From: ifitzpatrick@mail.pima.edu   
      
   On Monday, June 29, 1998 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Michael Stevens wrote:   
   > Ok, Marty and Berserk....   
   >     
   >      It's funny that I nearly threw in the caveat that one can never be   
   entirely certain when Mssrs. Fagen and Becker are being serious in any   
   situation. So, no, I do not expect them to have been altogether truthful in   
   the interview I cited from ~'76.    
   Still, they were in an upheaval at the time, losing the 'band' and   
   reconfiguring themselves as an entity around which studio musicians might   
   play, an early incarnation of 'virtual musicianship', the type of which   
   ultimately became disparaged by the likes    
   of Milli Vanilli. With this in mind, I feel the info I cited was more probably   
   accurate than not. Even were it to be disproved as being false, the fact that   
   either Fagen or Becker promulgated the falsehood should count for something   
   >      So let me go onward, having, I hope, covered myself for any falsehoods   
   I might perpetuate...   
   >      Bad Sneakers is an allusion to the state of schizophrenia. The story   
   regards an inpatient who vacillates between a state of clarity regarding where   
   he is (the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan area identifiable via the   
   reference to "..that ditch    
   out in the valley that they're diggin just for me.", an earthwork project in   
   the San Fernando Valley), even though he demonstrates his psychotic state by   
   saying that it is being dug up for him; and a state of either recollection, or   
   fantasy, wherein he    
   is in Times Square, groovin' to the tunes on his transistor, wearing his 'bad'   
   (as in 'cool') sneakers, and drinking Pina Colada, a popular, very popular,   
   cocktail amongst the 'youthful set', a large sum of money to spend signifies   
   'freedom', but just as    
   possibly is a reference to the fact that Radio City Music Hall, and its   
   surrounding environs were a tenderloin (red light)district at the time.   
   >       Daddy Don't Live in that New York City No More is about an NYC pimp   
   who has been carted off to jail. Additional double entendres are probably   
   applicable.   
   >      Katy Lied (Dr. Wu) is an allegorical reference to heroin addiction,   
   where 'Katy' is heroin. Very many Viet Nam era veterans were returning home   
   addicted to the cheap and potent Asian heroin when this song was crafted. Once   
   they got back stateside,    
   it was no longer cheap, and less potent. Many went to doctors for treatment,   
   and were placed on methadone. They were told the methadone was non-addictive   
   and would help them break the addiction to heroin. Methadone was found to be   
   as addictive, if not    
   more addictive, than heroin. That is the "lie" as in '...Katy lies, you can   
   see it in her eyes...'. Again, other double entendres are probably applicable   
   in this song too.   
   >      I spoke at length with Walter Becker, backstage at Shoreline   
   Amphitheater near Palo Alto, in California, after the show on August 12, 1993.   
   He confirmed most of what I have told you regarding these songs during that   
   conversation. Unlike Fagen,    
   Becker seemed to enjoy talking about the hidden meanings in the songs, but he   
   was less than completely candid, either.  I suspect that nearly anything one   
   hears from these guys, second hand or otherwise, should be taken with the   
   appropriate sized grain    
   of salt.   
   >     I have omitted referring to any aspects of the 'meanings behind the   
   music' which I cannot 'verify', so we each can retain some of the meanings we   
   have come to attribute to them.  I think that 'the Boys' would like it that   
   way.....   
   >     
   > Michael   
   >     
   > Berserk Kirk wrote in message <35970386...@digizen.net>...   
   > 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! Michael    
   > I 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.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)