Gaslighting Abbie

Album: Two Against Nature (2000)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about an affair between a married man and his mistress, who are plotting a way to drive his wife insane. The term "Gaslighting" means to drive someone insane, and according to Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, it comes from the 1944 movie Gaslight, where a Victorian schizophrenic tries to drive his wife crazy using, among other methods, the gaslight.

Comments: 2

  • Fdb from MelbourneWhatever it was originally about (and I suspect it wasn’t just a domestic spat, because DF lyrics are usually more than surface-level), it might as well be about Abbie Hoffman now.
  • Edward from Tucson, AzThis song is clearly about a flame, which is the a lucious invention for 3, making a tea and spiking with some dilaudin..some sort of narcotic...God the movie is a distant archaic term...all SD songs are about some dabbiling with self medications
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