Let's go chasing dragons! Or.... You know what? Let's... not...

I'm an old man lying in the hospital very ill. As nurses poke me with needles and I go through surgery after surgery, I search for things to distract me from the pain and bad news from doctors. Watching young people discover the music of my youth distracts me from my demise, and brings me great joy. I'm not long for this world and I'm at peace with that. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm with me. Be well.

When exploring the meaning of Steely Dan lyrics, and you're not sure what they're talking about - drugs are frequently a good guess.

Full credits for this song. Donald Fagen - lead vocals, backing vocals, synthesizer, electric piano Walter Becker - bass, guitar Randy Brecker - trumpet Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone David Sanborn - alto saxophone Dave Tofani - tenor saxophone Ronnie Cuber - baritone saxophone Rob Mounsey - piano, horn arrangement Mark Knopfler - lead guitar Hugh McCracken - guitar Rick Marotta - drums Michael McDonald, Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson, Lesley Miller - backing vocals

The lead guitar is played by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.

West of Hollywood, Black Friday, The Caves of Altamira, Haitian Divorce

WARNING KIDS!: Don't chase the dragon. signed: the dolphins off the starboard bow.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it 100 times. “Your Gold Teeth”, “Sign In Stranger”, “Haitian Divorce”. These should be your next 3 Dan songs. Each so unique and different from one another but all 3 just amazing musically and lyrically.

This is one of my favorite Steely Dan songs. I don't identify with the "drug" (chasing the dragon) aspect, but I do like the imagery that the lyrics evoke. And the musicianship is brilliant !!

I see you’re becoming a fan STEELEY DANIEL.

Apparently only somewhere between about15 and 40 seconds of Mark Knopfler's guitar was actually used in the track, despite recording over 10 hours of guitar work on it. They had pretty exacting standards!

When you get to Don Fagen's solo album "The Nightfly", check out "I.G.Y.", "Green Flower Street", and "New Frontier".

Mr Parkers Band, Monkey in Your Soul, Pearl of The Quarter, Haitian Divorce, New Frontier, Nightfly, IGY, etc all masterpieces i know im missing many others

Another great reaction ! Really, Is there ever a bad Steely Dan song ? I think not. I never knew what this song was about, so dark... but the music is weirdly upbeat. Thanks for the analysis! ✌❤🌻😷🎶

If you've been listening, (and I know you have!) you have figured out that protagonists in SD songs have a tendency to be morally... ambiguous at best! Generally, the life lessons are on the level of "Don't do this!"

Drugs, dude. Strong, dangerous drugs.

CHALLENGE: Find a bad Steely Dan song. Ready..... GO!

When in doubt think drugs when it comes to the songs written by the Dan.

Better be ready for love? means, once you " Chase The Dragon" ou will fall in love with it, as Walter becker found out, as he became addicted to Heroin

Your next Dan reaction - " The Fez ". You'll be pleased.

Wow, you just blew past three thousand and now 4K is in the rear-view mirror. I'm guessing five thousand will be sometime tomorrow.

The instrumental break in this song is like the most pure and beautiful hoppy groove of all time. It’s perfection and grace. Incredible orchestration and arranging.

Black Friday is a hard rocker by SD, great song of you want to hear SD’s hard side - great guitar with a lot of dirt on it.

chase the dragon = heroin

Daniel, Here at the Western World might be a good Steely Dan song to react to. It was recorded during The Royal Scam (1976) sessions but wasn't used, then left off Aja(1977) and was to be on the 1978 album that turned out to be Gaucho(1980). So it was included on the Greatest Hits album in 1978. This song is what you'd expect from SD, the music is laid-back and smooth and the lyrics are ambiguous and obscure. Some other songs to consider Fire in the Hole, Caves of Altamira, Black Friday and Home at Last. Can't go wrong with any Steely Dan song.

Just discovered you Daniel, and love your enthusiasm and your interest to discover the lyrical meaning behind this song. It has always been a favorite of mine by the Dan and although I’m a tad disappointed that it appears to be a drug song, I still feel all tingly and happy when I hear it. That bridge, the horns, the changes and the ever present groove!!! It is so awesome to see someone so young turn on to this music! You’re a cute young man and I really enjoyed watching and listening to you! I await more SD analysis and surprises!

One of my favorite Dan tracks.

Masterpiece. I was 15 when this came out and was blown away

The "Night Fly" is a wonderful album by Donald Fagan not a bad song on it.

Steely Dan has double even triple meanings in their songs ...everything well thought out and superbly crafted.

Great to this young man giving, a great complement to steely dan, he has great taste like myself, and I've been listening to them, for 45 years, 😄🎶🎶👍

"That's a fun one guys"... Yeah, that's probably how I feel about it and why it's right up there as one of my favorite Dan tunes. How can you listen to this and not smile? And then knowing what it's about and how dark, not laugh? "Every time! Every time it's way worse than I thought it was!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 This might be my favorite song of theirs musically speaking, but the lyrics are, uh, yeah, about something else entirely! There's little argument the song is about heroin, but there is argument about the method of ingestion presented. "Water may change to cherry wine" could also refer to when the blood comes up through the syringe (if you've seen the movie Pulp Fiction, you see a depiction of the water changing to cherry wine), though the "silver may turn to gold" is pretty specifically about smoking it. I've heard it suggested on reddit Fagen just wanted to include both means of ingestion, as either could be considered chasing the dragon. Lastly, though the imagery is that of heroin, I like to relate to this song (what with me not being a heroin addict) to the start of a relationship, and how love relationships can be very "heroin" like, very addicting in and of themselves, with the "water may change to cherry wine" being an allusion to how blood is thicker than water, so getting married is effectually "water turning to blood... non-family turning to family." This is 1000% NOT what Donald Fagen was thinking when he wrote it, but it's how I like to relate to it. Also "Time out of Mind", to me, refers MUCH more to how time just flies when you're in a relationship and FWIU, when you're high on a drug like heroin... how time is not ON your mind at the time. Josie, Bad Sneakers, I.G.Y. (a Fagen solo tune) should be up next.

Oh, I just watched Ashes are Burning and I made a comment about a dragon movie...weird. Donald Fagen’s dragon is way more dangerous. Ps, for another happy sounding drug song, try Marrakesh Express by Crosby, Stills, Nash.

This song is all about drugs. Every last word lol...The phrase "chasing the dragon" goes back to the days of opium dens The interlude with those piano chords is one of the best things they ever wrote imo. Somewhere on youtube there's a video of that interlude going on and on for hours!

This is one of my favorite SD songs. Great backing vocals from Michael MacDonald; Patti Austin and Valerie Simpson. Stellar work per usual from SD. Chasing the dragon is a reference to drug addiction. So is cherry wine. That's a reference to shooting up drugs. Red wine being blood. Dark reference to a light sounding song.

Home at last, Third world man, Negative Girl, West of Hollywood!!!

Steely Dan is all about the music. The creators wrote music fully intended to give you a drug-like high and the lyrics exist to support that intention. This is why they are such perfectionists. I experienced several highs while listening (and only listening) to SD music. Do it Again gave me a high I will never forget.

Can't even describe how much I love this particular SD song - yes, very catchy! Esp the ending where they just go off on a diff groove! I hear Michael MacDonald's voice also....

I'm pretty sure the lines "keep your eyes on the sky, put a dollar in the kitty" are a reference to paying someone else to inject the heroin. I've had two different friends (who didn't know each other) over the years who said they experienced this in the military in the late 70's and early 80's - both stationed in Hawaii (one Army, one Navy). The way they told their stories there was a place off Hotel St. in Honolulu (google the history of Hotel Street another time) where you could score the junk inside and if you didn't have needles someone would shoot you up outside for a small "donation", complete with tip jar. Both stories were consistent that the person administering the drugs told the recipient to look at the sky or moon rather than what they were doing to their arm (FYI both times the source of the stories was a discussion of our favorite S.D. songs.) The Army guy wasn't into hard drugs, he was tagging along w/his buddy to make sure he stayed out of trouble and got back to the base on time. The Navy guy (as he told the story) was an enthusiastic participant. In both cases they had just got back to Hawaii from intense deployments - the Army guys had been stationed on the DMZ between North and South Korea, and the Navy guy from a nine month float - and apparently felt the need to do something really stupid to celebrate their returns to base. FWIW I was intrigued to hear the explanation about the water-turns-to-cherry-wine/silver-will-turn-to-gold lines, that was the first time I've heard that explanation. Previously I assumed it referred to a drug-induced euphoria. Great reaction, keep up the good work!

Really enjoying what your doing...keep up the good work...

Steely Dan writes songs, about people with alternative lifestyles. Mostly referencing the Hollywood Boulevard scene, but also drift into foreign lands, for atmosphere. Sometimes, they string words together, just for how they sound, and to create emotion. They are my favorite band and have a treasure trove of songs, you never get tired of hearing this band. So happy to be a new subscriber. Carry on my wayward son, meaning You, Daniel. Lol, that wasn’t a song request. 😎

IMHO, this whole tune and especially that instrumental interlude @ 6:30-7:22 are meant to evoke all the naive, carefree, risky and dangerous mood and vibe of a dope fueled late 1970s party time atmosphere. Or so they say....

Love the Dan! Dan Fan for life.

By my count you've done twenty reactions to "The Dan." Here's five more notables. "Dirty Work" (1972) "Show Biz Kids" (1973) "Black Friday" (1975) "Haitian Divorce" (1976) "Josie" (1977)

“The Fez” is good and plenty by Steely Da

And, there is so much more material to explore...the solo albums by Fagen and the “newer” Steely Dan albums, Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go have stellar songs that will keep you busy for a while. It all centers around the rhythm section...what I believe has always been the center of the musical universe for Fagen...get the rhythm track nailed perfect first and build from there.

Definitely a bop. The chord progression on the first instrumental break (6:34) always reminds me of the Doobie Brothers.

All of them!

Well - you're now required to also listen to Glamour Profession - no worries , its well worth the time

You know this song is all about getting high. Lasa---rolling in the snow----cocaine, herion--smoking dope----the hard stuff. And the user's reaction----it's the smile on my face---it's perfection and grace...

A similar allusion to withdrawing blood into a syringe is used in "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon and the Animals.

As usual, a lot of fun with you and "the Dan". Your Gold Teeth (Countdown to Ecstasy) is a must, and on Gaucho, one of their few down tempo tunes, and absolutely gorgeous: Third World Man. For Fagen solo, Kamakiriad holds up better than The Nightlfy for me - too many slick synths and not enough guitars. And if you want to dig into later Dan, Two Against Nature was a triumphant return.

This track got heavy radio airplay back in early 80's.Another groovy track! When Michael McDonald comes in I always get chills. Have you touched the Pretzel Logic album yet?? There is a lot left to cover Daniel.

Chasing The Dragon was a 70's term for finding and doing Drugs (Herion specifically)

The obvious reference of "chasing the dragon"...heroin.."the water may change go cherry wine"..shooting up and getting blood..."time out of mind"...the high..."the silver will turn to gold"..the foil from the needle turning color from the blood..crazy lyrics...but a great song..

Some Talking Heads would be great. I suggest Life in Wartime. The video is a must. It's from the fantastic Jonathan Demme musical documentary, Stop Making Sense. It feels like a very appropriate song for our time.

I LOVE this song. Sure sure heroin I know, now. I didn't know when I first heard it tho. I thought it sounded transcendental.

Some of the guitar parts reminded me of Buck Rogers opening theme song

So many of their songs are about a romantic fantasy of a self deluded characters desire to become even more degenerate than he presently is. The songs are full of anticipation and quiet desperation. It’s like seeking status through debauchery. The lyrics rarely resolve to an ending, they leave you hanging but you know the result will be disappointment at best. . I’d take these tragic lyrics as cautionary tales.

Really enjoy the channel. I want to recommend and ask for reaction to "The Goodbye Look" from Donald Fagen's solo album "The Nightfly." Its one of those rare albums where every cut is incredible, but I like this cut The Goodbye Look which i believe is referencing being in Cuba referencing the Cuban communist revolution. Even legendary lounge crooner Mel Torme did a cover of it.

Time Out of Mind is actually about drugs--- specifically about smoking heroin. It's truly a beautiful jazzy tune, as are many Steely tunes. At first listen, you wouldn't automatically associate it with drug use. But examining the lyrics a little closer will make it clear. 'Chase the dragon' is drug slang and refers to the exhaled smoke plume created after inhaling heroin vapors off aluminum foil. 'Silver will turn to gold' refers to the aluminum foil containing the heroin being heated (usually with a lighter) and the heat from the flame turns the silver foil into a yellowish gold. Try it sometime. Lol! 'And the water will change to cherry wine' refers to Black tar heroin which is very thick and usually has to be diluted before use. The user will put the heroin in a glass or cup with a little water and it turns the water a dark reddish color ---- almost the color of red wine. "I am holding the mystical stone, it's direct from Lhasa" refers to black tar heroin which comes in a small hard ball-- almost like a marble or stone. Lhasa is a city in Tibet where the heroin is grown and produced. There are other drug references throughout the song but the ones I referred to were the most important ones. Personally, I don't believe Fagin or Becker were actually trying to glorify drug use ---- even tho' they both had used heroin earlier. I think they were using it as part of the working concept for the album. Like nearly all the songs on the Gaucho album, the music always sounds sweet mellow and glitzy (Glamour Profession is another good example) but the subject matter is HARD --- drugs, alcohol, crime or failed relationships. Their choice of slick, jazzy music throughout the album is deliberately used to create a colorful yet unlikely backdrop to society's worst ills, a very common theme for Steely Dan. Hope this helped.

Gaucho has 2 songs about drug dealing, Glamour Profession and of course, Time out of Mind. Chasing the dragon was a common drug term but I like the line, 'I am holding a mystical sphere, and it's direct from Lhasa, where people are rolling in the snow far from the world we know'. Great analogies to drug use but I have this picture in my mind of the snowglobes you shake at Christmas.....always make me laugh at how Donald & Walter get this subtle lyrics and make a song from life experiences. PS. The late Walter Becker was a heroine addict for some time.

Night By Night. Such a funky groove. Trust me. Also Show Biz Kids or Glamor Profession or The Fez or Haitian Divorce. Just too many to name

Miles Davis was very influential for many artists musically, Steely Dan and Grateful Dead most prominently, try the song So What from the masterpiece album Kind of Blue.

In your typical video intro voice: “Lysergic Acid Diethyl-amide”

Time out of mind. You mind is limited but your imagination isn’t

The Dan/s

Skunk Baxter’s guitar solos on MY OLD SCHOOL are worthy of your attention.....

Always wonderful music steely Dan. You should try Donald Fagens 1st solo album. The Night fly. That is musical perfection and not many people have reacted to it

Check out "Don't take me alive"

Chase the Dragon refers to doing herion.

Chasing the dragon means to inhale the heated vapor of almost any drug (usually heroin, opium,) and watching the vapor swirl back and forth looks like a dragons tail. I enjoy seeing your reactions to Steely Dan songs. I think you're ready to branch out to the Doobie Brothers. I'd recommend starting with "Listen to the Music".

Back in the day, chasing the Dragon meant taking drugs ( Cocaine was in fact the Dragon)

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. With the recognizable guitar

Do Night By Night as well

Bad Sneakers

You should try to interpret The Association's "Along Comes Mary". There is the obvious interpretation and some not so obvious ones.

Donald Fagen I.G.Y. a must and i love Mary Shut The Garden Door from his Morph The Cat album. Very jazzy.

Another prominent Michael McDonald (What a Fool Believes Doobie) backing vocal on this one and David Sanborn and the Brecker Brothers making up the horn section - ya don't get much tastier than that!

Water change to cherry wine. Blood backing up into syringe.

Btw did you watch tgat drum solo?

I'd put this tune in the "very good" category of the SD catalog, though for my personal tastes, not among their greatest. Among several excellent tunes on Gaucho, my personal favorite is Glamour Profession, a highly contagious, almost taunting ode to disco, cynically "glamorizing" the late 70's LA drug culture. Impeccable horn arrangements, keys, and an epic outto guitar solo from Steve Khan. If you haven't listened/reviewed yet, play this, Green Earrings, and King of the World. (And of course, many, many more)

Daniel- wait’ll you listen to Michael McDonald - who sang with Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers and then his own iconic self. It Keeps You Running, What A Fool Believes, Minute by Minute for starters.

Honestly Daniel there's like 3 SD songs you could skip everything else worth doing. Some of my favorites Third World Man, Pearl of the Quarter, Show Biz Kids, The Fez, Dr Wu. And honestly Becker's first solo album is the best of all their solo stuff IMO, "Down in the Bottom" is a great tune. They ostensibly hired Mark Knopfler for this song but he didn't hit what they were looking for and they only used a small amount of what he played. They were so dissatisfied with the drumming for this album they had the engineer build a drum machine but I'm not sure if/where they used it. Yea water to cherry wine reference to shooting up.

Hmm People are “ rolling in the snow “

Yep. Its references the drug culture.

Do Night By Night by SD!

The song is about Beckers heroin addiction.

Listen to FM , Black Friday, bad sneakers dirty work

If you're after accuracy in your "dissectional" curiosity you might consider reaching out to the band, Donny Fagen, or a direct source involved in this musical brilliance. Great Art rarely lends itself(especially lyrical art) to scientific methodology...very artist specific. Those "esoteric" references that obscure your interpretation of the artists/performers might be what we used to call, life's lessons. For me art need not be dissected to be appreciated or enjoyed. For example ever try dissecting a loving relationship? Patience and more living can provide most answers, good or bad.

Kitty: a fund of money for communal use, made up of contributions from a group of people. A rule of thumb is one has to have the meaning of a word before one can start looking for the metaphor. Thank you, folks, I'll be stating the obvious here all week. Best. Leo.

Review the song Gaucho😊

Please react to their song Rikki Don't Lose That Number.

Didn't see that one coming, did you? If you find the references a little obscure, when it comes to this particular band, it's about drugs. Or, it's always about drugs. Walter's laughing somewhere.

"Beautiful Loser" Bob Seger Or "Travelin Man / Beautiful Loser" medley

Maybe these are too outlaw kind of lyrics. And by now these words were a bit was too close to home, since by 1979 unfortunately Walter Becker himself had developed a rather bad heroin addiction. He eventually cleaned up in 1982, after him and Fagen put the band on hold and broke up the 'band', and Becker relocated to Maui, Hawaii. But every now and then, their story telling, jokes aside, involves some of their own feelings/experiences, disguised in the midst of all the irony, sarcasm and all....If anything, it should be read as a cautionary tale -'Chasing the Dragon' is slang for smoking heroin powder w/ a straw, inhaling it while it's being vaporized on a flame-heated piece of tinfoil paper. Don't ever go 'chasing the dragon'. It will devour you in no time...PS: In regards to 'Eastern Asian' references on their lyrics, both Becker and Fagen were somewhat fascinated by Asian cultures. You'll encounter these Asian references' again when you get to Donald Fagen's solo piece 'Green Flower Street', from his solo masterpiece 'The Nightfly'.

Pretty sure this song is about Smoking Heroin...

Steely Dan? Night By Night, Bad Sneakers, Your Gold Teeth, Dirty Work for starters

I think SD's main theme was Drugs, or at least one of their main themes anyway

Lhasa is the capital of Tibet in Himalayas. Tibet was occupied by China in 1959. Dalai-lama is the leader of Tibet.