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This is the day of the expanding man
That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers, wild gamblers
That's all in the past
You call me a fool
You say it's a crazy scheme
This one's for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I'll make it this time
I'm ready to cross that fine line
[Chorus]
I'll learn to work the saxophone
I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
And I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love
With those of my kind
Libations
Sensations
That stagger the mind
I crawl like a viper
Through these suburban streets
Make love to these women
Languid and bittersweet
I'll rise when the sun goes down
Cover every game in town
A world of my own
I'll make it my home sweet home
[Chorus]
This is the night of the expanding man
I take one last drag
As I approach the stand
I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too long
This brother is free
I'll be what I want to be
That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers, wild gamblers
That's all in the past
You call me a fool
You say it's a crazy scheme
This one's for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I'll make it this time
I'm ready to cross that fine line
[Chorus]
I'll learn to work the saxophone
I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
And I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love
With those of my kind
Libations
Sensations
That stagger the mind
I crawl like a viper
Through these suburban streets
Make love to these women
Languid and bittersweet
I'll rise when the sun goes down
Cover every game in town
A world of my own
I'll make it my home sweet home
[Chorus]
This is the night of the expanding man
I take one last drag
As I approach the stand
I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too long
This brother is free
I'll be what I want to be
Lyrics submitted by jachschmere
Track duration: 07:35
"Deacon Blues" as written by Walter Carl Becker, Donald Jay Fagen
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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He has developed as a musician (this is the day of the expanding man) and he remembers when he was an outsider, looking in. But now he is confident of success and is going for it, starting anew (a crazy scheme of becoming a professional musician) and he is determined to cross that fine line (between success and failure). He even picks a stage name, Deacon Blue.
He is struggling as an artiste, his back is against the wall.
In the song he is arguing with a woman who is saying it will never work, that he is no good, and all doomed to failure. And as background, there are the jazz and blues clubs with their many female attractions. He will live life to the full, he says, and stay up all night and drink to excess.
But at least he is doing his own thing, rowing his own canoe, being himself. He is following his dreams (albeit in a sordid and sleazy environment).
This brother is free - I'll be what I want to be.
Simples.
Thank God I am no longer in that state! And I still love every lyric of every song by them.
Another one that used to send me into the depths was Pearl of the Quarter.
These guys can really craft songs....
--Ancient Youth Indiginous to Now via the essence
The music lives on in an artificial academic enviornment.
This song is the anthem of the true jazzers that lived in poverty and disarray to further the art form.
Some of you may find this a little over the top, but I have to do it. After 30 years of listening to this song, I think I have it finally:
"This is the day of the expanding man"
Visualize The Hulk or some other comic strip character, expanding so much that he bursts out of his clothing, as a completely new being. Our hero is changing so fast that his former lifestyle cannot contain him any longer.
"That shape is my shade, There where I used to stand"
He has stepped "out of the light" of his former life, but he can still look back and see his shadow. Those are the "old" relationships and routines that are still fresh in his mind. Maybe some guilt or remorse or fear is still haunting him.
"It seems like only yesterday, I gazed through the glass,
At ramblers, wild gamblers, That's all in the past"
He recalls the days when he could only "gaze through the glass", and dream of making the changes he has just decided to make. It was all romance and fantasy, he perceived the world he lusted after as a "wild gamble", not within the realm of anything really possible.
"You call me a fool, You say it's a crazy scheme,
This one's for real, I already bought the dream"
His fantasy has turned into his new reality. He has "bought his dream" with his boldness to step away from his boring, responsible life and take the big chance to be a musician and live the lush life.
"So useless to ask me why, Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I'll make it this time, I'm ready to cross that fine line"
There is no answer to "why". He has to do it, and he knows he will make it. And what is "making it", other than successfully crossing over "that fine line". He has tried before and was unsuccessful.
"I'll learn to work the saxophone, and I'll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long, And die behind the wheel"
He is not suicidal, oh no. He is caught in the morbid/ romantic imagery of a Charlie Parker, a Billie Holiday, a Jimi Hendrix, a Janis Joplin. A hero of music, who plays or sings with with immortal power. And then dies young, a victim of the ultimate self-destructiveness that was part of his or her vast creative engine.
"They got a name for the winners in the world
And I want a name when I lose"
He knows he is second rate, he will never be a great musician, one of the winners. But he will be a loser who had the courage to be himself, to declare his name against all odds.
"They call Alabama the Crimson Tide, Call me Deacon Blues"
I believe this is a reference to a college football team that never won a game. It somehow gained a mythic power to its reputation as a loser. You can have a name, even when you lose.
"My back to the wall, A victim of laughing chance"
His choice is no longer his own, he is a victim of the force of chance, which has him "against the wall", with nowhere else to go.
"This is for me, The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love, With those of my kind
Libations, Sensations, That stagger the mind"
A libation is an ancient ritualistic pouring of water on an altar, known to many religions and cultures, and is well documented in the Old Testament. He is pouring out his soul as a "libation service" to his new religion. His new spiritual world is full of sensations that are so powerful and real that they "stagger the mind"
"I'll rise when the sun goes down, Cover every game in town
A world of my own, I'll make it my home sweet home"
As a man of the night, a working musician, he will inhabit a new world, one that he can call his own, because he sets his own goals, works his own schedule, far away from the business world. It will be his new home, where he will feel comfortable, safe and loved.
"This is the night of the expanding man"
So the day has turned into night. The "day" was the preparation, the drama of the changes he made. The night is the real thing. His first gig as a working musician, now that he has quit his job, severed many relationships, and perhaps has moved to a new town.
"I take one last drag, As I approach the stand"
One last drag of the spiritual cigarette, the last memory of his former life. Then he puts out the cig, goes up to the bandstand, and he is ready to start a new life.
"I cried when I wrote this song, Sue me if I play too long
This brother lives free, I'll be what I want to be"
Please forgive him the sentimentality of his rare emotional state at his debut, which is likely to be expressed in a sax solo which is much too long to be musically appropriate. However, he wants us to know that he has finally "made it". He is free at last. His long solo will be a testament to his new self.
Let's all wish him well.
I believe this is a reference to a college football team that never won a game. It somehow gained a mythic power to its reputation as a loser. You can have a name, even when you lose. "
You are an idiot. Did you even do any research in this idiotic explanation. You can easily read any interview about the song (hell, or even look at the Wikipedia page) and you would know that Deacon Blues was the name for the loser. "The call Alabama The Crimson Tide" refers to the fact that the University of Alabama football team has always been a perennial powerhouse in the NCAA.
Check your facks next time, buddy.
For what this song is really about I present an explanation straight from the horse's mouth, as it were: "Fagen has said that the narrator is a middle class suburban kid newly besotted by jazz and Beat culture, and indeed, listening carefully suggests just the sort of over-romantic naiveté and general cluelessness that one would expect from someone attracted to a lifestyle he does not yet understand. The great opening line of the chorus, "Learn to work the saxophone," suggests that he doesn't even have his verbs straight yet! " so says Stewart Mason, the reviewer of this song for All Music. The lines " drink Scotch whiskey all night long and die behind the wheel" is not a death wish or the ultimate end, it simply represents what this kid thinks this lifestyle is all about. It has been suggested that the "languid and bittersweet" voice of Fagen in this song is so emotional because he is remembering the teenage Fagen and Becker. Oh, and the libation thing....I was laughing fit to die up in here....dude.."libation, sensation" is just another reference to 2 of Fagen's favorite subjects...booze and sex. Please forgive the sarcasm but after 20 years of listening to Steely Dan, some of it has rather rubbed off.
The narrator then imagines another life so far different from his current one. He, most likely, has not actually faced death, but his disappoint in life is so server that for him he is dead.
I think he is actually about to lose touch with reality, and is doing so willingly. He is ready to cross the fine line between reality and illusion.