# My Old School

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-school/426224>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 13, 2007, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-school/426224 "2007-11-13T09:23:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-school/426224/1 "2007-11-13T09:23:50Z")

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The Steely Dan song, of course. Can anyone explain it? [link to lyrics](http://www.steelydan.com/lyrcountdown.html#track6)

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

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**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-school/426224/2 "2007-11-13T09:55:59Z")

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A previous (2005) thread on [“My Old School”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Old_School) is [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=311820).

[QUOTE=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

[/QUOTE]  
The link that I gave in the subsequent post has moved; the analysis of the songs on [Countdown to Ecstasy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countdown_To_Ecstasy) is now [here](http://cordmeyer.spymac.com/countdo.htm).

**G. Gordon Liddy** and **Chevy Chase** are involved…

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**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-old-school/426224/3 "2007-11-13T13:23:55Z")

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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](http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1174152,00.html)