Resonances of Black Humour in the Lyrics of Steely Dan

Home , Alone at Last, Come On Come On, Hey Nineteen, Time and Time Again, Where You Been

Ghent University Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Resonances of Black Humour in the Lyrics of Steely Dan

“And she brings you only sorrow, all the time you know she’s smiling”

Paper submitted in partial

Promoter: prof. dr. Debora Van Durme fulfilment of the requirements for

the degree of “Master in de taal-

2014-2015 en letterkunde: afstudeerrichting

Nederlands – Engels.” by Quinten Lengeler

Preface

Successfully completing a thesis is not based on the efforts of one man alone, it requires a lot of work and cooperation from others as well. Being well aware of this, I would first like to thank a few people before presenting the actual study. People who have played a crucial role in bringing this thesis to what will hopefully be a good end, not only by shedding a refreshing light on the matter and as such granting me new insights, but also by their ceaseless support and assistance. First of all I would of course like to express my gratitude towards my promoter, professor Debora Van Durme, who was always willing to give advice and who really helped me by giving me the necessary specific guidelines so that I was able to reorient my scope in time. Subsequently I would also like to thank those who put a lot of their energy in motivating me time and time again, especially my parents and my girlfriend, Liesa. Without their support it would have been a lot harder to face each day with renewed courage and will power. And finally I would also like to thank my readers for their time, patience and expert judgement when processing this extensive body of work.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Methodology and theoretical framework 4 2.1 Black humour: towards a definition 4 2.1.1 Determining a correct denomination 4 2.1.2 Situating black humour in history 4 2.1.3 Constructing a genealogy of black humorists 6 2.1.4 Tracing back the foundations of black humour 8 2.1.5 Importance of reintegrating the aspect of humour itself 13 2.1.6 Differentiating between black humour and similar movements 14 2.1.7 Recapitulation 19

2.2 Relationship between words and music 20

2.3 Corpus 23

3. Analyses 25 3.1 Do It Again 25 3.1.1 General analysis 26 3.1.2 Pinpointing black humour elements 30

3.2 Night by Night 33 3.2.1 General analysis 34 3.2.2 Pinpointing black humour elements 36

3.3 Everyone’s Gone to the Movies 39 3.3.1 General analysis 40 3.3.2 Pinpointing black humour elements 43

3.4 Peg 47 3.4.1 General analysis 47 3.4.2 Pinpointing black humour elements 51

3.5 Hey Nineteen 54 3.5.1 General analysis 55 3.5.2 Pinpointing black humour elements 60

4. Conclusion 65

5. Bibliography 68

(28348 words)

1. Introduction

During their heydays in the 1970’s – and now still – Steely Dan was a band praised for many qualities: labels like “sophisticated”, “distinctive”, “eclectic” (Erlewine: par. 1) already indicate the rather elitist status this band – Rolling Stone Magazine even describes them as more of a concept than a band in its biography (par. 1) – has managed to gather. Yet it was not their appealing to the crowd, or to anyone for that matter that rendered this band such a reputation, on the contrary Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (co-founders and only core members of the band) probably antagonised quite a lot of people seeing as from 1974 onwards they decided to stop touring for almost twenty years, despite an impending tour still being scheduled (“Steely Dan”: par. 4). Rather it was their tendency to do things their way and only their way that provided Steely Dan with its aforementioned high-esteem and a very devoted fan base – both Erlewine (par. 1) and Rolling Stone (par. 1) speak of a cult following clustered around the band. Over the course of time Steely Dan has become known as a highly perfectionist outfit with a very specific, almost stubborn take on how their music should sound, this sound consisting of a combination of “accessible pop hooks with jazz harmonies [and] complicated time changes” (“Steely Dan”: par. 1).

This highly particular outfit, however, did not derive all this praise from their musical efforts alone; one might say that the lyrics Fagen and Becker provided their songs with were almost equally as important as the music itself in gaining Steely Dan its cult-like aura. In their lyrical style, both of them display an affinity with enigmatic and cryptic formulations, which are then veiled in a thick curtain of irony (Erlewine: par. 1). This provides the lyrics with an astute, layered structure, which has led a lot of fans to try and come up with possible interpretations for these texts, resulting even in the creation of a website called The Steely Dan Dictionary (O’Malley). Yet while the lyrics are always hard to figure out and therefore hard to swallow, the music is not. On the contrary, as we saw above it is fairly easy listening and this contorting combination provides the act of Steely Dan as a whole with a quite unnerving undertone. A recent article (De Revere: par. 3) in the online music magazine Pitchfork aptly puts it like this:

“[…] It’s just that juxtaposition that makes Steely Dan particularly sinister. Lyrics about incestuous lechers, pedophiles, murderers, drug dealers and other low-down members of society feel more unsettling nestled into inoffensive music—a smooth sheen with an ickiness beneath.”

These shady connotations that the name Steely Dan might arouse, are further underscored in an article on Smells Like Pop (Joel: par. 5) in which Fagen and Becker are portrayed as exhibiting a tendency towards “dark sarcasm” and are bluntly called the writers of “what are, at heart, truly deranged songs.”

In the light of this thesis it is exactly this disconcerting lyrical edge haunting Steely Dan that we are specifically interested in. In constructing their lyrics Becker and Fagen do not start from an uninspired approach. On the contrary, both are known to express a profound affinity with the medium of literature – the name of the band itself is a reference to William Burroughs’ novel The Naked Lunch (1959), where ‘Steely Dan III from Yokohama’ is the name of a steam-powered dildo (De Groot: par. 1) – and as such are highly inspired by it. As we can read in a partly autobiographic memoir written by Fagen called Eminent Hipsters, both men studied English literature at Bard College, which is also where they met and scattered the seeds of what would later become Steely Dan (76, 82). About this meeting Fagen (82) writes the following words:

“Walter Becker and I had many interests in common: jazz, blues, all sorts of popular music, Nabokov and the writers of what was then called “the black humor” school, science fiction and so on.”

All of these influences subtly shimmer through in their lyrics to various degrees and all make for interesting topics of study in their own right, yet in this particular study we will restrict our scope to how Steely Dan gains it insidious allure by manipulating and alluding to this black humour they are affiliated with. By doing so, we will eventually try and examine how this band relates itself to what is commonly believed to be the tradition of black humour in literature. To get to this we will first construct a theoretical framework in which we try to define and demarcate the concept of black humour as closely as possible. Subsequently this framework will be used as a measuring device onto which we can project a carefully selected corpus of representative Steely Dan lyrics in order to try and trace back the black humour elements in them, which will be done by performing a thorough analysis of each of these lyrics. However, seeing as we are dealing with lyrics here, the textual component is not the only important parameter here; the aspect of the supportive musical and vocal arrangements are of equal significance, which brings us to the second part of this inquiry. In tracing back these black humour elements in the lyrics, we will also elaborate on how exactly the musical performance plays a role in evoking this black humour as well.

So basically this thesis will try to find an answer on three research questions: How do Fagen and Becker incorporate black humour in Steely Dan lyrics? How does this position the band within the established tradition of black humour in literature? And finally, how does musical performance play an integral part in evoking this aspect of black humour as well? How we will arrive at all of this more concretely will be explained in the subsequent chapter.

2. Methodology and theoretical framework

2.1 Black humour: towards a definition

Of paramount importance is that we first try to get a clear grasp of what the concept of ‘black humour’ contains and implies exactly. Seeing as Fagen and Becker restrain themselves from enlightening us about what they exactly mean with “the school of black humor”, we depend on other sources in search of this enlightenment. By comparing and contrasting these sources I hope to eventually arrive at not only a more or less restrictive definition or at least demarcation of the concept, but also to construct a genealogy of prominent authors and works associated with this notion.

2.1.1 Determining a correct denomination

What immediately stands out in a search for a definition is how difficult this search actually turns out to be: because of the cultural range, versatility and problematic historical resonance of the term (Weber: 390), narrowing down this subject becomes a gruesome task. To begin with there is not even a universal name for the concept. Next to ‘black humour’, scholars and critics also talk about ‘dark humour’ (Colletta, Bloom), and renowned black humorist Bruce Jay Friedman feels more connected with “the more critically usable phrase ‘tense comedy’” himself (Schulz: 15). Yet for the sake of convenience, and because – as Max F. Schulz (15) also points out in Toward a Definition of Black Humor (1974) – it seems like it is the term of choice in the end, we will stick to calling it ‘black humour’ in this study.

2.1.2 Situating black humour in history

Emerging from this problematic demarcation are also the difficulties in situating the rise of black humour in time; this often turns out to be a fickle point among critics. Much of it depends on how exclusive one interprets the term ‘black humour’. The most restrictive in his process of narrowing down the concept of black humour to its essence, is probably the aforementioned Max F. Schulz. In his attempt at forming an exclusive rather than an inclusive definition, he pleads to connect the idea of black humour exclusively to those authors who used it in the 1960’s and regards the term an sich as too turbid to clearly differentiate between earlier movements or periods that applied a similar, but according to him not identical, approach (15). Previous attempts, so he reasons, have always “unnecessarily compounded the problem of determining what black humor is” by connecting it with a “universal attitude of mind”, which periodically shimmers through over the course of literary history” (17). 4

Yet Lisa Colletta, another critic and author of Dark Humor and Social Satire in the Modern British Novel (2003), places the temporal boundaries of black humour – she herself speaks of ‘dark humour’ (cf. supra) – elsewhere. She situates its periodic frame some 40 years back in time by connecting the black humour tradition to the modernist satirists of the 1920’s and 1930’s rather than to the experimental writers of the 1960’s (2). By positing black humour as a vital element in the works of these writers, she is able to connect works on the basis of their similar use of comedy rather than by focusing on formal innovations. In doing so, she creates a possibility “for a more inclusive discussion of modernist literature”. Yet her take on the black humour of the dark modernist satirists itself is still fairly restrictive as she is clearly distinguishing it from earlier, traditional forms of satire, stating that in these dark modernist satires there is no more room for optimism and no hope towards social reconciliation with and reintegration in society – “the social content remains but its social purpose all but disappears” (2).

However, not all critics are this severe in determining a periodic framework of black humour and draw its boundaries open. Both Harold Bloom (Dark Humor, 2010) and Brom Weber (The Mode of Black Humor, 1974) seem to thwart the assumptions made by Schulz in this regard that they actually do more or less connect black humour to a “universal state of mind” (cf. supra) that has already existed since long in American literary heritage. Bloom (xv) relates this state of mind to the trope of irony and labels black humour therefore “virtually impossible” to define, seeing as irony is a device already apparent in many authors’ repertoires for a very long time. He mentions Jonathan Swift as an example in this regard; yet the true “master of dark humour” he recalls, is Shakespeare (xv). This is something even Schulz, despite his emphasis on exclusion and constraint, cannot contest (19).

Weber then finds himself standing somewhat in between Bloom and Schulz. Just like Schulz, he considers black humour primarily a notion that rose to prominence in the America of the 1960’s– more specifically the ten years between 1955 and 1965 (396) -, yet like Bloom, he also regards the concept as having “many particulars” with the main feeling they convey not being new or inherently American in any way (388). He then goes on to admit that this feeling is more obtrusive among the black humorists of the 1960’s, yet he also nuances this by stating that this is also partly because of the fact that this contemporary black humour “capitalise[s] upon historical ignorance” and moreover it also portrays the idea of history as irrelevant to the present (388, 396). Weber still believes that many practitioners of black humour “have been among [America’s] greatest writers (388)” – examples of these writers are Benjamin Thompson, Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Stephan Crane, Robert Frost, F. Scott 5

Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, etc. (394, 396). He also mentions that the term ‘black humour’ actually is “a linguistic importation” from French surrealism (390), yet this is something we will tackle later.

When comparing and contrasting this impenetrable stronghold of different visions, one thing does become clear: pinning down black humour’s inception or historic roots is to an extent highly subjective and therefore very difficult. As I mentioned at the beginning, how open one chooses to interpret black humour is very determining in this regard. Depending on how you see it, it can on the one hand become restricted to a very specific period or tradition in literary history, and on the other, it can – almost contrariwise – become a near timeless notion. Weber (391) – or actually André Breton (cf. infra) – formulates it very adequately:

“The indignant laughter of the black humorist […] resounded most vibrantly in periods of great stress engendered by crises such as war or the demoralization of Europe in the 1920’s. But it was manifest always, even though minimally, for a few men heard constantly the grinding noises of a crumbling world, were subject to numerous fears, doubted the reality of fact and object.”

However, when actually presenting the most prominent features of black humour, the majority of these authors still uses a demarcated period – or in the case of Jiongqiong Zhou even one single author: Raymond Carver (cf. infra) – as starting point and gauge, regardless of how open they interpret the concept. Weber and Schulz primarily aim their scope at black humour in the works of American black humorists of the 1950’s and 1960’s, whereas Colletta focuses on how black humour was conveyed in the modernist period.

2.1.3 Constructing a genealogy of black humorists

But which authors exactly are associated with these black humour traditions? This is yet another aspect that hinders an easy typology. The group of writers commonly put forward as black humorists consists out of a very disparate amalgam of individuals. Max Schulz (14) provides us with a striking comparison in this regard:

“Black humor is a movement without unity, a group of guerrillas who huddle around the same campfire only because they know that they are in Indian territory. Even though they grudgingly concur about the enemy, they anarchistically refuse to coordinate refuse to coordinate their attack.”

Afterwards he also mentions Bruce Jay Friedman’s ‘miniature anthology’ Black Humor (1965), which consists out of the works of “thirteen separate writers with thirteen separate, completely private and unique visions” (15). Friedman (15) even goes as far to state that these authors “would not know or perhaps even understand one another’s work if they tripped over it.” Other sources also stress this fact: Jingqiong Zhou (cf. supra), author of Raymond Carver’s Short Fiction in the History of Black Humor (2006), states that none of the most prominent authors that revel in black humour in America can agree on its most basic definition nor do they advocate a “collaborative project” (3). Weber (390) mentions a very influential anthology, Anthologie de l’humour noir (1940), compiled by French surrealist key figure André Breton (cf. supra), and the ‘proto-black humorists’ included in there also make for a strongly heterogeneous amalgam, already indicating “the extraordinary variability of black humor’s form and content”. Colletta (3) then revises this heterogeneity and posits it with an emphasis more on connection than division; she regards the idea of black humour as a possible connective tissue between different authors that would otherwise have nothing in common, providing these distinct individuals with a form of shared tradition (10) – this relates to a point earlier made, where she opted for a more inclusive definition of modernist literature (3).

This immense versatility of black humour and the authors it should or should not include in all honesty makes it hard to construct a one-sided, fluid and well-demarcated genealogy. As Colletta stresses, we should rather just view black humour as a connecting device that encloses an otherwise very disparate group of authors, both in terms of themes and period of activity. Because of this acute lack of uniformity it might also not generate very insightful results if we were to isolate a certain group of authors – or works – and use them as a starting point for comparative means. One could argue that this undercuts one of the fundamental aspects of the concept of black humour, namely its versatility and multi-applicability. As we will see further illustrated below, black humour is a movement that presupposes certain fundamental qualities, but otherwise allows for a lot of different, highly individual uses and approaches. This also counts for Steely Dan and as such we will stray away from comparisons with other works or authors in this thesis when analysing the Steely Dan lyrics, rather choosing to focus on the band’s own unique way of incorporating black humour.

Yet, this being said, based on a juxtaposition of our different sources it is still possible to come up with a – highly heterogeneous – list of authors most notably associated with black humour. Based on what the aforementioned critics prescribe, we can more or less safely say that the following authors went to school in the elusive “black humour school” Fagen and Becker talk about: Terry Southern, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Vladimir Nabokov, Edward Albee, John 7

Barth, William Burroughs, J.P Donleavy, Bruce Jay Friedman, William Gaddis, John Hawkes, Thomas Pynchon, and James Purdy. Other names that are less unanimously mentioned, include Flannery O’ Connor, Donald Barthelme, Thomas Berger, Philip Roth, John Rechy, Charles Simmons, Walker Percy and Raymond Carver. And finally, Colletta, who only deals with British authors for the rest, also includes expatriate T.S. Eliot in the list.

2.1.4 Tracing back the foundations of black humour

So now that we have tackled the difficult tasks of trying to pinpoint the emergence of black humour throughout the course of history and trying to construct a genealogy, we can move on and engage in an attempt to, amidst all this disparateness and heterogeneity, expose the fundamental qualities of black humour that we previously indicated. If we recapitulate for a moment, we notice that certain elements have already made their appearances in the paragraphs above; there is the intrinsic and indissoluble connection with the trope of irony (cf. Bloom), the resisting of any societal optimism or hope of reconciliation with that society (cf. Colletta) and there also seems to exist an apparent connection with surrealism (cf. Weber). To keep things orderly, however, – a certain form of stability is a very welcome support when trying to penetrate the impenetrable – we will opt for an episodic approach in our probing of the most notable trademarks of black humour. The most transparent strategy to follow might be to first try and explain what exactly gives black humour its shady allures or ‘blackness’. a) Finding pleasure in the unpleasant

Regardless of whether one links the notion of black humour to modernist discourses, to transitional and postmodernist discourses of the 1950 and 1960’s, or even to the work of one author in particular (cf. supra), we can discern a cluster of aspects that always reoccur. First of all, as Weber (388) tells us, there is the confusing and unnerving fact that black humour is not necessarily funny or amusing at all, or at least not in the traditional sense. In this regard Zhou (3) provides us with an illustrative quote from Raymond Carver, who is the author of numerous black humour short stories himself: “We laugh at it because if we didn’t laugh at it we could bawl our eyes out”. Or as Weber (388) puts it, black humour unscrupulously violates and disrupts “sacred and secular taboos” and finds ‘laughter’ in doing so. It is able to extract smiles from the most gruesome and contorted aspects of human existence and society: anxiety, loss, trauma, (the constant threat of) violence, mental deficiencies, death, societal disintegration, etc. (Colletta: 1, Weber: 388).

8 b) Rejection of value systems or ordering devices

This dismissal and even rejection of values that have commonly been considered as cornerstones of the Anglo-American history and society (providing it with stability and an “equilibirium for […] the individual” (Weber: 388)) emerges from the fact that black humorists regard the world they reside in as deprived of any such value systems (Schulz: 18). They put forward a very bleak worldview in which their environment has stopped making sense to them and they resist any ideas of ordering, morality or any other stability-providing devices (Weber: 391, Schulz: 18). As such black humorists, as Colletta tells us (4), are very sceptical of “causes” (religious, political and even artistic) and laugh at what they believe to be one of the biggest foibles of humanity: the bringing into life of absurd ordering devices and “then mistaking them for incontrovertible absolutes” (Schulz: 18). c) Problematic relationship between individual and hostile environment

But most of all black humorists criticise the fact that in their everyday reality there is no regard for the notion of individuality whatsoever (Schulz: 18, Colletta: 4). This failing to meet the requirements of the individual then results in a constant tension between this individual and the universe (Schulz: 18). It is in the slipstream of this tension then that black humorists find their favourite objects of ludicrous scorn. They posit the characters that roam their stories as lost individuals in a world full of hostile forces they cannot align with (Zhou: 3) and problematise the notion of choice for these individuals. With all kinds of rushing, nervous-making forces of modernity converging all at once on them – according to Colletta (10) and Schulz (18-19) the environment and its “bewildering, trackless choices” (Schulz) that oppose the individual are black humorists’ main focus –, they have no clue as to which direction they should move in. In a sense they are immobilised despite living in a rapidly evolving society, above all characterised by a forward-motioned mobility.

As a result these characters are rather plain individuals living ordinary, unexciting, and according to Zhou (3), even unhappy lives – Schulz (22) describes them as the “common man manqué”. Their ways of coping with and trying to survive “amid the ludicrous and the disgusting” (Zhou: 8) are exploited and ridiculed. In his struggle at working his way around all of the aforementioned hostilities, the character is often seen in an attempt at reconciliation with and reintegration in this society, yet ultimately he or she inevitably always fails (Colletta: 6) – man is “condemn[ed] to a dying world” (Schulz: 19). Moral or social reversal is no longer believed in anymore and a sphere of disquieting uncertainty is all that remains, precluding any 9 hope of closure for the character (Colletta: 4, Zhou: 3). Colletta (10) stresses that we must not and cannot try to understand this character on terms of a traditional interpretation; in the world of black humour, characters continuously undermine our expectations by engaging in abrupt and unexpected behaviour. This thwarting of coherence and comprehensiveness then reflects the aforementioned uncertainty. Seeing as human actions – and by extension existence – are arbitrarily motivated and ungraspable by nature, there is only disorder. d) Detached narrator

So black humorists engage in mockery of social inaptitude and injustice, but just as well they smirk at the personal perils and struggles of those who are forced to face up to it (Colletta: 4). All of this happens with an impersonal, emotional sterility; the narrator detaches himself from the situation and seems totally impervious to the unfortunate events that befall the characters he is telling about (Weber: 391). He makes no difference between the sufferings of an “idle aristocrat” or those of an “exploited and brutalized coalminer”, reducing both to “parts functioning within a vast mechanism” (Colletta: 5). Moreover Colletta (5, 9) believes this distance between narrator and the narrated to thwart a smooth, transparent identification with the protagonist from the point of view of the reader. Instead she states that the reader tends to identify more with the narrator, seeing he is the one in control, examining everything from a “safe, comedic distance” (9). And while the emphasis definitely lies on rejection and ridiculing of any inclinations towards sense-making of or reconciliation with society, and the thought of any all-encompassing, final solution is sardonically dismissed, she does believe, as we will see below, that this comedic distance possesses the quality to soften the edges, albeit only momentary. e) Distance as a means to temporarily put things into perspective

As Colletta puts it, the “social aberrations” in black humour can serve to shelter the individual from the “hostile [and indifferent] forces of a monolithic social machine” (6). In aggressively and mockingly representing the meaninglessness of society, black humorists actually resist being overwhelmed by it (6). Laughter can be considered a temporary blinder for the subject, extracted from and superior to his source of pain (11). Colletta even goes as far as to state that black humour in its essence tries to make “comic sense out of […] non-sense”, taking on “our greatest fears and [making] a joke out of powerlessness, loneliness, ignorance, authority, chaos, nihilism, and death, allowing them to be mastered for a moment” (7). Apart from this it lays no claims in any way; it is politically and ethically useless (11). While one might reason that in a way this outspoken statement seems to thwart our previous assertions concerning the fact that 10 black humorists do not believe in any sense anymore, others aim their scope in the same direction as well (cf. infra).

Moreover, on an interesting side note, Colletta follows up this statement with an refreshing thought. As I stated earlier, she (2) mainly discusses black humour in relation to modernist novels in her study: she believes that the two depart from a similar fundamental approach. An approach that is generally preoccupied with notions like ambivalence, disrupted chronology, directionless plots, and a sabotaging, unreliable narrator. An approach also that “presents violent or traumatic events and questions the values and perceptions of its readers as it represents, simultaneously, the horrifying and the humorous” (2). Black humour’s eschewing and rejecting of any external ordering devices (cf. supra) also connects it with modernist concerns. Eventually, she writes (3), by integrating the notion of black humour into the modernist discourse and regarding it as of one its prime characteristics, we show ourselves to be more aware of the multi-faceted aura that surrounds this modernist discourse. In this regard she even considers the term ‘modernism’ in itself to be insufficient in covering everything it is associated with (3).

When we subsequently aim our attention again towards the aforementioned “political and ethical uselessness” Colletta speaks of (11), we notice that she believes the tradition of black humour to be of fundamental impact on the literature of the postmodernists as well. In fact she claims that this tradition “bridges the gap” between the modernist and postmodernist movements – a gap of which she questions the validity already in the first place (11). With the element of black humour being strongly present in both, it rather suggests a continuation than a schism between the two in this regard. The aforementioned elements of disruption, fragmentation, ambivalence and the revelling in incongruity all are applicable to postmodernist works as well. Just like we stated that it could serve as a connective tissue in a rather heterogeneous group of writers, it might be fulfilling the same function here as well. In any case, one could argue that is does make both the labels of ‘modernism’ and ‘postmodernism’ sound too restrictive, as already indicated in the paragraph above (11). From this point of view, we can argue that Colletta has provided us with a link that connects her focus with the focus of the other authors in this study, making it more or less possible to unify the tradition of black humour in modernism with that of the postmodernist authors of the late 1950’s and 1960’s onwards.

Going back to the protective quality of black humour then, we notice that, as we mentioned above, there are other authors as well that pay attention to this aspect. When discussing Carver’s short stories (cf. supra) Zhou points out that the black humour in these stories serves a 11 mitigating purpose as well. She refers to William Fry and his thoughts “on the relation between humour and Chaos Theory” to illustrate this: “In chaos we discover the impossibility of resolution, whereas in humor the discovery is resolution” (6). Fry then continues this line of thought by saying that “Humor affords us opportunity to play with chaos, over which we have mastery […]” (6). Following the same route, Zhou (6) interprets humour as “a repeatedly administered antidote to the horrors of the chaos to relieve the agony of that which resists resolution”. Weber (391) also sheds light upon the possibility of black humour as a sheltering device in relation to Breton’s (cf. supra) “surrealist theory of humor”. He (391) tells us how Breton interpreted humour as a defensive mechanism that relieves “the inner self from the constraints of the human condition”; it has the ability to escape determinism for the self, both in terms of the surrounding, “material world” and “the culturally determined self”. In doing so, it places man in a detached position from which he can safely express his darkest yearnings “in the form of untrammelled dream, fantasy, and non-sense” (391).

In a toned down statement one could say that black humour is a good means to put things into perspective. This is also a way of thinking that Schulz seems inclined to. Nowhere in his dissertation does he really stress the fact that black humour can function as a sheltering device, yet he does reason that, despite his aforementioned rejection of any “suprapersonal or personal order”, the black humorist does not observe and depict his environment overcome by desperation. Instead he manages to retain a cool air of dissociated self-consciousness in coping with the “trackless choices that face the individual” (18-19, cf. supra). So while the black humorist – and his protagonists – might be essentially lost, he still is capable of finding a vantage point from which he can muse on both “tragic fact and moralistic certitude” from a comic perspective (Schulz: 24). In retrospect, bringing together all of these different critics’ visions on the aspect of protection, we can conclude that because it posits them – each in their own way – in a distanced, yet still participating stance in relation to the hostilities of their surrounding environment (they are still affected by the forces it opposes them with (Schulz: 24)), both protagonist and author can benefit from the use of black humour. The reader then, through identifying himself with this stance rather than with what is going on, experiences the same benefits on his or her behalf. It is however very important, as already stated multiple times, to always keep in mind that this beneficial side of black humour never takes on the shape of an all- encompassing, final solution.

2.1.5 Importance of reintegrating the aspect of humour itself

In the observations made above here, we were already made aware of the fact that the aspects of both blackness and humour in black humour actually are densely intertwined and as such are hard to discuss separately. This is something Zhou (3) stresses clearly as well, as she believes the latter to receive far too little attention in studies concerned with black humour. She states that Schulz, being one of the most cited critics in the field of black humour, initiated a whole series of discussions on “what makes black humor black” (3) with his Black Humor Fiction (1974). In doing so, he – and by extension all those who followed in his wake – largely neglects the humour component in black humour, however, because he believes that humour is “a term that came into being somewhat capriciously and may no accurately describe that [i.e. black humour] literature” (3). Indeed the term is capricious, as the lack of consensus concerning the exact implications of black humour of course stems from “an absence of general agreement about humor” (3). Yet this lack of clarity is exactly what Zhou wishes to resolve, from her point of view she tries to grasp what constitutes the concept of humour and simultaneously she tries to re-establish the integration of this component in black humour studies, because she believes a good understanding of humour is necessary in order to adequately analyse black humour works (4) – in her case the short stories of Raymond Carver.

“Humor, then”, she continues her plea, “is a slippery subject” (3). Being so multi-faceted and existing in so many modes, it becomes very hard to accurately pin down and unfold. In her attempt at doing exactly this, she consults what she refers to as the “three major theories that hold sway in the analysis of humor” (4). These interpretational guidelines are known then as the psychoanalysis theory, the incongruity theory and the superiority theory. The first one was initiated by Sigmund Freud and basically states that laughter is a way to discharge the abundance of stress-related energy and simultaneously an “overthrowing of what drives the self to despair” (4). Again we have a mentioning of the protective quality we discussed only just now. Next to this, however, the notion of aggressiveness is also included, exposing a connection with the superiority theory of philosophers Thomas Hobbes and Herbert Spencer. Laughter, namely, also “is a result of the sudden perception of superiority of the self relative to the inferiority of someone else targeted in humor narratives” (4). Bearing this in mind, one can deduce from this that humour intrinsically is founded on the fact that we are amused by someone’s failing, someone’s inferiority, something Aristotle and Plato already discovered (4).

Finally, Zhou unravels to us what she regards as the most resonating and well-known theory of the trio: the incongruity theory. This theory posits laughter as emerging from situations where something happens that – regarding the circumstances – completely defies our expectations. Zhou (4) refers to Elliott Oring in this regard, who formulates it in an insightful, transparent way: humour adheres the principle that reveals “that what is seemingly incongruous [as] appropriate, or what is seemingly appropriate [as] incongruous”. Again Aristotle and Plato appear as pioneers in this regard, yet this theory was only meticulously elaborated on when Kant and Schopenhauer decided to devote their time to it (4). This preoccupation with and significance of the unexpected and the abrupt also plays a major role in black humour works, as earlier paragraphs already illustrated. So to recapitulate, humour, in its essence, is founded upon and derived from the ventilation of hostile, threatening feelings, a sense of superiority towards a more unfortunate person, and unexpected, surprising plot twists.

2.1.6 Differentiating between black humour and similar movements a) Black humour and surrealism

Having gained insights in what more or less constitutes black humour in its entirety there is one act of demarcation that we still need to perform: distinguishing this tradition from its influences or from movements it is closely aligned with. A first tradition that shares a couple of similarities with black humour has already unfolded itself over the course of the paragraphs above: the surrealist movement. One author that pays specific attention to the similarities between surrealism and black humour is Weber (390), locating the rise of the term ‘black humour’ outside of America, namely in the inception of French surrealism in the 1920’s, where “L’humour noir” played a prominent role in the works and ideas of the French surrealists (cf. supra). Main theoretician of this movement was the aforementioned André Breton and with his Anthologie de l’humour noir (1940) he constructed a theoretical framework that can serve as an insightful starting point from which we can interpret “motivations, attitudes and direction of black humor in the 1960’s” (392). The central elements to this framework all relate to points previously discussed. In short, Breton stresses the functioning of humour as a sheltering system, the black humorists’ engaging in a detached position, the rejection of morality and other governing, structural devices, the willingness to make fun of unsettling, contorting topics that in turn give rise to a sense of vexation, and a “predilection for surprise and shock” (391).

However, Weber (392) states that the black humorists of the 1960’s were probably not all familiar with this framework and that when applying it to the works of these more contemporary black humorists, we cannot unrestrainedly move it in time; a certain amount of adaptations and rearrangements will have to be made – on a side note this again indicates the heterogeneity of black humour as a notion that constantly re-emerges over the course of history, always evolving and adapting itself to the circumstances it resides in. What these adjustments exactly are, Weber does not really elaborate on. He does, however, note that, despite being the billboard of the surrealist movement, Breton was not the first one to introduce the movement and its black humour tendencies in the United States and therefore also did not play a central role in “advanc[ing] the understanding and progress of black humor in the United States” (392). This is of course an important clue in trying to find a reason as to why the 60’s black humorists were not necessarily familiar with André Breton. Thanks to the experiments of artists from the likes of Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia and the publishing of literary periodicals such as “Little Review, Broom and transition” (392) a lot of American avant-garde artists already became acquainted with Dadaist and surrealist ideas from the 1920’s onwards, which is of course considerably earlier than when Breton published his surrealist bible.

One of these young, emerging avant-garde artists was Nathanael West, and according to Weber (392) this author can be considered as very influential on the black humour movement of the 1960’s with his work The Dream Life of Balso Snell (1931). Weber even states that West is the only artist of his generation that “managed the feat of creating an extended work of black humor” and describes the book as a “sardonic, scatological, mocking, parodistic assault upon the elements of American civilization, of Western civilization as a whole” (392). West wittily engages in a detached, critical stance and in doing so proves himself an insightful observer of his time; he not only challenges traditional cultural assertions, but just as well he poses objections in the direction of “the intellectual and artistic vanguard” which opposes these traditional patterns (393). He scrutinises every form of ordering, regardless of the societal angle it originates from (cf. supra). In baring his thoughts on his main sources on inspiration, West does not conceal how it was the French surrealist movement that influenced him rather than any indigenous impulses (393). And in this regard he is certainly not the only one; many of his contemporaries also preferred to look overseas in order to find motivation for artistic innovation. Gradually a tendency had unfolded itself in which these young artists considered their native literary scene as too superficial and not critical enough; its contentment with how the United States currently positioned itself was perceived as a discouragement of the urge “to probe and experiment” (393). Amidst a reigning rush of swathing optimism, the avant-gardists wanted to expose the “dark underside” of America’s soils (394). 15

All of the above generates a clear understanding of how surrealism can be considered an influence on black humour, but we still are left probing the dark as to how the black humour tradition exactly manages to set itself apart from its example. In this regard, the insights Schulz (19) formulates can provide us with some clarity. As he sees it, the point where black humour and surrealism fundamentally differ from each other is in how they deal with the notion of disorder. Surrealism principally revolves around the aesthetic venting and conveying of “internal disorder” (19) in the human subconscious mind (which is considered primarily conditioned by the act of dreaming). Black humorists, however, are more concerned with forces that generate an external sense of “social disorder” (19). These forces of course can have an impact on the internal state of mind as well, yet the focus lays on the distanced observation of these hostile forces themselves rather than on the individual perils. In this regard we can recall a quote by Schulz we alluded at earlier in this dissertation:

“[The black humorist] remains dissociated […] with the focus less on the individual than on the world of experiences, less on the agony of struggle to realize self than on the bewildering trackless choices that face the individual. (18-19)” b) Black humour and existentialism

Besides this surrealist influence, black humour also gains a lot of basic insights from existentialists and their perception of both world and man. Both Zhou and Schulz engage in an attempt to differentiate between the two. The two traditions approach their environment in very similar fashion; they both posit a worldview in which there is no more room for a sense of “intrinsic values” (Schulz: 18) and individuality, which results in a profound friction between the individual and his environment. Yet they differ from one another on two fundamental aspects (Zhou: 8). Firstly (Zhou: 9, Schulz: 18), there is the fact that existentialism still leaves room for (silent) hope and optimism. It is always marked by a – subtle – sense of heroism, steeped with the belief that man, in recognising his own absurdity, is able to overcome by what is apparently a meaningless existence; the act of self-assertion is an attempt to overcome the negation of life. Even though this heroic act is seen to lead to a state of “cosmic despair” (Schulz: 18) rather than to a feeling of completion and reconciliation with the environment, existentialists are still profoundly convinced that the individual possesses a capacity great enough to function as ordering device.

Black humour works, on the contrary, do not grant their protagonists this ‘illusion of invincibility’; they might arouse sympathy in the reader because of the way they face up to their hostile surroundings, but in the end black humorists “smile at the human penchant for conceptualizing chimeras into existence and then mistaking them for incontrovertible absolutes” (cf. supra) (Schulz: 18). Secondly then, and connected to this quote, there is existentialism’s lack of a consistent “wry and comic perspective from which black humorists view the human condition” (Zhou: 8). As Zhou (8) puts it, in existentialist works acute feelings of estrangement and disorientation are met with “dead seriousness”, whereas black humorists, who still are horrified by the non-sense that regulates their environment, will always find a way to “demonstrate blackness through a mingled gesture of despair and comedy”. c) Black humour and traditional uses of satire/comedy

Two other movements that share an inevitable connection with black humour in certain regards are traditional comedy and traditional satire. Colletta and again Schulz shed their lights on how to distinguish black humour from these two affiliated traditions. Once more it is the aspect of reconciliation and reintegration that serves as the boundary marker here (Schulz: 19, Colletta: 2). Both traditional comedy and traditional satires still possess a moralistic undertone, which can be interpreted as a plea for reconciliation, whereas black humorists engage in perpetual mockery of this kind of striving. In some cases the protagonist might be seen working towards such an ideal, but this should be interpreted rather as an act of parody for as we already saw multiple times, in the end the character will always fail in reaching this ideal (Schulz: 19). The aspect of hope and engagement that was present in both traditional movements is relentlessly destroyed in black humour (Colletta: 2).

This rejection of satire as a guide of moral vice also lies in the fact that from the 20th century onwards the common belief in (or even the assumption of) stable values and systems gradually but irrefutably started to decline, as Colletta puts it (4). This stands in sharp contrast with authors in earlier times, who where still functioning within a frame of relative stability and still adhered more or less shared ideas in relation to ethics – therefore it was still easier to retain a pinch of hope (3). This idea of a shared cause completely disappeared over the course of the early 20th century already, with people considering the reigning ideological systems as inadequate in addressing the complexity that above all marked human existence (5). Whereas in traditional satires the grotesque and absurd can be seen as measuring devices onto which desired moral standards are projected, in black humour works “the grotesque and the absurd actually become the moral standard” themselves (5). 17

Another element that tightens the line of demarcation between traditional satire and the black humour tradition lies in how these movements posit their protagonists. As Schulz (24) notes, unlike in traditional satires, black humorists do not use their protagonists as a filtering instance between author and the object they wish to satirise. And while the protagonists in both cases engage in a detached stance, there is still a difference in how exactly they relate to this position. The black humour protagonist as it goes is never really completely withdrawn from his environment; he stays immersed in it, being “at once observer of, and participant in the drama of dissidence, detached from and yet affected by what happens around him” (24).

Finally the black humour protagonist also displays a highly developed sense of self-awareness in relation to the situation he finds himself in, which cannot be said for traditional “satiric puppets”, of whom Schulz (24) says that they seem to undergo all kinds of cruelties without actually being affected by them. In this regard he mentions authors like the British Evelyn Waugh and the aforementioned Nathanael West, portraying them as traditional satirists rather than as black humorists (24), whereas Colletta and Weber respectively associate these authors with the black humour tradition. This right here serves again as an example as to how much disagreement there still is going around as far as a genealogy of black humour goes.

However, despite all these differences above, Colletta (6) points out that there still remains a strong connection between traditional satires and black humour works as well. First of all they display certain similar formal characteristics, but perhaps even more significant is how the two of them are both founded on what Colletta (6) calls “deflationary wit, lacerating use of irony and derision” (6). With this in mind, she (6) suggests that it can be argued that black humour might actually be a logical next step in the development of satire as a medium of scrutiny, exhibiting a shift in focus “in the object and purpose of its attack” and “now better reflecting the existential and philosophical crises that characterize the modern world.” She even goes as far to relate the black humour displayed by the modernist writers of the 1920’s and 1930’s to the inception of “a new form of Modernist social satire” (3). This new form of satire was perhaps less preoccupied with formal experiments in relation to other modernist tendencies of that time, yet in its enigmatic sense of humour that thrives on “the non-rational, unstable and the fragmented” it was at no cost any less innovating (3).

2.1.7 Recapitulation

Normally we should have some decent coverage as to what constitutes the concept of black humour now, yet before moving on to the second main component of our theoretical framework, I would suggest that a final, brief overview of black humour’s most important and agreed on features might serve as a clarifying reminder. First of all there was the vagueness in terms of historical demarcation, which all depends on how one chooses to interpret the idea of black humour. This in turn – among many other aspects – served to highlight the intrinsic versatility of the concept.

Secondly there was the connective quality of black humour; its deployment runs as an aorta through the works of an otherwise very loosely tied collective of authors. Then we tackled the main attitudes and states of mind that surround black humour. Immediately became clear how black humour made a trademark out of finding pleasure in the unpleasant, generating sparks of laughter from friction. Then there was the resolute rejection of value systems and ordering devices of all kinds. Connected to this is the fact that black humorists criticise society for its lack of concern with the individual, an individual that resides in an environment induced by modernity rushes that makes no sense anymore. In his attempt at coping with this hostile and indifferent environment he reaches down a dead-end alley and his existence often becomes marked by utter plainness. In this confusing storm of non-sense humour can, however, serve as a temporary shelter or at least a means to put things into comic perspective. Yet an all- encompassing, final solution is not granted.

The narrator then is not of any help either, he instead chooses to add insult to injury, by engaging in a sterile, detached stance from which he seems to mock the struggling character even more. With this in mind, the reader identifies with the narrator rather than with the character, seeing as the narrator is the one in control, observing and criticising everything from a safe, comic distance. Besides this we also noticed how an understanding of the separate aspect of humour was of crucial importance as well. Zhou enlightened us in this regard, elaborating on the different theories that together are believed to lay the foundation of how we should interpret humour: the psychoanalysis theory, the incongruity theory and the superiority theory. And last of all, we distinguished the black humour tradition from other movements it is closely affiliated with: surrealism, existentialism, and traditional forms of comedy and satire.

2.2 Relationship between words and music

As the introduction already pointed out, if we wish to accurately interpret lyrics in our search of black humour elements, we should look beyond the textual component as well, for it is not the only aspect that generates meaning here. In trying to grasp the complete meaningful picture, it is essential that we also pay sufficient attention to the aspect of musical performance to see how it plays a role in conveying black humour as well.

A first source that supports this thought is Robert Donington’s Opera and its Symbols (1990), in which Donington stresses the fact that when attempting to accurately process what is going on in an opera performance, musical elements are at least equally significant as lyrical elements (4). Of course opera is a very specific, staged music genre, so Donington also pays attention to theatrical elements, which are not of any real significance in this thesis. Yet he does still provide us with useful insights with regard to how musical performance and lyrical aspects interact. Donington (5) then stresses the importance of profound craftsmanship on behalf of the artist if he wishes to create any actual symbolic meaning, which is necessary in deepening the experience of the lyrical plot. He states that “however autonomous the material”, it will always “need to be worked over with conscious craftsmanship”.

Along the same line reasons John Rockwell (126) in All American Music: Composition in the Late Twentieth Century (1983), claiming that the words in lyrics “cannot really find completeness” without the support of music and performance. Indeed the two seem intrinsically and inextricably bound, constituting a partnership in which words make up for the articulate component and music for the expressive one, according to Donington (9). In other words, music expresses what words articulate, with music having the ability to enhance what words convey by “a singular directness of feeling and intuition”, a directness that can “both induce and inflect” (9-10). This inflecting can, however, also be seen as establishing an act of discrepancy between words and music, as Rockwell (125) underscores when he says that “aural imagery” is not only able to amplify but also to counterpoint the poetic concept. This counterpointing of music and lyrics is commonly seen as one of Steely Dan’s major trademarks as the introduction already alluded to and as we will also see illustrated when we tackle the analyses.

Rockwell then continues his dissertation by comparing what he regards as virtuoso compositions to what he considers less complicated music and in doing so addresses the advantages and disadvantages of both. Eventually he seems to come to the conclusion that, in comparison to simpler, more straight-forward music or performance, virtuosity comes with 20 certain constraints in terms of an organic, fluent feel and that it is less adapted to expressive needs (128-129). On a side note, however, musical virtuosity does not necessarily need to be perceived as difficult or less organic; Steely Dan serves as a perfect example in this regard. As we saw in the introduction, their music actually exists out of very complex arrangements, yet Steely Dan still manages to embellish these virtuosities in a rather smooth cover, presenting the whole as a musical cocktail that slides in really easily. Because the listener does not have to make a great effort while listening, he or she can still pay attention to the words and how these are conveyed. In this way Steely Dan’s music is still adapted to expressive needs.

Another aspect that Rockwell pays attention to and that also holds for Steely Dan lyrics, is how important it is since the inception of rock music in the 50’s, which gave rise to the merging of the functions of composer and performer, that the artist sings – and thus interprets – his material himself. Rockwell believes this adds to a serious increase in sincerity of personal expression (130). Related to this idea we can include a quote from Fagen himself out of an interview in Wall Street Journal:

“I’ve never been comfortable as a lead performer and I never wanted to be a singer particularly. We just couldn’t find anyone else who had the right attitude to put over the material” (Myers).

This quote perfectly underscores Rockwell’s statement of how the material gains a sincerity boost when it is brought to life by its own creator. Even when Fagen does not consider himself to be much of a singer, he still deems himself the best choice, just because he knows he can convey the message of his – and Becker’s of course – lyrics most adequately.

Finally then Rockwell (130-131) addresses an element of crucial importance with regard to the scope of this particular study: the translation of humour into music – a translation that, according to his beliefs, is often a fickle issue. He regards this process as often unfolding itself erratically, with no real possibilities to formulate “amusing subtleties” in the music other than for “the connoisseurs”. Musical humour is generally expressed very explicitly, whereas subtleties are better conveyed through the means of words. However, he nuances, instruments and aural aspects can be used supportively in a way. Since music is more fitting to express underlying emotions (cf. supra), the artist can manipulate and toy with this quality to generate a meaningful tension in relation to the words that are used – think of the aspect of counterpointing described earlier – through which he manages to implicitly convey humorous elements. As we have seen before, it is exactly this quality that is very apparent in Steely Dan’s approach in relating words to music.

Another critic that shines his light upon the relation between words and music is Pat Pattison in his essay Similarities and Differences between Song Lyrics and Poetry (2012), which revolves around the relationship between poetry and lyrics, as the title already indicates. The main point of difference between the two, he says, is that lyrics are mainly directed to the ear and poems (of course not taking into account performance poetry) mainly to the eye (122). This in itself has a lot of consequences for both, but we will limit ourselves to focusing on what impact this principle has on lyrics. First of all there is the issue of language use, which is usually a lot more forthright and simple in song texts than in poetry, mainly stemming from the fact that the words in lyrics are accompanied and supported by melody, harmony and rhythm, all three of which can add an extra dimension to these words (cf. supra) (123). Yet concerning this supposed simplicity in language choice, we already have to make a refining remark when dealing with Steely Dan lyrics – something which Pattison himself does as well when he mentions their song ‘Home at Last’ as “an oblique retelling of the story of Odysseus and the Sirens (124). Seeing as Fagen and Becker’s often write very dense and cryptic with a lot of layers, this can lead to situations where the principle of straightforward language choice is left aside. By doing so they already sort out their audience to a certain degree, limiting it to those who are “interested enough to explicate” the lyrics (Pattison: 124). Usually, when lyrics are to a degree impenetrable, they are, however, accompanied by music that is quite accessible. This is something that also holds for Steely Dan, as we saw earlier.

Another consequence that emerges from this focus on the ear is that the grammatical structure of the lyric is in sync with the melodic phrase. Whenever the melodic phrase ends, the lyric line usually ends as well. This can be considered a fundamental aspect and going against this principle would result in absurd, confusing situations, as Pattison demonstrates. As such, and unlike in poetry, in song lyrics it is almost impossible to generate friction or disruption between line and phrase (124-125). This implies that we will not find stylistic devices among the likes of run-on lines and enjambments in lyrics. Here Pattison (125) also mentions the “recent movement towards performance poetry”; he tells us that in performance poetry, poetry – just like lyrics do – aims for the ear rather than the eye and that because of this grammatical phrases determine the flow of the poems. This flow then capitalises on the qualities a human voice possesses to add meaningful layers to the words of the poem: “tone of voice, stopping and starting, extending syllables, modulating pitches”, etc. (Pattison: 125).

This insight of Pattison is reminiscent of one that Rockwell (125) displays in relation to both music and performing. He also reasons that the human voice can generate witty and meaningful extra dimensions to support the words by paying attention to “exquisite timing, varied vocal inflections, and electronic and chemical alterations of […] the natural vocal timbre” (125). A last significant effect that is highlighted by Pattison (126) is how lyrics are heavily dependent on repetition of content. This element of iteration resides in the choruses or refrains and not only makes the content stick more, it usually also tends to evolve or deepen the meaning of the content it refers to.

Now that we have an idea of both how lyrics and the music accompanying them can engage in meaningful interaction and together put forward a certain message, and of what exactly constitutes the concept of black humour, these acquired insights can subsequently be used as a measuring device onto which we can project our corpus of Steely Dan lyrics in order to try and determine how these lyrics incorporate black humour elements both on textual and musical level, and how Steely Dan relates itself to the tradition of black humour. An overview of our corpus will follow below.

2.3 Corpus

On an introductory note it must be stressed that, as a matter of restricting our scope, we will only focus on one specific period of Steely Dan’s quite extensive oeuvre. The period we will focus on is commonly seen as consisting out of Steely Dan’s highlight years (as the introduction already hinted at) and stretches from approximately 1972, which is the year that saw the rise of their debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill, until 1980, which is when their last album Gaucho came out before Fagen and Becker both went their separate ways, putting Steely Dan on a hiatus for almost 20 years (“Steely Dan Timeline”: par. 5 & 8). Since this period makes for Steely Dan’s busiest and most productive one – with seven albums appearing between 1972 and 1980 (“Discography”) – it is of course necessary to narrow down to a specific selection of songs that will eventually be used for analysis. By doing this, part of the richness of Steely Dan’s oeuvre will inevitably be left aside, yet if we select our set of lyrics carefully it should still be possible to put forward a corpus that can be considered as constructing a representative image.

In analysing this corpus, we will follow a chronological structure in order to add a sense of linearity and keep things orderly. But other than that this method of working might also uncover certain interesting developments or patterns in the evolution of Steely Dan’s lyrical style over

23 the course of time. So, in chronological order of albums, we will zoom in at the following set of five songs:

- ‘Do It Again’ from the album Can’t Buy A Thrill (1972) - ‘Night by Night’ from Pretzel Logic (1974) - ‘Everyone’s Gone to the Movies’ from Katy Lied (1975) - ‘Peg’ from Aja (1977) - ‘Hey Nineteen’ from Gaucho (1980)

Since we are also focusing on the musical component here, it is of course of main importance that we have audio files of these songs at our disposal as well. Therefore I have put these five tracks on a CD that will be included in this study as an attachment.

3. Analyses

In analysing the lyrics we will follow a fixed approach. First we will engage in an attempt at forming a possible interpretation or interpretations of the text, discussing each stanza separately. Afterwards we will then try and pinpoint what exactly are the black humour elements in regard to this interpretation and how they are conveyed both in the text itself and in the performance of this text. All lyrics will be taken from Steely Dan’s official website: http://www.steelydan.com/lyrics.html.

3.1 Do It Again

“In the morning, you go gunning For the man who stole your water And you fire till he is done in But they catch you at the border And the mourners are all singing As they drag you by your feet But the hangman isn't hanging And they put you on the street

Yeah, you go back, Jack, do it again Wheel turnin' round and round You go back, Jack, do it again

When you know she's no high climber Then you find your only friend In a room with your two-timer And you're sure you're near the end Then you love a little wild one And she brings you only sorrow All the time you know she's smiling You'll be on your knees tomorrow

Yeah, you go back, Jack, do it again Wheel turnin' round and round You go back, Jack, do it again

Now you swear and kick and beg us 25

That you're not a gambling man Then you find you're back in Vegas With a handle in your hand Your black cards can make you money So you hide them when you're able In the land of milk and honey You must put them on the table

Yeah, you go back, Jack, do it again Wheel turnin' round and round You go back, Jack, do it again”

3.1.1 General analysis

The most general reading of this text would revolve around a person suffering from what we could call compulsive addictive behaviour. We get the sense that he is constantly looking for a way out of this pathological downward spiral, the protagonist seems on the run for his own environment. Yet it turns out that he is running in circles and he never actually manages to break free, instead he is constantly experiencing moments of relapse back into his miserable, deluded world of escapist tendencies. In other words there is no way out for him and as a result he is stuck in an endless cycle of self-destruction, something the title ‘Do It Again’ already suggests. In what follows we will perform a close reading of the song in order to look for elements in support of this interpretation and connect these to the theoretical framework we have set up in regard to black humour. a) Stanza 1

The initial pair of lines of the first stanza already serves as an example of the aforementioned cryptic atmosphere that typically runs through Steely Dan lyrics and has provided the band with its notorious reputation. At first sight these lines are hard to make sense of; it is only in retrospect that we can try and guess what they possibly stand for. In the light of our hypothesis, a metaphorical reading of these lines might suggest that the protagonist is trapped in a state of delusion and is trying to get rid of the ‘poltergeists’ that dwell this deluded world and “stole [his] water”. Seeing as water is essential to all life, we could interpret this second line as symbolising the protagonist being stripped of his will to live.

In the next two lines then we see the protagonist continuing his attempt to overcome his mental torments. Success actually seems within reach, but eventually he comes up short and “they catch [him] at the border”. We might say that the protagonist finds himself in a first moment of relapse already here. The vague, indeterminate “they” that is used makes for a distanced and impersonal atmosphere in which the character and his whereabouts are being observed by an ungraspable, yet omnipresent governing force. This is already a first indicator of many pointing at the fact that the protagonist has no control over his own wellbeing whatsoever.

This sense of what we could call external determinism or fatalism is then carried on into the next two lines. “The mourners are all singing” again creates a feeling of captivity and – as a result thereof – alienation; a scene is conveyed in which the mourners are an external force pitying a helpless victim (i.e. the protagonist) who is in way over his head. In the light of this hypothesis we might, however, just as well consider the mourners to be mocking the protagonist rather than pitying it. One could even interpret these undesignated mourners as an intertextual reference parodying the Moirai of Greek mythology 1. The following line portrays the protagonist being dragged by his feet, evoking a sense of creeping danger coming from below. A danger of which he is unaware and one that only enlarges the feeling that he is just an impotent man left at the punishing hands of a hostile world.

“But the hangman isn’t hanging, and they put you on the street” is what the next lines state. Suggested here might be that the main character escapes reprimands and is granted another chance at getting his life back on track. “The hangman” can be interpreted as a metaphor for any judiciary authority in this light. However, in hindsight, one can question whether this is really an act of goodwill or rather just another act of mockery with the intention of extending the protagonist’s streak of suffering some more. As we will see, the protagonist’s moment of relapse mentioned above is not the only one he will experience. Also “they put you on the street” does not immediately conjure up any positive connotations here, rather it can be interpreted as an act of indifference, again handing over the protagonist, who is on the loose and in need of help, to the capricious forces and lures of his environment.

1 The Moirai or Fates were three goddesses that personified the concept of fate in classical mythology. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/moirai) 27 b) Chorus

After the first stanza we encounter the chorus, which is repeated thrice throughout the song – this is done with the intent of emphasis and resonance, as mentioned in our framework – but will be only discussed once. The chorus is again drenched in a sphere of fatalism and is steeped with sarcasm. The protagonist, now named Jack, is ridiculed and portrayed as a helpless fool who does not have the power to overcome his weaknesses and as a result spends his life in a constant state of relapse. This feeling is very clearly evoked by the lines “do it again” and “wheel turnin’ round and round”: the protagonist might think of himself as a freewheeler, yet the only direction he eventually follows is the perpetual circular structure of the wheel of fortune – or rather misfortune in his case.

The fact that the protagonist now has been given a name also allows for a reading at allegorical level. Jack is the epitome of the typical American name and as such this Jack can also be seen as the epitome of the average American inhabitant. If we follow this line of thought, we can regard the perils of this song’s protagonist as a mirroring device for the modal American population. Jack’s continuous search for a self-aimed high then suggests an implicit sneer directed towards the omnipresent modernity rush of directionless hedonism and hollow, transitory thrills – something which Fagen himself admittedly despises, as we can read in an excerpt of his Eminent Hipsters where he recalls his time at Bard college (79):

“Actually, it always seemed to me that the class of ’68 was the last bunch of kids not seriously despoiled in their youth by television (with its insidious brainworm commercials) and drugs. […] Since then, TV and the malls and the drugs have annually compounded the Big Stupid we live with now.”

With regard to this constant seeking out of thrills the title of the album ‘Do It Again’ is on, Can’t Buy A Thrill, also makes a lot of sense. It seemingly criticises how feelings of excitement have become just another aspect of a culture dominated by commercialism; thrills have degenerated to commodities. c) Stanza 2

When we arrive at the second stanza then, we see the protagonist aligning himself with another dropout – as is suggested by “no high climber” – in the first two lines. The protagonist finding “[his] only friend” in this like-minded soul signifies his loneliness as well as his lack of ambition.

However, as her being “no high climber” already hints at, in the next two lines we already see how the protagonist’s involvement with this woman will probably turn out to be a rather shabby experience in the end. The woman being a “two-timer” hints at her not being a very trustworthy ally, seeing how “two-timer” is a slang expression for an adulterous person (“Two-timer”). The protagonist being “sure [he’s] near the end” creates a sphere of ambiguity in this light: is he oblivious of the woman being a fraud and does he think that by engaging with this woman he is about to break free from the clutches of his dreary existence? Or does this line rather suggest a sign of impending doom and is he actually aware that this woman will cause trouble? Gradually the creeping, uneasy feeling of the first stanza recurs; the protagonist might come off worst in the bargain once again.

This feeling intensifies when we look at the subsequent two lines of the stanza. At first the protagonist is shown engaging in a rather feisty sexual escapade, as is expressed by “a little wild one” (could this be an act of desperation?), but then what was inevitable all along comes to the surface again: “she brings [him] only sorrow”. His inescapable fate has caught up with the protagonist again. The last two lines then only serve to salt the wound, strengthening the feeling that this whole adventure was nothing but a temporary pleasure; in the end the protagonist gets conned mercilessly. Having fallen victim to the deceptive whims of this femme fatale – “all the time […] she’s smiling -, he eventually ends up “on [his] knees” once the fun is over. d) Stanza 3

On his knees is how the protagonist enters the third stanza as well, only this time his situation seems even more precarious than it was in the preceding two stanzas. Things have taken a turn for the worse and we find him – despite all evidence to the contrary – desperately trying to prove “us” that he’s “not a gambling man”. The slumbering tension has now almost reached its culmination point. As the protagonist burns loose he is kicking, swearing and begging to support his plea. We can almost picture him being trapped in a straitjacket – which is how his environment must feel like to him – and locked up in an isolation cell. Also notice the indeterminate use of “us”, similar to how “they” was used in the first stanza, again creating an unnerving feeling of being supervised by a shady, elusive authority.

As the next two lines convey, the protagonist can try to persuade us in believing otherwise as much as he wants; a gambling man is exactly what he is. In the blink of an eye he is “back in Vegas with a handle in [his] hand”. For the umpteenth time his Epicureanism and self-centred lust has got the best of him. This self-centeredness is also portrayed in the next two lines; 29 anything from which the protagonist can possibly benefit – his “black cards” that can “make [him] money” – will be anxiously kept hidden from others. However, “in the land of milk and honey, [he] must put them on the table”. We can interpret as a sort of implicit and derisive moralising endnote of the song – something along the line of ‘if you want something, you have got to pay a price for it’. If the protagonist ever wishes to escape his miserable existence, he will have to pay the price and stay away from his addictions. The actual end of the song, however, lies in the chorus, which can be seen as an undermining of the aforementioned moral lesson and thus making it all the more facetious. In stead Fagen and Becker choose to end on a note that still suggests the protagonist being trapped, which makes the unnerving undertone resonate all the more.

3.1.2 Pinpointing black humour elements

Now that we have presented a possible interpretation of the meaning of this song text, we can start looking at where the black humour elements reside and how they are supported musically in relation to this interpretation. The most striking black humour aspect is that the whole text bathes in an atmosphere that finds pleasure in the highly unpleasant. This unpleasant component of course resides in the extended chain of sufferings the protagonist undergoes; he is posited as a trackless, lost individual in an environment that seems remarkably hostile to him, just as it befits a true black humour protagonist. He cannot resist all the trials and temptations society has in store for him and time and time again this results in his downfall; it seems as if society is luring him in with all kinds of promises of a better life far removed from his current existence but in the end leaves him totally bewildered, clueless and empty handed time and time again. The fact that the focus lies more on how society’s opposing forces constantly entice the protagonist than on his state of mind is, conform our theoretical framework, typically black humour as well.

Yet while the protagonist keeps on making the same mistakes, he does seem, however, aware of this. He is highly self-conscious in relation to what his environment is doing to him, and to a certain degree he wants to conquer his demons, but in the end he lacks the willpower to successfully do so, in stead succumbing time after time. In this regard the protagonist manages to set himself apart from what Schulz called the “satiric puppets” in traditional satiric works (cf. supra), contrary to these puppets, the protagonist is actually affected by what his environment throws him in his face. With regard to the plainness that often marks the existence of the black humour protagonist, we can say that in this particular case our protagonist seems on the run from this plainness and senselessness by ceaselessly searching for rapid thrills that supposedly 30 grant him an escape. The fact that he enjoys these empty kicks serves as an illustration in its own right as to how meaningless his life is and just how little ambition he is able to muster.

Where the protagonist finds despair, the narrator, however, finds twisted joy. Engaging in the sterile, detached stance that is so typical for black humour narratives, he incessantly mocks the failed attempts of the protagonist trying to cope with his environment. A cruel sense of discrepancy exists between narrator and protagonist; a discrepancy in which the narrator is the governing instance, observing from a safe, comic distance, and the protagonist, much to the contrary, is struggling to gain control of his life and environment. As such we are dealing with an extra-, heterodiegetic narrator according to the narratological insights of Gérard Genette: the narrator floats above the story he is telling and recounts it from a distanced position (Pieters: 136-137). As mentioned in the analysis of the stanza’s above, the indeterminate uses of “they” and “us” help to convey a feeling in which every step of the protagonist is being monitored by an anonymous, omnipresent force. As a reader then, because of this distanced approach, it is easier to identify with this governing instance than with the protagonist. We align ourselves with the narrator’s stance, engaging in a sort of collective voyeurism. Take for instance the line “Now you swear and kick and beg us”, as a reader we will really feel part of this “us” the protagonist addresses.

We join the narrator in his merciless mockery of the protagonist and are happy to do so, because it provides us shelter and safety, something that is not granted to the protagonist safe maybe for the hollow thrills that rise from his addictions. However, as is always the case when dealing with black humour, this shelter we happily reside in is only temporary. In the end any last sense of hope that might have been left for the protagonist is wryly undercut by letting the gloomy message of the chorus triumph. This resisting of resolution is conveyed in such sardonic fashion that it even leaves the reader bedazzled and disconcerted. With a sinister gesture the meaninglessness that marks the attempts of the protagonist at reintegrating with society is acknowledged and the smiles are harshly swept from our faces. The narrator seemingly criticises the intrinsic human yearning for hollow forms of hedonism and the incapacity to resist these tendencies all at once.

This sinister edge that pierces the song is also strongly reflected in the way Fagen sings. As said before, it is of primary importance that the artist interprets and performs his own material in order to bring it to life as sincere and credible as possible and we see this clearly illustrated here. Fagen knows perfectly how to lend his ‘smirky’ voice timbre to the song in order to lift it to a higher dimension; his sharp, sneering vocals make the content of the lyrics sound all the more 31 ironic. It seems as if he is taunting the protagonist in every line he sings. This taunting quality appears even stronger in the chorus, when Fagen ends the line “do it again” on a jeering melisma, making it seem as if he is outright laughing at how the protagonist is perpetually declining in a spiral of suffering.2 Something else that stands out in the vocals of Fagen besides the sharpness, are the often elongated syllables, for instance in “But the hangman isn’t hanging”. These drawn out syllables have a hint of melancholic compassion attached to them, yet combined with Fagen’s vocal sound they lose any sense of sincerity, instead gaining an air of sarcasm once again.

It is not only Fagen’s singing that provides this song with a twisted edge, however. As already highlighted in the introduction and multiple other times, this edge just as much resides in the discordance of the music in relation to the text it accompanies. On the one hand we have a story that is dominated by a sphere of total anxiety and on the other hand we have the music counterpointing this, consisting mainly out of relaxed, gently swaying bossa nova rhythms. The intertwining of both components creates such an unsettling tension that it dyes the blackness in black humour an even darker kind of black than already was the case. By conveying the content of their lyrics in such fashion, Steely Dan also seem to conceal their true intentions, shrouding the message of the text in an enigmatic mist. The efforts that are required in order to pierce this veil make the underlying message resonate all the more; because of its secretiveness the message tends to creep under the skin of the reader/listener.

Finally, as far as the aspect of language use goes we see that Fagen and Becker do not exhibit a particularly difficult vocabulary. Apart from some expressions that could be labelled slang such as “to be done in”, “two-timer” and “high climber” there is no need for the reader to consult any dictionaries. However, this is no guarantee for the language use being straightforward; when trying to apply a literal interpretation on these lyrics one is left stranded quickly since they seem to lack any coherence in this light. The difficulty here lies in how open to interpretation these lyrics are, making it very hard to pinpoint what exactly it is they are trying to tell. In accordance with Pattison’s insights (cf. supra) this density on lyrical level is compensated for by the music being accessible. What stands out besides this highly specific language use is that the text uses rhyme as well. The rhyme scheme here is ABABCDCD for the stanzas and ABA for the chorus. Not all of these rhymes are perfect rhymes, however, the majority consists out of so called slant

2 A melisma is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melisma)

32 rhymes, which Fagen tends to match with each other by modulating his pronunciation3. For instance he pronounces “singing” with a sort of soul ‘twang’ in order for it to adequately rhyme with “hanging”. Yet in terms of deepening the content of this text, these rhymes are not really of any significance. More plausible is that these rhymes are used so that it becomes easier for the listener to follow and remember the text.

3.2 Night by Night

It's a beggars life, said the Queen of Spain But don't tell it to a poor man 'Cause he's got to kill for every thrill The best he can Everywhere around me I see jealousy and mayhem Because no men have all their peace of mind To carry them

Well I don't really care If it's wrong or if it's right But until my ship comes in I'll live night by night

When the joker tried to tell me I could cut it in this rube town When he tried to hang that sign on me I said Take it down When the dawn patrol got to tell you twice They're gonna do it with a shotgun Yes, I'm cashing in this ten-cent life For another one

Well I ain't got the heart To lose another fight

3 A slant rhyme is a form of rhyme in which two words share just a vowel sound or in which they share just a consonant sound. (http://www.dailywritingtips.com/types-of-rhyme/)

So until my ship comes in I'll live night by night

Well I don't really care If it's wrong or if it's right But until my ship comes in I'll live night by night

3.2.1 General analysis

We can read this text as an implicit dystopian critique on and ridiculing of the gap that exists between the wealthy and the poor. The idea that might be posited here is that the higher-class life is an sich no better than that of a poor man; both are hostile and meaningless in the end. Yet by tricking the less fortunate masses into believing that a life in the upper regions of society is like living the dream, the higher class controls the lower class from behind an awe-inspiring veil that makes them seem untouchable. As such this artificial gap is maintained and those that dwell society's pits will always have to work relentlessly with the thought of one day maybe leading a life that actually does not exist as their motivation. Of course every one of these lower-class people wants to move up the social ladder and as such mutual competition is very fierce.The protagonist here finds himself in the midst of such a hazardous lower-class environment and in facing the perils that come with such an existence he is forced to live an opportunistic lifestyle, doing whatever it takes to survive until chances at a so-called better life cross his path. He refuses to be chained by his current lowlife existence and wants to change his ways, yet it seems that he already has suffered one too many blows to keep actively pursuing his shot at luck. Instead he chooses to just wait in bitterness. a) Stanza 1

The first two lines here can be interpreted as referring to the pointlessness and artificiality of the existing gap between rich and poor; the life of a rich person – represented by the “Queen of Spain” is as much “a beggar’s life” as the life of a poor one. The fact that Fagen and Becker choose to use such a specific figure as the “Queen of Spain” here, might allude to the fact that there is more to symbolise than just the upper regions of society. While a plausible interpretation is very hard to construct, one thing it could refer to is the Spanish colonisation of America. Of this colonisation we could say that it implemented the seeds of what is now the gap that separates the poor from the rich. The fact that we should not enlighten “a poor man” of this inescapable “beggar’s life” refers to the importance of the high society sustaining the illusion of the 34 possibility of an idyllic life towards the poor people in order to keep its prestigious aura. In the subsequent pair of lines we see why it is so important to keep this delusion alive: the poor people have got to keep on working relentlessly to earn their wages, while the high society gains profit. As long as these lower-class dwellers are preoccupied with their own existence and class, they will only go after each other and the upper-class remains out of sight and safe and sound, growing richer and richer.

From the next two lines onwards we encounter a sudden shift in narrative and focalising instance, from now on we see everything through the eyes of a lower-class resident, who is also the protagonist of the story. Immediately we are submerged into his world where hostile forces mark his existence, as “jealousy and mayhem” is “everywhere around [him]”. This hostile environment then creates constant tension and agitation, resulting in “no men [having] their peace of mind to carry them”. Chaos and alienation seem like the omnipresent forces at work here. b) Chorus

Moving on to the chorus then we get to see how the protagonist copes with all this deprivation. In an existence plagued by the described conditions, meaninglessness is apparent and finds its way into the heart of people, – among them our protagonist – creating a latent sense of general indifference. This is a climate where moral values have lost their impact, as illustrated by the lines “Well I don’t really care if it’s wrong or if it’s right”. As the next two lines convey, this reigning callosity then in turn generates an opportunistic lifestyle in the protagonist, who has become a highly pragmatic night dweller only waiting for his escape route to present itself. In the meanwhile he does whatever it takes to survive. The line “but until my ship comes in” here serves a double purpose; on the one hand it is an idiom used for saying that someone has become successful or wealthy (“when one’s ship comes in”), yet on the other hand we can also interpret the line more literally, in the sense of a ship really coming in to take away the protagonist and providing him an escape to a new life. With this last interpretation in mind, the association with the times of colonisation again comes to mind. c) Stanza 2

The second stanza then revolves around the further highlighting of life’s utter hostility. Society is a malicious “joker” trying to mislead us and rob us of our chances by placing us in an uncanny environment of which we feel estranged. The fact that the protagonist speaks of a “rube town” 35 shows his scorn and bitterness towards his environment and also exposes how he does not feel part of it, heightening the sense of alienation. The subsequent two lines function in the light of this sense of fatalist predestination as well, yet the protagonist refuses to be stigmatised and misguided by resisting the joker’s attempt at “[hanging] that sing on [him]”. Gradually we get the sense that he is too smart or at least too wary to be subdued by the chains of his environment. One begins to wonder how he ended up there in the first place; the whole situation seems highly unfair. This sense of corruption also marks the following pair of lines. Again it is emphasised just how hazardous the living conditions of the protagonist can be; oppressive forces rule here with absolutely no regard for individual well being. If one dares to question this madness, he or she is immediately silenced “with a shotgun”. A human life has lost its value completely, a feeling that is carried on into the next two lines as well, as the protagonist scornfully calls his current existence “this ten-cent life”. He is determined to “cash [it] in for another one”. It has now become all too clear; the protagonist is living in a total dystopia controlled by an off-screen aristocratic elite. d) Stanza 3

The third stanza then – only differing from the chorus by two lines – invokes a confronting sense of defeat, opening with the lines: “Well I ain’t got the heart to lose another fight”. While the protagonist yearns for a way out of his miserable existence, he cannot bring up the heart to fight for it anymore. His hostile environment has discouraged him to the extent that he has almost given up all hope. The next two lines, being the same as in the chorus, once again show how this has forced the protagonist to lead an opportunistic lifestyle, slumbering in the nightly shadows where he does not attract the attention too much and where he can anonymously wait for the big chance of escape to arise. In the end, just as in ‘Do It Again’, the chorus is repeated once more, with the intention of adding extra measure. The indifference and meaninglessness resonate and one is left to wonder if the protagonist’s “ship” will ever “come in”. And even then, nothing but just another “beggar’s life” awaits him.

3.2.2 Pinpointing black humour elements

As we already saw demonstrated in our analysis of ‘Do It Again’, the aspect of the narrator is very important in conveying – and in backtracking as well – black humour elements in a text. When we look at this song, we immediately notice a significant difference in relation to the previous one; here we encounter – safe for the first three lines – a first-person narration instead of a second-person narrative and moreover the narrator and protagonist are one and the same 36 here, which implies that, according to Genette (cf. supra), we are now dealing with a homo- and autodiegetic narrator instead of a heterodiegetic one (Pieters: 136-137). Where the heterodiegetic narrator in ‘Do It Again’ made for a very outspoken sense of detachedness in relation to the protagonist and his environment – an element highly crucial of black humour narratives – the coinciding of narrator and protagonist in this case seemingly lacks this necessary aspect of detachedness between these two instances. Yet as we will see, there are other ways of generating a distanced approach as well.

In this particular case the aspect of detachedness resides in how the protagonist – and thus the narrator as well – acts towards his environment. Portrayed as a highly self-conscious individual he clearly has his own take on what happens around him. Despite being ‘predestined’ to an existence among the scum of society, he rather places himself in a dissociated stance as a scornful observer from the sidelines, signifying that an sich he is not part of this lifestyle at all. Hence, we have an example of a protagonist who is both immersed in and detached from his surroundings at the same time, taking in an intermediate position. It is also important to note that not only his thoughts convey a distanced relationship with his surroundings, but also the actions he undertakes and the life he chooses to lead, so in fact it is his whole entity that stands in a light of detachedness. Lurking from behind an anonymous aura provided by the nightly shadows, the protagonist has become a spectator on the wait rather than an active participant. This preference for a life in the margins of society is also a typical black humour element.

This marginal position of the protagonist is accompanied by a constant displaying of sarcasm, as already indicated. In between the reigning chaos and animosity, the protagonist approaches his environment with a bitter, sardonic indifference. His stance conveys a feeling of dismay and superiority simultaneously; while castigating his surroundings he always seems to keep his cool and implicitly makes it clear that he does not wish to be associated with them. What we get closely resembles a panoramic survey of a world crumbling down from the point of view of cunning observer – or as we described it previously: a dystopia. Clearly we are dealing with a more subtle form of mockery rather than with outright laughter. This in itself might just make the humour even blacker; the subtleness of it all makes the protagonist a cerebral critic of a society for which he seems too intelligent. As a reader it is exactly this form of witty superiority that we should identify with, because it makes us feel as if we stand above and know more than the other pitiable outcasts that dwell this society. As such the aspect of humour again serves the purpose of a shelter that momentarily protects one from the storms of the outside world.

Yet as a black humour narrative typically prescribes, this humour and its protective qualities are only ephemeral and there are occasions on which feelings of despair break through this humorous shell. We must not forget – and the protagonist/narrator neither does this – that the protagonist is still living among these outcasts, he can mock and scrutinise all he wants, but he is in a sense still part of the same social sphere. It also seems like an opportunity of escape will not immediately present itself any time soon and seeing that the protagonist has no fight left anymore to set things in motion himself one can wonder if he will ever actually escape this place. As a result his life has become marked by perpetual, almost narcotic anticipation of something that might never even come. In this light, we can depict the protagonist as a rather weak character as well, hopelessly trapped in a hostile world that has no regard for his individuality whatsoever. Reasoning along this mindset we can interpret the events as a wry mixture of two indifferent attitudes clashing; the protagonist’s view on his environment and the environment’s attitude towards the protagonist. One can only wonder which one gains the upper hand eventually. The chorus, serving as conclusion, again grants us no closure here; instead it leaves us with a disconcerting feeling of uncertainty.

Of course the music also plays a very important role in evoking all the feelings described above. Unlike the music in ‘Do It Again’, the music here does stand in a transparent, corresponding relationship with the atmosphere conveyed by the text. What we hear is perhaps best described as a form of ‘white funk’ and on a first listen sounds very brewing and chaotic, much like the dystopian environment that is constructed lyrically. In all this chaos, there is also, however, an edgy, systematic tightness, which makes for a feeling of constant threat as well. Yet besides this chaos of the environment, we hear echoes of the protagonist’s voice throughout the music as well; there is a powerful vibe palpable that could be easily associated with the superior stance of the protagonist towards his surroundings. As such the music actually is very accurate in supporting both sides of the text: the external forces and the recount of the protagonist.

What also accurately evokes this recount of the protagonist and more specifically the sharp cynicism accompanying it is again the way Fagen uses his voice. Once more we hear that typical, ‘smirky’ tone of his that conveys an atmosphere of dismay and indifferent mockery, in which the protagonist sounds very self-assured, almost cocky on occasions. However, on other occasions – in the chorus to be precise – the singing also gives away hints of struggle, with Fagen near wailing out his words. The smirky undertone is always preserved, though. After the last chorus then, the song merges into a bewildering guitar solo accompanied by heavy percussion work, which again creates the aforementioned chaotic condition. Accompanying this solo are sporadic backing vocals exclaiming “night by night”, emphasising the perpetual night dwelling status of 38 the protagonist, whilst also sounding quite mysterious. This attaches a haunting edge to the open ending, heightening our disquieting uncertainty of what will come next.

Finally, with regard to language use we notice the use of rhyme again, with the following rhyme schemes being employed: ABCBDEFE for stanza 1, ABCB for the chorus and stanza 3, and ABABCDCD for stanza 2. Much like in the first song, the rhyme here mostly seems to aim at an easy recognisability. When looking at density we see a similar tendency as in ‘Do It Again’; fairly easy words and phrases are mixed with the occasional slang term. Yet again this does not mean that the text is transparent in itself, the difficulty again lies in the openness and multi- interpretability of the text. Example of choice here is of course the first line in which the “Queen of Spain” presents herself as a puzzling enigma.

3.3 Everyone’s Gone to the Movies

Kids if you want some fun Mr. LaPage is your man He's always laughing, having fun Showing his films in the den Come on, come on Soon you will be eighteen I think you know what I mean Don't tell your mama Your daddy or mama They'll never know where you been

Everyone's gone to the movies Now we're alone at last (x2)

Listen to what I say He wants to show you the way Right down the hallway with open arms To teach you a new game to play Come on, come on Soon it will be too late Bobbing for apples can wait We know you're used to sixteen or more Sorry we only have eight

Everyone's gone to the movies Now we're alone at last (x2)

Kids if you want some fun See what you never have seen Take off your cheaters and sit right down Start the projection machine

Everyone's gone to the movies Now we're alone at last (x2)

3.3.1 General analysis

This song lends itself to the most perverse interpretation so far. Following a reading between the lines, it can be argued that the mentioned Mr. LaPage is not all that innocent in his occupation as the owner of a local cinema. While at first hand one might perceive Mr. LaPage as just an accommodating resident of the neighbourhood who is happy to turn a blind eye and treat the children to movies that would be off-limits at home, gradually the uneasy feeling starts to creep up that there might be a good reason why exactly these films are off-limits. In sharing all this joy with the children it seems like Mr. LaPage has grown a little too fond of them and might be opening up these children too more than they actually wanted. Frankly, picturing Mr. LaPage as a furtive, perverse purveyor of adult movies – read: pornography – for children becomes more plausible with each processing of the text. Moreover, one is left to wonder if the action is limited to the screen alone. a) Stanza 1

In the first two lines there is no reason to be alarmed yet; an innocent scenery comes to mind in which a man – who takes up the role of the narrator here – tries to convince some children to come and take a look at Mr. LaPage’s booth, presumably at a carnival or something similar, if they are looking for some fun. Of course this “fun” gains a rather obscene connotation in hindsight. In the same light the next two lines lose their sense of naïveté as well; the kind of fun the “always laughing” Mr. LaPage is having is anything but good clean fun and the fact that he is “showing his films in the den” already invokes an atmosphere of lewd secrecy. Yet the first real hint pointing towards the kind of illicit practices Mr. LaPage is engaged with in his den, lies in the next two lines. The incentive “Come on, come on, soon you will be eighteen” evokes an obtrusive, covetous Mr. LaPage’s with a disturbing preference for an adolescent crowd

40 populating his movie hall – a perfect age for the kind of fun he is planning on having with them. The sphere of secrecy then grows even stronger in the next four lines. Like a snake in the grass the man on the street, who is increasingly gaining the allure of a charlatan, tries to lure in as many children as possible by portraying this scurvy get together as an innocent conspiracy against their parents, thus making it all the more appealing for them. b) Chorus

The chorus here is very ambiguous in terms of interpretation, we encounter a sudden shift in focalisation and narrative stance and this makes it unclear who exactly is speaking. A first and most straightforward approach might be that it is Mr. LaPage himself who is speaking here for the first time, expressing his joy with the state of affairs – the fact that he and the children are “alone at last” is his free ticket to safely performing his sordid deeds without priers. Yet the mere fact that we are dealing with Steely Dan lyrics here asks that we try and read the text from different angles as well. One possible alternate reading engages with the point of view of the children’s parents. A scene comes to mind where these parents – completely oblivious to what is actually happening with their beloved children – are all happy to spend some carefree alone time without their offspring who are all “gone to the movies”. In this light a very ironic situation unfolds itself in which the relief these parents are experiencing is very much misplaced and as such what is going on in the den of Mr. LaPage gains an even stronger sinister edge. c) Stanza 2

In the initial pair of lines we see how the narrator is continuing his attempt at manipulating and deluding the ignorant children, as a result of which the suspense is further heightened; to what kind of place does Mr. LaPage “wants to show [the children] the way”? In any case it is “right down the hallway with open arms” as the next line tells us. This can be perceived as a welcoming gesture on behalf of Mr. LaPage – perhaps a bit too welcoming. On the other hand these “open arms” can also be interpreted as symbolising that the children are heading towards a trap; once these arms have welcomed and gathered all the children they will suddenly close and keep the children locked in a tight, perverse grip. The most obscene gesture, however, can be derived from the subsequent line. Very likely this “new game to play” is not really a game one should play with an elderly man watching and stimulating you. A scene unfolds itself in which a mass masturbation session is orchestrated with Mr. LaPage being the industrious conductor.

In the next two lines then we see the narrator engage in the same incentive behaviour as he did in the first stanza. “Soon it will be too late” again hints at the highly specific taste of Mr. LaPage in selecting his audience. The encouragement is carried on into the next line as well, telling us “bobbing for apples can wait”. This bobbing for apples turns out to be an actual innocent children’s game (“Apple bobbing”), which stands in sharp contrast with the kind of game the children are playing in Mr. LaPage’s den. One might also interpret this line as an omen suggesting that the children are to lose this kind of innocence very soon. The final two lines of this stanza then are quite hard to pierce and upon first sight do not seem to make any sense. Another age-related reference comes to mind, but a more satisfactory explanation is presented to us on a few forums that are concerned with fan-based interpretations of Steely Dan lyrics. Both the forums on Song Meanings and Song Facts consider “sixteen or more” and “eight” to be references to the size of the film that is being used. 16 mm films were used for movies that were meant for the big screen, whereas amateur and underground filmmakers mostly used 8mm films (“Steely Dan – Everyone's Gone to the Movies”, “Everyone’s Gone to the Movies by Steely Dan”). Seeing how Mr. LaPage appears to be an amateur filmmaker with particularly shady intentions that had better remain ‘underground’ it is only logical that he uses 8mm films. d) Stanza 3

The first line of this short stanza resumes with the exact same words that initiated this song: “Kids if you want some fun”. By now of course we have a strong suspicion as to what kind of morbid fun is intended here, a suspicion that is heightened if we look at the next line as well. We get the unnerving sense that the adventurous sounding “see what you have never seen” could indeed mean an eye-opener for the children, albeit a rather explicit one. The final two lines then initiate the spectacle. As far as underlying meanings go these lines are quite transparent, safe for the strategic use of “cheaters”. Here the Steely Dan Dictionary proves its use, teaching us that this is a slang term for eyeglasses or sunglasses – in this context possibly the last. Fagen and Becker’s opting for this specific term instead of just using sunglasses probably is not based on coincidence. In its use we can discern a suggestion of an even more disconcerting reading. The fact that the children are wearing “cheaters” could be interpreted quite literally. One could namely regard this as a means to prevent the children from being spotted by unwanted observers in their entering of Mr. LaPage’s den, making them in a way actual cheaters. If we follow this line of thought, this could mean that the children are in fact not all that innocent either, on the contrary, they actually know what is going on in the den. A gloomy, sneaky partnership between Mr. LaPage and the children, in which the children consciously cheat on their parents, unravels itself. 42

However, as was the case with the two previous songs as well, the actual ending of the text lies in the chorus. In the light of our sudden plot twist mentioned above the chorus also resonates even more bleakly than before. Regardless of which of the two previously suggested interpretations of the chorus we apply here, the song ends on a macabre note. Either we picture Mr. LaPage and the children engaging in their improper act, now with mutual approval as it turns out, or we picture the parents now being fooled with twice the impact, once by Mr. LaPage and once by their own children.

3.3.2 Pinpointing black humour elements

When trying to determine the position of the narrator in search of black humour elements, we see that he takes up a peculiar role here. Unlike was the case with the homo-, autodiegetic I- narrator from the previous song, who was protagonist and of whom we had insights in his mind, this first person narrator is not the protagonist here and he keeps his thoughts to himself. As such we can speak of a homo-, and allodiegetic narrator, meaning that the narrator is actually present as an ‘I’ in the text, but is not the protagonist and tells the story from the sidelines (Pieters: 137). While the previous narrator acted as an instance that explicitly seemed to address the reader and guide him through the story via internal focalisation, this narrator acts as a side-character in the form of the right-hand man of Mr. LaPage whose main task it is to mischievously lure in as many children as possible into the den. As such, as a character, this narrator does not immediately address the reader, but rather aims his attention to the children in the story.

Because of this situation in which the reader only gets addressed at a second, more distanced level, it might lead to insightful results if we posit this highly complex narrator as a schizophrenic filtering instance: one as a character at story level where he addresses the children and one as an actual narrator at meta-level who grants the reader a peek at what he is telling the children as a character. To maintain our structure as transparent as possible, these two instances will thus be kept separated in our discussion of the narrator here. As told above, as a character, the narrator functions as the shady ally of Mr. LaPage, operating from the margins. Yet, although he does not immediately participate in the actual action inside the den, our analysis of the text above has already posited that there are enough suggestive elements to be found hinting at him knowing very well what is happening inside. In a way he acts as a highly crucial ignition impulse for what goes on inside by addressing and luring in the children and as such he is still part of the action inside the den on an indirect level. The character 43 seems highly aware of the impact of his role and while others might stay away as far as possible from being part of an act so scandalous, he actually seems to find great pleasure in his job. This extracting of pleasure from the unpleasant combined with asense of involvement and detachedness all the same is, as we already know, typical of black humour narratives.

This twisted joy the character seems to receive from performing as charlatan is wittily reflected in the vocal performance of Fagen as well; his singing style very accurately calls to mind a sneaky scoundrel standing at the corner of the street, mysteriously setting out his bait. Especially the whispered, almost panting way of singing the line “come on, come on” comes across as exceptionally slippery. We can easily picture the character shivering with perverse excitement here. In all the deluding suspense and excitement he creates for the children, the character reveals himself almost as a twisted modern day variant of the Pied Piper of Hamelin throughout the song4.

As a reader then, we are shown what the character tells the children by his narrator-alter ego on meta-level. In this view, we are fully dependent on the scope of the narrator and since the narrator chooses to coincide with the character that is Mr. LaPage’s right hand, our scope is limited to the scope of that character. Seeing as that character works as an internal focalising instance in which he only shows his own personal observations (Pieters: 146), we cannot see what exactly goes on inside the den (cf. supra). However, the way the narrator lets his character narrate about what goes on in there, makes us suspect that there is something fishy going on. Yet we can only form this suspicion on the basis of allusions the character makes and as such are never completely certain about what exactly constitutes the events inside. By constantly letting his character allude to actions unknown to us, the narrator thus gains an allure of omniscience in relation to the reader and as such we can argue that he is also partly an external focalising instance on meta-level, but in a concealed way (Pieters: 146).

This secrecy of the narrator and the complex mixture between internal and external focalisation puzzles the reader completely and leaves him with a highly uneasy, disorienting uncertainty in which he is left guessing without ever finding an answer. As such we can speak of a highly unreliable narrator here, who is not only out to mock the action at story level, but also the

4 The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the subject of a legend concerning the disappearance or death of a great number of kids from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany, in the Middle Ages. The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicolored ("pied") clothing, leading the kids away from the town never to return. For more information on this story, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin.

44 reader, deliberately keeping vital information about the plot to himself. This double act of mockery by the narrator makes him a first class black humorist. Also, by remaining this elusive and toying around with the reader in such merciless fashion, the narrator not only mocks him, but also effectively hinders the process of identification for the reader.

Rather we should try and identify ourselves with the aura of the detachedness surrounding the narrator, both as actual narrator and as character at story level. By aligning ourselves with this act of dissociation, we position ourselves in the shadow of the narrator – who sort of stands in the shadows himself already – and as such create a distance as large as possible in relation to the actual story. In a way we become a ‘voyeur behind a voyeur’ and from this position we can extra safely profit from the comic shelter the narrator has constructed and enjoy the protective qualities of black humour’s scornful mask rather than being harmed by uncertainty or any of the other hostile forces at work. Significant in relation to these hostile forces is that they receive primary attention in the narrator/character’s recount; his scope is action-oriented and leaves no room for personal emotions or insights regarding his state of mind, or to quote Schulz once again: “the focus [is] less on the individual than on the world of experiences " (18-19).

This humour-provided safety, however, does not last forever and ultimately it is the underlying bleak message of the lyrics that perseveres, just as it ought to be in a black humour narrative. In this particular song it is at first sight a bit harder to pinpoint where exactly the aspect of bleakness reveals itself most, perhaps mostly because there is no obvious subject that tackles it head-on, but after some probing it is possible to come up with a plausible theory. Like in the other two songs the chorus again is most the difficult to swallow and leaves the wryest aftertaste in our mouths. This chorus specifically has the quality to unnerve the reader because of its ambiguity and elusiveness. The aforementioned sudden shift to an unknown narrative and focalising instance works highly disorienting and this lack of control has a very disturbing effect on the reader; he suddenly loses his ostensible grip and is drawn from behind the narrator, or in other words the position that made him feel untouchable. In order to make sense of the text again, we have to try and trace who exactly is speaking in the chorus, yet no matter how hard we search, the answer will forever remain in a veil of mystery. In the end it does not really matter who is speaking and who is addressing whom, however, because in both the interpretations we suggested one is not less bleak than the other and the reader is put in a mental state of discomfort all the same (cf. supra).

When looking at the role the chorus serves, it seems as if so far gradually a pattern is unfolding itself. By analogy with the other two songs the chorus is used as an endnote and once again the effect is the same: it concisely epitomises the sinister undertone of the whole text – as such it neatly coincides with the insights procured by Pattison in our framework – and lets it shimmer through with an unnerving audacity, precluding any form of sense making or value systems. A world that allows for the possibility for children to collectively deceive their parents to go and visit a hidden sex cinema is a world that is indisputably lost. What makes this chorus even more contorting is the fact that the music that goes along with it is so exceptionally joyful; in fact it sounds even celebratory. Diametrically opposing the spirit of the music with that of the lyrics, it is as if Fagen and Becker are celebrating the downfall of humanity and its environment – or at least the malicious events that make up this song – all the same in this chorus.

This counterpointing of music and text then is not limited to the chorus alone; in general the song has an enticing, Polynesian vibe running through it. However, if we listen to the music more carefully we do notice some progressions in the music that can be interpreted as glimpses pointing at the fact that there are dark forces slumbering beneath all this cheerfulness. For instance in the percussive section we can sometimes discern a slight sign of slowly approaching mischief and the exceptionally creepy line “come on, come on” (cf. supra) is supported by a menacingly buzzing and titillating melody that enlarges this sense of impending danger. Yet these are just details that can be easily missed on a casual listen; once again Steely Dan chooses to put its listeners on the wrong track, not keen on shedding their secretive skin so easily. Only those who actually take the time to pierce the surface stand a chance at grasping what could be the actual content of this song.

If we aim our scope at the component concerning language use finally, we notice a pattern arising as well. Once again the language use in itself is relatively simple and understandable; no difficult words are used, safe for the idiosyncratic slang use of “cheaters”. Just like it was the case in the other songs we have already discussed the density of the language lies in its layered structure that tends to leave the reader deceived rather easily. And again this density at lyrical level is made up for by the accessibility and smoothness of the music accompanying the lyrics, which is not to say that the music itself cannot be layered, as we saw demonstrated above. Also recurrent is the use of rhyme for the purpose of an easy remembrance. The rhyme schemes that are used here are ABABACCDDC for stanza 1, AABACDDED for stanza 2 and ABAB for stanza 3. Again not every act of rhyming is an example of perfect rhyme on paper, yet Fagen does make it sound like they are by altering his pronunciation of the words if necessary.

3.4 Peg

I've seen your picture Your name in lights above it This is your big debut It's like a dream come true So won't you smile for the camera I know they're gonna love it

I like your pin shot I keep it with your letter Done up in blueprint blue It sure looks good on you And when you smile for the camera I know I'll love you better

Peg It will come back to you Peg It will come back to you Then the shutter falls You see it all in 3-D It's your favorite foreign movie

3.4.1 General analysis

Further wandering down the same alley, this song seems to have ties with the pornographic industry as well, albeit on a more ‘professional level’. Whereas one might perceive this song text as revolving around the story of young aspiring movie actress at first, a close reading reveals that the kind of movies this woman is starring in might not really be adaptable for the big screen. Nevertheless she seems on her way to fame, with success lying in wait. However, one cannot help but feel that this success comes with a rather sore taste. Gradually one begins to feel as if Peg is on the run for something and a number of questions emerge: did Peg make the right decision stepping into this business? Will this amount of success have an impact on Peg’s personal life? And who exactly is this person who is addressing the young actress and why is he so sure of the fact that he will love her better?

47 a) Stanza 1

As is usually the case with Steely Dan lyrics, when reading the first two lines we are not immediately alarmed yet. A “picture” with a “name in lights above it” calls to mind an image of a billboard advertisement for the upcoming actress and it seems like Peg is making her claim to fame. The next two lines, however, are already oozing with sarcasm when we approach them in retrospect within the frame of the suggested interpretation. We can hardly picture the young Peg experiencing “a dream come true” in her “big debut” as a porn actress, especially when we are dealing with Steely Dan lyrics that seem to have a tendency to preclude any form of fulfilment or satisfaction for its protagonists. This sense of sarcasm then is carried over into the final two lines in which we get the sense that Peg is rather tauntingly asked to “smile for the camera”. The suggestion that Peg might not be enjoying her presence in stardom all that much already teasingly shimmers through. Yet according to the person addressing Peg, the fans on the other hand will most definitely enjoy the sight of a new addition to their list of favourite actors. b) Stanza 2

Before we continue our analysis it is crucial that we try and determine who exactly might be this person that is addressing Peg so that we can elaborate on certain elements that stem from this relationship that Peg and this person seem to have. Two possible interpretations come to mind; one posits – in short – the adversary as presumably an ex-boyfriend of Peg who is now bitterly mocking her and her new career, the other one posits him as a pathologically obsessed fan that might have taken his cult of idolatry a bit too far. Now that we have a clear idea of this, we can return to the analysis with a more specific mindset.

The two opening lines of this stanza already demonstrate the necessity of a particular image in of Peg’s observer. With this image in our mind we can either picture the obsessed fan covetously keeping Peg’s “pin shot” with a fan mail or we can interpret these lines depicting the scornful ex- boyfriend, who is taunting Peg, channelling his frustrations by means of holding a grudge against her. In this case, the “letter” then might stand for a relic of their former relationship, perhaps the letter that ended it all. A “pin shot” can be considered an allusion to a photo of a pin-up girl here, a thought that is also supported by a lot of contributors to the various forums that are involved with deciphering Steely Dan lyrics.5

5The following forums mention this interpretation of ‘pin shot’: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=7205, https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070511215035AAOT0ZO, http://songmeanings.com/songs/vforiew/103357/ 48

The next two lines then contain the first real clue suggesting that Peg is actually a porn actress: according to the online Urban Dictionary, “blueprint” is “another term for porn movie in the 70’s/80’s, commonly used in South East Asia and the Middle East”. A search on Wikipedia further supports this: “A blue film, blue picture, or bf is a euphemistic term used in India, Israel, Nigeria, Sri Lanka for an adult film, often made by amateurs or shot in style recalling amateur pornography” (“Blue Film”). Finally the Song Facts (cf. supra) forum section on ‘Peg’ also puts forward this interpretation. Although none of these should be considered very authoritative sources on their own, the fact that they all reason along the same lines must mean they are onto something and as mentioned earlier Steely Dan is known for its obscure referencing, so this obscure interpretation does seem to make sense. The second line then – “It sure looks good on you” – brings to mind either the obsessive stalker expressing his disturbing adoration for Peg or the grudging ex-boyfriend who cannot hide a sarcastic, bitter undertone.

Peg is once again encouraged to “smile for the camera” in the next line, yet now our adversary follows this encouragement with the unsettling and mysterious line: “I know I’ll love you better”. We have once again stumbled upon a line that leaves itself open to interpretation with regard to both our approaches. One interpretation is that we picture Peg’s former lover uttering a sneer directed to all of her fans. They can adore her and crave her all they want, the ex-lover knows that he loves Peg on a different level and with an intensity that they will never know. In other words we see him still struggling over of the fact that he and Peg share a connection, a history. The other interpretation then, revolving around the fan that seems to take his adoration for Peg a step too far, suggests this fan in more or less the same situation as the ex-lover. He also believes that of all her fans he is the one that loves Peg the most, no matter what. Note that “I’ll love you better” is written in future tense, making this statement all the more disturbing and ominous. The question arises whether the stalker is up to something; should we interpret this line as an omen of things to come? c) Stanza 3

This stanza begins with a pair of lines that repeats itself twice. First we have the apostrophe “Peg”, which is subsequently followed by the line “it will come back to you”. This second line gives the apostrophe an ominous undertone, much like an oracle speaking in riddles to its addressee about his or her fate. Perhaps this ominous undertone refers to the unnerving portent of the final line in the previous stanza? The fact that Peg is directly called by her name here

49 makes the message much more personal as well and as such also more threatening. Our unknown speaking instance resorts to an explicit ad hominem approach here and the certainty with which he does so, does not exactly seem to predict that all will be rosy for Peg.

Yet while this statement is written in the future tense, it hints at the resurfacing of something that has already happened; a reminiscence of something that Peg seems more keen on repressing than remembering. But then, as we read next line, “the shutter falls”, which can be interpreted as a reference to the shutter of the camera falling. In relation to our interpretation this could mean that the cameras have stopped rolling and that Peg’s performance has ended. When this shutter falls, however, Peg suddenly “[sees] it all in 3-D”. We can easily interpret this as Peg suddenly very vividly remembering what was supposed to come back to her; the prediction has been fulfilled.

But what exactly does Peg so suddenly remember? First of all it has to be something that also involves our unknown speaking instance, either in the form of a resentful ex-boyfriend or in the form of an obsessed fan. A first possible interpretation revolves around the obsessed fan being so overcome with his morbid appreciation for Peg that he decides to make her part of it as well. To put it bluntly, one can read this text as a suggestion of Peg being the victim of rape at the hands of arguably her most ‘passionate fan’. It all starts with the line “I know I’ll love you better”, of which we already said it had a sense of slumbering tension surrounding it. In the light of a rape scenario this line would then suggest the fan with the idea of a rape blossoming in his mind. When we move on to the last stanza, the first four lines show us that the rape has already been performed. The line “It will come back to you” then hints at the inevitable fact that the reminiscence of this horrible deed will come back to haunt Peg, no matter how hard she tries to repress it. In other words it suggests that Peg is in a state of trauma.

“Then the shutter falls” sort of functions as the turning point or volta here; from the moment the cameras stop Peg is confronted with the resurfacing image of her being raped. Having just performed her pornographic act, her memory is triggered and she relives it all again, and in a very lively way, as the line “you see it all in 3D” hints at. The final line then, which we have not discussed yet, can be read very sarcastically and receives a sinister touch with regard to our interpretation. The obsessed fan describes Peg’s rape as her “favorite foreign movie” with foreign movie possible being another euphemistic term for a porn movie again. In this way he very darkly, disturbingly seems to intend that him raping her will forever be the best porn movie Peg has starred in. Another interpretation might be that this ‘foreign’ indicates that it all is very

50 unreal for Peg; she refuses to believe or accept what has happened, which once again hints at her being traumatised.

Another possible interpretation includes the speaking instance in the form of Peg’s former boyfriend. Basically it comes down to the fact that he believes that Peg will regret that she broke their relationship and that feelings of regret will haunt her (cf. “It will come back to you”). Here as well “Then the shutter falls” serves as the turning point, suggesting that Peg pornographic activities will serve as the trigger that brings all the memories of her relationship with her spiteful ex-boyfriend back to the surface, hence also the line “You see it all in 3-D”. “It’s your favorite foreign movie” then could be a sarcastic sneer again suggesting that the best porn movie she has starred in (i.e. the best sex or relationship she has ever had) is with him in it. Apart from that the “foreign movie” could also symbolise the distance that has grown between them; they become estranged from one another. In this we could then see a criticising of what kind of person – read: porn star – Peg has become now.

3.4.2 Pinpointing black humour elements

When we try and determine what kind of narrator we are dealing with here in order to pin down the black humour elements of this song, we notice some significant similarities with the narrating instance in ‘Everyone’s Gone to The Movies’. In both cases we are dealing with a first person homo- and allodiegetic narrator (Pieters: 137). Just as in the previous song the narrator portrays a marginal character at story level that does not stand in a direct relationship with the reader because he primarily addresses someone else, namely the protagonist Peg. As such an approach in which we regard the narrative instance as an equivocal one seems preferable once again; the character who addresses Peg at story level and the actual narrator who is connected to the reader on meta-level.

When we look at the character at story level, we first of all notice a few differences in relation to the character embodied by the previous narrator. First of all, this character seems to stand in less immediate connection with his addressee, as he does not address Peg directly in person. He rather approaches her from an unknown position from which he mocks her mercilessly. As such he gains the aura of an embedded omniscient narrator in relation to Peg, which is especially apparent in the future tense lines, in which he seemingly predicts for her of which she herself has no knowledge yet. This makes the aspect of detachment very obtrusive and we could actually argue that, in relation to his object of focalisation (i.e. Peg), he constructs for himself a similar comical shelter as the narrator normally does at an external level in relation to the story. 51

On the other hand, however, and again in contrast with the character conveyed by the previous narrator, we are granted an occasional insight into the mind of the character here, and these occasional sneak peeks suggest that the character has a more personal connection to the addressee, either on the basis of a personal grudge in our interpretation concerning the ex-lover or based on feelings of obsessive desire when we take into account the interpretation depicting a deranged fan. In this light the sense of detachment is somewhat weakened again, since it might hinder the character in keeping up an impersonal approach. This would be especially true when we posit the character as the ex-boyfriend of Peg, because this very intimate connection would very possibly stand in the way of that ‘cool-headedness’ so common in black humour narratives. In the case of the deranged fan, however, the act of mocking someone you have potentially raped, is an act as merciless as they come and can therefore certainly be deemed an act of very black humour.

When we subsequently aim our scope at how the narrator functions towards the reader at meta- level, we encounter a similar situation as in ‘Everyone’s Gone to the Movies’ in which the reader is victimised because of his dependence on the narrator and the character he constitutes. Again the narrator lets his character allude to plot elements that are elliptically concealed and of which the reader, as a result, has no knowledge. As such the narrator once again gains the upper hand in relation to the reader, positing himself as an omniscient, but unreliable narrator who chooses to disorient the reader rather than guiding him. So as we see in terms of reliability, the eventual outcome is the same as in the previous song.

Yet on top of mocking the reader, the narrator here also can be accused of engaging in an act of self-mockery; on meta-level he namely seems to be making a fool of the character he portrays at story level. Taking this into account, we can consider the actual narrator as the paramount cunning observer operating from within the safety of his comic ivory tower. In one turn, he mocks three instances simultaneously; Peg, the reader and his own character. Of Peg he – in his appearance as a character – mocks the fact that she is either raped or shunned by her adversary, that she seems to be suffering from a trauma, and that she, in the midst of all her success as a porn actress, actually seems to feel really unhappy on the inside. He ridicules the reader about his lack of knowledge and finally, with regard to his own character portrayal he makes fun of this character not being able to withstand his own wretched desires and poltergeists. Focusing on the characters in story, in a summarising comment we can say that the narrator in both cases mocks the fact that neither of the characters can cope with the hostile forces of their

52 environment converging on them and that both of them are seriously struggling to make sense of their essentially senseless environment, as such they both are ultimately lost individuals.

With regard to the protective qualities of black humour then, we can more or less follow the same argumentation as the one we posited in our analysis of the previous song. The reader finds shelter and reason to laugh when he positions himself along the same height as the narrator. Yet as always, this shelter will not last and is eventually undercut by both the feeling of uncertainty the narrator leaves the reader with and by the senselessness resonating in the end. While in the other three songs this resonation resided in the chorus, this particular song does not really have a chorus as such. In here the last stanza serves a similar purpose with the three final lines in particular providing the song a haunting edge before fading out. The suggestion that Peg is forever stuck in her state of trauma, constantly reliving her experience, can be seen as an ultimate undermining of hope.

Of course, as is always the case with Steely Dan songs, the music serves a very important role in conveying the black humour in the text as well. Again we encounter a situation in which musical content and lyrical content are heavily counterpointed. If we listen to the musical aspects of Peg without taking the lyrics into account, we might even feel the urge to start dancing, for Peg sounds like a swinging 70’s disco tune – a tune that fits a star on the rise. The music creates a constant feeling of joyous anticipation in which everyone seems to be waiting for the big star of the night to show up. For instance the opening lines are filled with this kind of anticipation- generating joy and the keyboard lines have a quality among them that seems to continuously put the spotlights on Peg and her path to stardom. Taking into account vocals, we hear Fagen singing as if he is in constant awe.

Yet most evident in their bringing to mind the arrival of a rising prodigy, are the backing vocals in the third stanza in their elongated chanting of Peg’s own name. It feels as if the name Peg is already resonating through the halls of fame in Hollywood. When compared to the actual content that is suggested by the lyrics, the irony of course is palpable constantly. Whereas the music – and the text itself at first sight as well – seems to depict Peg as an actress on the brink of major breakthrough, with a whole life full of success in front of her, our close reading of success suggested just the opposite. Putting the slow descent into a perpetual state of despair of a woman haunted by trauma on such majestic musical tones is an act of mockery as vicious and merciless as they come.

With regard to language use then finally, we can again say that for the most part it is again fairly easy an sich, except for a few slang terms that effectively hinder a good understanding of the text at first sight. What strikes us in this slang terms is that with each song they seemingly become more obscure; for the terms ‘foreign movie’, ‘pin shot’ and ‘blueprint’ we could not or barely find any authoritative sources explaining their significance. Up until now we notice an evolution in which Steely Dan’s cryptic language use keeps on getting more evasive and elusive. The impenetrability of the text is, just like it is in all other songs, again met by light, accessible music. Rhyme also reappears here, probably again with the intention of making it easier for the reader/listener to interiorise the text. The rhyme scheme that Fagen and Becker use here is ABCCDB for the first two stanzas and ABABCDD for the final one. Apart from perfect rhymes we also have a few identical rhymes here, most notably in the first four lines of the final stanza. This is of course because these pairs of lines are identical in their totality, which is done with the eye on emphasising the ominous message they seem to put forward.

3.5 Hey Nineteen

Way back when In Sixty-seven I was the dandy Of Gamma Chi Sweet things from Boston So young and willing Moved down to Scarsdale Where the hell am I

Hey Nineteen No we can't dance together No we can't talk at all Please take me along When you slide on down

Hey Nineteen That's 'Retha Franklin She don't remember The Queen of Soul It's hard times befallen The sole survivors

She thinks I'm crazy But I'm just growing old

Hey Nineteen No we got nothing in common No we can't talk at all Please take me along When you slide on down

The Cuervo Gold The fine Colombian Make tonight a wonderful thing

No we can't dance together No we can't talk at all

3.5.1 General analysis

This song seems to revolve around what we could call an episode in the life of a ‘male cougar’ – cougar of course in its meaning of a woman who is out to have sexual relationships with men of much younger age (“Cougar (slang)”). This cougar is suffering from a major sense of nostalgia when reflecting on his former glory days, back when he was successful and esteemed highly by the other sex. Now little remains of this lustre, however, and he feels very much out of place. To make up for this then, the cougar engages in lonesome, deluded quests in which he desperately tries to relive these glory days by skimming bars and trying to pick up young, blossoming girls. Both he and they know, however, that he has become an old man that does not fit in with this scene of youngsters anymore; the girls consider him crazy and he feels misunderstood, painfully aware of the fact that he has nothing in common anymore with this new generation. But one must be wary, for this cougar has one last party trick up his sleeve that can serve to comfortably numb these feelings of mutual misunderstanding – drinks and drugs are always a good last resort in this case. Whether he eventually succeeds in picking up a girl is left open for interpretation, but we do, however, start to question the lasting efficiency of the cougar’s befogging strategies in the end.

55 a) Stanza 1

The aforementioned sense of nostalgia that goes out of from the protagonist is already initiated in the first two lines where we find him reflecting on his life in the year 1967. Immediately afterwards, in the subsequent two lines, we are enlightened as to why the protagonist so happily recalls this time; these were his golden years as back then he was “the dandy of Gamma Chi”. The fact that he grants himself the title of “dandy” must mean that in his primetime the protagonist must have been quite the popular and eccentric individual. “Gamma Chi” then sounds like a typical name for an all American college fraternity, and can thus be interpreted as a reference to the protagonist in his student years. When we search the Internet for a Gamma Chi in Boston (cf. infra), however, we fall upon the Kappa Gamma Chi association, which is a sorority instead of fraternity (“Kappa Gamma Chi”). A possible interpretation here could be that Fagen and Becker decided to include the name of a sorority rather than a fraternity as a cunning allusion to the protagonist who thinks of his former self as quite the ladies man back in those days.

This image of the protagonist being a debauchee when it comes to interaction with the female sex is further conveyed in the two lines that follow, in which he thinks back on all those “sweet things from Boston” (cf. supra), who were all “so young and willing”. It seems as if the girls, who were most likely part of the Gamma Chi movement mentioned in the line above, back then were all lining up to spend quality time with “the dandy of Gamma Chi”. Subsequently a bitter awareness suddenly hits the protagonist, however, when he thinks about the current shape his life has taken on. Now that he has “moved down to Scarsdale” he asks himself “where the hell am I?” It seems as if the protagonist has a hard time coming to terms with his growing too old for the freewheeling life he once led. This “where the hell am I” as such might not only convey a feeling of alienation in terms of spatiality, but also might be oriented to the self of the protagonist, he could be very well be suffering from an identity crisis now that all of the former glory in his life has vanished. When we consult the Steely Dan Dictionary we notice that “Scarsdale” is an actual place and “is considered to be among the most upscale towns in Westchester Count, which in turn is the most upscale of the areas surrounding [New York City]” (O’Malley). The idea that he is living in such an upper class side of town elicits an even bigger feeling of being out of place for the protagonist. The elitist aura that probably surrounds this area stands in sharp contrast with the feelings of yearned dissipation the protagonist is experiencing inside.

56 b) Stanza 2/Chorus

Together with stanza 4, this stanza could be considered as constituting the chorus, yet there is one line that differs between both stanzas and as such we will discuss them separately. The transition from the previous stanza to this one is marked by a sudden leap in time; we find the protagonist already in the midst of his hunt for younger girls. As we will see below, from hereon everything revolves around the highlighting of just how out of place the protagonist exactly is here, very likely a lot more than in his home in Scarsdale.

The stanza begins with an apostrophe, “Hey Nineteen”, which can be seen as a personification for all the mutually exchangeable young girls the protagonist tries (or has tried, or is going to try) to make a pass at. Then we see the protagonist admitting in an anaphoric construction that they “can’t dance together” and “can’t talk at all”. The fact that their dancing is by no means synchronised can be interpreted as a form ‘generation-generated’ friction’, the protagonist and the girls stem from different generations and as such are used to dancing to different music. Besides this they also fail to find any common ground at all to talk about; the protagonist just cannot keep up with the younger generation anymore – he has no idea of what is stirring in their world, so to say. An additional feeling that adds insult to injury here is the sense of shadiness and scandal that also accompanies these lines; he cannot engage with such young girls, for it is a shameful act on behalf of both parties – the girls do not want to be seen with such an old man and from his side it makes for a rather perverse sight.

Being painfully aware of his shortcomings, the protagonist then resorts to a more desperate approach by uttering the following lines: “Please take me along, when you slide on down”. According to the Free dictionary, ‘to slide down’ means ‘to cave in, collapse, give way’, etc. As such we can interpret this statement here as a plea from the protagonist to accompany the girls towards the exit when they have had too much to drink. He probably plans on offering them a comforting shoulder only to take advantage of the situation afterwards. Another, more escapist oriented reading suggests that the protagonist wants to join the girls in their self-destructive alcohol rush in order to be freed from the suffocating weight of his current existence. In either case what stands out is just how big of a fool the protagonist is making of himself in the pursuit of his former glory days.

57 c) Stanza 3

Drifting along the waves generated by the previous stanza, this stanza serves to further deepen the omni-palpable feeling of mutual misconception between the protagonist and his girls of prey. Again the stanza is set in motion by the apostrophe “Hey Nineteen”, which because of its iterative use – it will also initiate the subsequent stanza – gains the allure of a desperate, overly affectionate call for attention from the young girls on behalf of the protagonist. Next the protagonist goes on to mention “’Retha Franklin”, which of course refers to Aretha Franklin, a woman that can be considered an anthem of his generation. Yet again this wavering act of trying to establish a mutual subject of conversation is cut off, for the girl “don’t remember the Queen of Soul”. She seems to have no affinity with the kind of music he grew up with, which in turn once again highlights the stupefying contrast that exists between them. What our protagonist considers to be “the Queen of Soul” has no place in the world of the young girl he is so desperately trying to connect with.

On a more autobiographically oriented side note, another reading of these lines could hint at a tongue-in-cheek sneer at younger ‘culturally pauperised’ generations by Fagen and Becker. As we can read in his Eminent Hipsters, Fagen feels a strong affinity for and admits to being partly influenced by rhythm-and-blues, soul music, and, within that genre, female singers. Among the artists he writes about are the ‘Boswell Sisters’ (1-12), Ray Charles (63-65) and Ike Turner (66- 71). Besides this, we also know that he looks at younger generations with the necessary scepticism. A quote in the analysis of ‘Do It Again’ earlier already illustrated this, and there are more to find, for instance the following:

“By the way, I’m not posting this journal on the Internet. Why should I let you lazy, spoiled TV Babies read it for nothing in the same way you download all those songs my partner and I sacrificed our entire youth [for] to write and record […]” (89)

“The previous night in Tulsa had turned out to be a gas, a great crowd. Tonight, though, too many TV Babies out there. They mainly wanted to hear the hits they knew from when they were kids, or from their parents’ vinyl collection, or classic radio.” (118)

This lament aimed at the difficulty in trying to connect with the younger generations is then continued into next two lines: “It’s hard times befallen, the sole survivors”. In these lines we can read how the protagonist falls into an exclamation of self-pithy, regarding himself a “sole survivor” of his own generation in the midst of all these younger people; the loneliness of the 58 protagonist is epitomised here. Again we can read this from a more autobiographical approach as well, in which the previously mentioned sneer is intensified. In this light we should also mention the homophonous relation between “sole” and “soul”, which can thus be interpreted as referring to the Queen of Soul, or soul music in general. In the last two lines we explicitly encounter the clashing of two worlds from two perspectives, from the protagonist’s perspective and from what the protagonist imagines to be the point of view of the young girl. Whereas the young girl perceives him and his desperate moves as “crazy”, to the protagonist himself it is just an indication that he is “growing old”. The fact that the protagonist is aware of the fact that he is making a ridiculous figure towards the girl makes it all the more embarrassing and harrowing of course. d) Stanza 4/Chorus

Like we said earlier, this stanza combined with the second one more or less makes up the chorus of the song and as such this stanza bathes in exactly the same atmosphere as the second stanza, safe for the fact that the feeling of disharmony is enlarged even more here because of the emphasising quality of repetition. Adding to this intensifying effect is also the only line that makes this stanza differ from the second one: instead of “we can’t dance together”, the second line now says: “we got nothing in common”. This is the first and only time that the protagonist so explicitly and frankly pins down the reigning disharmony between him and the young girl and as such it gains the power of a disclosing statement – of course this is a disclosure of what was obvious all along. We can picture the protagonist growing more and more self-conscious as time passes by; he seems to be finding himself on the brink of defeat. e) Stanza 5

The protagonist has a remedy to wash away this sense of defeat, however, allowing him to enjoy what has up until has seemed to be an excruciating, confronting experience. This remedy consists out of only two ingredients: “Cuervo Gold” and “fine Colombian”. The first one is “a brand of Mexican Tequila” according to the Steely Dan Dictionary (O’Malley), yet about the latter the dictionary does not say anything. A little deductive reasoning, however, grants us with a highly probable interpretation of this “fine Colombian”, for it is very likely that – much by analogy with the similar, well-known “Bolivian marching powder”– it stands for a pseudonym for cocaine in this context. In support of this interpretation, a section on drug trafficking on the website of the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) teaches us that Colombia is one of the main sources of cocaine distributors (“Drug Trafficking”). So as a matter of last resort, 59 the protagonist can still count on his shots of tequila and snorts of cocaine to “make tonight a wonderful thing”.

Yet as to what exactly implies this “wonderful thing” we are left guessing to a certain extent. In trying to pin down the ambiguity here, there are two possible approaches that stand out as the most likely. The first one involves the protagonist keeping his drugs and alcohol for self-use in order to receive a high enough state of intoxication that will deprive him of his senses and self- awareness completely. As such he will be able to look past all the aforementioned generation gaps and it will be easier to connect with his object of lust – or so he believes. Another, much more unsettling way of interpreting this line suggests that the protagonist does not use the drugs and drinks for himself. Instead he feeds it to his girl of prey in order to ‘loosen her up’ and dull her senses, making it much easier to reel her in. Or to formulate it more bluntly, the protagonist engages in a clever act of sexual harassment. Of course, we could find ourselves standing in the grey zone here as well, as it could very well be that both the protagonist and the girl are enjoying the benefits of the “Cuervo Gold” and “fine Colombian”. f) Stanza 6

While these tactics might help the protagonist to get what he wants for one night, one is left to wonder about their lasting effects, however, when we take into account the two concluding lines of this song. Using the repetition of the lines “We can’t dance together, no we can’t talk at all” as a final note, Fagen and Becker eventually choose to emphasise this contorting message so that it overwhelms the thought of a wonderful night in the previous stanza. We get the idea that in the end the protagonist will never succeed in actually establishing a solid relationship with the girls he is so keen on engaging with, nor will he ever he able to lead the life he used to – not even drugs or alcohol are going to help him with this one. Instead the protagonist will forever have to continue to live with the feeling that he does not fit in with the youngsters anymore, his primetime is over.

3.5.2 Pinpointing black humour elements

As the analysis already signified, we are dealing with a prototypical black humour protagonist here. All the features usually ascribed to a character in a black humour narrative make their appearance in this particular one. First of all and most prominently our protagonist is essentially nothing more than a trackless, derailed individual forced to look in the face of a cruel world full of volatile temptations. Struck by boredom and a lack of meaning in his current existence he 60 feels alienated in relation to his environment, which is also one of the most prominent features in black humour, and as such is suffering of what we could call a form of existential crisis. Trapped in this disquieting state of mind he yearns for his younger days, when everything seemed careless still. Eventually the plainness of his own existence combined with the merciless enticements outside that lurk everywhere trick the protagonist into believing that it might actually be possible to relive these blithely years. This attention not only for the individual but also for his surroundings, which seem to have no regard for him and his needs at all, is also typical of black humour.

While the protagonist is deluded in his hope that he can re-enter his past life by trying to pick up young girls, he is at the same time very self-conscious and aware of his situation as well. His thought process shows that he knows very well that what he is doing is misplaced and that he does not fit in by any means with the younger generation. So while being very much involved with his situation, in the midst of his desperate quest the protagonist does still take the time to reflect on what is happening. This makes him, again like a true black humour protagonist, simultaneously immersed in and detached from his surroundings. The fact, however, that he continues his ways nonetheless illustrates just how strong the influences of his surroundings are; temptation (read: young girls and bars) is everywhere. Besides this it also shows how weak- willed the protagonist himself is. Again it is underscored how a hostile society exploits the weaknesses of a lost individual.

While a society this exploitive of its inhabitants can be considered illustrative of senseless existence, the fact that the protagonist seeks his fulfilment in such hollow thrills can be indicative of the meaninglessness of life just the same. Add to that the aforementioned suggestion of sexual harassment and we get a pretty strong scrutinizing and accusation of the value systems and ordering devices – or lack thereof – in society at that time. However, while this song might be regarded as an accusation of what is wrong with society, it certainly does not come up with any solutions, on the contrary, it, in accordance with what the black humour tradition prescribes, seems to accept the senselessness of life and even revels in it, engaging in merciless mockery.

That is not to say, however, that there is no sense of comfort to be found in this song, because that is exactly what this aforementioned mockery aims at. Its humour can be seen as a temporary means to put all this misery and bleakness into perspective. In the last two songs this mockery was conveyed by a sideline narrator/character who distantly observed the protagonist, the environment or both, but just like in the second song ‘Night by Night’ we now have a homo-, 61 and autodiegetic narrator, which means the narrator and protagonist are one and the same (Pieters: 137). As such things are a bit different and we now perceive the action again through a filtering instance that uses internal focalisation and from its position stands in a direct relationship with the reader and guides him through the story. Because of this there is no need to divide the instance of the narrator in two.

However, as we said earlier, this coinciding of protagonist and narrator does not mean there is no sense of detachment to be discerned. By means of self-reflection the protagonist/narrator engages in a detached stance, trying to get a hold of himself and put the circumstances of events in perspective. It is in this interiorised act of dissociation that we have to seek our black humoristic shelter. The detached state of mind of the protagonist thwarts a smooth identification process between him and the reader, which eventually results in the reader – unlike the protagonist and narrator – never being fully immersed into the situation. Rather than with the person of the protagonist, the reader should identify himself with his detached stance, for in doing so he will be able to approach the situation in coolheaded fashion, not feeling immediately threatened by the hostile forces that torment the protagonist. This distant view makes it also quite hard to display empathy towards the protagonist, because it exposes just how much of a ridiculous figure he is portraying in relation to his surroundings, instead the reader is more inclined to start laughing at the ridiculousness and absurdity of the whole situation and this makes for a feeling of momentary safety.

It can be argued that the protagonist himself also experiences a moment in which he is temporary relieved from his misery, namely in his “Cuervo Gold” and “fine Colombian”. But as said earlier, this shelter is mercilessly and almost sneakily destroyed eventually. This furtiveness mostly stems from the fact that the end of the song does not reside in the chorus as a whole this time, but only in two lines. As a result these two crucial lines receive major emphasis and resonate all the more, it as if the protagonist – and we too for that matter – hears an incessant whispering voice inside his head that puts him in a perpetual state of alienation and ‘out-of-placeness’. Once again the sinister undertone eventually takes the upper hand.

With regard to the music then we can say that it very adequately evokes the sense of nostalgia that is palpable at the start of the text. A cheesy high school tune, driven by a steady percussive beat beaming with confidence and adorned with fringes of breezy piano and guitar is what we hear. It becomes easy to picture the protagonist strolling happily, almost smugly down the campus – “the dandy of Gamma Chi”. So with regard to the first few lines, musical and lyrical content stand in a transparent one on one relationship. However, this transparency is only 62 short-lived, for when the text gradually starts to feel less light-hearted, the music on the other hand continues on the same confident élan.

When the unsettling chorus sets in subsequently we suddenly notice how the singing becomes polyphonic: both Fagen and the backing vocals chime in, sometimes even letting their voices intertwine. By doing this, we feel as if the backing vocals are functioning as the conscience of the protagonist. Sounding both pitiful and melancholic, and pleading at the same time, they illustrate that the protagonist is stuck inside his thoughts. On top of that, this pitying tone by the backing vocals also makes for a palpable sense of defeat, depicting the protagonist as a hopeless failure. Fagen then takes over again in the concluding pair of lines, sounding desperately decisive; the protagonist seems to have made up his mind and sets his eyes on the prize.

After the next stanza and a reappearance of the chorus, an instrumental intermezzo is what follows. The intermezzo still has the same carefree vibe, but is accompanied by a few interjections of Fagen, which make for a mocking undertone. The listener is left to wonder if the “mmm, mmm, mmm” and “nice” the singer utters are to be interpreted as coming from the protagonist, who is sizing up his potential prey, or if one should perceive this as Fagen himself mockingly commenting on the pathetic scenery from a meta-perspective. Afterwards this interlude merges into the penultimate stanza, which is again sung by the backing vocalists and as a result is highly reminiscent of the atmosphere evoked in the choruses. They make the “Cuervo gold” and “fine Colombian” really sound like a desperation act. These same backing vocals then also sing the last two lines and again provide them with the same wistful, melancholy undertone. The backing vocalists now seem to be mourning the protagonist, who is torn in between; he knows that what he is doing is completely wrong, yet he cannot muster the courage and will-power to change his ways and as such seems forever stuck in his deluded yearning for a life that will never be his again.

It is fairly certain to stay that, with regard to language use, we have encountered a particular pattern in Steely Dan lyrics by now. A combination of simple language use and obscure, esoteric terms, which are often part of a slang jargon, seems to be one of the trademarks in the writing of Fagen and Becker. An evolution within this particular corpus that we already pointed at earlier, is that these terms seem to become gradually more and more specific: “Gamma Chi” and “Cuervo gold” are terms you will not find in a dictionary or any other reference work for that matter. This of course opens up these terms and the text as a whole to a range of different interpretations; exactly what Steely Dan is so notorious for. Something else that stands out here is that for the first time Fagen and Becker stayed away from using rhyme in their lyrics. We have, however, a 63 triple repetition of the apostrophe “Hey Nineteen”, which also is good way to make the text stick, or at least part of it.

Now that we have concluded the analysis of this song, we have tackled the whole corpus and as such we can to our conclusion in which we will summarise our acquired insights in a final, transparent way and see how they match with our initial research questions.

4. Conclusion

We can begin this conclusion with one certainty in the back of our minds: based on the insights acquired in this study, it is fairly safe to call Donald Fagen and Walter Becker true black humorists. In the corpus we have selected we see those aspects we have labelled typically black humour in our framework all recur to a greater or lesser extent. First of all the lyrics we tackled all revolve around extracting laughter from sources that are not actually funny at all. On the contrary, these sources consist out of situations that deal with the darkest, most harrowing aspects of human life and society and as such we can say that Steely Dan actually engages in acts of pure schadenfreude. Objects of ridicule in this particular corpus were: addictions in different kinds and shapes, sexual abuse including paedophilia and rape, mental states of trauma, poverty, existential crises and defeatism, and more in general the inability to escape predestination.

Conform the black humour tradition Steely Dan does not posit this mockery as merely a form of blind laughter, however. In it we can find a means to implicitly criticise a society that makes no sense whatsoever and only seems out to tempt and entice the individual through hostile forces that will eventually lead to his downfall. So in fact, Fagen and Becker largely put the blame on a meaningless and callous environment for the fact that the individual has utterly lost his way in life. This is also the reason why they choose to focus not only on the state of mind of these individuals but just as much or even more on these destructive environmental forces that cave in on them. It is actually often so that we are to deduct the mental state of a character through looking at and interpreting these external forces. This of course presupposes that the character himself is aware of these forces dwelling his surroundings and as such Steely Dan lyrics usually present their characters as highly self-conscious in relation to both their situations and the fact that they are incapable of overcoming them, deeming them typical characters of a black humour narrative.

Besides the above, our framework also ascribed another precious quality to this incessant mockery; namely its ability to protect one momentarily from all the misery and raging indifference of the outside world, a quality that is apparent in Steely Dan lyrics as well. If we look at the narrators, we notice how they always turn what is a source of pain for their characters into a source of ridicule for themselves and as such place themselves in a superior, safe position. This superior position then presupposes a certain degree of detachedness in relation to what happens at story level, something we also see very clearly in the approach of the narrators towards the story they are presenting. In four out of five songs in our corpus, we have a

65 narrative instance presented by a character at story level, so in those cases we see this detached stance embodied by the characters as well. The degree of detachedness in those cases depended on how the characters positions themselves in relation to their environment; we should ask ourselves whether these characters outright shun their surroundings or are still hesitatingly struggling to find a place in them.

Subsequently this act of dissociation has proven to trickle down and have an impact on the reader as well: the fact that it is accompanied by a certain distance towards the object of focalisation precludes any transparent identification processes between reader and character or environment. Hence, if the reader wants to create a safe haven for himself in all this misery as well, it is quite obvious what his options are. Attempting to identify with the character and his environment will only lead to feelings of unease and pain, so in order to ward off these feelings the reader is better off aligning himself with a detached approach that mocks these feelings from a safe and superior vantage point and as such serves to put things into perspective.

However, as our framework has showed us, black humour would not be black if it did not eventually undercut all these feelings of safety and leave us with feelings of unease and discomfort nonetheless, something at which Steely Dan has shown itself to be exceptionally skilful. However much society is criticised and regardless of whether characters try to make ends meet in facing this society, a final solution is never granted and in the end all hope at reconciliation evaporates. What resonates is the callosity of the outside world and the fact that the individual is hopelessly stuck in an existence that is an sich meaningless – this and nothing else. Even the reader, who was able to seek refuge in the smiles of the narrator, eventually receives the bitter taste of defeat in his mouth. By letting the bleak message of the text prevail as well as by cunningly manipulating narrative perspectives, the narrator leaves the reader with a tormenting and insoluble feeling of uncertainty (cf. infra). What strikes us, moreover, is the important role the chorus of the lyrics plays in conveying this bleak message. In every song, except for ‘Peg’, the chorus or part of it is used to epitomise the sinister undertone of the text in a final, decisive statement.

Of course it must be noted that the corpus presented in this study is a rather limited one, but we can argue that it still succeeded in providing us with a representative image of what the oeuvre of Steely Dan lyrics stands for. Working with five different albums made it possible to construct a diachronic frame and as such we were able to discern a few patterns that seem to have become typical for the writings of Fagen and Becker over the course of time. To begin with there is the fact that they seem to find great joy in disorienting the reader as much as possible. By playing 66 with unusual narrative instances and points of view and via the use of vague and elusive focalisation they provide their lyrics with an impenetrable aura, which makes it very difficult for the reader to get a clear overview of the actual intentions of these lyrics. Fagen and Becker have revealed themselves as a pair of tricksters, constantly out to lead the reader down a dead alley. In this regard we can also refer to the aforementioned feeling of perpetual uncertainty experienced by the reader, which in turn generates a sense of uneasiness.

What also adds to this veil of secrecy is the highly idiosyncratic language use we see returning in each of the discussed song texts (and all the Steely Dan song texts as well, for that matter). Steely Dan seems to have made a trademark out of using fairly simple language in a way that is anything but straightforward. In doing so they typically create an atmosphere of cryptic density that leaves the text open to a whole range of interpretations, with none of them standing out as more probable than the other at first sight. However, Fagen and Becker also have a tendency of impregnating their texts with obscure (slang) terms that could possibly make for hints pointing in a certain direction in terms of interpretation. Yet these are often used in such esoteric fashion that they end up bedazzling the reader even more because he is unable to find their exact meaning. As such Fagen and Becker once again prove themselves to be experts in deceiving the reader and eventually we are forced to base our interpretations on suggestions only. This uncertainty in terms of interpretation in itself makes for another quality that can be considered typical for black humour. Because of it we are more or less inhibited to come up with absolute claims of truthfulness and this is exactly what other black humorists do as well; they criticise any absolute ordering devices and debunk the idea of an absolute truth.

In terms of themes and setting then we also discovered a pattern, exposing a clear preference towards the same kind of histories throughout the five songs. The band displays a strong affinity with shady characters that are condemned to an existence in the margins of society and more often than not this existence goes paired with perverse tendencies. Every song except ‘Night by Night’ is inhabited by a character engaging in sexual delinquencies at some point – or at least in the interpretations put forward in this study. And even then, if the character does not engage in sexual delinquencies, it is associated with some other activity shunned by society. So in general we can say that Steely Dan likes to disturb the reader by tackling subjects that are normally considered taboo.

A final – and perhaps most obvious – pattern that unfolded itself lies in how vital the aspect of musical performance proved to be in conveying the black humour in Steely Dan lyrics. As the introduction already stated, the music in Steely Dan songs in most cases stands in stark contrast 67 to the supposed content of its textual counterpart. As such, when listening to Steely Dan we end up in disturbing situations in which we find the most inaccessible themes that deal with human suffering and taboos of all kinds being accompanied by their complete opposite: pleasant, highly accessible and positive sounding music. Once again the reader/listener is puzzled and struck by an unnerving uncertainty; upon a first listen one would be inclined to think that Steely Dan writes primarily joyful songs, which of course is anything but true. Presenting what are actually horrible perils in such light-hearted fashion combined with the intention of so bluntly deceiving the reader/listener is once more an act of utter irony and mockery, adding an important extra dimension to the ridiculing that goes on at textual level.

And even when the music does not obviously counterpoint the lyrics, as is the case in ‘Night by Night’ and on some occasions in the other songs as well, but stands in a rather transparent one- on-one relation with them, it still makes for an essential part in putting forward the intentions at stake at textual level. In this case it serves as a magnifier and as such adds extra depth to the text, which would not be so obviously black humour if it were to stand on its own. This actually goes for the rest of the texts as well, without the support of a musical performance the black humour elements in them would not be interpreted as humorous so easily, but rather as just bleak and miserable. It is only when performed that the black humour in them really comes to life. Also of crucial importance in this regard are vocal aspects, for instance the often haunting backing vocals, but more significantly those of lead singer Donald Fagen. Without his typical, authentic way of using his voice, with such a jeering timbre attached to it, the black humour in Steely Dan songs would be perhaps only half as effective. It really has proven its impact in its tendency of immediately capturing and establishing the right tone, that of incessant mockery and malicious jest.

Hence, to conclude this thesis then finally, we can say that on the basis of all the insights we have managed to gather over the course of this study, Steely Dan most definitely deserves its place in the tradition of black humour as a literary medium. Fully conform to how we posited black humour as a highly versatile concept with lots of different possible approaches to it, the idiosyncratic, eclectic fashion in which Steely Dan lyrics incorporate black humour makes the band a distinguished act with a specific take on how to evoke the concept in both its lyrics and musical performance. On top of that Fagen and Becker have created their own unique way of letting the messages of the band resonate with the public, once explaining why they, over the course of time, have managed to gather the cult status mentioned in the introduction.

5. Bibliography

“Apple bobbing.” Web. 24 Apr. 2015 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_bobbing>.

Bloom, Harold. “Volume Introduction by Harold Bloom.” Bloom’s Literary Themes: Dark Humor. Ed. Harold Bloom, Blake Hobby. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2010. Print.

“Blue Film.” Web. 29 Apr. 2015 .

“Blueprint.” Urban Dictionary. 22 Apr. 2013. Web. 29 Apr. 2015 .

Colletta, Lisa. Dark Humor and Social Satire in the Modern British Novel. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print.

“Cougar (slang).” Web. 2 May 2015 .

De Groot, Joey. “10 Band Names Taken From Literature: Steely Dan, The Doors, And More.” Music Times. 24 Jun. 2014: n. pag. Web. 10 Apr. 2015 .

De Revere, Paul. “Pretzel Logic: Understanding Why Your Dad’s Favorite Band Is Playing Coachella.” Pitchfork. 8 Jan. 2015: n. pag. Web. 10 Apr. 2015 .

“Discography.” Web. 19 Apr. 2015 .

Donington, Robert. Opera & its Symbols: the Unity of Words, Music & Staging. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1990. Print.

“Drug trafficking.” Web. 3 May 2015 .

Erlewine, Stephen T. “Steely Dan Biography.” Allmusic. Web. 10 Apr. 2015 < http://www.allmusic.com/artist/steely-dan-mn0000011707/biography>.

“Everyone’s Gone to the Movies by Steely Dan.” Web. 24 Apr. 2015 < http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=10626>.

Fagen, Donald. Eminent Hipsters. London: Jonathan Cape, 2013. Print.

Fagen, Donald and Walter Becker. “Do It Again.” Can’t Buy A Thrill. Web. 20 Apr. 2015 .

Fagen, Donald and Walter Becker. “Everyone’s Gone to the Movies.” Katy Lied. Web. 23 Apr. 2015 .

Fagen, Donald and Walter Becker. “Hey Nineteen.” Gaucho. Web. 2 May 2015 .

Fagen, Donald and Walter Becker. “Night by Night.” Pretzel Logic. Web. 4 May 2015 .

Fagen, Donald and Walter Becker. “Peg.” Aja. Web. 28 Apr. 2015 .

Joel. “Five Unusually Disconcerting Things About Steely Dan.” Smells Like Pop. 5 Sept. 2011: n. pag. Web. 10 Apr. 2015 .

“Kappa Gamma Chi”. Web. 2 May 2015 .

Kewin, Simon. “Types of Rhyme.” Web. 23 Apr. 2015 .

“Melisma.” Web. 23 Apr. 2015 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melisma>.

“Moirai.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. Web. 21 Apr. 2015 .

Myers, Marc. “Rock’s Reluctant Front Man.” The Wall Street Journal. 8 Jul. 2011: n. pag. Web. 17 Apr. 2015 .

O’Malley, Dan. “cheaters.” The Steely Dan Dictionary. Web. 25 Apr. 2015 < http://www.steelydandictionary.com/>.

O’Malley, Dan. “cuervo gold.” The Steely Dan Dictionary. Web. 3 May 2015 < http://www.steelydandictionary.com/>.

O’Malley, Dan. “scarsdale”. The Steely Dan Dictionary. Web. 2 May 2015 < http://www.steelydandictionary.com/>.

Pattison, Pat. “Similarities and Differences between Song Lyrics and Poetry.” The Poetics of American Song Lyrics. Ed. Charlotte Pence. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2012. 122-133. Print.

“Peg by Steely Dan.” Web. 29 Apr. 2015 .

“Pied Piper of Hamelin”. Web. 26 Apr. 2015 .

Pieters, Jürgen. Beste lezer, Een inleiding in de algemene literatuurwetenschap. Gent: Academia Press, 2011. Print.

Rockwell, John. All American Music: Composition in the Late Twentieth Century. New York: Da Capo Press, 1983. Print.

Schulz, Max F. “Toward a Definition of Black Humor.” Comic Relief: Humor in Contemporary American Literature. Ed. Sarah Blacher Cohen. Urbana, Chicago, London: University of Illinois Press, 1978. 14-27. Print. 70

Simon & Schuster. “Steely Dan Biography.” Rolling Stone. Web. 10 Apr. 2015 < http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/steely-dan/biography>.

“Slide down.” Wordnet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. 2003-2008. Princeton University, Clipart.com, Farlex Inc. Web. 2 May 2015 .

“Steely Dan – Everyone’s Gone to the Movies.” Web. 24 Apr. 2015 < http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858528036/>.

“Steely Dan – Peg.” Web. 29 Apr. 2015 .

“Steely Dan Timeline.” Web. 19 Apr. 2015 < http://www.steelydan.com/timelinebio.html>.

“Two-timer.” American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Houghton Miffin Harcourt Publishing Company. Web. 21 Apr. 2015 .

Weber, Brom. “The Mode of ‘Black Humor’.” The Comic Imagination in American Literature. Ed. Louis D. Rubin, Jr. Washington: Forum Series, 1974. 387-397. Print.

“What does ‘pin shot’ mean in the lyrics of ‘Peg’ by Steely Dan?” Web. 29 Apr. 2015 .

“When one’s ship comes in.” The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Houghton Mifflin Company. Web. 4 May 2015 .

Zhou, Jingqiong. Raymond Carver’s Short Fiction in the History of Black Humor. New York: Peter Lang, 2006. Print.