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BROOKLYN (OWES THE CHARMER UNDER ME) Lyrics

Artist: Steely Dan
Album: Can't Buy A Thrill

A race of angels
Bound with one another
A dish of dollars
Laid out for all to see
A tower room at Eden Rock
His golf at noon for free
Brooklyn owes the charmer
Under me

His lady's aching
To bring a body down
She daily preaches
On where she wants to be
An evening with a movie queen
A face we all have seen
Brooklyn owes the charmer
Under me

A case of aces
Done up loose for dealing
A piece of island cooling in the sea
The whole of time we gain or lose
And power enough to choose
Brooklyn owes the charmer
Under me

Comments/Interpretations

by bacteriapimp.com on 7/17/2008 6:19pm
Anyone have any ideas about the eden rock. Is it a hotel? A golf course?.....

by me on 5/15/2009 12:41am
fucking love the last stanza. some of the coolest lyrics ever

by stranger in a strange land on 1/12/2011 7:44pm
the first stanza seems to reference the novel by heinlen: allusion to humans really being angels, the dish of dollars michael valentine smith has in his compound, the reference to eden. Also, the preaching women in #2 could easily refer to any of the female characters in the novel, especially with the sexual openess aspects and the interchange of physical appearence. #3 could reference Smiths use of telekinesis to manipulate betting games in his favor. The brooklyn/south florida thing i have nothing on. Still interesting that this song is followed up by turn that heartbeat over again, reference to michael and jesus, perhaps a stretch... still sounds like the preaching of smith.

by DJ Dyspeptic on 12/18/2011 2:02pm
Well, the question of whether Brooklyn owes or Brooklyn knows was settled in 1972 when the LP was released. The title is "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)." I've been pondering what that line might mean for 40 years. I still don't know, but it is one of the loveliest lyric phrases I've ever encountered. By the way, this sounds to me like a Becker song. Any thoughts?

by allan on 12/21/2011 7:50pm
It is about the guy that lived downstairs from Fagan in Brooklyn and what Brooklyn owed him for the hardships he had to suffer, including his wife."His lady's aching to bring a body down,,she daily preaches where she wants to be" sounds like she nags him a lot, so Brooklyn owes the charmer "an evening with a beauty queen, a face we all have seen".

by David on 2/12/2012 3:06am
Think guys whats one of the most popular type of person with money to burn and respect to have a Tower Room at Eden Roc (which was and is again one of the top hotels in Miami Beach) a. D to play lf at noon for free. Also consider that Florida is nuetrl territory. This so. G predates the cocaine cowboys. How about a mob. guy.

by scott on 3/9/2013 5:36am
It is in fact Brooklyn (owes the charmer) . I mean it is the name of the song.

by re: stranger in a strange land on 8/31/2013 12:12am
sorry, but as a fellow Heinlein reader and absolute fan of Stranger in a Strange Land, I just don't see ANY absolute references to SIASL or Heinlein in this song. It's a case of you get from the party is what you bring TO the party.

by CatLa on 9/3/2017 2:24pm
I think that the song is an ironic anti-hymn of praise to a would-be rich guy (cf. the Eden Roc, free golf, dish of dollars) whose ambitious, perhaps nagging wife is being neglected in favor of someone younger, who gambles high, perhaps for fancy real estate (the island)'. But 'the whole of time we gain or lose | With power enough to choose'—it's his life, he chose it. As for the title, the point is that this sleazeball, who lives in the apartment 'under' the singer's, is no 'charmer', and Brooklyn owes him nothing.

by HarryH on 12/2/2019 8:40pm
I could swear that I saw an Eden Rock golf course on a map of Brooklyn that I have in an atlas from the early 1960s. Can't find it on Google Maps now, but I'm sure it existed.

by Tom S. on 5/18/2020 6:42pm
To me, you can gain eternity (the whole of time) when you give your life to Jesus, but, unlike in Calvinism, you have the power to choose. Jesus doesn't force you to believe. You have a choice. I quote these lyrics to drive Calvinists mad. Ha!

by D. Skeeter on 2/11/2021 5:52pm
I’m a painter, working on a canvas of the Brooklyn Bridge (at night) in the style of Whistler’s: Nocturnal in Blue and Gold: Old Battersea Bridge, 1872-1875. I want to use a phrase from the Steely Dan song, integrate it with the image of Brooklyn Bridge....any suggestions?? B safe U’Alls....