About Mike McGibney Expertise I can answer questions about individual members of the band or their vast array of session musicians, or about ANY song, even the extremely rare/unpublished. I can help with musical aspects such as chords/instruments used or with style of playing or about the history behind the band and in particular, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the bands writers/arrangers.
Experience I am a huge Steely Dan fan, and have my own website on them. I also have a Steely Dan tribute band, and saw the real Steely Dan play at Wembley in 2000. I play all their music on bass and piano, and specialise in hard to get songs, mostly on mp3 format.
Organizations I play keyboards and do the arranging and transcriptions for a Steely Dan tribute band, and am a regular member on forums on the band throughout the internet.
Answer Dr Wu: Quintessential Dan, a mixture of cynicism, despair, hope, and ultimate redemption.
My apologies you werent happy with the answer.....I did say that the sources I normally refer to aren't to hand at the moment.
However, I have done some research, so here it is:
[Official Biography] Donald Fagen: " "Doctor Wu" is about a triangle, kind of a love-dope triangle. I think usually when we do write songs of a romantic nature, one or more of the participants in the alliance will come under the influence of someone else or some other way of life and that will usually end up in either some sort of compromise or a split. Okay, in this song a girl meets somebody who leads another kind of life and she's attracted to it. Then she comes under the domination of someone else and that results in the ending of the relationship or some amending of the relationship. When we start writing songs like that, that's the way it usually goes. In "Doctor Wu" the "someone else" is a dope habit personified as Doctor Wu. In "Haitian Divorce" it's a hotel gigolo. The details of "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and "Through With Buzz" are vaguer but the pattern is the same."
An alternate idea: Dr Wu is the narrator of the song. You see, some women tend to destroy the men who fall in love with them. The poor guys never find out 'till it's too late. Anyway, Katy tried....And I strongly suspect Dr. Wu is now using. But there is a 3rd person, the one to whom he is talking. She's a woman from his past that has come back into his life somehow. She adores him, but she is like Eponine to him. She's there for him if he would just open his eyes. His eyes, however, are too full of Katy so he doesn't really notice her, which is why we can imagine his surprise when he saw her just as he woke up from his Biscayne Bay dream. And for once, she's come at a time when he realizes he needs her (for now). So it's she that is always singing to him, "Are you with me Dr. Wu?...Has she finally got to you.....Can you hear me Dr.?" BTW: Dr. Wu isn't his real name. It's a nickname she gave him a long time ago.
Alternate Theory 2: This story is in chronological order. First, a man is down on his luck, "almost crucified", and Katy tries to help. She lifts him up. They sing a song of joy and love. Katy falls for dope (Doctor Wu) and her man becomes just a shadow now - not so important to her anymore. Her love is now for dope. Man waits for Katy. He doesn't know about her new "love". He searches the city looking for her. Even looks in the slums (the bay). He longs for the fun, "tastes", and songs of love they used to sing together, but she never comes. He finally finds her. Katy lies, because she never intended to meet him. She is with Doctor Wu and is "high" on
him. The man is surprised to see her in that condition and not caring enough to even meet him. The last verse flips back and forth with perspective to who is talking. "Are you with me Doctor Wu......" is her talking to her dope. But "she is lovely yes she's sly......" is probably the man's friend consolling him and saying that she got to him and that he is only human. The last line is Katy repeatedly talking to her new love. It is a story of new love broken apart by a drug addiction. He has to go on with his life -- and she falls deeper and deeper into her love for Doctor Wu.
Alternate Theory 3: A popular interpretation is that Dr. Wu is a Coke dealer (diet and classic, is there any other kind? Oh, Cherry!) and Katy is Coca Cola incarnated as a seductive woman who ultimately is untrue.
The character singing the song is a caffeine addict and popaholic. He can't stop his Coke habit!
Unusual Theory 4: I know this goes against basically all other interpretations of this song, but it came to me after listening to "Dr. Wu" for the umpteenth time. I don't mean to suggest that D&W intended this meaning, but it is interesting.
The main idea is this: "Dr. Wu" can be interpreted as a retelling of Arthurian legend.
The narrator is King Arthur, "Dr. Wu" is Launcelot, and "Katy" is Queen Guinevere.
In the beginning, Arthur's kingdom of Camelot is in jeopardy of being wiped out unless he gets more military help."I was halfway crucified . . . I was
on the other side of no tomorrow." Guinevere tries to help her husband, "Katy tried", but what Arthur needs is a warrior.
Enter Launcelot. Traditionally he was Arthur's greatest warrior, and he helps revive Arthur's army. "You walked in, and my life began again. Just when I'd spent the last piaster I could borrow" Piasters- maybe Launcelot has helped financially as well. Not mentioned in the legends but possible.
As a side note, in many myths Launcelots first act upon entering Camelot was to save a dying man's life. Hence, a literal interpretation of "You walked in, and my life began again", although use of "my" means it's probably Arthur speaking figuratively.
Now comes the "Golden Age" of Camelot. Things are good, Arthur, Guinevere, and Launcelot are all best friends "All night long, we would sing that
stupid song". It's some worthless minstrel tune, but they are such good friends that everthing seems wonderful.
And now of course, the fall into darkness. Arthur begins to suspect that Guinever and Launcelot are more than just good friends, and he questions
Launcelot's priorities. "Are you really just a shadow of the man that I once knew?" He is initially angry "Are you crazy, are you high?" this is not a literal question, he's just insulting Launcelot, but soon Arthur calms down when he remembers his own failings. "Or just an ordinary guy" - i.e. his sins are no worse than Arthur's. The next line "Have you done all you can do" is eerily similar to dialogue in an Arthur book I have, where Launcelot is confessing something to the extent of "We have tried our hardest, my lord. We have done all we can do, but we cannot keep away from each other"
The lovers of course promise to end the affair immediatly, and in the aftermath Guinevere finds great enjoyment in hawking, going out to hunt with her trained hawk. Although Arthur waits for her back at Camelot "I was waiting for the taste you said you'd bring to me" -of whatever she hunts- , he may be waiting a while, i.e. "strung out here all night", because Guinevere and Launcelot are trysting in the forest.
Don't ask me how the lines about Cuban gentlemen and Biscayne Bay fit in, because they don't at all. For the record, I personally don't even really like those lines within a more standard interpretation.
Of course in the end everything comes out. Arthur reminisces of good times "I went searching for the song you used to sing to me" - this is him remembering the good old days. In reality, however, he is faced with brutal truths that his best friends have betrayed him "Katy lies, you can see it in her eyes". Arthur sentences her to burn at the stake, but Launcelot and his brothers, now outlaws, ride up, save the Queen and ride off. "Imagine my surprise when I saw you" - when he saw armed horsemen charging through the gates.
The final verse tells of the final battle between Camelot and the forces of evil (Mordred, for anyone who cares). Arthur is outnumbered, but former friend Launcelot has pledged to send his newfound French army to assist Arthur, which will not arrive to the site, however, for two days. Of course, battle is provoked that day, and the song ends with Arthure lying on the battlefield, wounded, in a delirium of sorts, crying out to his former best friend, forgiving his adultery "She is lovely, yes she's sly, and you're an ordinary guy" and then crying out to ask if he and his army have arrived yet. "Are you with me, doctor?"
Camelot is destroyed, Arthur is taken away to Avalon, an island place out of time (hmmm . . . Time out of mind?). Launcelot's forces arrive too late to do any good, Guinevere becomes a nun. Go figure.
Stupid Theory 5: In the video game Fallout, a post-apocalyptic adventure, you have to storm the stronghold of a nutty nuclear cult. In the infirmary is a man in a monk's robe, flipping a knife in the air. If you talk to him, he is revealed to be 'Dr. Wu.' Further conversation reveals that not only does he have control of the pharmaceuticals, but he performs euthanasia on troublemakers. I've never seen a video game character call you an asshole so much!
I hope these theories are a bit more satisfactory.
If not, get back to me and I will try harder. If so, a positive comment would be appreciated.
