Let's stay with the Dan. Since it's lost loved ones you think of most on family holidays, it seems Don Fagen had his own equivalent to my Mary and wrote a couple songs about her. The similarities are extraordinary and hilarious:
Negative Girl
She's lost - she's late
She's zooming on a couch somewhere
Or high - or home
I'm not supposed to call her there
I wait - I smoke
I stare into my coke
It's happening again
I tell myself that it's over and done, amen
Her skin - like milk
It's like she's never seen the sun
Some hearts to crunch
Is more like her idea of fun
I know - she's ill
I'm cruising for a spill
I'm hanging just the same
I need to be in the heat
Of her cold white flame
[Chorus:]
Another negative girl
At the edge of the frame
Deliciously toxic
The original classic thing - more of the same
She's in the zone
Crying on the phone
I need you here
I'm on the street again
Staggering out into the burn of the brain dead dawn
To arrive in time to find her gone
She's on the train
To somewhere up by Fordham Road
Her reptile brain
Locked down and ready in combat mode
Some cash - a key
This guy she has to see
A doctor friend uptown
And maybe she gets to me when she comes back down
[Chorus:]
Another negative girl
Spinning out of the frame
Exquisitely limpid
The original classic thing - more of the same
A goof - a buzz
If that is what it was
Then how do you explain
The way she looks when she's
Dragging me out to dance with her
In the summer rain
[Chorus:]
Another negative girl
At the edge of the frame
Exhausting and luscious
The original classic thing - more of the same
Lunch with Gina
That must be her again
She's leaning on my bell
That cold psychotic ring
The one I know so well
So I'm nailed to the floor in the no-option zone
There's about zero chance she'll give up and go home
This endless afternoon
It started on the day I met her
Lunch with Gina is forever
She's coming 'round the corner
Her body's just a blur
I peel out like The Flash
It don't mean boo to her
So I duck into Nino's - she's barred from the place
The minute I walk out she's right in my face
She's got nothing but time
No use in trying to be clever
Lunch with Gina is forever
Now I'm in my apartment
The blinds down the lights out
The phone rings God help me
There's nobody home
I crouch on the carpet
Not breathing just being
Like meat on the bone
I'm in a cozy booth
Maybe my watch is fast
Another Tanqueray
I'll wait 'til twenty past
I'm about to go postal when she waltzes in
I guess she's a knockout - hey where have I been?
The waiter never comes
God knows the service could be better
Lunch with Gina is forever
Coffee and a kiss
Maybe later maybe never
Lunch with Gina...
ETA: Didn't see the 1-4 line thing. #### it -
