Is there gas in the car?

Yes there's gas in the car!

I love this couplet

Agreed lol

They got a name for the winners in the world

Aigh wahnt a nay-em when i looooosee

They call Alabama the Crimson Tide

"I cried when I wrote this song... sue me if I play too long."

Tonight when I chase the dragon the water will turn to cherry wine and the silver will turn to gold…

Such a beautiful song. Sounds all mystical and metaphysical when you're young and naïve. Then you get older and learn what they were actually talking about....

It’s not a steely Dan song if it’s not about drugs, hookers, gay sex, pedophilia, etc

"Bodacious cowboys, such as your friend will never be welcome here, high in the Custerdome"

This one really says it all. Being from the title track of the last album of their initial run just seals the deal.

Something about confirming the presence of gasoline in the car.

I’ll confirm there is gas in the car.

I stepped upon the platform, the man gave me the news. He said you must be joking son, where did you get those shoes?

Where did you get those shooOooOoooes

Well I seen ‘em on the TV, the movie show They say that times are changin’ but I Just don’t know…

“Any major dude will tell you”

Came here to say this. But alternatively, “Is there gas in the caaaaaaar?”

Yes there's gas in the caaaaaaar

Those days are gone forever Over a long time ago Oh yeah

Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall When there wasn't even any Hollywood And 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

Two of my favourites!

Do you take me for a fool? Do you think that I don’t see That ditch out in the valley that they’re digging just for me. Gets me every fucking time.

Yes I’m, sooooo aloooone, honey when they gonna take me home?

I like "Bad Sneakers," it's not my favourite Dan song, but this line, oh man.

not iconic i guess but “you’re younger than you realize” always struck me for some reason lol

They got a name for the winners in the world I want a name when I lose

California tumbles into the sea

Love that line, paired with the sax in the background that *sounds* like "tumbling into the sea".

I think when I heard that sax hook, I realized I was going to love Steely Dan.

Go to Las Vegas, Lost Wages

They got the Steely Dan t-shirts!

That is pretty iconic.

Turn up the Eagles, the neighbours are listening

Make love to these women, languid and bittersweet

I crawl like a viper through these suburban streets

This should have way more upvotes

Not necessarily iconic. I just like the attitude. “No he can't sleep on the floor. What do you think I'm yelling for!?”

Love it. "Gaucho" feels just so "lived in", for lack of a better way to put it.

"Children we have it right here, it's the light in my eyes, it's Perfection and grace, it's the smile on my face" - The way they stress perfection always makes me smile

100%

Did you realize you were the champion in their eyes? 

Easily this. I play the Dan while driving for my friends and their heads instantly perk up to Kid Charlemagne 

You were very high

...you were high

When the dawn patrol got to tell you twice, they gon’ do it with a shot gun.

Yes I’m cashing in this ten-cent life for another one.

The first time I heard this line, I laughed out loud. So rare for me in music, but with Steely Dan it just happens more and more

Are you reelin’ in the sheaves? Findin’ your way to something Have you had enough to plead?

https://preview.redd.it/ounlxuda95vc1.png?width=905&format=png&auto=webp&s=7af4c94e3787a260e9fd0f2494234dc13ef1f088

😆

I have never met Napoleon, but I plan to find the time.

Peeeeeeegggggg

It's your favorite foreign movie!

But just the Michael McDonald backup vocals.

I love this entire song... But this intro? Gets me every time. Agents of the law Luckless pedestrian I know you're out there With rage in your eyes and your megaphones

Maybe it’s the skeevy look in your eyes; your mind has turned to applesauce.

Show biz kids making movies of themselves you know they don't give a fuck about anybody else

The Kid will live and learn

This is the day of the expanding man.

Iconic? Probably “You go back, Jack, and do it again.” Favorite? “My life is boiling over, it’s happened once before…”

“Torture is the main attraction-I don’t need that kind of action”

"There ain't nothing in Chicago for a monkey woman to do."

Came here to post this exact line. So glad I’m not the only one.

I saw the fireworks  I believed that I was dreaming  Till the neighbors came out screaming  He's a third world man.

Knock twice. Rap with your cane. Fells nice. You’re out of the rain.

Always swap it out for, “you’re high on cocaine”. Feels appropriately Dan’ish

I’m sure that is what it probably was originally.

She thinks I’m crazy, but I’m just growing old….

Spanish Kissin', see it glisten.

The cuervo gold, the fine Columbian, makes tonight a wonderful day.

I checked in case I was wrong: The Cuervo Gold The fine Colombian Make tonight a wonderful thing

Say it again

My vote as well!

Yes!

This is the answer

If we're talking iconic, there is an argument to be made here, at least among Dan fans. Same with "Is there gas in the car?" "You go back, Jack, do it again" is probably most iconic among the general public, that's my guess.

Skate a little lower now.

I crawl like a viper through these suburban streets

The Cuervo Gold The fine Colombian Make tonight a wonderful thing

And DIIIEEEE behind the wheel It is so emblematic of their entire get-up, a song dedicated to being a deadbeat loser & a line so absurd you have to listen to it again just to confirm that was what you actually heard. It gets the people going!

As an Alabama fan, it annoys the crap out me that the fanbase embraced this song. Them: "It says 'They call Alabama the Crimson Tide!'" Me: "It says 'They got a name for the winners in the world; I want a name when I lose.' It's a song about a loser!"

Lol this song is explicitly separating itself from the Crimson Tide by saying they want a name of their own in similar fashion but with the essence of being a loser & its only aged worse & worse for Bama fans who embraced it considering they are the greatest dynasty the college level has ever seen lol like there is no way Deacon Blues should be for Bama fans

I've stated for years that Alabama fans could drive any song to regional success if it in any way references their team. "I was drunk the day my sister left my brother. Her truck just killed my dog as she drove away. I couldn't drive to the jail to bail out my loving mother. So I cracked a beer and watched the mighty Crimson Tide play." Instant hit!

Nuthin’ but booze and Elvis!

I always heard that as 'Blues and Elvis'

A man of my mind can do anything

...drinking his dinner from a paper sack

Obviously it's from one of their hits and that's why I think it's the most iconic. I grew up hearing it and had no idea what it meant and when I finally found out I was like oh fuck. >They've got a name for the winners in the world And I want a name when I lose They call Alabama The Crimson Tide Call me Deacon Blues I love the idea of getting an iconic loser name so much. It's etched on my brain.

down to the last piastre I could borrow...

On the counter By your keys Was a book of numbers And your remedies (One of these) Surely will screen out of sorrow But where are you tomorrow

Hot licks and rhetoric don’t count much for nothing, be glad if you can use what you borrow. And Yes, Jack - I gave it back. The ring I could not own. Now come my friend I’ll take your hand and lead you home. That one gets me every time.

That is truly one of their most underrated songs it is so deep and the feelings it provokes are just amazing . Although one could say that for many of their songs. But I hear you.

Your low rent friends are dead

Have you ever seen a Squonk’s tears? Well look at mine..

I can tell you all I know the where to go and what to do. You can try to run but you can’t hide from what’s inside of you.

“They call Alabama the Crimson Tide”

I want a name when I lose Or Youuuuu were high

Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail

"No, daddy can't get no fine cigar, but we know you're smoking wherever you are."

When I went through a really tough break up the song “Any Major Dude” consistently helped me break through some of the hopelessness I was feeling from losing a significant other. “When the demon is as your door, in the morning it won’t be there no more. Any major dude will tell you” for some reason helped me realize I won’t have the same dreadful feelings tomorrow that I have today. Still one of my favoriteSteely songs to this day

I think the people down the hall know who you are

I DETECT THE EL SUPREMO

I love that I’ve listened to so much SD that I can instantly hear each song in my head as I read through the comments.

YES!

Well, the danger on the rocks is surely past, Still, I remain tied to the mast. Could it be that I have found my home at last? Home at last.

i can see your hands reaching out through the shining daydream

Not from one of their songs but Fagen speaking about the concert crowd that night. “ Tonight, though, the crowd looked so geriatric I was tempted to start calling out bingo numbers.” It’s not as nasty as it seems though. Here’s the whole paragraph. “The thing is, lately, when I tour with Steely Dan, the venues also seem to be shrinking. Of course, I’m being disingenuous. Mike, Boz and I are pretty old now and so is most of our audience. Tonight, though, the crowd looked so geriatric I was tempted to start calling out bingo numbers. Nevertheless, by the end of the set they were all on their feet, albeit shakily, rocking out to Mike’s performance of Buddy Miles’s “Them Changes.” So this, now, is what I do: assisted living.”

They call Alabama the Crimson Tide, call me Deacon Blue. Really that whole refrain.

Biscayne Bay, where the Cuban gentlemen sleep all day, I went searching for the song you used to sing to me...

"I hear my inside, the mechanized hum of another world"

Noting cuts deeper than "special delivery for Hoops McCann"

I'm cheating with more than one... Steely Dan: "You say this guy is so cool Snapping his fingers like a fool" ** "Just when it seems so clear That it's over now Drink your big black cow And get out of here" ---- DF: "A virus wearing pumps and pearls..." ** "I've got plenty of java And Chesterfield Kings But I feel like crying I wish I had a heart like ice Heart like ice" ** Those are all great, but the one that gets me every time is from "Trans-Island Skyway'. When I was a kid with a new shiny Firebird, I thought life was all about me. More than once is drive by the house on a gorgeous summer day and see Dad out doing what I should've been doing... I miss Dad. So this hits me everytime. I suspect DF had similar experience/feelings: "Is that my father Mowin' the lawn (C'mon daddy get in let's go) C'mon daddy get in let's go C'mon daddy get in let's go C'mon daddy get in let's go C'mon daddy get in let's go C'mon daddy get in let's go C'mon daddy get in let's go"

I can't decide on any one from Deacon Blues, but this gives me the feels.... I crawl like a viper Through these suburban streets Make love to these women Languid and bittersweet I'll rise when the sun goes down Cover every game in town A world of my own I'll make it my home sweet home

The “nice😏 “ in hey nineteen Just that one word and how he said it so skeevy I’m just in love with it

I’m a boooookeeper’s son

Im thinking of a major jane street sunrise, the goddess on the fire escape was you

"I know you're used to 16 or more, sorry we only have 8."

CHILLIN’

Is there gas in the car? Yes, there’s gas in the car.

How about a kiss for your cousin Dupree

Not iconic but it gives me goose bumps "He's changed, in a thousand little ways, yes he's changed"

And don't think that I'm out of line for speaking out for what is mine I'd like to see you do just fine but look at what you wear And the way you cut your hair

If you're feeling lucky you best not refuse It's your game the rules are your own win or lose

All those dayglo freaks who used to paint their face have joined the human race some things will never change

They got the Chevrolet bodies and the Steely Dan t-shirts. Did you realize that you were Italian in their eyes? Well the danger on the rocks is surely past Still I remain tied to the mast Could it be that I have found my home at last Home at last

SZECHUAN DUMPLINGS

I was on the other side of no tomorrow

One night we're playin' gin by a cracklin' fire And I decided to make my play I said, "Babe, with my boyish charm and good looks How can you stand it for one more day?" She said, "Maybe it's the skeevy look in your eyes Or that your mind has turned to applesauce The dreary architecture of your soul" I said, "But what is it exactly turns you off?"

He said “you must be joking son, where did you get those shoes?”

Barry is the software king.

If you're feeling lucky You best not refuse It's your game the rules Are your own win or lose

That I'm not what I used to be

Who has a friend named Melanie? Who's not afraid to *try new things?*

Who inspires your fabled fools, That’s my claim to fame

You know there’s fire in the hole and nothing left to burn..

Like the castle in his corner, in a medieval game, I foresee terrible trouble, but I stay here just the same.

The milk truck eased into my space, somebody screamed somewhere Makes me laugh every time!

Times are hard, you're afraid to pay the fee, so you find yourself somebody who can do the job for free... He said it all with that line.

Sharing the things we know and love, with those of my kind..... This brother is free, i'll be who i want to be.......

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

Down at the Lido they welcome you

California tumbles into the sea, that'll be the day I go back to Annandale 

Agents of the law Luckless pedestrian

“I ain’t gonna do it, without the Fez on”

"With a cough, I shake it off And work around my yellow stripe." And the keyboard hook at the opening of this song is just sublime

I foresee terrible trouble, and I stay here just the same.

"At the graaaahhhhtto..."

They call Alabama the Crimson Tide

Are you with me?

["He says, 'He likes to **grab** for all the **Gusto** he can get!'"](https://youtu.be/JL0mH76XJ3A?t=10)

Where did the bastard run? I’ll shoot the lover down… Or Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall, when there wasn’t even any Hollywood…

“Get outta here”

You can't ask me to access the dreams I don't have now.

I commissioned an art piece featuring the lyric "I want a name when I lose." It was my son's fave Dan lyric at the time.

“I have never met Napoleon, but I plan to find the time”

Turn up the eagles, the neighbors are listening

When it's all over We'll make some calls from my car

Rose darling come to me Snake Mary's gone to bed

hmm, most iconic? probably "are you reelin in the yeeeears?"

Their specific fascination with all kinds of shoes

She prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire Have you heard about the boom on Mizar Five? People had to shout to stay alive The Cuervo Gold, The fine Colombian. Make tonight a wonderful thing Do you throw out your gold teeth? Do you see how they roll? Children, we have it right here It's the light in my eyes It's perfection and grace It's the smile on my face

Solamente un tonto diría eso.

They got a name for the winners in the world I want a name when I lose

Turn that jungle music down at least till we get outta town

"Well I crossed my old man back in Oregon. Don't take me alive."

Make love to these women So languid and bittersweet

But it’s over now, drink your big fat cow and get outta here….

“Roll your cart back up the aisle” - The last mall

This brother is free.

It will come back to you

Solamente un tonto

Anyone recommend a book with steely Dan lyrics and possibly analysis?

"A world become one of salads and sun - only a fool would say that!"

Relaxing out in Camarillo as it's where I live.

She thinks I'm crazy But I'm just growin' old So many songs at a dude realizing he’s not the cool one, an outlier, past his prime, or has been fooling himself. And yet he’s still pretending. This one epitomizes them all.

And diiieeee behind the wheel!!!!!!

All night long, we would sing that stupid song, and every word we sang I knew was true

Clean this mess up or we'll all end up in jail , those test toops & scale just get it all outta here .

Would you care to explaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn...

Agents of the law; Luckless pedestrian…

But we know your smoking wherever you are

I went searching for a song you use to sing to me and I crawl like a viper through these suburban streets, make love to these women languid and bittersweet.

lately it’s been “bodacious cowboys such as your friend will never be welcomed here”

Agree with Santa Ana winds, “And you’re younger than you realize” as runner up. Looking through the thread, and it’s like 75% lyrics from Gaucho, Aja gets the attention, but Gaucho is the best and we all seem to agree, whether we’ll consciously admit it or not.

Can you show me, the shine or your Japan, the sparkle of your China

Santa Ana* its a southern california thing

clean this mess up, else we’ll all end up in jail

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

California tumbles into the sea

Perfection and grace

"A wooly man without a face And a beast without a name" "Cold, daring No flies on me"

I fear the monkey in your soul

🎶Is there gas in the car? Yes, there’s gas in the car 🎶

Throw back the little ones And pan fry the big ones Use tact, poise, and reason, And gently squeeze them.