My Old School

[dtilque]

The Steely Dan song, of course. Can anyone explain it? link to lyrics

What’s the Wolverine? Why Annandale? William & Mary is in Williamsburg, not Annandale. I just don’t understand this song.

[Antonius_Block]

A previous (2005) thread on “My Old School” is here.

@Antonius Block

It might be worth noting … that Becker and Fagen met when both were attending Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson (up the Hudson River from NYC). In those days there was a train called the “Wolverine” that went from NYC to Chicago via Detroit (hence the Michigan reference in the train’s name) and stopped at a station near Bard College, hence:

I remember the thirty five sweet goodbyes
When you put me on the Wolverine up to Annandale

The link that I gave in the subsequent post has moved; the analysis of the songs on Countdown to Ecstasy is now here.

G. Gordon Liddy and Chevy Chase are involved…

[minlokwat]

It’s about a drug bust when Fagen, Becker and others were students at Bard College. It resulted in the boys getting hauled into county lock-up and consequently harboring a grudge for many years to come.

Here is the link from Entertainment Weekly. A good read and it gets into the back story for My Old School on page three.

Article Link