A lot of folks can’t relate to Steely Dan. And, y’know, to each their own. It works for me, but I can understand why it doesn’t work for everybody.

Yacht rock is the term that usually gets trotted out, and while I think that’s actually somewhat justified when applied to their later work (Aja, for example), the lyrics are a little too subversive to fit that; all their songs are populated by junkies, hustlers, pervs, small-time crooks and other assorted human flotsam awash in the wake of seventies culture. That was part of the fun – the clueless masses were grooving to these tales of degradation and desperation without actually catching on to it. It’s kinda like the suburban moms who used to come into my record store to buy Village People albums for their preteen sons. Anyway, to me yacht rock means The Eagles or later Doobie Brothers.

Then you’ve got the “it’s just smooth jazz” thing, too. Again, there certainly is an element of that on the later albums, but for my money their earlier stuff still has enough funk and grit to keep it from sliding right off your ears. It’s much denser than what gets played on The Quiet Storm, that’s for sure. Every song is like a musical matryoshka doll. There’s layer upon layer of things that you only hear subliminally.

Here are Messrs. Becker and Fagen themselves, dissecting “Peg” and “Deacon Blues”. Make of it what you will.

I love Steely Dan with the passion of 100,000,00 suns and I don't care who knows it.


Plus how many "smooth" bands are named after a stainless steel dildo?

Second miles. Hello, one and all: big, big fan. No apologies.

it’s just about the only number in the whole Steely Dan songbook that doesn’t reek of doom

I dunno - despite its title, Black Friday (off of Katy Lied) always gave me the sense of "bugger this, nothing's gonna knock ME down." Second verse:

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

Positively cockeyedly-optimistic compared to King of the World ("Hello one and all" - hee!) from Countdown to Ecstasy:

If you come around
No more pain and no regrets
Watch the sun go brown
Smoking cobalt cigarettes
There's no need to hide
Taking things the easy way
If I stay inside
I might live til Saturday

Yep, loves me some Dan I do indeed.

No apologies necessary. Not all of their stuff works for me (not a big fan of "Peg", for example), but when it does work it's really great ("Any Major Dude", "Deacon Blue", "Kid Charlemagne", etc.).

On preview: hangashore, while I love "King of the World", I've always taken it as being set post-apocalypse. Fagen is hunkered down in his bunker, trying out the ham radio to see if there are any other survivors out there. Not so much optimistic as "we might as well die together as separately".

Also, "Black Friday" has a bit of a darker tone to it as well:

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

Maybe it's just my interpretation.

Ah, Steely Dan. Reminds me of the Irish soccer player I "dated" in college. "Do you like The Steely Dan?" he asked. No, soccer hottie, I do not. But as long as you keep doing what you're doing, you can play whatever you like.

I love. Steely Dan. Babylon Sister, baby. Can't Buy a Thrill got lots of attention from me. hey 19. And I totally agree about the expertly crafted layers of sound. Really rich stuff. I didn't like them live, though.

chewatadistance, I've heard from others that the Dan experience live is somewhat lacking. Given how much of their sound is created by layering tracks in the studio, that's not too surprising.

And hangashore, I just realized that I misread what you were saying about "King of the World". Oops.

I just realized that I misread what you were saying about "King of the World". Oops.

'S'okay. And I agree that Black Friday is quite cynical. About the closest to Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows you'll ever get from Don and Walt.

Oh, waitaminute! How about Parker's Band from Pretzel Logic? Pretty upbeat. Other than that... gloom never sounded so goooood.

The target in Hey 19, she's probably, what, 35 now?

I just consulted the lyrics to Turn That Heartbeat Over Again; it's not happy.

Almost Gothic is pretty non-cynical, if you're into latter day Dan. It took me quite a while, but once I got into Two Against Nature, I really, really liked it. And don't overlook 11 Tracks of Whack by Walter Becker, either.

The Fez is a pretty cheery song, as far as songs about fetishists go.

I can't think of a single song of theirs that I would call "happy," though a bunch are jaunty, or something. That doesn't dim my pleasure at all. I think both their music and lyrics were sophisticated, in the sense of being realistic, knowing, fairly jaded, and yet embodying a sense of imperturbability that makes you feel like you can see the world whole for the flawed thing it is and still enjoy it.

There's a real sense of melancholy to a lot of their work. It's not just that a lot of their characters are screwed, it's that they know it. The tension between that melancholy knowledge and the sometimes jaunty music, to borrow Miko's term, goes a long way toward explaining their appeal, I think. That and it's just really cool sounding music, no matter how many billion takes it required to get there.

No apologies here either. Love 'em.

I just saw them recently in Brum, and they were fucking magnificent. A thing of beauty is a joy forever, as the old chestnut goes.