcription earlier in this
thread). It's the sort of patronising comment a prosecutor might make during
the interrogation after the arrest. It's not necessarily the way the narrator
would put it, but perhaps it matches his point of view.
Paul Westcott
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> Frederick Burroughs wrote:
>> "Son you were mistaken" is definitely expressing an authoritative
>> viewpoint. It's declarative, an accusation. On top of the worry
>> about being recognized, having to move and avoiding arrest, I see an
>> active effort to quash the dream.
>
> I tend to see this as an interpolation, a "voice off" (although it's
> not in brackets on the LP lyric sheet, unlike someone's transcription
> earlier in this thread). It's the sort of patronising comment a
> prosecutor might make during the interrogation after the arrest.
> It's not necessarily the way the narrator would put it, but perhaps
> it matches his point of view.
Clearly, the authorities want to take KC out of action. However, the
observer singing this song seems at best an objective observer. Of course
the authorities were against LSD. This song is written in 1972, 5 years
after the heyday of the acid culture. The acid culture believed that they
would be able to turn on and change the world. KC was mistaken, he's still
just an outlaw in the Man's eyes. The mistake was psychedelic idealism
that LSD would somehow change the world. Instead, the day-glo freaks had
just joined the human race.
Frederick Burroughs
Yes. There is the observation of the day-glo freaks rejoining the
human race/"rat" race, and the accusatory tone of some establishment
authoritarian saying "son you made a mistake." I agree, the narrator
does not agree that a mistake was made, he's just mocking the
establishment tone. The heat is on, the ranks are dwindling and the
dream has ended.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> Paul Westcott wrote:
>> I tend to see this as an interpolation, a "voice off" (although it's
>> not in brackets on the LP lyric sheet, unlike someone's
>> transcription earlier in this thread). It's the sort of patronising
>> comment a prosecutor might make during the interrogation after the
>> arrest. It's not necessarily the way the narrator would put it, but
>> perhaps it matches his point of view.
>
> Yes. There is the observation of the day-glo freaks rejoining the
> human race/"rat" race, and the accusatory tone of some establishment
> authoritarian saying "son you made a mistake." I agree, the narrator
> does not agree that a mistake was made, he's just mocking the
> establishment tone. The heat is on, the ranks are dwindling and the
> dream has ended.
But the narrator calls LSD users "day-glo freaks." Commonly in Steely
Dan songs the narrator is some perceptive streetwise dude. A streetwise
dude wouldn't be expected to share the values of The Man. However, a
streetwise dude would also see the folly of any notion that some kind of
illegal dope could turn on the world and actually change it. The Man is
"wise" (in this context, wise in the sense that he knows how the real
world works), the same as this streetwise dude is about psychedelic
idealism, and "some things will never change." Unlike KC, who didn't
realize that his whole world would fall apart and fade away after the
day-glo freaks joined the human race.
Frederick Burroughs
I always had the sense the narrator suffered from dejected sarcasm.
He is remembering better times, but now is facing an eroding ideal.
Streetwise recognizes the way things are, which in the tense of the
song have suffered a loss from their high point. Fond remembrances
are now tainted by a more bitter present.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
>> But the narrator calls LSD users "day-glo freaks." Commonly in
>> Steely Dan songs the narrator is some perceptive streetwise dude. A
>> streetwise dude wouldn't be expected to share the values of The Man.
>> However, a streetwise dude would also see the folly of any notion
>> that some kind of illegal dope could turn on the world and actually
>> change it. The Man is "wise" (in this context, wise in the sense
>> that he knows how the real world works), the same as this streetwise
>> dude is about psychedelic idealism, and "some things will never
>> change." Unlike KC, who didn't realize that his whole world would
>> fall apart and fade away after the day-glo freaks joined the human
>> race.
>
> I always had the sense the narrator suffered from dejected sarcasm.
> He is remembering better times, but now is facing an eroding ideal.
> Streetwise recognizes the way things are, which in the tense of the
> song have suffered a loss from their high point. Fond remembrances
> are now tainted by a more bitter present.
The narrator seems to be someone outside the typical LSD user. He calls
that scene "all those day-glo freaks", clearly indicating he isn't that
kind of person. However, it might make sense that the narrator was someone
who enjoyed good LSD (KC's was the "best in town"), but didn't go in for
all that peace and love psychedelic idealism stuff. With Steely Dan, the
narrator is almost always a streetwise realist. Not idealistic at all, but
just knows well the realities of the modern world. Thus, the narrator may
be looking with dejected sarcasm at the fact the "best in town" acid chef
now is an outlaw on the run. Sarcastic because he is saddened that KC's
downfall was idealistic rather that streetwise about illegal dope.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> ----- Original Message -----
>> Hmm...and on the topic of another song, I always thought "Rikki Don't
>> Lose That Number" was a gay love song. Looks like I was wrong:
>
> Others have purported that it's a dope love song ("number" being
> slang for a joint).
>
> "Rikki don't lose that number
> You don't wanna call nobody else
> Send it off in a letter to yourself."
This makes little sense. How is Rikki going to call someone with a
joint?
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> Cliff Stabbert wrote:
>> BTW glad to see your interest in SD (at least, lyrically) -- I've
>> enjoyed your writings in other groups, especially the Spider Robinson
>> lead.
>
> Thanks. I've liked Steely Dan since the 1970s. I listened to them
> a lot when I was a teenager. As for Spider Robinson, I'll do have a
> number of books of him on an unlinked to URL. I'll have to check on
> what that is next time I FTP something to the server.
For anyone interested:
http://www.dextromethorphan.ws/spider-robinson/
Paul Westcott
Would a "streetwise dude" agree that The Man is "wise" in the sense of
sagacious or knowing? That doesn't gel with me. It's the narrator who is
knowing. The Man is wise to what KC has been up to, and so he has become an
outlaw in *their* eyes, although the narrator doesn't agree with that
melodramatic "ten most wanted" stuff. But yes, our streetwise narrator does
think KC is deluded.
Paul Westcott
Steven Folberg
Frederick Burroughs <rib...@shentel.net> wrote:
>
> "Son you were mistaken" is in the authoritative voice. Law
> enforcement, culture, the people pulling the strings, 'THE
> ESTABLISHMENT,' whatever, is reasserting its authority and stating in
> no uncertain terms that psychedelia/counterculture was a mistake.
> Again, the party is over.
What about "look at all the white men on the street"? I've always
wondered what that was about...
SF
Jon Stone
I don't think so...
"rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski wrote:
Interesting bit of Steely Dan trivia I was unaware of:
"roger neal Was "Kid Charlemagne" based on a real person?
Walter I would say it was very loosely inspired by a character named
Owsley.
Walter His name was actually Augustus Stanley Owsley. He was a well-known
psychedelic chef of the day. Later a sound man for the Grateful Dead. I
believe he's still alive."For those in the Steely Dan NG, Owsley was an illegal LSD producer of
the late 1960s (and, possibly into later times), and an advocate of its
use. At the time this song was written, LSD was out of vogue, and other
drugs had become more popular. Hence the lyrical reference to:
"All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
They've joined the human race, some things will never change
(Son you were mistaken)
You are obsolete"
Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan
---------------------------------
While the music played you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco nights,
You were the best in town
Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
You turned it on the world
That's when you turned the world around
(Did you feel like Jesus ?)
Did you realize
That you were Italian in their eyes ?On the hill their stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your technicolor motorhome
Every airframe had your number on the wall
You musta had it all
You go to L.A. on a dare and you go it alone
(Could you live forever)
Could you see the day
Could you feel your whole world fall apart and fade awayGet along
Get along Kid Charlemagne
Get along Kid Charlemagne
Now your patrons have all left you in the red
Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange
All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
They've joined the human race, some things will never change
(Son you were mistaken)
You are obsolete
Look at all the white men on the street
Get along
Get along Kid Charlemagne
Get along Kid CharlemagneClean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car ?
Yes there's gas in the car!
I think the people down the hall know who you are
(Careful what you carry)
Cause the man is wise
You are still an outlaw in their eyesGet along (Get along)
Get along Kid Charlemagne (Get along)
Get along Kid Charlemagne
Clarke
"rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" <rfg...@mochamail.com> wrote in message
news:bbevru$8m2ma$1...@ID-23438.news.dfncis.de...
> Stuart Resnick wrote:
> > Others have purported that it's a dope love song ("number" being
> > slang for a joint).
> >
> > "Rikki don't lose that number
> > You don't wanna call nobody else
> > Send it off in a letter to yourself."
>
> This makes little sense. How is Rikki going to call someone with a
> joint?
Depends on how good it is. ;)
I can kinda see a joint reference in the "letter" - the rolling paper being
an envelope with the adhesive strip, and smoking it being "sending it to
yourself".
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
>> But the narrator calls LSD users "day-glo freaks." Commonly in
>> Steely Dan songs the narrator is some perceptive streetwise dude. A
>> streetwise dude wouldn't be expected to share the values of The Man.
>> However, a streetwise dude would also see the folly of any notion
>> that some kind of illegal dope could turn on the world and actually
>> change it. The Man is "wise" (in this context, wise in the sense
>> that he knows how the real world works), the same as this streetwise
>> dude is about psychedelic idealism, and "some things will never
>> change." Unlike KC, who didn't realize that his whole world would
>> fall apart and fade away after the day-glo freaks joined the human
>> race.
>
> Would a "streetwise dude" agree that The Man is "wise" in the sense of
> sagacious or knowing? That doesn't gel with me. It's the narrator
> who is knowing. The Man is wise to what KC has been up to, and so he
> has become an outlaw in *their* eyes, although the narrator doesn't
> agree with that melodramatic "ten most wanted" stuff. But yes, our
> streetwise narrator does think KC is deluded.
No, The Man is "wise" in that he knows how the real world works,
particularly that he has power and can chase down narcotics producers.
Certainly not wise in the sense of sagacious. The narrator is just looking
at the situation, and sees in that cat and mouse game, the cat clearly has
the upper hand, and KC the mouse has to shut down his lab and go into
hiding to stay out of jail.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> That you were Italian in their eyes ?
>
> I don't think so...
"That you were a champion in their eyes?"
That is an error. I just cut and pasted that from a website I found
that got that part wrong.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> What about "look at all the white men on the street"? I've always
> wondered what that was about...
Possibly a follow-up to the line "All those dayglow freaks who used to
paint the face. They've joined the human race." At this point in history,
the acid culture has died out, and all the men on the street now have
white faces rather than painted faces. KC is now obsolete, and on the
streets now you don't see day-glo freaks, but instead plain looking folks
that are now part of the mainstream rat race.
Paul Westcott
> Jon Stone wrote:
> > That you were Italian in their eyes ?
> >
> > I don't think so...
>
> "That you were a champion in their eyes?"
>
> That is an error. I just cut and pasted that from a website I found
> that got that part wrong.
As I noted earlier in the thread, the cut and paste version also has
bracketed lines. These brackets not in the original (vinyl LP) lyrics
sheet. Because the lines involved can be seen as asides spoken by a third
party, it's understandable that someone might "editorialise" by inserting
the brackets, but the original (real?) version is (typically) more
enigmatic.
Paul Westcott
Paul Westcott
> Paul Westcott wrote:
> > "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
>
> >> But the narrator calls LSD users "day-glo freaks." Commonly in
> >> Steely Dan songs the narrator is some perceptive streetwise dude. A
> >> streetwise dude wouldn't be expected to share the values of The Man.
> >> However, a streetwise dude would also see the folly of any notion
> >> that some kind of illegal dope could turn on the world and actually
> >> change it. The Man is "wise" (in this context, wise in the sense
> >> that he knows how the real world works), the same as this streetwise
> >> dude is about psychedelic idealism, and "some things will never
> >> change." Unlike KC, who didn't realize that his whole world would
> >> fall apart and fade away after the day-glo freaks joined the human
> >> race.
> >
> > Would a "streetwise dude" agree that The Man is "wise" in the sense of
> > sagacious or knowing? That doesn't gel with me. It's the narrator
> > who is knowing. The Man is wise to what KC has been up to, and so he
> > has become an outlaw in *their* eyes, although the narrator doesn't
> > agree with that melodramatic "ten most wanted" stuff. But yes, our
> > streetwise narrator does think KC is deluded.
>
> No, The Man is "wise" in that he knows how the real world works,
Well it's clearly a fine point, but as it's the narrator who adopts the
position of knowing how the world *really* works, I don't think he would
concede that The Man is wise in any sense other than the most basic one.
> particularly that he has power and can chase down narcotics producers.
> Certainly not wise in the sense of sagacious. The narrator is just looking
> at the situation, and sees in that cat and mouse game, the cat clearly has
> the upper hand, and KC the mouse has to shut down his lab and go into
> hiding to stay out of jail.
To extend your analogy, is a cat "wise" to anything other than the mouse's
presence when it moves in for the kill?
Paul Westcott
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" wrote:
>> That is an error. I just cut and pasted that from a website I
>> found that got that part wrong.
>
> As I noted earlier in the thread, the cut and paste version also has
> bracketed lines. These brackets not in the original (vinyl LP) lyrics
> sheet. Because the lines involved can be seen as asides spoken by a
> third party, it's understandable that someone might "editorialise" by
> inserting the brackets, but the original (real?) version is
> (typically) more enigmatic.
It is very clear from listening to the song that this is *not* intended
as being an aside from a third party.
Now your patrons have all left you in the red
Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange
All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
They've joined the human race, some things will never change
(Son you were mistaken)
You are obsolete
Look at all the white men on the street
The "Son you were mistaken" fits in with all the rest of what the
narrator is saying in this verse. The narrator is saying that KC was
mistaken because he became obsolete when the acid culture died out. The
narrator isn't sympathetic with the authorities going after KC. This verse
isn't about the Man going after KC. It is about the "day-glo freaks" acid
scene going mainstream. I take that "some things will never change" as
meaning that as people get older (the acid scene was mostly teenagers and
young adults), they typically move from idealism to realism.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
Fair argument. "Wise" here likely means little more than "he knows what
you have been doing." And clearly no reasonable interpretation has the Man
as being "sagacious" here.
Stuart Resnick
> that scene "all those day-glo freaks", clearly indicating he isn't that
> kind of person.
"Day-glo freaks" isn't necessarily derisive. LSD people, in the Bay Area,
referred to *themselves* as "freaks." I believe before the term "hippie"
came into vogue, "freaks" was the most common word that such folks used to
identify their community.
Tangentially, there was originally just the word "hip" from decades before,
through the Beat era etc. To be "hip" meant to know: "Do you know there's a
concert tonight?" "Yeah, I'm hip." So eventually "hippie" was developed by
counter-culture people to denote their feeling of being unified by a
knowledge that the mainstream lacked. But "freaks" came first.
I've always heard that Steely Dan lyric as being strictly descriptive, not
judgemental.
Stuart
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Stuart Resnick
> > Others have purported that it's a dope love song ("number" being
> > slang for a joint).
> >
> > "Rikki don't lose that number
> > You don't wanna call nobody else
> > Send it off in a letter to yourself."
"rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" <rfg...@mochamail.com> wrote
> This makes little sense. How is Rikki going to call someone with a joint?
It's word play. If a joint is a "number," then a clever way to refer to
smoking it would be "calling" the number.
"Send it off in a letter to yourself" just made me think of a person
traveling somewhere, not wanting to risk going through the airport security
or whatever with drugs on his person, & mails himself a joint so he'll be
sure to have it when he arrives.
Stuart
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rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
http://m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary
Main Entry: 1freak
Pronunciation: 'frEk
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1563
3 : one that is markedly unusual or abnormal: as a : a person or animal
with a physical oddity who appears in a circus sideshow b slang (1) : a
sexual deviate (2) : a person who uses an illicit drug c : HIPPIE
Yep. The intent may not have been pejorative. Although, Steely Dan was
a couple of guys from the East Coast. And, the narrator seems to be an
objective observer looking on.
"All those day-glo freaks who used to paint their face
They've joined the human race, some things will never change"
Speaking in the third person of this scene and these people, as if he
himself wasn't involved in that scene.
Paul Westcott
I don't necessarily disagree, but then again, why would our hip narrator use a
patronising term like "son" when addressing himself to KC? It sounds more
like an antagonistic cop or the like.
I note that you've retained the unofficial brackets above.
Paul Westcott
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
The narrator definitely is speaking sarcastically about KC, as he
dismisses him with "you are obsolete." Calling someone just obsolete is
also patronizing. As for the brackets, those were used just because
several lines just happen to use multitracked vocals for musical effect.
Those "did you feel like Jesus" and "could you live forever" lines in the
previous verses wasn't used as a voice off representing the voice of
authority. Clearly, the narrator considers that KC was deluded into
thinking he was making the world a better place by cooking acid.
HoopsMcKay
not loosie a doobie nor is it about Rick Derringer. He says it's simply along
the lines of "Hey 19." It's an attempted pickup scene with a chick named
Rikki. End of story.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
Definitely I believe that it is about a person named Rikki. I just find
it curious the lyric seems to make more sense if Rikki is gay.