Black Friday, Steely Dan’s hit single recollects the original story where in 1869 some investors decided to monopolize the gold market by buying gold thereby driving market gold prices up. However, due to a timely intervention by the then President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant, the government intervened and invested $4 million into the market. Prices crashed and many investors lost heavily.
When Black Friday comes
Black Friday lyrics © American Broadcasting Music, Inc.
I’ll collect everything I’m owed
And before my friends find out
I’ll be on the road
Today, a story might be told of a rich man who amassed an unimaginable amount of wealth only to lose it all. He ultimately had wanted to give all his wealth away. But alas, before he actually did so, it was all gone. It was taken away from him.
These Black Friday parables, then and now, are a call for us to pause for a moment and to reflect upon how we see ourselves in relation to money and the idea (desire?) or human propensity to acquire wealth and possessions that ultimately can be lost in an instant. Shall we choose to invest in what rust can destroy or moths can eat away? Shall the desire for more define us or can we seize this moment to shift the narrative where we get to define the place and role of money in relation to human thriving in this world?
The second story causes me to imagine yet another story where a person literally creates everything that is considered wealth in the world. But rather than hold on to it for himself, he chooses to give it all for the sake of the world. I imagine the unfolding of the next season of mad shopping during so-called Christmas may reveal more of our role and story in response to such extravagance and possibly our roles as well in managing this person’s wealth.
Is it true that the world has enough for everyone’s greed but not enough for everyone’s needs? That doesn’t sound right. But the original quote by the Mahatma may not be very far: “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.”
What might we do to change the world today?
1. Resist the desire to spend more on things you do not need.
2. On what you do spend, ensure that it benefits local cottage and farmer economies.
3. Give generously to those in need and who serve the needs of the poor and need (easier said than done, admittedly)
4. Do all these things out of reverence and honor for the Creator.
5. Don’t forget to check out and meditate on the Black Friday song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Pw4t_Falo
REFERENCES CITED
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/steely-dan-black-friday-song-story/
https://financesonline.com/black-friday-statistics/
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/grant-black-friday/
Lyrics
When Black Friday comes
I’ll stand down by the door
And catch the gray men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes
I’ll collect everything I’m owed
And before my friends find out
I’ll be on the road
When Black Friday falls
You know it’s got to be
Don’t let it fall on me
When Black Friday comes
I’ll fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
When Black Friday comes
I’ll be on that hill
You know I will
When Black Friday comes
I’m gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it
‘Til I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me
The Archbishop’s gonna sanctify me
And if he don’t come across
I’m gonna let it roll
When Black Friday comes
I’m gonna stake my claim
I’ll guess I’ll change my name
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Walter Becker / Donald Fagen
Black Friday lyrics © American Broadcasting Music, Inc.
