| Artist | Steely Dan |
| Album | The Royal Scam |
| Year | 1976 |
| Credits | Donald Fagen: Keyboards, Vocals Walter Becker: Bass, Guitars Guitar: Larry Carlton, Dennis Dias, Dean Parks, Elliot Randall Bass: Chuck Rainey Drums: Bernard Purdie, Rick Marotta Keyboards: Victor Feldman, Paul Griffin, Don Grolnick Percussion: Victor Feldman, Gary Coleman Horns: Jim Horn, Bob Findley, John Klemmer, Chuck Findlay, Plas Johnson, Slyde Hyde Backing Vocals: Donald Fagen, Clydie King, Venetta Fields, Sherlie Matthews, Tim Schmit, Michael McDonald |
| Comments | All songs by Becker and Fagen, Except 'The Fez' by Becker, Fagen and Paul Griffin. Produced by Gary Katz. |
| Tracks |
Kid Charlemagne Caves of Altamira Don't Take Me Alive Sign In Stranger The Fez Green Earrings Haitian Divorce Everything You Did Royal Scam |
While the music played, you worked by candle light Those San Fransisco 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 realise 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 motorhome Every A-Frame had your number on the wall You must have had it all You'd go to LA on 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 the patrons have all left you in the red Your low rent friends are dead Life can be very strange All those dayglow freaks who used to paint the face They've joined the human race Somethings will never change Son you were mistaken You are obsolete Look at all the white men on the street [chorus] Clean this mess up or else we'll all end up in jail Those testtubes 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 [chorus]
I recall, when I has small How I spent my days alone The busy world was not for me So I went and found my own I would climb the garden wall With a candle in my hand I'd hide inside a hall of rock and sand On a stone an ancient hand In a faded yellow green Made alive a worldly wonder Often told but never seen Now and ever bound to labor On the sea and in the sky Every man and beast appeared A friend as real as I Before the fall when they wrote it on the wall When there wasn't even any Hollywood They heard the call They wrote it on the wall, For you and me we understood Can it be this sad design Could be the very same? A wooly man without a face And a beast without a name Nothin here but history Can you see what has been done? Memory rush over me Now I step into the sun [chorus]
Agents of the law, luckless pedestrian I know you're out there, with rage in your eyes and your megaphones Saying all is forgiven, mad dog surrender How can I answer, a man of my mind can do anything I'm a book keeper's son I don't want to shoot no one Well I crossed my old man back in Oregon Don't take me alive Got a case of dynamite I could hold out here all night Yes I crossed my old man back in Oregon Dont take me alive Can you hear the evil crowd, the lies and the laughter I hear my insides, the mechanized hum of another world Where no sun is shining, no red light flashing Here in this darkness, I know what I've done I know all at once who I am [chorus] [solo] [chorus]
Have you heard about the boom on Mizar Five People got to shout to stay alive They don't even have policeman one Doesn't matter where you been or what you've done Do you have a dark spot on your past? Leave it to my man he'll fix it fast Pepe has a scar from ear to ear. He will make your mug shots disappear You zombie, be born again my friend Won't you sign in stranger Do you like to take a yoyo for a ride? Zombie I can see you're qualified Walk around collecting Turkish Union Dues They will call you sir and sign your shoes Or maybe you would like to see the show You'll enjoy the Cafe D'Escargot Folks are in a line around the block Just to see her do the conch-con-Jacques You zombie, be born again my friend Won't you sign in stranger Love or leave her, yellow fever, Sure it's all in the game And who are you, Just another scurvy brother You zombie, be born again my friend Won't you sign in stranger
No, I'm never gonna do it without the fez on, oh no. x 2 That's what I am; Please understand. I wanna be your holy man. No, I'm never gonna do it without the fez on, oh no. Ain't never gonna do it without the fez on, oh no. That's what I am; Please understand. I wanna be your holy man. [solo] No, I'm never gonna do it without the fez on, oh no. Don't make me do it without the fez on, oh no. That's what I am; Please understand. I wanna be your holy man.
Cold, daring, no flies on me Sorry, Angel, I must take what I see Green earrings I remember The rings of rare design I remember, the look in your eyes, I dont mind Greek medallion, sparkles when you smile Sorry, Angel, I get hungry like a child [chorus] I dont mind [solo] [chorus]
Babs and Clean Willie were in love they said, So in love, the preacher's face turned red Soon everyobody knew the thing was dead He shouts, she bites, they wrangle through the night, oh. She go crazy, got to make a getaway, Papa say, 'Oh, No hesitation, no tears and no hearts breaking, no remorse. Oh, oh, congratulations, this is your Haitian Divorce' She takes the taxi to the good hotel, Bon marche as far as she can tell She drinks the zombie from the coco shell She feels alright, she get it on tonight Mister driver, take me where the music play Papa say [chorus] At the Grotto, in the greasy chair Sits the Charlie with the lotion and the kinky hair When she smiled, she said it all The band was hot so They danced the famous merango Now we dolly back, now we fade to black. [solo] Tearful reunion in the USA Day by day those memories fade away Some babies grow in a peculiar way It changed, it grew, and everybody knew Semi-mojo, who's this kinly so and so Papa go [chorus]
Where did the Bastard run, is he still around? Now you gotta tell me ev'rything you did baby I'm gonna get my gun, shoot the lover down, Are you gonna tell me ev'rything you did baby Traces are everywhere, in our happy home Now you better tell me everything, you did baby I jumped out of my easy chair, it was not my own Now I want to hear about everything you did baby I never knew you, You were a roller skater You gonna show me later, Turn up the Eagles the neighbours are listening You know how people talk, I wonder what they say I think you better tell me everything you did baby [solo] [chorus] You never came to me, when you were so inclined, Yes you could have told me everything, you did baby I know where baby's at, i know your filthy mind Now you're gonna do me everything you did baby You did baby
And they wandered in from the city Of St John without a dime Wearing coats that shined both red and green Colors from their sunny island From their boats of iron they looked upon The promised land where surely life was sweet On the rising tide to New York City Did they ride into the street. See the glory, [See the glory of] Of the royal scam They are hounded down to the bottom Of a bad town amid the ruins Where they learn to fear an angry race Of fallen kings their dark companions While the memory of their southern sky Was clouded by a savage winter Every patron saint hung on the wall Shared the room with twenty sinners [chorus] By the blackened wall he does it all He thinks he's died and gone to heaven Now the tale is told by the old man Back home he reads the letter How they are paid in gold just to babble In the back room all night and waste the time And they wandered in from the city Of St John without a dime [chorus] [chorus]