Steely Dan's "Third World Man" - Meaning of Lyrics?

[JayFreddy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIJvrmgu6wg


The other thread about Steely Dan's "Here At The Western World" got me thinking about Third World Man...

Right from the first time I heard it, it took my breath away, and it still does. Along with Here At The Western World, it's long been one of my favorite Steely Dan tunes, as well as one of Larry Carleton's greatest guitar solos ever, IMHO.

I've been listening to this song for 30+ years, and I just realized that I don't understand what the lyrics mean. The song has different meanings for me, as it has resurfaced in my life over and over again, as great music is prone to do.

Can anyone help explain the meaning of the lyrics to this tune? Thanks in advance!

Johnny's playroom
Is a bunker filled with sand
He's become a third world man

Smokey Sunday
He's been mobilized since dawn
Now he's crouching on the lawn
He's a third world man

Soon you'll throw down your disguise
We'll see behind those bright eyes
By and by
When the sidewalks are safe
For the little guy

I saw the fireworks
I believed that I was dreaming
'Til the neighbours came out screaming
He's a third world man

[chorus]

When he's crying out
I just sing that Ghana Rondo
E'lera del terzo mondo
He's a third world man

(ps. I don't think it's about firearms, although from watching the above video montage, obviously that's what someone else thinks it's about... )

[MojoMonster]

According to this guy:

OK - let me clear up a few things. This song, written in 79/80 during the "Guerro Sucio" or Dirty War in Argentina. This was the age of Gen Galteri, one of the most lethal dictators in their history. Bored with killing his own population, he was famous for starting a war with the UK over The Falkland Islands. But I digress. Argentina has a very sizeable Italian community, and Buenos Aries street slang incorporates a lot of Italian words, if not whole sentences. Basically this is a song from the perspective of someone who's seeing all this for the first time. The children soldiers ("Johnny's playroom Is a bunker filled with sand" which Argentina was using at this time, the bombs going off, no one sure whether they were planted by the government as a false flag, or by the communists.

And yet this one thinks

It's clearly a song about a war veteran who has not escaped his former life in his mind. In flahbacks or some PTSS, he views his current suburban world as a third world war zone. His or possibly his son's playroom suddenly becomes a bunker. "Moblized since dawn...lawn" shows that he has very real flashbacks that he participates in his home and front yard. The fireworks he sees could be from a 4th of July celebration which sends him into his other mindset, in which he thinks he is dreaming, but is infact participating. His neighbors come out screaming because he's going nuts outside. "E'lera del terzo mondo" doesn't have a direct translation to my knowledge, but it is at least losely based on several romantic languages, like Italian, Spanish and Portugese.
"Lera" - read - Spanish root
"del" - of the - Spanish root
"terzo" - third - Italian direct translation
"mondo" - world - Spanish root

It vaguely translates to "He reads of the Third World"

I have no idea what "Ghana Rondo" is.

Ghana is a coastal western African country known for its gold trade.
A rondo is a style of "classical" music writing, exemplified by the final movement of J.S. Bach's E Major Violin Concerto and the last movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata, Op. 13.
(cribbed from Wikipedia)

I think it's just commentary about 3rd world politics and the anguish they cause.

[Brett Fuzz]

Not sure either, but one of my all time favourite Steely Dan songs.

Larry Carlton played some great lead on many S.D. tunes another being Kid Charlemagne.

[getbent]

I think the general oeuvre of steely dan is wry self mockery and absolute dismissal of the middle class while recognizing their own membership. They are the original anti hipster hipsters... the guys who sneer best at kind of everything but are kind of endearing because they sneer the most at themselves and the absurdity that their own observations are utterly self indicting and yet, they make no effort to be any different and kind of seem to enjoy the dichotomy of their position.

I think this song is just that... Johnny is NOT a third world man. He is like a trustafarian, someone who is 'deeply concerned' and feels threatened by the very real terror in the world away from, say, the valley... but, doesn't actually do anything and couldn't even if he wanted.

Johnny is the guy in your suburban neighborhood with the monster truck, the camo and a 'material' collection and who talks about things he never actually does...

Even his quasi use of a foreign language is lame and incorrect but very tough sounding and mock serious... Johnny... he is a clown.

[Jazzassin]

Originally Posted by JayFreddy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIJvrmgu6wg


The other thread about Steely Dan's "Here At The Western World" got me thinking about Third World Man...

Right from the first time I heard it, it took my breath away, and it still does. Along with Here At The Western World, it's long been one of my favorite Steely Dan tunes, as well as one of Larry Carleton's greatest guitar solos ever, IMHO.

I've been listening to this song for 30+ years, and I just realized that I don't understand what the lyrics mean. The song has different meanings for me, as it has resurfaced in my life over and over again, as great music is prone to do.

Can anyone help explain the meaning of the lyrics to this tune? Thanks in advance!



(ps. I don't think it's about firearms, although from watching the above video montage, obviously that's what someone else thinks it's about... )

"Third World Man" originally had another title and lyrics.
It was called "Were You Blind That Day", and the new lyrics was probably done during the "Gaucho" sessions. The origins of the song is hard to find trustworthy info about. Some say it's a leftover from the material they worked on for "Katy Lied" in '75. This is subject to discussion though, as some claim it was written for Aja ('77) and others think it was actually not written until around the time of recording the Gaucho album (1980). And again, some thinks it was based on a Carlton solo lying around after the "The Royal Scam" sessions in '76.
It has been unofficially released on various compilations like "Gaucho demos & outtakes", "KL Outtakes" and more. It's the same recording on all of them, and the arrangement and lineup indicates that at least this version must've been recorded during the Gaucho sessions. It actually sounds much like the same recording that became TWM, only with the first lyrics version. This does of course not mean the song couldn't originally have been written years earlier.
Brian Sweet's book "Reelin' In The Years" tells the story of the song being a leftover from Aja, as if it were an undisputable fact, but then again Sweet's book has recieved lukewarm welcomes from fans because of its inaccuracy.

Anyway, a lo-fi version "picked up from the studio floor" can be heard here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhyXOmYNgCA

TWM found its way to the Gaucho album much thanks to a fatal incident in the studio. A recording assistant accidentally deleted a finished song called "The Second Arrangement", which has since been something of a holy grail to many Steely Dan fans. The story is well known I guess.
Anyway, they needed another song to fill up the album, recorded "Were You Blind That Day", had some more trouble - both recording wise and personal problems, Donald changed the lyrics to the song and put it on the album.

Firearms or no firearms?

The liner notes on "Alive In America" (1995) says the following about Third World Man:

"Minor chords. Brooding. Scary little kid. Terrorists, media, identities. Oedipal transposition. How resolved?"

The funny thing about SD lyrics interpretations is that there's as many opinions as there's fans. And Donald & Walter rarely helps out. They usually just say things like: "We don't usually analyze our own lyrics. We have other people doing that for us."

Anyone interested in reading old SD lyrics interpretations by diehard fans should visit this archived page and have some amusing hours:

http://feverdreams.whatsmykarma.com/

For specific TWM lyrics interpretations:

http://feverdreams.whatsmykarma.com/thirdworldman.htm

Btw, Donald Fagen is 65 years old today.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DONALD!

[Telemarkman]

Thanks for the insightful post, Jazzassin!

[charlie chitlin]

What's a Steely Dan song about?
About 3-and-a-half minutes long.

[enterprise]

Originally Posted by Brett Fuzz

Not sure either, but one of my all time favourite Steely Dan songs.

Larry Carlton played some great lead on many S.D. tunes another being Kid Charlemagne.

Kid Charlemagne is great. It is about Owsley Stanley.

[banjohabit]

Originally Posted by getbent

I think the general oeuvre of steely dan is wry self mockery and absolute dismissal of the middle class while recognizing their own membership. They are the original anti hipster hipsters... the guys who sneer best at kind of everything but are kind of endearing because they sneer the most at themselves and the absurdity that their own observations are utterly self indicting and yet, they make no effort to be any different and kind of seem to enjoy the dichotomy of their position.

I think this song is just that... Johnny is NOT a third world man. He is like a trustafarian, someone who is 'deeply concerned' and feels threatened by the very real terror in the world away from, say, the valley... but, doesn't actually do anything and couldn't even if he wanted.

Johnny is the guy in your suburban neighborhood with the monster truck, the camo and a 'material' collection and who talks about things he never actually does...

Even his quasi use of a foreign language is lame and incorrect but very tough sounding and mock serious... Johnny... he is a clown.

nailed it ! the attitude is one of the most endearing qualities of steely dan music to me. i'm not too sure some of it even works without it. the weariness of the narrator in "black cow" is as much weariness of watching oneself knowingly being decieved as it is weariness of an unfaithful lover. there is no desperation, an air of detachment permeates the song.

fagan rarely points the finger without pointing one back at himself.

[JayFreddy]

Originally Posted by Jazzassin

AWESOME POST!

...Anyway, a lo-fi version "picked up from the studio floor" can be heard here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhyXOmYNgCA

...EVEN MORE AWESOME POST!

Thank you! That was truly AWESOME!

Seriously, I had no idea, and you just completely educated me.

Next time I'm buying the beer... Someday!

Thanks very much!

[Jazzassin]

Thanks. I'm glad you found it interesting!

Sorry not to be able to "explain" the lyrics myself, as I think there's no definite answer. I believe they write their lyrics the way they do partly to engage the listener's own creativity by often offering a snapshot of a situation or a short story to which we don't know the prologue or ending, partly to always make them match the music like a glove in terms of pronunciation and the phonetic and rhythmic attributes of the words.
They have repeatedly said in interviews that to them, the words are always subsequent to the music. Pretty funny when you take in consideration that despite this, their lyrics has generated more curiousity, analysis, discussions and extolment than most artists dare dream about.
Steely Dan lyrics interpretations/ discussions can be good fun as long as one don't insist on having the final blueprint of course. All the suggestions in this thread are good, imo.
I think your experience of the Dan lyrics having different meanings depending on where you are in your own life is pretty common for most fans, and it just confirms you are healthy and sane.

[Jazzassin]

MojoMonster, I couldnt get the system to include your external quotes in my reply, so I just copy/paste here what I want to comment on.

QUOTE
"E'lera del terzo mondo" doesn't have a direct translation to my knowledge, but it is at least losely based on several romantic languages, like Italian, Spanish and Portugese.
"Lera" - read - Spanish root
"del" - of the - Spanish root
"terzo" - third - Italian direct translation
"mondo" - world - Spanish root

It vaguely translates to "He reads of the Third World"
/UNQUOTE

If you put the phrase "L'era del terzo mondo" into a translation page, choose Italian as input language and English as output, you'll get the same result from all but one (at least from the handful of different pages I tried), namely "The era of the third world".
The exception was http://www.freetranslation.com which suggested "It was of the third world".

Anyway, here's a nice acoustic cover version of Third World Man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br3WiiCcSxo

Enjoy!