Oleanders, Growing Outside Her Door

This is a line from the Steely Dan song, My Old School.

If you are like most people who do not live on the West Coast, you may never have seen oleanders growing.

They are a beautiful flower that comes in two colors. It needs very little water to grow and so it does real well, here in the land of little rain.

When Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the two who make up Steely Dan, wrote this song, they were living out here in Los Angeles. Maybe they just grabbed a name of a flower, without thinking that it is not a normal flower for the city of Annandale, New York (the location of Bard College, their Alma Mater).

Knowing them, they probably did know and wanted to make fun of their school, by mentioning a plant that is not even native to the area. They were not fans of their school and it took decades, before all was forgiven and they had good things to say about the experience.

Well, today is my day to leave and return to My Old School.

We will see if I have good memories.

Oh and click the link below, to hear the song.

MY OLD SCHOOL

I remember the thirty-five sweet goodbyes
When you put me on the Wolverine
Up to Annandale
It was still September
When your daddy was quite surprised
To find you with the working girls
In the county jail
I was smoking with the boys upstairs
When I heard about the whole affair
I said oh no
William and Mary won't do

CHORUS:
Well I did not think the girl
Could be so cruel
And I'm never going back
To my old school

Oleanders growing outside her door
Soon they're gonna be in bloom
Up in Annandale
I can't stand her Doing what she did before
Living like a gypsy queen
In a fairy tale
Well I hear the whistle but I can't go
I'm gonna take her down to Mexico
She said oh no
Guadalajara won't do

CHORUS:
Well I did not think the girl
Could be so cruel
And I'm never going back
To my old school

California tumbles into the sea
That'll be the day I go
Back to Annandale
Tried to warn you
About Chino and Daddy Gee
But I can't seem to get to you
Through the U.S. Mail
Well I hear the whistle but I can't go
I'm gonna take her down to Mexico
She said oh no
Guadalajara won't do

CHORUS:
Well I did not think the girl
Could be so cruel
And I'm never going back
To my old school