Lyrics for Do It Again as interpreted by AbFab

Do It Again Lyrics
In the mornin you go gunnin'
For the man who stole your water
And you fire 'til he is done in
But they catch you at the border
And the mourners are all singin'
As they drag you by your feet
But the hangman isn't hangin'
And they put you on the street

CHORUS:
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 smilin'
You'll be on your knees tomorrow

CHORUS

Now you swear and kick and beg us
That you're not a gamblin' 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

CHORUS

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walterbyrd
09-21-2009

Rated 0 
The guy is old western drifter, gun slinger, and gambling addict - and a dishonest gambler at that. In the old west you could get away with murder. Obviously, this kind of guy is not exactly the relationship type, but then, neither are the woman he hooks up with. Nobody can trust him, and he can not trust anybody else - not even his only friend. Black cards are used for cheating, hiding cards is also cheating. But, at some point you have to "put your cards on the table" at that point, if you can get away, you high-tail it to the next town and start all over again.

BTW: rock musicians often compare themselves to these sorts of old west "desperadoes."

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medicineman1987
09-18-2009

Rated +1 
This is a song about maladaptive behaviors. His girl is taken so he goes after her and the guy that took her. The problem is she is only a girl (water). Second deals with a dysfunctional relationship. He realizes that she is luring him into a dysfunctional relationship and he will be paying for it (on his knees) later. Lastly, I totally get vegas. Vegas is about chance, luck, etc. He keeps his cards (secretes) to himself. He then hits the jackpot with a woman but like my winnings in vegas you wind up losing. I hate myself.

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switcheroo
07-29-2009

Rated 0 
No one loves some unwarranted extrapolation like yours truly, but I never looked too deeply into the meaning…

This is THE quintessential song about human nature. None of the 3 verses need to be linked…the point remains the same: give a tiger chance after chance, but he still won't change his stripes. Not sure what Steely's overall position on this is, but this song is deeply cynical about the utter failure of ANYONE to learn a lesson, then apply that lesson to similar future decisions.

Best song ever.

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mumajor
07-23-2009

Rated 0 
Lots of interesting interpretations...

The sitar-like sound of the guitar at the end could be a hint to the idea of the "wheel turnin' round and round" being a Samsara reference.


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bungle4ever
06-12-2009

Rated 0 
The professor is on it, its just human nature and repeating bad behavior simply because its familiar
Jack is a very common name, so they probably chose it to encompass all
Water is life, anyone would kill for it
Love is tragic, any one goes mad for it
Gambling is gambling
your cards are your cards, your life and choices
must be "put on the table"

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bungle4ever
06-12-2009

Rated 0 
The professor is on it, it is totally about human nature and repeating and repeating mistakes in the name of comfort and familiarity. The cheating girl thing is tunnel vision, get over her dudes.

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RikABaDo
06-04-2009

Rated 0 
You Can Actually No What This Song Really Means With The Lyrics [lol Random]
Amazing Song

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Inue
04-29-2009

Rated 0 
You know I always thought the first verse was about a woman who was raped. Then she hunts him down and shoots him, and as her punishment they put her on the street where she ends up being a prostitute.

Weird I know, but it's the little story that runs in my head when I hear this song. :D I always think of each verse as a different story riding the "wheel of fate" and it always ends the same. I'm probably way off though.

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Ishdawg
01-22-2009

Rated 0 
Before everybody calls me a daydreaming, bumbling baffoon & downright spazmocrip retard, I know this isn't the true meaning of the song and wouldn't try and put 1 iota of arguement behind it, but i think it would be kinda cool if the song was a expansion/interpretation/parody of the old nursery rhyme 'Jack & Jill.'

For example:
'In the mornin you go gunnin'
For the man who stole your water' - Gives Jack a reason to go up the hill (to fetch a pail of water)
Why he'd then kill the water thief, who knows?

'You go back, Jack do it again
Wheel turnin' 'round and 'round
You go back, Jack do it again' - Water wheel? The wheel section of a well? He gotta keep getting that water!(seriously? i like the roulette wheel theory best)

'When you know she's no high climber
Then you find your only friend' - Jill obviously, pushed Jack down the hill cos she's afraid of heights/no climber, and who in the 3rd verse of the nursery rhyme laughs at Jacks misfortune.

'Now you swear and kick and beg us
That you're not a gamblin' man
Then you find you're back in Vegas
With a handle in your hand' - Throw Jack into the modern world and where do you find him? Vegas, why? He's on 4 of the freakin' cards thats why. How much more of a gamblin man can you be than to appear on the cards??? Imagine Jack in the casino seeing himself everywhere, and what does he have? The well handle still in his hand... poetry. Lol.

Still... awesome song!!!!


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lavaweasle
12-18-2008

Rated 0 
It's about Mexicans!!! Crazy Mexicans!

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zekenzoey
11-18-2008

Rated 0 
I hate to say the obvious, but I think water is reference to drug or drug money. Addictive behavior yes, but also the revolving door of justice, where people are let back on the street and what is gonna happen? Go back, Jack, do it again!

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blackseoul
10-17-2008

Rated 0 
Of course it's about repeating destructive patterns. But damn! Reincarnation. I never thought of that. Very astute obvservation billybayou. By the way. Way back when someone mentioned that 'handle in your hand' referred to a slot machine handle but it's acually a poker term that means a players favorite hand. Broson Doyle's favorite hand was 10,2 which is very weak but he won two tournaments with that hand. Hence 10, is his handle.

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Bazooka27
08-23-2008

Rated 0 
This song is obviously about doing the same thing over and over and over again, expecting different results each time.

In the first verse, the man (Referred to as Jack from now on) is not punished for his actions, and is now liable to shoot someone again. It has to be a really, freak loophole thing that someone gets off for murder, so the next time it happens, he won't get so lucky.

In the second verse, Jack has a girlfriend who he trusts and loves. Then he finds out that she is cheating on him and is burned badly. He comes back with another girl who he also trusts (Or he wouldn't be spending all his money on her), and probably feels like she doesn't really love him (Just like the last girl), but ignores the feeling expecting a different outcome.

In the third verse, he promises all his friend that he is a good person, but he goes back to Vegas to gamble, drink, and fornicate his life away. He has (Obviously) been through the whole Vegas thing before, probably lost a lot of money, but keeps coming back expecting to hit it big. He doesn't realize that winning is not in the cards (Hehe...get it? Cards? Sorry)

Jack just keeps coming back doing the same stupid things over and over again expecting different results. This is the technical definition of insanity.

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foreverdrone
07-25-2008

Rated 0 
most will assume the "wheel turning round and round" is roulette, but then you'd be ignoring the first 2 verses. the wheel is Samsara: the (hindu/buddhist) cycle of death and rebirth.

some Westerners--afraid of death--are comforted by the thought of reincarnation. but to be trapped in Samsara is a seemingly-endless cycle of suffering, unable to know the truth of divine unity.

I don't contend the song was intentionally written about reincarnation...but spiritual emptiness of repetitive self-destruction runs all through it

as for games of chance on a literal level: the protagonist is doubly stupid. with a "handle in [his] hand" he must be playing slots, the worst sucker bet. then he plans to cheat at cards, a fine strategy if one's intent is to wind up in prison (or worse)

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foreverdrone
07-25-2008

Rated 0 
Imagine this guy is like the characters of VU's "Waiting for the Man", "Heroin" and "Venus in Furs" all rolled into one. An all-around fuck-up who has lost nearly the last of his nine lives: and every time he barely survives another day, does he get smart and straighten up his act? No, he keeps doing the same stupid shit over and over.

Don't take the language in Steely Dan songs too literally. Especially this one, from their first big break in the early '70s. If they'd been too explicit about some of the subject matter (prostitution & drugs, just for starters) it never would have been played on the radio.

Nice electric sitar solo eh?

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Outfielder
06-19-2008

Rated 0 
All of you have great interpretations but I think it is what it is. The water the guy got killed for was a fancy word for liquor because alcoholics drink it like "Water".

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astronomydomine
03-23-2008

Rated 0 
Could the repeated use of the name "Jack" possibly refer, just partly, to Jack Ketch, the famous British executioner from the late 17th century? I only wondered because of the "hangman isn't hanging" line. This all gets abstruse, of course, but I just wondered about this, partly because Fagen/Becker were English Literature majors at university. Steely Dan, throughout HIS lyrics (just kidding; I know it's not a single person), are quite fond of the double entendre. Could "Jack" be an example of this?
But I admit that this notion of mine all seems to go against the overall lyrics and the character Jack. I'm probably being too clever by half, as it were.
Ta ta...

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billybayou
03-06-2008

Rated 0 
Consider this, Do It Again could refer to reincarnation. In the first verse Jack slays the man who stole his water, and is hanged. "And they put you on the street", is a metaphor for his reincarnation to another life; in the second verse, he again misbehaves, dying on his knees. In the third verse he is reincarnated again and being menaced by casino security, likely bound for a shallow grave in the desert. Wheel turning round and round. Any thoughts?

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Danfan
02-19-2008

Rated 0 
I knew very well that Steely Dan is a dildo from "Naked Lunch" at age 18. Is it worth reading? The whole bizarre nature of Steely Dan in general is summed up in their name. Pretty good debut song this. The Denny Dias electric sitar solo just hits all the right notes and peaks at the right time. Just a fab fab song!

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Oh well
01-05-2008

Rated 0 
I've heard many people opine it's a song about a gangster, in the Mob.

The analysis equating stole your water to sleeping with your girl is, I think, correct. That first verse is couched in 'wild west' terms, but applies to a person in the modern era.

The hangman = criminal justice system is correct, too.

The second verse: choose a girl with low ambitions, but she gives you the sex you need. Then you find your dumb girlfriend in a room with your only friend... same shit in verse one, so go back and whack (kill) the guy (do it again). Start over agian with another woman - a little wild one - who's sexually exciting, but trouble with a capital T, and when she's smiling its because she's cheating on you. You know you'll be on your knees asking for penance tomorrow after you kill again.

I'd always heard the first line of the third verse as "Now you swear to Deacon Davis" but "kick and beg us" seems to be the accepted lyric. Anyway, you'd sworn to reform, but there you are, about to kill again. The black cards make you money - the things you can do to survive (like, kill for hire) but you want to hide that from society (you hide them when you're able). There are just times, though, when you have to go and kill again (in the land of milk and honey, where no one expect it) you must put your cards on the table (reveal yourself). I think this last verse is saying you have to come clean to someone if you want to have her? in your life.

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Nightvoice
12-19-2007

Rated 0 
And all along, I thought it was simply a song about criminal recidivism and the futility of the justice system.

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Bullzeye
10-08-2007

Rated 0 
"Handle in your hand" refers to a slot machine, not a "handle" as in an extra large bottle of booze. And the whole gambling thing is a metaphor anyway, as best I can tell.

The song starts off in the old west, where he shoots a man for "stealing his water", which is, by the way, a major crime up there with horse-stealing, NOT a trivial matter in those days before public water supplies. Think about how terribly valuable water must have been in places like Tombstone, Arizona! I think it's a reference to screwing his old lady, anyway...same type of capital, major crime...and it fits with the rest of the song.

Anyway...the song seems to be about how people throughout history keep repeating the same stupid idiotic mistakes of their forefathers...mostly, not using their judgment and shackling themselves to unfaithful women and then suffering for it...over and over again, forever. Go back, Jack, and do it again. That's my take.

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madsmk9
10-05-2007

Rated 0 
danm the first two are badly mistaken im 17 and i have loved this song all my life! something about it just moves me and nagromnai ur right the music kicks some ass!

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nagromnai
09-27-2007

Rated 0 
Jeez - I know lyrics are important, but no-one has mentioned the muisc - I have checked out other Steely dan lyrics, & very rarely is the music mentioned

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fiascodagama
09-17-2007

Rated 0 
am i the only one who doesnt see a very racial theme to the first paragraff?

i get teh feeling its possible about a lynching 'the hangman isnt hanging.' maybe it means a crazy kkk or something.

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