Neil Strauss, "They went back, Jack, to do
it again," NY Times, 6/21/03:
[Strauss]You do, however, sing, "Let's roll with the homies" on the new
album.
Becker:
That's exactly right. We may not be in the mainstream of musical
thought, but we're willing to co-opt any catchy expression that comes
along, however silly.
luckless pedestrian (GB,
6/10/03): what is the following reference in slang of ages:
"these tabs look iffy you say they're good"? drugs? apparel?
Robin (GB, 6/10/03): I took the Slang reference to tabs
as drugs ...
Steveedan (GB, 6/10/03): It could also be refering to music
notation. Tabs could be connotative
of guitar tablature. Let's roll with the homeys - knock on wood. There
could be a doubt as to whether the chord changes in some song were
accurate, or whether the chord progression was even a good one. Let's
hope for the best (knock on wood) ... count it off ... 1,2,3,4 ...
duncan (GB, 6/10/03): [UK translation] tabs = cigarettes
Blaise (Blue Book,
6/11/03): "I can tell by the planes on your
face that you're from out of State" carries on the "I can see by what
you carry that you come from Barrytown", tolerance theme.
DACW (GB,
6/12/03):
I'm thinking of Slang of Ages (something timeless) as a
continuation
of a SD thread, music itself...Monkey in your Soul and Throw Back the
Little
Ones were veiled commentaries on the contract with ABC-Dunhill and the
record producing then tour merry-go-round...done in an ultra sly way -
here it seems like a commentary on the musical generation gap, but
frankly,
I'm less assured about the meaning of this song than any in the Dan
collection...
Roy.Scam (GB, 6/12/03): I thought it might be about music bridging gaps of communication. But my son listened to the album and said," I think that Becker song is about drugs, probably acid." I suppose when you start seeing the planes in people's faces, you're either at a Dali exhibit or headed for Groovetime. -- The opening phrase "let me put it this way..." reminded me of another favorite song of mine that Walt started with, "In case you're wondering..."
Hutch (GB, 6/14/03): The character in the song says, "These tabs look iffy, but you say they're good". Since I think this song may be about an older guy hooking up with a younger girl and going to a dance club then I take it to mean that she gives him some pills to take. Perhaps it's LSD or maybe Ecstasy. He's not sure, just by looking at the pills, if it's safe to take them. They look "iffy".
DACW (GB, 6/15/03): Becker tries to pick up "fresh meat"...Instead of dancing - they trade fours...the Slang of Ages is music and tabs a chords/vocings...however, the young buckette shows him a thing or two, and he's left hi and dry as stunned as Ronny Cox in Deliverance (OK, that's a bad analogy)...hi hat Too Flat...
steviedan (GB, 6/20/03): seems to me that the tune is about the ageless ritual nature of the drug deal, the routine edginess. a career man who's seen, snorted, shot it all... in places it has that lotus blossomy, pentatonic asian feel like parts of "countermoon". for me, it's the most effective medium for walter's voice ever, and i really liked 11tow. kinda primes me for another becker solo effort. damn nice work...
YGK (Blue Book, 6/20/03): I think it's Walter's "Hey 19". He's trying to relate to a younger thang, and then she disappears......
Man with no face (Blue Book, 6/20/03): Slang of Ages also seems to be a metaphor about music wrapped up in a tale of the older guy trying to relate to the young doll in the club scene. "These tabs...", "Roll..." and "Opened up my head" sure sounds like he's talking about MDMA, but tabs could easily be tablature. Commentary on the famous Dutch jazz scene? Duke (Ellington) and Earl (Hines)? The chorus sounds like just pure love of music. Almost like he's imagining playing with his revolutionary jazz heros. Jamming can be very "Be Here Now". Very Zen like.
Peg (Blue Book, 6/20/03): The narrator in Slang of Ages is a guy from some science fiction story..(those wierd sound effects in it are a nod to Tribbles, those critters in that Star Trek episode, and don't say they aren't!!!) Slang is referring to jazz/music throughout...there's even a reference to (guitar) tabs in it...
Only a fool (Blue
Book,
6/20/03): I'm pretty sure the "tabs" in Slang refer to drugs, not
guitar tablature.
Also,
one of the first sounf effects (right before the words start) sounds
like
somehting alien. But it also sounds like a whistle (wolfing a lady
walking
by). The lyrics that follow also match this.
I see
"Slang of Ages" as a juxtaposioning of 3 favourite Dan themes -
1.
Drugs (Tabs, hit me with the Slang of ages, etc.)
2.
Young women (all my deraming... end of my life so far... something
half-way
in between..)
3.
Sci-fi (out of state... skipped dimensions... oppened up my head)
So,
it looks like the pratagonist is hitting on a young lady when he
notices
that she is an alien and decided to get some unworldly drugs from her
instead.
Duke of Earl (Blue
Book,
6/20/03): I am thinking maybe the tabs are the way that the alien
experiences sex, and so does the narrator. Or at least he's convinced
she's
an alien (Netherworld, opened up my head which would mean read his
mind).
OK...so
my theories on what the Slang of Ages is:
A)
the drug-related high the narrator gets from the pill he's given, or
B)
a sexual experience he and the alien receive from the pill,
or
C)
a combination of both, where maybe it's something halfway in between.
One
way that would make C) intriguing would be if this were the case:
"Are
you all part of the dreaming" - his drug induced high
"Or
the end of my life so far" - a lot of times, sex can be looked upon as
maybe a change in your life...an epiphany
"Or
something halfway in between" - maybe it's just both...it's a drug
induced
high that creates a sexual experience.
John (Blue Book,
6/20/03):
re: narrator in Slang of Ages
I
agree
with Peg's perception of the narrator as an "alien" or, at the very
least,
that the song is an extended diversion into science fiction. Alien
could
be extraterrestrial, or it could just be someone who's out of step with
the rest of the world.
The
musical cue is there in the sound effects. He perceives the woman to be
from "out of state" (which sure sounded like "outer space" until I
listened
closely). Out or state is reminiscent of the Coneheads who are from
France
(not). The woman "skips dimensions." And of course the whole song
sounds
as if it's kin to "Hat Too Flat" from 11ToW.
Peter Q (Blue Book, 6/21/03): Re - Slang of Ages - Groovetime, if I'm not mistaken, is a very distinguished radio program in Holland about American jazz, thus linking the narrartor's desire to be "dropped off" there (cars again!)and showing that the girl is either lying about being from there, because she doesn't know what Groovetime is, or else she's too young to know, which is even worse for our narrator because he keeps making bufoonish gaffes like calling her "doll" and "babe". (The desperate whining line, "You oughta know, you oughta know" suggests that she oughta know what Groovetime is if she is who she says she is.) Slang of Ages may refer to, as I read in one British newspaper that I unfortunately lost the link to, sleazoid chat-ups. However he has no substantive, concrete knowledge of how to approach women other than to use cheap pickup lines which is why, upon noting her disgust at his behavior, he begs "Show me how it's done." Doubtlessly appalled by a gent in his fifties who needs to be shown, she "skips to other dimensions", dimesnions in this instance meaning other men of a younger generation - which in fact the narrator understands, because "Be There Now" unveils his desire to strip away the effluvia of age, generation gap, difference of interests between folks of vastly different backgrounds, and connect on an as it were metaphysical plane, have their "souls" get together. An example of a socially inarticulate fellow yearning for real human contact.
Isa (Blue Book,
6/21/03):
Re:Groovetime
Groovetime
is indeed a distinguished radio program about jazz music.
The
first broadcast was on Radio 1 at the 13th of may in 2001
oleander (Blue
Book, 6/21/03):
I think "Slang of Ages" is about… slang. But inasmuch as a Steely Dan
song
is rarely about one thing, it’s also about music and the art of pick-up
and put-down. Mr. Becker is an aficionado of argot, a practitioner of
patois,
a virtuoso of vernacular, which you can hear on "11 Tracks of Whack"
from
the title on in. I think he’s doing a little tribute to the richness
and
malleability of the language; the tune is one slang phrase after
another,
from various times and places.
Slang
isn’t just popular catchphrases. It’s the incubator of linguistic
change.
It’s the reason a language doesn’t die. Think about Orwell’s
"1984,"
in which limiting language is one of the tools of oppression. Big
Brother’s
goal is to whittle Newspeak down to as few words as possible, so that
each
word has only one meaning and each meaning only one word. If people
don’t
have the language to express ideas, then they won’t have the ideas,
which
are dangerous to the status quo. And while you have that thought in
your
mind, take a momentary digression and think about the Bush
administration’s
"No Child Left Behind" and "Clear Skies" initiatives (not to mention
the
many other Orwellian aspects of his reign).
So
Mr. Becker spins a situation in slang. He’s simultaneously trying to
pick
up his conversational partner and assuring that he can’t. This is how I
imagine Zaphod Beeblebrox chatting up babes at the Restaurant at the
End
of the Universe, or Han Solo a few decades down the road at the space
lounge
on Tatooine. Mr. B is trying his pick-up lines while putting her down,
scratching through her veneer of sophistication—"If you grew up in
Amsterdam,
then I’m the Duke of Earl." She cops to his scorn and splits—then he’s
all "Hey—where’d she go?" His version of "piss off, then" is to offer
to
"make it right"—right all right, by telling her to "Be There Now,"
i.e.,
get lost—and ending with the classic hitchhiker drop-off line, "This is
where I turn." This is the kind of guy I love to run into in bars.
This is
also
a tribute to jazz and rock’n’roll, the slang of music, always rich,
layered,
mutable, surprising. Just as styles in language change, so they do in
music.
If you’re lucky, someone in the know, like Mr. B, will show you how
it’s
done. The tabs—guitar or pharmaceutical—may look iffy, but he’ll tell
you
which ones are for real. Or maybe someone like Gene Chandler or Eddie
Floyd
will, who get a tip of the Steely hat for their "Duke of Earl" and
"Knock
On Wood." Soul survivors. Like the Dan. Soothe me! Slang me!
Bill (Blue Book,
6/22/03):
This description of Slang of Ages sounds like another similar semi
sci-fi
tale, told in the third person, Wet Side Story:
>>An
example of a socially inarticulate fellow yearning for real human
contact.
Also,
I'm glad someone else was reminded of the work of the late great
Douglas
Adams, whose trademark combination of sci-fi and odd humor is very
compatible
with Don & Walt's despite its intense Britshness - for me it was
the
concept of the Last Mall that recalled this particular eating
establishment:
>>This
is how I imagine Zaphod Beeblebrox chatting up babes at the Restaurant
at the End of the Univ
Gina (GB,
6/21/03):
... read the notions in both yellow and blue about these lyrics ... to
me a main frame is communication between "Walter" and this girl, or his
thoughts and impressions in a monologue, like thinking out loud .. he's
telling the story and questioning as well as filling in the blanks ..
describing
events happening, she's showing him a new world in a way but the funny
thing is he did tune into her world by describing in the same kinda
vague
way that makes you feel the illusive nature of it all ...
can't help
but feel something very sweet which is also present in Book of Liars
...
music and melody wise ... as far as lyrics and/or story is concerned,
both
Slang of Ages and Book of Liars sound like they're about this gender
trap
and maybe even attempts to understand the other sexe but it's clear
there's
a distance and from the storyteller's point of view he couldn't really
care less in a way ... like in Lunch with Gina an example of attraction
or contact between a man and a woman and how this can differ depending
on the nature of the relationship, expectations or knowledge and
sentiments,
fantasy, imagination involved ...
bway Steve (Blue Book, 6/27/03): I think Slang Of Ages refers to the word "fuck" .I keep trying to make something more out of the lyric but always come back to this.Do you think Walter is trying a little too hard to sound buzzed ? LOve the chorus melody.
wormtom (GB,
7/4/03):
worst DAN lyrics ever
"roll with
the homeys and knock on wood"
like the
song but I cringe every time I hear that one
reminds me
of some dreadful "look I'm hip" dr evil verbosity
Rajah of Erase (GB, 7/4/03): The cliche lyrics suit the narrative; we witness an older man on the make, about 7 years behind the curve, spout with bravura, "let's roll with the homeys and knock on wood". That trite couplet samples vernacular usage of English, as spoken by Americans, from maybe 1958 through 1993. It's satire, it's funny, there's TONS of it this record...or whatever.
Midsummer in New York (GB,
7/5/03): (I *finally* got my mind wrapped around these lyrics a
bit
tonight. From what I can tell Walt is looking for a band to sit in
with,
perhaps it's after hours on tour, and he's being given a tour of the
nightlife
by one or two of the locals. I'm thinking "Groovetime" is a jazz or
blues
nightclub, or maybe the groove of the late night jam; the "slang of
ages"
those well known time honored jazz or blues cliches that musicians use
to communicate)
