Steely Dan: Godwhacker Meaning

Godwhacker Lyrics

In the beginning
We could hang with the dude
But it's been too much of nothing
Of that stank attitude
Now they curse your name
And there's a bounty on your face
It's your own fault daddy
Godwhacker's on the case

We track your almighty...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Aug 19th 2010 !⃝

   Ok, guys, this is kinda simple. It's kinda silly but fun song about a man who goes to kill god. I would say the best way to describe it is a deicidal version of "Shaft." It could be sung initially by jesus because it refers to god as father, but since the idea is he's everyone's father that's only conjecture. Mainly, it's about a man who thinks god has to pay for crimes and is going to kill him, presumably with a bladed weapon of some sort.
2. Smike

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   Jan 13th 2021 !⃝

   This is about the takedown of the evil Cabal. The brilliance of Steely Dan is that they have been truthers all along.
3. anonymous

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   Aug 27th 2018 !⃝

   God Wacker ... G. W. ... George Walker Bush. It's about 9-11 and Bin Ladin.
4. anonymous

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   Aug 5th 2017 !⃝

   I think people are reading too much into this.I view it as a song about a kingpin on the street who is about to get done in by hit men--(Me), Slinky Redfoot and their trusted Angel Girls.
5. anonymous

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   Apr 26th 2017 !⃝

   This was in fact written very soon after Donald's mother tragically died of Altzheimer's.
   
   As I understand it,this song was his response to the injustice of a Divinity who could allow such things to happen.
6. anonymous

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   Jun 18th 2014 !⃝

   Obviously a song about a crew killing god for all the horrors he's inflicted, Fagen says as much in his recent book. One more reason to worship (ha!) D.F&W.B.
7. anonymous

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   Jul 27th 2013 !⃝

   Any idea why some lyrics were taken from a 1979 song, 'Lone Ranger'?
8. anonymous

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   Sep 20th 2012 !⃝

   It's a song about George W. Bush... seriously!
9. anonymous

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   May 3rd 2012 !⃝

   it is about the now defunct Bin laden and the Bushes.
10. anonymous

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    Aug 31st 2011 !⃝

    I think the Godwhacker is a typical atheist. I am a secular humanist--an atheist with a rich philosophy--and I see a lot atheists spending lots of time dwelling on the absurdity of the idea of gods. There are also lots of ways that society is harmed by theism, especially the right wing bozos that are trying to take over society in much the same way they had control for lots of centuries. Many atheists spend a lot of time taking cheap shots at the fundamentalists and other theists, but they don't spend much time trying to build something better.
    
    Of course, I'm not going to bet the farm on my hypothesis, because Steely Dan is famously difficult to pin down. They might be talking about something that I could have no idea about. I had no idea until recently that the song Barrytown was about Scientologists. That puts me nearly 40 years late. It was only a chance discovery that put me on to that--if it's true--and so Godwhacker could be similarly obscure.
11. anonymous

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    Feb 24th 2011 !⃝

    Kinda reminds me of Q of Star Trek TNG.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    Dec 27th 2010 !⃝

    the album Everything Must Go has a couple other songs that indicate resignation and disllusionment: The Last Mall and Everything Must Go - Godwhacker seems to be in the same vein, except cosmic: a reference to Blake's "Tyger, tyger, burning bright" in particular -- the song seems to be about rejection of all religions, the secularization of Western civilization, the turning away from God as all-knowing sky-father, after a century of cataclysmic war - how can there be a God if Hitler murdered so many Jews, if the Civil War took so long to decide (wasn't one side in the right?) - so, to hell with God. See also Deus by the Sugarcubes and Burning Hell by John Lee Hooker for similar song emphasis. I don't see anything about Bush and Obama in those lyrics at all, though one could overlay that meaning if one tried - but Steely dan usually has specific if oblique references to real events or traits, and Bush doesn't show up in the song at all as far as I can see...
13. joeo

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    Apr 3rd 2009 !⃝

    It is about visiting a brothel/drug one stop shop entertainment district in a foreign land, Perhaps like Morroco (a well known 60's and 70's drug haven, where you can satisfy all your devlish desires.The authorities look the other way, you can also obtain fake passports or put a contract on someone(Pepe, the local bouncer/thug/hitman can get rid of all our mug shots)People who go their are Zombies because they are lost souls or are drugged zombied out. The yo yo for a ride reference is about an experience with a prostitute (drugs, young women and prostitutes are reoccurring themes in Steely Dan's lyrics, no suprise here about the Rock and Roll decadent lifestlye) There is a mention about Turkish dues(Morroco is in Turkey and if you want to play you got to pay). The can can jaques show are the sex shows which by the lines around the block must be very popular There is a reference to yellow fever and scurvy (Perhaps he is mentioning the Asian women and or drug addicts due to needle sharing or poor diet.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
14. joeo

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    Mar 27th 2009 !⃝

    It's about the Bushes going after Sadam Hussein, Run Run Run!! In the begining we would hang with the dude. ( U.S. Policy Reagan and Bush years assisted Iraq) We sniff you big Tiger ( Saddam was known as the Tiger) Godwacker is a play on word Bushwhacked a term given to the Bush administrations by some journalists and books about GW years in office. It is also a military term for guerrilla warfare perhaps coined in the Civil War era.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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