Steely Dan and gold teeth?

The site SongMeanings has some comments that may apply.  Being from Steely Dan, I would more likely believe it is a well reasoned (but however obscure) metaphor of life rather than a drug-induced turn of a phrase you might hear say on a Beatles album.  But what do I know......

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Originally Posted by trains are bad 

I usually don't pay much attention to lyrics, but sometimes I can't but notice certain things. In Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy, there's a song with a lyric that says something like "throw out your gold teeth and see how they roll" and then on Katy Lied there's another song with the same lyric. Is this some obscure reference to something that I'm not cool enough to know, or what?

Short answer: yes.

Heh, you're a better man than I if you intend to unravel the meanings of Becker and Fagen's compositions.  They are masters of esoteric references and obscure nods to hip slang and in-jokes.  The "meanings" are buried deep, like cryptic crossword clues. It's like getting a glimpse of something out of the corner of your eye, but when you look hard at it it's not quite there.  Sometimes I think the joke is on the listener and it's just good to treat it like good poetry where combinations of words evoke certain fellings or responses beyond any literal meaning.

And, yes, I really like both "Gold Teeth" tracks but never really stopped to work out a meaning.

... Being that Steely Dan is 1 of my 2 favorite bands I've developed a special relationship with their lyrics ... I've always taken that particular line as a metaphor for "going all in", or "giving it all you've got" being that gold teeth are [were] one of the last things you could reasonably sell or gamble with if you were in a bind ... Being that gold teeth are much less popular today in favor of more cosmetically appealing replacements, the metaphor is a bit dated, but intelligible nonetheless ... And the whole notion of 'seeing how they roll' is an extension of the metaphor: for one to be able to make a decision, and, to a certain extent, gamble with all you've got if you need to: if you have the heart ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by GnuB 

The site SongMeanings has some comments that may apply.  Being from Steely Dan, I would more likely believe it is a well reasoned (but however obscure) metaphor of life rather than a drug-induced turn of a phrase you might hear say on a Beatles album.  But what do I know......

BTW...good site GnuB. I have been curious about song meanings lately, i will look into it.