Lyrics for Black Friday as interpreted by AbFab

Black Friday Lyrics
When Black friday comes I'll stand down by the door
And catch all the grey men as they dive from the fourteenth floor.
When Black Friday comes I'll collect everything I'm owed,
And before my friends find out I'll be on the road.

When Black Friday falls you know it's got to be,
Don't let it fall on me.

When Black Friday comes I'll fly down to Muswellbrook,
Gonna strike all the big red words from my little black book.
Gonna do just what I please, gonna wear no socks and shoes,
With nothing to do but feed all the Kangaroos.

When Black Friday comes I'll be on that hill,
You know I will

[solo]

When Black Friday comes I'm gonna dig myself a hole,
Gonna lay down in it 'til I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me, the Archbishop gonna sanctify me
And if he don't come across I' m gonna let it roll.

When Black Friday comes I'm gonna stake my claim,
I guess I'll change my name.

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StreetWorm
02-23-2006

Rated 0 
The basic idea behind this song is a businessman who's responsible for either black friday or something bad within his company and won't take responsibility even though he is ethically responsible for everything that went wrong.

I'm not really sure if there's someone in particular this song is about or just businessman in general.

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alasdairforrest
02-24-2006

Rated 0 
I think this is more about the next "Black Friday" that starts the next depression. He's jumping out as soon as possible. The men diving from the fourteenth floor are the next wave of men to commit suicide in the Great Depression fashion.

He's going to collect up all the money he can and get out, before his friends - and the police - learn about it. He isn't going to suffer like everyone else.

Muswellbrook is a small town in Australia. He is going to escape to there and, having destroyed the records (the red numbers being financial losses), live a life of leisure. He will have jumped ship and live outside the world of worry.

He closes by saying that he may have to be creative to evade the authorities, but he'll do it.

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BazBear
05-13-2007

Rated 0 
Great tune. A blues shuffle with a "jazzy-pop" turnaround, and Walter Becker plays one of the best guitar solos in the Steely Dan catalog (according to him in an interview, on Denny Dias's Fender Tele). The darned shame is these guys hate the sound of this whole album (Katy Lied) as they had HUGE problems with the then-brand new DBX noise reduction system they were using....me? I think they sound pretty good even 30+ years later.

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Danfan
02-19-2008

Rated +1 
Is it just about a stock market crash from all perspectives i.e. Joe Ordinary clearing up the businessmen jumping from buildings and the fat cats escaping to Australia with virtually nothing. I think the hole digging and soul satisfying is where hes basically going to top himself. Only Steely Dan can write a great song about financial ruin

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panzer4963
04-04-2008

Rated +1 
It’s Satan having some fun in bad times; collecting souls that are owed him, and checking out of town before he can be blamed. Then taunting; he will be back; re-anointed as the Anti-Christ (“the Archbishop gonna sanctify me”) for another even worse round of playtime.

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ThreeCamels
09-11-2008

Rated 0 
To me, this song is about preparing for a break-up. The subject is emotionally "check out" of the relationship before it ends. To compare these actions to the stock market crash of 29' is epic.

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Father O Blivion
10-12-2008

Rated 0 
Quite apropos for the current events! ;)

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Bazooka27
05-17-2009

Rated 0 
Sounds to me like yet another drug and alcohol abuse song. In my opinion, the protagonist has been clean and sober for some time and is now getting back into drugs and booze, justifying his actions with the idea of "Hey, when it gets bad again, (When black Friday comes) I can always quit. (Leave, Collect dues, Watch everyone else suffer)" Just my opinion. Any thoughts?

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Goatllama
08-05-2009

Rated 0 
"And catch all the grey men as they dive from the fourteenth floor."

The 14th floor is actually the 13th; the owners usually skip 13 for the obvious reason. This is just another example of the subtle cleverness found in most every Steely Dan song.

As for who the protagonist is, a stock broker or Satan, both interpretations are appropriate, although the Stock Market Crash is the more obvious and implied meaning. However, the devilish one also fits, lending the song a more frightening effect.......

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spencerrich
17 hr 51 min ago

Rated 0 
Some of this relates to the Knights Templar, I believe.

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