bad sneakers seems to be about a rookie drug dealer. The chorus seems
to explain that he used to be poor (he wears bad sneakers) but has
recently purchased a pina colada. He is naive and somehow got sucked
into the business. There he is standing in New York with a transistor
(possibly a drug term) and his pay from his new job. everything seems
to be going well, but after a while he becomes paranoid and feels alone.
daddy don't live... is a song about a father who is an alcoholic, drug
user. he goes out to Hackensack to meet a supplier and dissappears.
the couplet "Daddy ain't smokin no fine cigar/ but we know you're
smokin' wherever you are" seems to imply that he is either burning in
hell or doing something sexually deviant that he is forced into doing,
possibly under threat of death.
dr. wu is about a guy has a very beautiful wife (Katy) and a friend who
is a doctor (Wu). What he does not know is that his wife actually takes
a liking to his friend. She schemes to fake a terible illness in order
to have some time with the doctor. So, the narrator (husband) rushes
her to his friend, Dr. Wu, hoping that he can save this woman's life.
He stays at the hospital all night, very worried that his wife may die
and feeling "strung out". After waiting for many hours for some news,
he decides to go into the emergency room to see whats going on. What he
sees is his friend, Dr. Wu, humping his wife. The narrator concludes by
saying that he applauds his wife for her craftiness and realizes that
Dr. Wu is only an average guy who would, of course, jump at the
opportunity to bang her.
your gold teeth II seems to be about a gambler who is so far in debt
that he trembles every time his poker buddies ride to his house. The
only thing this poor man has in his possesion is his gold teeth.
Because he is obsessed with gambling, the man foolishly puts his gold
teeth up and realizes that he has lived a fool for gambling away his
whole life. He lets these scheming card sharks into his house and they
slowly take everything he owns, right down to his gold teeth.
As far as "Bad Sneakers" is concerned. I read somewhere that it was a
semi-autobiographical song concerning Walter Becker's problems with
depression while living in L.A. He was almost suicidal from what I
remember or at least he thought he was slowly killing himself. "...do
you think that I don't see that ditch out in the valley that they're
digging just for me?" He also hated L.A. and really missed Manhattan:
"when (are) they gonna take me home?"
I read that Doctor Wu was a euphamism (sp?) for someone or thing that
comes in between two people, such as a mistress or drugs or something.
Does that make any sense?
>>bad sneakers seems to be about a rookie drug dealer. The chorus seems
>>to explain that he used to be poor (he wears bad sneakers) but has
>>recently purchased a pina colada. He is naive and somehow got sucked
>>into the business. There he is standing in New York with a transistor
>>(possibly a drug term) and his pay from his new job. everything seems
>>to be going well, but after a while he becomes paranoid and feels alone.
>As far as "Bad Sneakers" is concerned. I read somewhere that it was a
>semi-autobiographical song concerning Walter Becker's problems with
>depression while living in L.A. He was almost suicidal from what I
>remember or at least he thought he was slowly killing himself. "...do
>you think that I don't see that ditch out in the valley that they're
>digging just for me?" He also hated L.A. and really missed Manhattan:
>"when (are) they gonna take me home?"
Yes, I believe the "Reelin' in the Years" bio by Sweet says that.
And the "transistor" is not a drug term; it's simply a slang for a "transistor
radio", which I believe is simply a portable radio (mid-70s, that was probably
pretty exciting technology :-).
>>dr. wu is about a guy has a very beautiful wife (Katy) and a friend who
>>is a doctor (Wu). What he does not know is that his wife actually takes
>>a liking to his friend. She schemes to fake a terible illness in order
>>to have some time with the doctor. So, the narrator (husband) rushes
>>her to his friend, Dr. Wu, hoping that he can save this woman's life.
>>He stays at the hospital all night, very worried that his wife may die
>>and feeling "strung out". After waiting for many hours for some news,
>>he decides to go into the emergency room to see whats going on. What he
>>sees is his friend, Dr. Wu, humping his wife. The narrator concludes by
>>saying that he applauds his wife for her craftiness and realizes that
>>Dr. Wu is only an average guy who would, of course, jump at the
>>opportunity to bang her.
>I read that Doctor Wu was a euphamism (sp?) for someone or thing that
>comes in between two people, such as a mistress or drugs or something.
>Does that make any sense?
I had heard "Doctor Wu" referred to marijuana, and "Katy" referred to cocaine.
("Katy Lied" referring to the lie of the cocaine high, I guess).
I'd like to mention the "just when I spend the last piaster I could borrow" bit.
According to Merriam-Webster, piaster is a Spanish coin (fairly archaic; the boys
were getting literary again), so the dude's strung out in Spain or somewhere
nearby.
John
What did you think of that bio (by Sweet)? A lot of the talk about
recording/mixing technique went over my head but I thought that on the
whole, it was pretty informative considering the fact that SD wouldn't
be interviewed for it.
Michael
Scott Andrew Borton wrote in message <6murjk$qmh$1...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>...
>john nicol <jni...@cs.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>
>> I'd like to mention the "just when I spend the last piaster I could
borrow" bit.
>> According to Merriam-Webster, piaster is a Spanish coin (fairly archaic;
the boys
>> were getting literary again), so the dude's strung out in Spain or
somewhere
>> nearby.
>
>Piasters were also the currency used in South Vietnam at least until the
>fall of Saigon, which occured *after* "Katy Lied" was written, so it was a
>contemporary currency at the time of KL. "Piaster" was also an British
slang
>term for Turkish coinage, and I've heard it being used in reference to
>modern-day Egyptian currency (Which is officially the Egyptian Pound).
>
>
>
>
>--scott
>
>--
>scott andrew borton
>http://www.uiuc.edu/ph/www/borton/steely-dan/
Keith Phares wrote:
> I read that Doctor Wu was a euphamism (sp?) for someone or thing that
> comes in between two people, such as a mistress or drugs or something.
>
> Does that make any sense?
Keith,
I believe I've read that Dr. Wu was a philosophy professor of D.F.'s when
he attended college in Alabama. As I interpret the Wu song, it is a
simple pun on the word "woo". The lyrics strongly suggest that he's
starting to fall for a woman he's seeing and is no longer the "love
doctor" but just an ordinary guy losing control of his emotions.
Wow, the Internet works in strange and mysterious ways.
This is gonna be like that fake Kurt Vonnegut posting!
I remember the post that talked about a Dr. Wu in Alabama... As I recall,
it was meant to be a joke, throwing in a reference to Alabama because of the
whole "Deacon Blues" thing. Whoever wrote that, please back me up, because
I can't locate it on dejanews!
D.F. didn't go to school in Alabama, nor did W.B. They both went
to Bard College in upstate New York.
John
Michael Stevens wrote:
> it was the Vietnamese piaster to which they were referring.... trust me
you could have a point there. Wu is probably a south eastern last name, perhaps vietnamese. But then there is the reference to
biscayne bay in miami. how does that fit in? What is your reason for believing that they are talking about the vietnamese
piaster?
Michael Stevens wrote:
"Biscayne Bay, where the Cuban gentlemen sleep all day..."South Viet Nam, Cuba....both communist countries...The Piaster line was an intentional attempt to rhyme with the word "last" as in "..last piaster"....this from a Rolling Stone interview with Fagen and Becker in either 1976 or early 1977.BTW, I had thought you were being humorous in your explanation, were you really serious? If so, I'll tell ya what I know, if yer interested...sincerely! MichaelI was half-joking about my interpretation of Dr. Wu. I knew it was a far cry from what Fagen intended (?) but it did seem to fit the lyrics quite well when I got down to thinking about it. Go ahead and tell us what you know.
Come now, do you expect "the boys" to explain themselves in an interview
with Rolling Stone. Surely you jest.
Marty
Berserk Kirk wrote in message <35970386...@digizen.net>...