Janie Runaway

"Janie Runaway"
Single by Steely Dan
from the album Two Against Nature
Released 2000
Format 5" CD single
Genre Rock
Length 4:09
Label Giant
Writer(s) Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Producer Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Steely Dan singles chronology
"Jack of Speed"
(2000)
"Janie Runaway"
(2000)
"The Last Mall"
(2003)

"Janie Runaway" is the fourth single from Steely Dan's 2000 album Two Against Nature.

At first glance the lyrics read like an optimistic love song, with the narrator singing the praises of his new love "Janie"; but a closer examination reveals a relationship between a female (and likely underage) runaway youth and a jaded wealthy New York City roué who, by song's end, alternately threatens and bribes Janie into joining him for an out-of-state 'threesome' weekend with another young woman. The song makes a reference to the Mann Act with the line, "Or would that be a federal case?"