September 21, 2006
Steely Dan's "The Boston Rag" -- Free Misinterpretation
Steely Dan's lyrics are often oblique or even, let's face it, incomprehensible. Here's my attempt to assign meanings to the few words of The Boston Rag. I failed, but let's not just leave it at that. ____________________________________________________
Let the Boston Rag image refer to Old Glory, the US Flag. Say the song was written in ~1970 to 1972. (I dunno, but say it was.) Think back to what was on those dim blue tubes 30 years ago!
Any news was good news, and the feeling was bad at home
1970: The US was rife with dissent and misinformation.
President Richard Nixon announced the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.
Four students protesting that invasion killed by National Guard at Kent State.
link
I was out of my mind and you were on the phone
Nixon inattentive to domestic concerns ("on the phone").
Or maybe the author’s girlfriend was inattentive (perhaps likewise to domestic concerns).
Lonnie was the kingpin back in nineteen sixty five
Plainly a reference ot Lon Nol, the (quixotic & often-deposed) nationalist ruler of Cambodia.
I was singing this song when Lonnie came alive
Ok, this can probably be forced to fit current events of those times, if
only because there seem to be so many different accounts of so many events.
CHORUS Bring back the Boston Rag,
Get the USA out SE Asia, it sucks over there.
Tell all your buddies that it aint no drag
Peace with Honor! Declare Victory! Whatever!
Bring back the Boston Rag
You were Lady Bayside, there was nothing that I could do
Well this maybe weakens my case for ‘you’ being the fed. gov.
So I pointed my car down Seventh Avenue
There certainly was nothing Fagan and Becker could do about the war, Kent State,
Agnew, Nixon, etc. etc. So let’s go score some pills.
Lonnie swept the playroom and he swallowed up all he found
Lon Nol did in fact run wild, albeit on diplomacy & guns rather than (or at least in
addition to) drugs.
It was forty eight hours till Lonnie came around
But the Cambodian leader’s binge was not without personal consequences.
(In fact – though still in the future when "The Boston Rag" was released – Lon Nol
was finally deposed in 1975. He fled to the U.S.)
Note. I posted most of this there some years back. If you're a Dan fan at all, it's well worth checking out for crazy stuff. My "analysis" is barely even moderately whacked-out by their standards. And thanks to those guys for keeping it on their site all this time, especially since I lost the original file.
Comments:
I don't want to toot my own horn here, but I stand back and I'm breathless at the baffling and irritating thing that I have wrought.
Heh. I actually tried that, but it falls together TOO well. Call it a big ironic Thank You to all those who are kind enough to defer their own enlightenment in order to help the rest of us find our way. Then there's nothing else to say, it all pretty much supports that. Maybe it's actually the right reading, which is very bad for interpretation.
I wrote one up for Black Friday, but by Steely Dan standards that's another almost painfully literal song.
I wrote one up for Black Friday, but by Steely Dan standards that's another almost painfully literal song.
Waaaaaiiiiit a minute. Deconstructing Steely Dan lyrics? Aaaagh! Aaaagh! It's a trap! Hippies! HIPPIIIIIIIEEESSSSS!
It's too late for me. Run - run while you still can. And don't look back...
It's too late for me. Run - run while you still can. And don't look back...
I knew a guy named Lonnie and he fit the lyrics perfectly. His nickname was "Cosmic Debris".
PW, I'd like a to hear a similiar of "Careful with that Axe, Eugene" if you have the time. Thank you.
PW, I'd like a to hear a similiar of "Careful with that Axe, Eugene" if you have the time. Thank you.
# posted by 
: 9/21/2006 07:57:00 PM
: 9/21/2006 07:57:00 PM
Cool!
Hrmmm. That could be a tough one. Ok, say Eugene is the writer Evgeni Zamyatin. And the "axe" may be Zamyatin's anticommunist novel "We" ... its eventual publication got the author kicked out of the USSR. After that he could only look at the "stars screaming" from his dreary exile.
Hrmmm. That could be a tough one. Ok, say Eugene is the writer Evgeni Zamyatin. And the "axe" may be Zamyatin's anticommunist novel "We" ... its eventual publication got the author kicked out of the USSR. After that he could only look at the "stars screaming" from his dreary exile.
Next assignment, 4′33″ by John Cage. Fifty words or less, please
# posted by : 9/22/2006 08:53:00 AM
: 9/22/2006 08:53:00 AM
Oh. I imagined there was maybe some kind of ethic among you "real bloggers" not to edit a post after it appeared.
Needless to say, my own blog is revised every few minutes for maximum lafs by a proprietary hardware-based "Humor Engine" built from 512 cutting-edge field-programmable gate array chips.
Needless to say, my own blog is revised every few minutes for maximum lafs by a proprietary hardware-based "Humor Engine" built from 512 cutting-edge field-programmable gate array chips.
wel u can putta thign tahts says 'updapt!1!' er whateevar if ur fxxign a erer u might wana later on clame u never made. imean thas the gentlmenly thign to do in that kindna case.
but im not saayign a gelntlaman wouldn stoup to usign fgpa's!
but im not saayign a gelntlaman wouldn stoup to usign fgpa's!
boston rag was the group of fellow students that W and D hung out with at Bard. Lonnie was a drug dealer.
# posted by : 5/01/2011 10:46:00 PM
: 5/01/2011 10:46:00 PM
I've loved this song for many many moons, and have tried to interpret/find interpretations of the meaning. I must say, I'd never thought of The Boston Rag as a reference to Old Glory, but that makes more sense to me than anything I've ever heard or thought regarding the meaning. Even if the rest of your interpretation isn't correct (not saying it's not by any means), it could be seen as a yearning to return to the patriotism that had eroded by all the things you mentioned and more of that time in American history. Thanks so much for giving me something to think about. To me, listening to the Dan, in addition to being incredible music that I sing loudly around the house to the detriment of my marriage and hatred of my pets, is all about making you think. Every interpretation is probably correct - at least to that particular interpreter - and that's what makes SD so fkn great. Wow.
# posted by : 12/13/2019 06:02:00 AM
: 12/13/2019 06:02:00 AM
The reference to Lonnie was referring to a roommate at Bard of Fagan...Named Lonnie... He was the kingpin in ‘65 .. anyone with a few joints then was.. oinking ones car down 7th Ave.. was how you got to Lonnie’s.. a three story warehouse in Tribeca in about 70..no windows and the roof partially collapsed.. I have a picture of Lonnie in his house..I’d post here but they don’t allow pictures.. if you’re interested in seeing it write to me directly.. GordonHawk@aol.com
Lonnie was an artist and quite the character... we were friends for decades untill his untimely death due to medical issues
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Lonnie was an artist and quite the character... we were friends for decades untill his untimely death due to medical issues
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