Everyone's Gone to the Movies is the sixth track from Steely Dan

Steely Dan

Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop...

's 1975 album, Katy Lied

Katy Lied

Katy Lied is the fourth album by Steely Dan, originally released in 1975 by ABC Records. It went gold and peaked at #13 on the US charts. The single "Black Friday" also charted at #37....

. The strange lyrics of this particular track have made it of particular interest to Steely Dan fans. The song's upbeat feel contrasts with the disturbing content of the narrative delivered by Donald Fagen

Donald Fagen

Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the co-founder, lead singer, and the principal songwriter of the rock band Steely Dan ....

. While no official interpretation of the song exists (since neither Fagen nor Walter Becker

Walter Becker

Walter Carl Becker is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, bassist and a co-writer of Steely Dan.-Career:...

 has as yet stated the meaning outright), the theme is clear. The song, while being a favorite of many Steely Dan fans, was not released as a single, and is not thought to have contributed in any significant way to the album's commercial success.

A demo of this song also appears on the Citizen Steely Dan: 1972-1980

Citizen Steely Dan

Citizen Steely Dan is a four-CD boxed set musical album by Steely Dan, released in 1993. The set is a collection of all of Steely Dan's albums in chronological order, and also contains a non-LP single , a non-LP B-side , a rare compilation track , and a previously unreleased demo of "Everyone's...

 box set (1994).

Lyrical Theme

Fagen addresses the audience, "kids," and says that "if [they] want some fun, Mr. Lapage is [their] man. He's always laughing, having fun, and showing his films in the den." The listener learns that Mr. Lapage desires that the "kids" not tell their parents about their visits to his home ("Don't tell your Momma, your Daddy or Momma. They'll never know where you've been."). He is showing 8mm film ("I know you're used to sixteen or more. Sorry we only have eight.") using a "projection machine" and tells his guests "...[you will] see what you never have seen..." This implies that Mr. Lapage is a child molester showing pornographic films, which were traditionally more available on 8mm than normal films. Alternatively, it could be inferred from the line "...soon you will be 18," that he could just be an older man lusting after younger, but not underage kids, a normal depraved fellow rather than a depraved pedophile.

The chorus of the song is apparently delivered from the point of view of the parents of the "kids" who are visiting Mr. Lapage, or possibly of Mr. Lapage himself. The parents are under the impression that the children have "...gone to the movies". They are relieved to be alone together while the children are out.