if the above makes drug dealing seem impossibly glamorous, this track makes the consumption of said contraband very appealing. Has there ever been a more straightforward advert for drugs than this?

I am holding a mystical sphere
It's direct from Lhasa
Where people are rolling in the snow
Far from the world we know

Children we have it right here
It's the light in my eyes
It's perfection and grace
It's the smile on my face

Tonight when I chase the dragon,
The water may change to cherry wine
And the silver will turn to gold
Time out of mind

http://open.spotify.com/track/1Q5dheShLXfpJ0zGgui12T

BTW - if you need to get any work done, don't look at this site:
http://www.steelydandictionary.com/

actually 'everybody must get stoned' has to be the most straightforward advert, but this line from 'Hey Nineteen' is so perfectly delivered you can almost imagine it as a TV advert in the style of the old Martini ads:

"The Cuervo Gold
The fine Colombian
Make tonite a wonderful thing..."

played out against the melancholic yet merry jingle of a winter hymnal. Life and death in 2 minutes 45.

Charlie Freak had but one thing to call his own
Three weight ounce pure golden ring no precious stone
Five nights without a bite
No place to lay his head
And if nobody takes him in
He'll soon be dead
On the street he spied my face I heard him hail
In our plot of frozen space he told his tale
Poor man, he showed his hand
So righteous was his need
And me so wise I bought his prize
For chicken feed

Newfound cash soon begs to smash a state of mind
Close inspection fast revealed his favorite kind
Poor kid, he overdid
Embraced the spreading haze
And while he sighed his body died
In fifteen ways

When I heard I grabbed a cab to where he lay
'Round his arm the plastic tag read D.O.A.
Yes Jack, I gave it back
The ring I could not own
Now come my friend I'll take your hand
And lead you home

http://open.spotify.com/track/2DV3ah0QAXBkfzFPalTsas

..I can't think of a Dan track which fails to create fascination..

Got one.

East St Louis Toodle-oo. Instrumental.

managed to fritter and waste an hour or so on that Steely Dan dictionary, from which I learned at least two things about one of my favourite songs, Here at the Western World.

Apparently there is a bar called The Lido, in Newport Beach, California, where they do indeed welcome you with sausage and beer.

And when Fagen sings, "lay down your Jackson and you will see..." he is referring to a $20 bill, which carries a picture of president Andrew Jackson.

well I never.

While the music played you worked by candlelight
Those San Francisco 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 realize
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 motor home
Every A-Frame had your number on the wall
You must have had it all
You'd go to L.A. on a 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 your patrons have all left you in the red
Your low rent friends are dead
This life can be very strange
All those dayglow freaks who used to paint the face
They've joined the human race
Some things will never change
Son you were mistaken
You are obsolete
Look at all the white men on the street

Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes 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

has long been one of my all time favourite songs, and I've just listened to it six times in a row whilst doing the ironing. Really I should have been hoovering (an enormous line of blow).