Songfacts®:

• Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the creative forces behind Steely Dan, penned "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)" for their debut album, Can't Buy A Thrill. While Fagen hails from New Jersey, Becker was born and raised in New York City. The two musicians relocated to Brooklyn in 1969, cementing their connection to the Big Apple borough.
• The lyrics of "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)" are open to interpretation, with the verses detailing a litany of exaggerated demands, while the chorus sees the narrator asserting that Brooklyn owes him something.
• In 2022, indie singer-songwriter Aimee Mann was set to support Steely Dan on tour, but due to complications with management, the partnership never came to fruition. Mann took to Twitter to express her disappointment, but also posed a question to Fagen: What exactly is "Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)" about? Fagen responded with a lengthy e-mail recounting the early days of Steely Dan when he and Becker were living in Brooklyn and dreaming of creating a truly great band.
  
  "Brooklyn was about his downstairs neighbor," Mann told Uncut magazine. "This loud mouth, entitled guy. From a cynical viewpoint, they listed all these prizes they felt like this guy thought he was entitled. What would it take to make this asshole happy?"
  
  "But on some level you can tell they're also talking about themselves," she added. "What are the riches and prizes that I maybe don't feel entitled to, but would like to fill entitled to?"
  
  "There's this one chord change that goes to the minor that's really heartbreaking," she concluded. "It sounds like a break in the mask. That's what makes them so interesting: the damage that you can hear underneath the cynicism."
• David Palmer, a musician brought in by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker during the recording process, performs the lead vocals on the track. Palmer's tenure with Steely Dan was brief but impactful. He lent his vocal talents to this song and "Dirty Work," as well as doubling parts of Donald Fagen's vocals on "Reelin' In The Years," "Only a Fool Would Say That," and "Change of the Guard" to reach the high notes. Fagen took over as the band's lead vocalist the following year, and Palmer departed from Steely Dan. Palmer did make a return in a supporting role, contributing backing vocals to the band's subsequent release, Countdown to Ecstasy.
  
  Palmer's other claim to fame is writing the lyrics for Carole King's 1974 hit "Jazzman."