SongMeanings | Lyrics | Steely Dan

S
Steely Dan
Kid Charlemagne
27 Comments

Lyrics for Kid Charlemagne as interpreted by AbFab

Kid Charlemagne Lyrics

Send "Kid Charlemagne" Ringtone to your Cell

While the music played you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco nights
You were the best in town
Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
You turned it on the world
That's when you turned the world around
Did you feel like Jesus?
Did you realize?
That you were a champion in their eyes
On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your technicolor motor home
Every A-Frame had your number on the wall
You must have had it all
You'd go to L.A. on a dare
And you'd go it alone
Could you live forever?
Could you see the day?
Could you feel your whole world fall apart and fade away?

Get along, get along Kid Charlemagne
Get along Kid Charlemagne

Now your patrons have all left you in the red
Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange
All those dayglow freaks who used to paint the face
They've joined the human race
Some things will never change
Son you were mistaken
You are obsolete
Look at all the white men on the street

Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get them all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the car
I think the people down the hall
Know who you are

Careful what you carry
'Cause the man is wise
You are still an outlaw in their eyes

Send "Kid Charlemagne" Ringtone to your Cell

Interaction

Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It

Add to Del.icio.us

Your Ad Here

Other Popular Lyrics by Steely Dan

Do It Again
Deacon Blues
Dr Wu
Rikki Don't Lose That Number
Hey Nineteen
Aja

27 Comments

Printer Friendly Lyrics

newest first Expand All

jackstrawIII
11-23-2008

Rated 0

I just started listening to Steely Dan again and re-heard this one. What a great song. I always knew it was about a drug dealer but didn't realize it was about Owsely Stanley and that he was a direct descendant (great.....great grandson) of King Charlemagne - who I once wrote a history report about.

These lyrics:"Now your patrons have all left you in the red...Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange...All those dayglow freaks who used to paint the face
They've joined the human race...Some things will never change...Son you were mistaken...You are obsolete...Look at all the white men on the street"

Its amazing that a direct descendant of King Charlemagne intially started producing LSD (while still legal and then after it became illegal) as one of the primary suppliers of LSD to the counter-culture movement in San Francisco, Bereley, and then across the US. A great book by Scully "Living with the Dead" describes his life with the Grateful Dead and how Owsley Stanley funded the Dead with money from LSD sales and how they initially lived with him in his home where he produced this LSD and they were constantly exposed to LSD and forced to eat only meat by Owsely Stanely (who believed that Carbohydrates were very bad for you).

I wonder if the above lyrics refer to how Owsely must have felt after he went to jail for drug possession and the people he funded and provided LSD to went on with their lives as he returned. "Now your patrons have all left you in the red...Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange...All those dayglow freaks who used to paint the face
They've joined the human race...Some things will never change..."

Further, the lyrics "Son you were mistaken...You are obsolete...Look at all the white men on the street" Is this King Charlemange talking to his great grandson telling him he was mistaken. Are all "the white men" on the street all of the homeless that were prevelant in the Bay Area in the late 60's and early 70's who did way to much LSD and other drugs.

I find it fascinating (6 degrees of separation) that a direct descendant of King Charlemange (who unified Europe in the middle ages and defenden Europe against Moores (the muslims)), great grandson supplied LSD to the counter-culture movement of the 60's which made the US a much more liberal county (huge amounts of academic literature go over how LSD unified and enhanced the counter-culture movement especially at the Univeristy level (Berkley, etc.) -- like it or not (I think its a good thing). Without the counter-culture movement and the liberalization of the would Barrack Obama be president (descendant of a Muslim) ? I don't know. What a great song. "This Life can be very strange"

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

hard_rocker
11-08-2008

Rated 0

"It's now obvious to me that the song is about a drug dealer. Realizing this has kind of bummed me out, because why write a great song about a drug dealer? Reading the Wikipedia explanation, it's about this guy Owsley Stanley. He didn't deserve a great song."

Care to elaborate? Don't tell me you think he "didn't deserve a great song" just because he dealt acid...

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

DCEngineer
11-02-2008

Rated 0

It's been a long time since I first heard this song. When Kid Charlemagne came out, I was in my twenties, sitting on Lee Street Beach in Evanston, Illionis, listening to a little Sony radio which I had just bought at Chandlers Book Store. When I heard the first chord of Kid Charlemange (with one of the best guitar solos of all time), I was hooked. I knew that Steely Dan had reached a whole new level, and a whole new direction. These were the same guys who gave us "Ricky Don't Lose That Number" - which was very cool. But Kid Charlemagne was about 10 times as cool as "Ricky"!

At the time in the 1970's, I didn't get the lyrics. I mean "Day-glow freaks"? Fast forward to today, for some reason I can now understand the lyrics. It's now obvious to me that the song is about a drug dealer. Realizing this has kind of bummed me out, because why write a great song about a drug dealer? Reading the Wikipedia explanation, it's about this guy Owsley Stanley. He didn't deserve a great song.

I don't get the part "All those day-glow freaks who use to paint the face, they've joined the human race". Must be something that happened at the Haight-Ashbury scene.

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were incredibly cerebral. Fagen has a website that has articles he has written. He's quite an intellectual. Perhaps at the time, Owsley Stanley was somebody he was reading about.

I can't figure out how they put this song together. I'm guessing that the lyrics came first. The guitar solo was performed by Larry Carlton. It is perfect. Big question: Did Larry write the solo himself? Because, if he did, why is Larry Carlton playing "lite jazz" today? I don't get it. This leads me to believe that simply the working with Fagan and Becker forced him to be on a higher level. If read that they were perfectionists who were difficult to work with.

2 Replies

DCEngineer
11-04-2008

Rated 0

I've gotten myself into an intellectual cul-de-sac on this webpage. One more thought, before I turn the car out of here ("Is there gas in the car?").

When I finally realized (after 30 years) that this song is about a drug dealer, I was somewhat upset. I thought that the song was perhaps reflective of the Steely Dan groups life style. My wife says, "Obviously!". I don't know if they were into drugs.

Whether or not they were into drugs, this song is really a synopsis of the 1960's. It is a story of this character, Owsley Stanley, and his rise and fall. It has a beginning ("While the music played, you worked by candlelight..."), a middle ("Every A frame had your number on the wall..."), and an end ("You are obselete..."). It is clearly a very well written, concise and obtuse story, and a puzzle. It is so well written, so well arranged and so on top of the bell curve, it is about as close to perfect as I can imagine.

DCEngineer
11-03-2008

Rated 0

Woops! I'm confusing the Larry Carlton's opening riff on "Don't Take Me Alive" with "Kid Charlemagne". That guitar solo was the one that was perfect. I think Carlton also played on "Kid". Must be getting old, reminiscing. I started listening to this stuff again when I got a Zune for my birthday.

Becker and Fagan were like Lennon and McCartney. The only thing that bugged me about B&F is they were almost too hip. They seemed to be too private, on guard and too careful. If you ever hear "Becker and Fagan - The Early Tapes", it's very enlightening to hear the early version of "Any World" before they got slick.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

bilhuf
06-23-2008

Rated 0

Agree with the idea that this song is about Owsley Stanley. One other clue is the name of the song itself--Kid Charlemagne. According to Wikipedia (not always completely trustworthy, but not too bad)--"Exploration of current online genealogy sites shows that the Owsley family line stretches back through Colonial America to landed aristocracy in England, and is related to many of the royal families of Europe; indeed, Owsley appears to be a direct descendant of Charlemagne."

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

myfriendvlad
06-06-2008

Rated 0

First time I heard this song with the line "yours was kitchen clean" I knew it refered to Owsley. His acid was indeed considered the best you could get at the time.

The line "just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl, you turned it on the world" could refer to an incident that took place in San Francisco back in the 60's: Haight-Ashburys Pink Wedge incident happened on November 11, 1967, when a batch of LSD shaped like pink wedges, and adulterated with another LSD-like drug, STP, hit the San Francisco market.

"you crossed the [LS]Diamond with the [ST]Pearl...

From Wikipedia: "In the summer of '67...Owsley and Scully made trial batches of 10mg tablets and then STP mixed with LSD in a few hundred yellow tablets but soon ceased production of STP."

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

shemp3
05-23-2008

Rated 0

Definitely Steely's Hallmark Tune. All the way around, a number off their last "guitar-based" album, signaling the end of one style on the threshold of something more. Larry Carlton was just superb. As Donald opined in the PBS special, the song was, yeah, loosely based on a character like Owsley, with all the particulars of his story, but was also, as the boys have said earlier in a "Musician" magazine interview from 1979, that their method of penning these vingettes is to, instead of presenting the kernal of the idea, they more or less go for the "husk"--the outer, or whole idea, allowing the others to draw their own conclusion as to what it means to them. That said, Donald further mentioned that as the 60's decade was coming to an ugly end & looking for some closure, this offering also represented the whole general feel of the 60s decade. Namely, a beginning, middle and final chapter, like the fusiform shape of a muscle fiber: "", if you will. Actually, DanFan, there are no KEY changes in Kid Charlemagne. It's all in C major. Yes, the bridge and the turnaround have different chord progressions, they are all within the C Major frame work. The very 1st chord is a C7 #9th chord ( a five note chord ), which is a very well utilized jazz chord going back in rock to The Beatles' "You Can't Do That" as well as way before in the jazz annals. It is that crazy Major 7th interval WITHIN that chord, namely, the E note ( the third of the chord ) and the D#, ( the # 9th ) that gives it its unique and gritty , "I MEAN BUSINESS" sound. The root position of the C 7th #9 is this: C E G B-flat D#...then the verse begins with an A minor, etc.

OK.

I find LAbeefs comment on the White Men and the cocaigne shift amusing. I still pnder that phrase.
Thanks.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

brb9911
04-18-2008

Rated 0

Glad to see Mandalex share the right info -- this song is a brilliant tribute to Owsley and dead-on accurate depiction of the aftermath from the Sumer of Love.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

dontthinktwice
03-25-2008

Rated 0

i feel bad for all the people who will never understand this song. not that i can say fully that i do..

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

Sleepy LaBeef
02-28-2008

Rated 0

Mandalex pretty much nails it. Also "White Men on the street" is a reference to cocaine use on the rise in the 70's. People were moving away from hallucinogens towards stimulants, which added to the Kids demise.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

Sleepy LaBeef
02-28-2008

Rated 0

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

Danfan
02-19-2008

Rated 0

How many times does this song change key? The chord structure is just so odd! Bet Carlton was scratching his head when presented with the score!
The lyrics are genius and I think the outtro is terrific.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

Nightvoice
12-19-2007

Rated 0

As a songwriter myself, I LOVE the lyrics to this one. It's funny to me, though I couldn't explain why. These two picked the damnedest things to write songs about.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

mandalex
05-12-2007

Rated 0

from wiki.....

Although the lyrics are, at first glance, typically oblique and allusive, writers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have stated that it was loosely inspired by the exploits of the infamous 1960s San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley Stanley[1] � although it conflates the core story with numerous other images of the Sixties. This is evident in the following lines:

On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your Technicolor motor home

The first two lines draw on the fact that Owsley's acid was famed for its purity, although the last line is clearly a reference to the famous psychedelic bus named Furthur, which was used by the Merry Pranksters.

The final verse foreshadows the main reason for Owsley's eventual bust:

Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get them all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the car
I think the people down the hall know who you are

Owsley and another person were arrested after their car ran out of gas.

The song features a famous guitar solo by guitarist Larry Carlton.

Owsley Stanley (b. Augustus Owsley Stanley III, January 19, 1935, also known as Owsley or Bear) was an "underground" LSD chemist, the first to produce large quantities of pure LSD. His total production is estimated at around half a kilogram of LSD, or roughly 5 million 100-microgram "trips" of normal potency, although accounts vary widely. The widespread and low-cost (often given away free) availability of high-quality Owsley LSD in the San Franciso area in the mid-1960s may well have been indispensable for the emergence of the "hippie" movement in the Haight-Ashbury area, which the historian of that movement Charles Perry has described as "one big LSD party" and which has had continuing repercussions to this day in American society in terms of increasing tolerance for alternative perspectives and lifestyles. He was also an accomplished sound engineer, and the longtime soundman for seminal psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead; the band's well-known "dancing bear" icon derives from his nickname, as he frequently printed the image on blotter sheets of LSD distributed at Grateful Dead concerts.[citation needed] He designed the massive "Wall of Sound" electrical amplification system used by the Grateful Dead in their live shows, at the time a highly innovative feat of engineering[1], and was involved with the creation of high-end musical instrument maker

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

YourGoldTeeth
05-09-2007

Rated 0

This songs is great. The whole Royal Scam album is great, it's their best.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

makebusy7
01-26-2007

Rated 0

Mark36: that's my fave part of the song too. I think wikipedia said that the reason these acid manufacturers got busted was because their car ran out of gas. "Is there gas in the car? Yes, there's gas in the car!"

Careful what you carry!

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

RSY1111
10-14-2006

Rated 0

Its about a young guy who came up with a new kind of drug and it became popular really quick and it was better than all the other stuff that was being sold. this made the young dealer feel like he was "kid charlemagne" ( charlemagne was a powerful king who conquered italy and was crowned emporer of rome by the pope) and the guy was living life to fullest till time caught up with him and the drugs he was selling became unwanted. He eventually falls so far whrer he gets busted by the police

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

mark36
05-02-2006

Rated 0

I love the narration: "Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail/Those test tubes and the scale/Just get it all outta here." Also features one of the great guitar solos of all time: Larry Carlton, take a bow.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

jimmymack
03-31-2006

Rated 0

jackiebum and pakalolo are right. this song is more about a famed chemist and innovator of LSD than a dealer. And you should read Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test if you haven't. Although written by the squarest of the squares, it's a great piece of New Journalism that also conveys just how world-changing people thought LSD might be at its inception and introduction to the world. Owsley was also a sound man for the Dead.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

-fool-
09-17-2005

Rated 0

this is about a lsd dealer yea. this song is awesome.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

CuteSparkina
05-10-2005

Rated 0

Yep, it's about a drug dealer

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

pakalolo
02-08-2005

Rated +1

jakiebum is right. this is a tribute to Owsley, the famed creator of the sunshine acid in the late 1960s. read Wolfe's Electric Cool Aid Acid Test to learn a little more about Owsley and the dayglow freaks.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

qseep
01-27-2005

Rated 0

This guy's not just dealing drugs, he's manufacturing them. Kind of sounds like a meth lab but maybe LSD.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

tobyj
01-24-2005

Rated 0

I think that more specifically its a song about an LSD dealer. See references to 'a-head' and 'did you feel like jesus'.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

solace
01-10-2005

Rated -1

This song reminds me of the movie Blow.

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

jakiebum
12-18-2004

Rated 0

I wonder if this song is about Owslie Stanley ?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.

1 2

Add Your Comments

What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.