Strange Album titles
Posted by Steve Turner on 5 May 2008 - 12:04pm.
There have been numerous album titles that have meant nothing to me and most often have thought nothing more of them and just got on with the music. One however has intrigued me for many years and that is Steely Dans Pretzel Logic. What on earth does it mean? Scouring the cover I noticed that Pretzel is spelt as Pretzel and also as Pretzle but surely that is not the answer?
Anyone care to shed any light? Any other album titles that have intrigued?
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I've got one for you
The Best of Radiohead?
Jack Jones Entertains
(The old ones are the best.)
Me, miss! Me, me, me!
According to Donald Fagen, the song "Pretzel Logic" was about time travel, and pretzel logic is apparently a mathematical-backwater concept related to relativity theory (summat to do with the shape doubling back on itself, I think).
Pretzel Logic
The title track is about time travel. The lyrics sound more like a funny day dream about travelling the American South and meeting crazy people. Turns out that if you take the lyrics at face value then it's about time travel. He would literally like to meet Napoleon but he can't find the correct moment in the timeline.
I read a book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Steely-Dan-Reelin-Years/dp/1846098815/ref=sr_1_1... about them, otherwise I would never have known. Did you know that "Sign In Stranger" is a Sci-Fi story about a planet for criminals?!
I saw the explanation
on the Dan website too but given their penchant for telling whoppers I was pretty sure it was made up twaddle. A neutral confirmation would sway me though.
Sign in Stranger
Not trying to be a smartarse, but that's what I always thought the song was about, one of their less obscure lyrics. In fact I think Royal Scam is all pretty straightforward, at least by their standards.
H to He, Who Am the Only One
Gratuitous weirdness by Van Der Graaf Generator.
VDGG Fusion
It might be about the fusion of hydrogen (H) nuclei to create helium (He) and lots of energy, which happens in stars. Not sure about the "who am the only one" part though - sounds vaguely religious so it may be about creation of the universe etc?
I always thought Pretzel Logic
was an Americanism for an illogical statement - logic twisted like a pretzel.
The Dan dictionary is usually good for this sort of thing, it doesn't seem to think it warrants an entry!