"Babs and Clean Willie were in love they said..."

[Itascapark]

HAITIAN DIVORCE

Babs and Clean Willie were in love they said
So in love the preacher's face turned red
Soon everybody knew the thing was dead
He shouts, she bites, they wrangle through the night
She go crazy
Got to make a getaway
Papa say
CHORUS:
Oh - no hesitation
No tears and no hearts breakin'
No remorse
Oh - congratulations
This is your Haitian Divorce

She takes the taxi to the good hotel
Bon marché as far as she can tell
She drinks the zombie from the cocoa shell
She feels alright, she get it on tonight
Mister driver
Take me where the music play
Papa say

CHORUS

At the Grotto
In the greasy chair
Sits the Charlie with the lotion and the kinky hair
When she smiled, she said it all
The band was hot so
They danced the famous Merengue
Now we dolly back
Now we fade to black

Tearful reunion in the USA
Day by day those memories fade away
Some babies grow in a peculiar way
It changed, it grew, and everybody knew
Semi-mojo
Who's this kinky so-and-so?
Papa go

CHORUS


BACK TO THE TOP | BACK TO LYRICS INDEX

[Beaverhausen]

1. Now there's an earworm I welcome

god I love Steely Dan

Semi-mojo
Who's this kinky so-and-so?

[Itascapark]

6. "Now we dolly back, now we fade to black..."

[Beaverhausen]

7. yeah but my fav Steely Dan line ever is

"no he can't sleep on the floor
what do you think I'm yelling for?"

[Itascapark]

8. An Underrated album...

I love third world man...so perfect for these times

[Itascapark]

11. Gaucho...

For the die-hard fan

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

2. Am I being summoned?

The ROYAL Scam...their best, IMHO, since Aja wasn't possible without the groundwork of that disc

[Itascapark]

3. Goddamn, you lover

where ya been, baby?:bounce:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. I been around...good to see you

:hi: now I gotta put some Dan on :-)

[Itascapark]

4. I agree...

They pushed through the rough stuff brilliantly to get Aja up and running...The Royal Scam is their best!!!

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. "Turn slowly and comb your hair"

Don't trouble the midnight air. Best rock - jazz group EVER. I had the honor of seeing them play their first concert in 19 years back in 1993 (I think it was?) at the Palace of Auburn Hills north of Detroit. (where the Pistons play) and it was too cool listening to 17 thousand forty-somethings singing "My Old School". At the time it was the 2nd fastest Ticketmaster sellout in history.

[Itascapark]

10. And "Chain Lightening" is one of the coolest

EVER...too bad they had to go throught Ticket Master...those bastards!

[PassingFair]

26. Hey! I was THERE!

and they were Marvelous! Better than I had expected and sounding just like their recordings.

[Lady Effingbroke]

12. Hi to all in the DU Dan Clan!

DON'T TAKE ME ALIVE

Agents of the law
Luckless pedestrian
I know you're out there
With rage in your eyes and your megaphones
Saying all is forgiven
Mad Dog surrender
How can I answer
A man of my mind can do anything

CHORUS:
I'm a bookkeeper's son
I don't want to shoot no one
Well I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don't take me alive
Got a case of dynamite
I could hold out here all night
Yes I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don't take me alive



Can you hear the evil crowd
The lies and the laughter
I hear my inside
The mechanized hum of another world
Where no sun is shining
No red light flashing
Here in this darkness
I know what I've done
I know all at once who I am

CHORUS

I'm a bookkeeper's son
I don't want to shoot no one
Well I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don't take me alive
Got a case of dynamite
I could hold out here all night
Yes I crossed my old man back in Oregon
Don't take me alive

:hi:

[Itascapark]

14. You are too coooooooollllllll!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

The Royal Scam is their best!

:bounce:

[Lady Effingbroke]

15. I agree!

The Royal Scam, followed closely by Aja (which, as you said, would not be nearly as brilliant without the groundwork laid by TRS).

[eyepaddle]

23. It's nice to see others in love with Royal Scam

and for the record, Don't Take me Alive is without question my favorite Steely Dan tune.

Well done, mr Carlton!

[salin]

13. Can I admit that my first intros to Steely Dan were... Peg and FM

I blame it on being a youngster stuck in the midwest with only top forty access... but somehow some of my peers found early Costello, so that really can't be the thing to blame :shrug:

[Itascapark]

16. Hey, good songs...

No shame in top forty...they classed it up.

[salin]

17. Indeed... and paved the way

for Aja to become a staple even in a top forty enclave of teens in the midwest. :D

[CrownPrinceBandar]

18. Peg.................

One of the best guitar solos in rock. Jay Graydon rips it up!

[Itascapark]

19. Yup!!

And I'll mention Steve Gadd for his drum solo on the title track just 'cause...smokin'

[CrownPrinceBandar]

21. Great song.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

20. Got a feeling I've been here before........

Watching as you cross the killing floor
You know you'll have to pay it all
You'll pay today or pay tomorrow
You fasten up your beaded gown
Then you try to tie me down
Do you work it out one by one
Or played in combination
You throw out your gold teeth
Do you see how they roll

I have seen your iron and your brass
Can't you see it shine behind the glass
Your fortune is your roving eye
Your mouth and legs
Your gift for the runaround
Torture is the main attraction
I don't need that kind of action
You don't have to dance for me
I've seen your dance before
Do you throw out your gold teeth
Do you see how they roll

Tobacco they grow in Peking
In the Year of the Locust
You'll see a sad thing
Even Cathy Berberian knows
There's one roulade she can't sing
Dumb luck my friend
Won't suck me in this time

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 darlin'
Take one step back darlin'
There ain't nothing in Chicago
For a monkey woman to do
Do you throw out your gold teeth
Do you see how they roll

[Elidor]

22. When Black Friday comes

I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes
I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out
I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls you know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me

When Black Friday comes
I'll fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
When Black Friday comes I'll be on that hill
You know I will

When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it 'til
I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me
The Archbishop's gonna sanctify me
And if he don't come across
I'm gonna let it roll
When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna stake my claim
I'll guess I'll change my name
----------
Some of the very best music of modern times. Credit to the Porcaro Bros., who played on so many of their songs.

[yellowdogintexas]

24. From Countdown to Ecstasy:

MY OLD SCHOOL

I remember the thirty-five sweet goodbyes
When you put me on the Wolverine
Up to Annandale
It was still September
When your daddy was quite surprised
To find you with the working girls
In the county jail
I was smoking with the boys upstairs
When I heard about the whole affair
I said oh no
William and Mary won't do

CHORUS:
Well I did not think the girl
Could be so cruel
And I'm never going back
To my old school

Oleanders growing outside her door
Soon they're gonna be in bloom
Up in Annandale
I can't stand her
Doing what she did before
Living like a gypsy queen
In a fairy tale
Well I hear the whistle but I can't go
I'm gonna take her down to Mexico
She said oh no
Guadalajara won't do

CHORUS

California tumbles into the sea
That'll be the day I go
Back to Annandale
Tried to warn you
About Chino and Daddy Gee
But I can't seem to get to you
Through the U.S. Mail
Well I hear the whistle but I can't go
I'm gonna take her down to Mexico
She said oh no
Guadalajara won't do

CHORUS

[A HERETIC I AM]

25. On the water down in New Orleans

My baby's the pearl of the quarter
She's a charmer like you never seen
Singing voulez vous
Where the sailor spend his hard-earned pay
Red beans and rice for a quarter
You can see her almost any day
singing voulez vous
CHORUS:
And if you hear from my Louise
Won't you tell her I love her so
Please make it clear
When her day is done
She got a place to go

I walked alone down the miracle mile
I met my baby by the shine of the martyr
She stole my heart with her Cajun smile
Singing voulez vous
She loved the million dollar words I say
She loved the candy and the flowers that I bought her
She said she loved me and was on her way
Singing voulez vous

CHORUS

Now THAT is song-craft
And the one that follows on that album has a somewhat eerie tone for this day and age considering Bush and his minions and their ambitions KING OF THE WORLD

Hello one and all
Was it you I used to know
Can't you hear me call
On this old ham radio
All I got to say
I'm alive and feeling fine
If you come my way
You can share my poison wine
CHORUS:
No marigolds in the promised land
There's a hole in the ground
Where they used to grow
Any man left on the Rio Grande
Is the king of the world
As far as I know

I don't want your bread
I don't need your helping hand
I can't be no savage
I can't be no highwayman
Show me where you are
You and I will spend this day
Driving in my car
Through the ruins of Santa Fe

CHORUS

I'm reading last year's papers
Although I don't know why
Assassins cons and rapers
Might as well die

If you come around
No more pain and no regrets
Watch the sun go brown
Smoking cobalt cigarettes
There's no need to hide
Taking things the easy way
If I stay inside
I might live til Saturday

CHORUS

[PassingFair]

27. and don't forget, Brooklyn ...

owes the charmer under me......
A Tower Room at Eden Roc
...his golf at noon for freeeeee!