Lyrics for BarryTown as interpreted by AbFab

BarryTown Lyrics
I'm not one to look behind; I know that times must change
But over there in Barrytown they do things very strange
And though you're not my enemy
I like things like they used to be
And though you'd like some company
I'm standing by myself
Go play with someone else
I can see by what you carry that you come from Barrytown

Don't believe I'm taken in by stories I have heard
I just read the Daily News and swear by every word
And don't think that I'm out of line
For speaking out for what is mine
I'd like to see you do just fine
But look at what you wear
And the way you cut your hair

I can see by what you carry that you come from Barrytown

In the beginning we recall that the word was hurled
Barrytown people got to be from another world

Leave me or I'll be just like the others you will meet
They won't act as kindly if they see you on the street
And don't you scream or make a shout
It's nothing you can do about
It was there where you came out
It's a special lack of grace
I can see it in your face

I can see by what you carry that you come from Barrytown

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  • 16 Comments
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hayes6
12-10-2004

Rated 0 
It's about prejudice. It's an allegorical story that's really about white folks who pretend to be friendly with minorities but in reality they are as prejudiced as other people.

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Gimpy Jim
03-15-2005

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Exactly. Steely Dan is great. Very cryptical though.

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Doctor Wu
12-12-2005

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The song is in reference to Barryville, NY where Rev. Moon purchased a large monesterary for his church. This town was not far from Bard College where Becker and Fagan first met.
The moonies, as the followers were called, wore white,were clean cut and carried pamphlets about the religion.

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whapcapn
04-22-2006

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Seems to be quite clearly about sociological barriers and prejudices. Doesn't seem particularly cryptic to me.

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GreyBlueEyes
08-24-2006

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This has to be one of my least favorite songs by the two...probably because the melody is horrendous and Fagen was in his "Ultra-Bullwinkle" mode when he recorded it.

"Hey, Rocky! I can see by what you carry that you come from Barrytown!"

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Napawright
02-12-2007

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Dr. Wu is correct - the village of Barrytown is near Bard where Fagan and Becker attended college. I do not believe, however, Rev. Moon had purchased that property at the time - it was a seminary of the Irish Christian Brothers, a Romoan Catholic order - my father went to high school there.

Even without the Moonies, however, there was a big disconnect from the very liberal, very affluent downstate types who went (and still go) to Bard College and the people who lived in Barrytown at the time - which was very rural back in the day.

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rainwalk
03-21-2007

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It is about the moonies - 'tell by what you carry'...carrying pamphlets... 'what you wear/the way you cut your hair'....
"stories I have heard" - there were lots of rumors about what the Moonies were really all about. Most of them false.
"for speaking out for what is mine" : moonies were against having too many posessions....


etc... etc...

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ProfessorKnowItAll
10-02-2007

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GreyBlueEyes: I heard that the vocal tone was in part an homage to Bob Dylan, though I like the Bullwinkle visual.

Also, note the melodic similarity to the Beatles' "Tell Me What You See". I assume this was pure coincidence, as Fagen and Becker are great tunesmiths in their own right and shouldn't need to steal melodies from a lesser Beatles song.

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underbanyantrees
03-01-2008

Rated -1 
I agree this is not likely a direct reference to interacial predudices... these are Hari-christners or maybe Moonies... the rest is clear... this is likely written before 1974...

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The Dog That Ate...
03-29-2008

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Between the moonies and interracial prejudices, I'd rather incline towards the 2nd point of view.

I don't think you could read something about moonies in the "Daily news"... Barrytown could be sort of a Black ghetto. When he says "what you carry" in the chorus, he could refer to the color of the skin, of the man he's talking to... Then, "the way you cut your hair" could be an Afro. Most of all, I think the opening lines are obviously referring to Civil Rights movement, expressing that things have gone better for Black people, but prejudices are still there :

"I'm not one to look behind; I know that times must change
But over there in Barrytown they do things very strange"

All through the song, the narrator is telling that segregation times were preferable to present days :
"I like things like they used to be
And though you'd like some company
I'm standing by myself
Go play with someone else "

In the same way, the last verse is absolutely ugly !

Fagen gets inside the head of the "good"-ordinary-white folk, so this song is really close to what Randy Newman does in his own songs : singing from a decayed character's point of view, showing what stupidity and hatred look like.

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Fireman1
04-30-2008

Rated -1 
This song has NOTHING to do with race so don't even go there. But it does have to do with prejudice. I lived accross from Barrytown. It was about when Fagen and Becker where at Bard college during the sixties hippy era and how they and others (like in Barrytown) were viewed but "normal" folk. Same as "My Old School" which ys specifically about Bard College.

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Fireman1
04-30-2008

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Ooops....my bad. I forgot to mention the Moonies also. Kudos to Dr. Wu.

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KlauseTheRooster
02-02-2009

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The Moonies carried flowers to sell hence the "I can tell by what you carry". Dogmatic folk like that must have been very frustrating to guys like Becker and Fagen. They probably hid when they saw them coming.

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sungis
05-03-2009

Rated +1 
My father joined the Unification Church at a workshop at the Unification Theology Seminary in Barrytown. Many members lived there and worked there and witnessed and recruited youth at Bard College, where Don Fagen and Walter Becker went to college.

Unificationists were known to be clean cut, wear suits and frequently carried clip boards and pamphlets. Moonies, as they are better known, were infamous and remain infamous and were frequently in the news in the 70s.

This is likely about the Moonies in Barrytown.

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mumajor
07-24-2009

Rated 0 
Very interesting literal interpretations, but it certainly holds a universal lesson about prejudice, regardless of the original inspiration.


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Spiffyone
08-26-2009

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OK, I can speak with some authority on this because I went to Bard College, which is the school that Fagen went to. Bard is located in a town near Barrytown. The thing about Barrytown is that there is a high percentage of retarded, Mongoloid and otherwise 'inbred' folk. I never heard anything about moonies, but a lot about the genetic weirdness of Barrytown residents.

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