Last night I could have sworn that some of Steely Dan's classics from the 70s were divinely inspired, or at least substantially enhanced with LSD. But today after some lazy internet research that turned up nothing, I think it's likely that I was projecting quite a bit into what I was hearing.

I was vaping small hits of DMT at 20 or 30 minute intervals, and I personally felt like I was brushing up against, without quite entering, what has been described as a temporary non-dual or enlightened experience. I hate to use those terms because, who knows. But I felt like I was picking up on some language in the lyrics about the same thing I was experiencing, like I was picking up where they left off 40 years ago.

It seems completely plausible to me, but even if I was reading some things into the songs that simply were not intended, I would still like to share the love and see what others think. I assure you it was real enough for me last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfZWp-hGCdA

Rikki Don't Lost That Number

This song reacted to my efforts to try to remember or record the experience as it was happening, because they would inevitably be hard to recall again. The song seems like quite an exaggerated urging to remember something, and it gives all kinds of easy ideas for ways to keep it from slipping from memory. I've seen the other side of infinity, but I have to go back to normal life now, so find some way to carry something back. Do whatever it takes, it can be something really simple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A0wGO3c2T8

Deacon Blues

One line in particular of the lyrics from this song hit me kinda hard, and I think I had a bro-ment with these guys.

"I cried when I wrote this song, sue me if I play too long.
This brother is free,
I be what I want to be."

Then it flows perfectly into the chorus, where he elaborates on how he does what he wants. "Learn to work the saxophone, I play just what I feel. Drink Scotch whiskey all night long and die behind the wheel".

I just thought when I heard it, wow he really means it. I'm kinda turning into that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArQtVcM7w5Q

Peg

This song took a while to sink in, and probably haunted my footsteps the most today.

To me, the verse seemed to depict everyday life, and the chorus interrupts with divine assurance. Let me illustrate with an example from the movie MirrorMask. There's a scene where the protagonists are visiting an old lady's house, trying to find a mask. They walk inside and suddenly notice that the house if full of "cats" (or fantastic creatures with cat-like behaviour). After a nice social visit, the old lady gives a sudden warning without changing her facial expression... she says "remember, don't let them see you're afraid", and strongly implies that the cats are somehow bad and monstrous, and can read their expressions but can't understand their speech. So suddenly the mood is turned, and the good guys are like, "I think we'd better be going".

It's an interesting twist on the "aside", which can get more and more meta in something like a film.

Anyway, the point is that the chorus of the song sounded to me like a sudden "aside" where they cut the small talk and deliver an important message. The feel of the song abruptly changes from a "sober" feel in the verse to a "trance" feel in the chorus.

The message could be an answer to the dilemma I mentioned in the first song of having to remember the present experience for real-life application in the future.

"Hey! It will come back to you. You've seen it all, it's your favorite foreign movie".

Meaning, don't worry about forgetting, it will come back when the time is right (or, at the least, when you die), as easily as you can now remember your favorite movie.

Mine's Shaolin Soccer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sil76t2X_DE

Do It Again

I don't have much to say about this song, but it sounded really weird. I kept hearing wavy distortions in the vocals.