TL;DR
These images will make sense to 4-5 people max, but I finally got unstuck on how to illustrate Donald Fagen’s “Green Flower Street”. It’s on his most excellent album “The Nightfly” from 1982. In short, this is Mei Chang. Her brother Lu is sadly burning with rage. I’m a bit worried that’s him in lower left corner there…
The story…
The lyrics to Steely Dan tunes are often very cinematic, and of course, the same goes for Donald Fagen, naturally. I usually draw album covers or portraits, but seriously, this isn’t their area of strenght. Donald has a perfect face for radio, that’s for sure. Anyhow…
The street image is taken in New York City, at 91 East Broadway, which to my understanding is part of Chinatown. According to the story, Green Flower Street is a bit more “uptown” and there was trouble most every night. However, up in the apartment, the nights were bright and joy was complete. I do hope they’re still toghether… although, language used might imply that poor Mei was the “second woman” in the story, though never confirmed.
Of course, I set her up with a classic Chineese entrance. The nameplates are all set in Gorton, a very New York typeface. I have so many visual memories of it, but just recently learned about its fascinating history. (The other names on that list are various personell who worked on the album, but you saw that, I’m sure.)
My brain is weird…
