Even now, over 40 years later and buried under a dense swirl of a thousand memories, I can almost taste the cocaine residue in my nasal passages when I listen to Donald Fagen‘s I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World).
I was never a deranged cokehead (mostly because I couldn’t afford it), but like everyone else in the early Reagan era I indulged on weekends and whatnot, and when I first heard I.G.Y., which instantly struck me as an ironic-satiric song about shallow people celebrating materialistic bliss, I was blissfully throbbing on the stuff, and in my mind this Fagen song (which was part of Fagen’s “Nightfly” album) and Bolivian nose candy have always been on the same spiritual plane.
My other big cocaine song from that era was Spirits in the Material World, which was released on 10.2.81, or exactly one year before I.G.Y..
Standing tough under stars and stripes
We can tell
This dream’s in sight
You’ve got to admit it
At this point in time that it’s clear
The future looks bright
On that train all graphite and glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from new york to paris
Well by seventy-six we’ll be a.o.k.
What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free
Get your ticket to that wheel in space
While there’s time
The fix is in
You’ll be a witness to that
Game of chance in the sky
You know we’ve got to win
Here at home we’ll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There’ll be spandex jackets for everyone
On that train all graphite a glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from new york to paris
(More leisure for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We’ll be clean when their work is done
We’ll be eternally free yes and eternally young