And even though Jack might be aware that this new woman is just using him and is only after his money, he still proceeds with the relationship. But shortly after that, Jacks finds a new woman and tries to fill the gap with her. At the end of the day, Jack is thoroughly heartbroken and devastated. It also leads to the demise of his friendship with his friend. The affair leads to the demise of his relationship with her. At one point, Jack even catches her cheating on him with his close friend.
The second verse talks about a woman this Jack is involved with and how she often cheats with other men. He therefore goes and continues in his violent ways. However, he doesn’t learn any lesson from this incident. So after all is said and done, Jack is lucky to go free. But another man commits a horrible crime (the crime of murder). A man commits a petty crime (the crime of stealing water that is plentiful everywhere). At this juncture, it is likely Steely Dan might also be subtly criticizing the entire justice system. And not only that, he was also set free despite killing someone. It’s not exactly clear how Jack was able to avoid capital punishment for taking a man’s life. He’s literally “put” back “on the street”.
Owing to this, Jack is subsequently set free. This is what Steely Dan refers to in the line “ the hangman isn’t hangin’“. However, interestingly the justice system somehow sets him free. He is supposed to be sentenced to death for taking someone’s life. However, he is caught by the authorities at the border. Having realized the silliness and magnitude of his crime, Jack tries fleeing the country.
But despite the sheer pettiness of this crime, Jack irrationally chases after the water thief and guns him down.
Water is by the way, a commodity that can be found everywhere and is therefore not very precious. In the first verse for instance, the singer talks about violence, its needlessness and how the protagonist (one Jack) can’t seem to stop living in that cycle even though the consequences are grave.
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