meaning of steely dan songs
As the vehicle for the songwriting of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Steely Dan defied all rock & roll conventions. Musically, it is a complex jazz-rock composition driven by its bass, guitar and piano parts, typical of the band's sound from this period; its lyrics look askance at the album-oriented rock format of many FM radio stations at that … “Haitian Divorce” is a song performed by the American rock band Steely Dan. “Black Friday” is a song recorded by the American rock band Steely Dan. Most of their songs don't have much meaning but they sound really good! 17 interpretations. "What do the lyrics of Steely Dan's "Gaucho" mean?" … Palmer and Fagen shared lead vocals on the album, but the record's two hit singles -- the Top Ten "Do It Again" and "Reeling in the Years" -- were sung by Fagen. Updated January 23, 2021. In its original form, the baião is similar to the samba. For many music lovers, it’s their first choice for a late night listen accompanied by iced Manhattans. General CommentThis song is definitely a reference to Nixon and Kennedy.Can't Buy a Thrill (the album from which this comes) came out in October 1972, just before the 72 Presidential Election. Mar 22nd 2020 report. The only reason I checked out the song was to see if there was anyone, on line, who actually was a student at the University of Alabama when Deacon Blues came out, because I can only guess that at least some of them were completely flabbergasted and amazed that their school and nickname were mentioned in a Steely Dan song. Hal Leonard 's Best of Steely Dan explains that Gaucho is "a concept album of seven interrelated tales about would-be hipsters ." 10 new entries have just been added to the dictionary, to mark 20 years since this website was first created in June 2000. Fagen's first album as a solo artist, The Nightfly, was released the next year. This book gives an overview of Steely Dan's career while investigating every track recorded across the nine Steely Dan studio albums, plus Becker and Fagen's six solo albums. In 1970, the pair joined Jay & the Americans' backing band, performing under pseudonyms; Becker chose Gustav Mahler, while Fagen used Tristan Fabriani. Enjoy. The duo played in a number of groups -- including the Bad Rock Group, which featured future comedic actor Chevy Chase on drums -- which ranged from jazz to progressive rock. Steely Dan songs create a series of mental images. The Steely Dan Dictionary also helps out with obscure and slangy terms in the songs. Even non-fans recognize the brilliance of their 1977 album, Aja. The telling lyrics as to this fact are as follows: "Way back when in '67 the singer was "the dandy of Gamma Chi". The creative genii behind Steely Dan (Walter Becker and Donald Fagen) have long been fond of peppering their lyrics with arcane literary and cultural references, the meaning of which can be murky at best (given the duo's legendary reticence). There are a very small number of exceptions to this "no neologisms" rule — for example, Custerdome and battle apple — but only for cases where Becker or Fagen have provided a clear and unambiguous definition for these words during an interview. 1976 The Fez. This song is about a relationship between an older man and a 19 year old girl. Countdown to Ecstasy, released in 1973, was a critical hit, but it failed to generate a hit single, even though the band supported it with a tour. The drug references are subtle: "smoking with the boys" and oleander (a plant that doesn't grow in New York's climate unless under an ultraviolet growth light). Steely Dan never subscribed to that aesthetic. Hmmmmmm; Bill from Schererville, In After reading all of these posts, I am now more confused than ever on what this song is … … What I do know is that Steely Dan profoundly effected and affected my life. Walter Becker (bass) and Donald Fagen (vocals, keyboards) were the core members of Steely Dan throughout its variety of incarnations. As the vehicle for the Invented by London hatmakers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849, it is oval-shaped and made from stiff felt, with a dome-shaped crown and a narrow, curved brim. Battle apple is another word for penis and steely dan is a term for dildo and they seem to use many really obscure words/terms in their songs. The crisis in question financially crippled many investors and ruined their lives. 0 interpretations. Aja became their biggest hit, reaching the Top Five within three weeks of release and becoming one of the first albums to be certified platinum. baion. For their next album, 1975's Katy Lied, the duo hired a variety of studio musicians -- including Dias, Porcaro, guitarist Elliot Randall, saxophonists Phil Woods, bassist Wilton Felder, percussionist Victor Feldman, keyboardist Michael Omartian, and guitarist Larry Carlton -- as supporting musicians. That's kinda like Amazon announcing that it's changing it's name to "Jeff Bezos" today… it makes no sense. Eventually, Becker and Fagen began composing songs together, hoping to become professional songwriters in the tradition of the Brill Building. Then this website is for you! Like so many of Steely Dan's songs (so UNlike many other groups), the meanings of their songs, even their more "playful" songs such as this, are full of double entendres, leaving it to the listener to draw his/her own conclusions. The deadline to vote for Round 46 is tomorrow at 12 p.m. EST. Meaning of “Black Friday” by Steely Dan. 1973 Show Biz Kids. Barbra Streisand recorded the Fagen/Becker composition ‘I Mean to Shine’ on her album Barbra Joan Streisand, released in August 1971, and the duo met producer Gary Katz, who hired them as staff songwriters for ABC/Dunhill in Los Angeles, where he had just become a staff producer. Like so many of Steely Dan's songs (so UNlike many other groups), the meanings of their songs, even their more "playful" songs such as this, are full of double entendres, leaving it to the listener to draw his/her own conclusions. On 1977's Aja, Steely Dan's sound became more polished and jazzy, as they hired jazz fusion artists like Wayne Shorter, Lee Ritenour, and the Crusaders as support. It may also be obvious that this site is mainly for the benefit of non-Americans — I'm sure most Yanks would know where TJ is and what IHOP does, but for myself (an Irishman) and for the rest of the world, it's not quite so intuitive. Or how to gaslight somebody? Ever wondered what a bodhisattva is? Best jazz/rock ever. Jay-Z's 2012 "Glory" features his daughter Blue Ivy Carter's cries and coos. Steely Dan followed it in 2003 with Everything Must Go. During the summer of 1981, Becker and Fagen announced that they were parting ways. After searching in vain for an explanatory lexicon, I decided to create my own — the result being this website, which was first launched in June 2000. Steely Dan replaced Hodder with Jeff Porcaro and added keyboardist/backup vocalist Michael McDonald prior to recording their third album, Pretzel Logic. The Steely Dan Dictionary also helps out with obscure and slangy terms in the songs. Brog from Jacksonville, Fl I've been listening to SD for 40 years and still get into most of their songs. In 1994, Becker released his solo debut, 11 Tracks of Whack, which was produced by Fagen. Fagen, along with musician Walter Becker, led the rock band Steely Dan during the 1970s. 1974 Rikki Don't Lose That Number. Best jazz/rock ever. Though Nixon would go onto win this election in a landslide, his policies were still in question, especially among the Dan and people like them. Released in the spring of 1974, Pretzel Logic returned Steely Dan to the Top Ten on the strength of the single "Rikki Don't Lose That Number." Maybe there really is no meaning to the song. General CommentSince Steely Dan themselves don't know what their lyrics mean - they've admitted as much in interviews - I'm going to go out on a limb here and take an "Occam's Razor" approach and say they mean just what they appear to mean. Books and articles offer something more substantial. It made the US Top 40 that year when released as a single, a success relative to the film. The song's about a marijuana drug bust. A type of Brazilian rhythm (also known as a baião in Portuguese). The two met at Bard College in New York in 1967 and began playing in bands together shortly afterward. Fagen didn't record another album until 1993, when he reunited with Becker, who produced Kamakiriad. 0 interpretations. 1973 Reelin' In the Years. The song lyric supposedly refers to hat-wearing cigar-smoking voodoo deity Baron Samedi — see panatela. The protagonist does want a quick fix. Which was/is 'another way' of saying by the ''Book Of Numbers'' in this song, that's to His[the Protagonist's] girlfriend. Sometime around the late 1950s, it was borrowed and simplified by American music and became one of the most basic rhythmic patterns in pop music. Steely Dan, a group famous for such hits as "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," "Do It Again," and "Hey Nineteen," was founded by Becker and Fagen. Most rock & roll bands are a tightly wound unit that developed their music through years of playing in garages and clubs around their hometown. During the interim, the group had a hit with the theme song for the film FM in 1978. Between 1972 and 1981, Steely Dan had ten Top-40 singles, including the top-ten hits "Do It Again" (1972), "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" (1974) and "Hey Nineteen" (1980). The lyrics of the song tell the story of a married woman who travels all by herself to Haiti in order to get a quick divorce from her husband. It's a film noir styled movie-song about a guy using detectives to track down the guy who is stealing his girl, plain and simple. Background. Steely Dan Fans Also Like: Beatles song meanings Doobie Brothers song meanings M83 song meanings Bob Seger song meanings Bob Dylan song meanings Submit Your Interpretation After completing the supporting tour for Pretzel Logic, Becker and Fagen decided to retire from live performances and make Steely Dan a studio-based band. At less than two days old, she became the youngest ever credited artist to feature on a Billboard chart when the song debuted on R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at #74. Brog from Jacksonville, Fl I've been listening to SD for 40 years and still get into most of their songs. Even after the group disbanded in the early '80s, their records retained a cult following, as proven by the massive success of their unlikely return to the stage in the early '90s. Becker and Fagan would sometimes record a song with one group of musicians, decide it wasn't working, and try it again with an entirely new set of players - rinse and repeat until it was right. Steely Dan is known for jazz-influenced arrangements, quirky lyrics, and pristine production. Steely Dan - Topic. Books and articles offer something more substantial. Steely Dan finally released Gaucho, the follow-up to Aja, in late 1980, and it became another Top Ten hit for the group. Even from a metabolic point of view, a person sitting on a couch watching television burns fewer calories than a person sitting on a couch. Steely Dan never subscribed to that aesthetic. Note that this is a dictionary of real-life people and places only. Palmer left the band following the tour. Walter Becker/Donald Fagen (849) YouTube. 2 interpretations. They stayed with Jay & the Americans until halfway through 1971, when they recorded the soundtrack for the low-budget film You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It, which was produced by the Americans' Kenny Vance. Vote for your LEAST favorite of these Steely Dan songs, and remember to upvote for visibility! Katz suggested that Becker and Fagen form a band as a way to record their songs, and Steely Dan -- who took their name from a dildo in William Burroughs' Naked Lunch -- was formed shortly afterward. Steely Dan’s 37-minute album Gaucho took two years to record and was the most expensive record ever made when it came out on November 21, 1980.. Cynthia from Canton, Oh I was told that this song is about (then) British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. ... Steely Dan (page 1) ... who hovered over the creation of the song like a sword of Damocles, … The following year, Fagen released his solo debut, The Nightfly, which became a critical and commercial hit. : 600 In 1981 Becker and Fagen parted ways. Following the release of Aja, ABC was bought out by MCA Records, resulting in a contractual dispute with the label that delayed until 1980 the release of their follow-up album. Recruiting guitarists Denny Dias and Skunk Baxter, drummer Jim Hodder, and keyboardist/vocalist David Palmer, Becker and Fagen officially formed Steely Dan in 1972, releasing their debut, Can't Buy a Thrill, shortly afterward. The central theme of Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” is that humans often find themselves repeating the same mistakes no matter how much they convince themselves otherwise. Fagan’s solo album Morph the Cat was released in 2006, and Becker released Circus Money in 2008 as Steely Dan embarked on another tour. Audiophiles use it … Glamour Profession is about the misadventures of specific LA folks with illegal drugs. Aja also gained the respect of many jazz musicians, as evidenced by Woody Herman recording an album of Becker/Fagen songs in 1978. "FM " is a song by American jazz-rock band Steely Dan, the title theme for the 1978 film FM. You're looking at an A-Z glossary of over 140 obscure words, people and places — all taken from the lyrics of Steely Dan songs. The Boston Rag Lyrics: Any news was good news / And the feelin' was bad at home / I was out of my mind and you were on the phone / Lonnie was the kingpin / Back in nineteen sixty-five / I was singing Non-lyrical content copyright 1999-2021 SongMeanings, Javascript must be enabled for the correct page display. Can't Buy a Thrill was a critical and commercial success, but its supporting tour was a disaster, hampered by an under-rehearsed band and unappreciative audiences. I'm not sure where to being, or for that matter, where to end. Steely Dan created a sophisticated, distinctive sound with accessible melodic hooks, complex harmonies and time signatures, and a devotion to the recording studio. The Royal Scam is the fifth studio album by Steely Dan, originally released by ABC Records in 1976. Katy is the drug -Dr. Wu is the guy who helps whichever member of Steely Dan was addicted (if not both) to overcome it. derby hat. Released in the spring of 1974, Pretzel Logic returned Steely Dan to the Top Ten on the … It's noteworthy that Fagen went solo at Steely Dan's peak popularity. Katy Lied was another hit, as was 1976's The Royal Scam, which continued in the vein of its predecessor. The creative genii behind Steely Dan (Walter Becker and Donald Fagen) have long been fond of peppering their lyrics with arcane literary and cultural references, the meaning of which can be murky at best (given the duo's legendary reticence). Their albums are also notable for the characteristically 'warm' and 'dry' production sound, and the sparing use of echo and reverberation. Or maybe it was a practical joke by Steely Dan to make us sit back and go, "What the heck is that song about?" It's a good example of how Steely Dan used elements of jazz in pop songs. ... Steely Dan – Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More, Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More. The track’s lyrics were inspired by the 1869 American financial crisis dubbed Black Friday. He could be a middle aged guy, someone who's wasted his life, an addict, or someone who has just realized that they are spiritually bankrupt. Steely Dan songs are typically described as cynical, bitter, and even mean. Both the literal meaning of the words and the feeling of the music combine to create these images and impressions. "katy" seduced Fagen - she lied - drug addicts think their life … The lyrics of "Hey Nineteen" are about an aging hipster attempting to pick up a girl who is so young that she does not recognize " 'Retha Franklin " playing on the stereo. Songfacts®: The keyboard riff was taken from "Song For My Father," which was released in 1964 by the jazz composer and pianist Horace Silver. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Steely Dan Song list. With Walter Becker's untimely death in 2017, Donald Fagen continues to keep the band's flame burning on stages around the world. But this deep-cut ballad from Countdown To Ecstasy is shockingly tender, saluting a New Orleans sex worker in … A derby is a style of men's hat (known as a "bowler hat" outside the US). The album was promoted by the first Steely Dan tour in nearly 20 years, and while the record failed to sell, the concerts were very popular. Like most Steely Dan songs, it isn't as simple as it seems and a lot of the references are obscure even in the age of the internet. Becker and Fagen also concoct fictional names, objects and locales for many of their songs (Hoops McCann, Anne de Siecle and Steamer Heaven to name but three), and because of their imaginary nature, it's impossible to pin down an exact definition, so I have deliberately excluded them from this site. Meaning of “Haitian Divorce” by Steely Dan. Aja (1977) Any Major Dude Will Tell You (1974) Babylon Sisters (1980) Barrytown (1974) Black Cow (1977) Black Friday (1975) Bodhisattva (1973) Cousin Dupree (2000) Steely Dan, more aptly Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, were the consummate storytellers, unabashed liars, and all consuming reflections of themselves and of the times in which the band lived. The following year, Steely Dan mounted another reunion tour, and in early 2000 the duo issued Two Against Nature, their first new studio album in two decades. Steely Dan made a name for themselves with highly polished productions using a wide array of session musicians. Though the band didn't perform live after 1974, Steely Dan's popularity continued to grow throughout the decade, as their albums became critical favorites and their singles became staples of AOR and pop radio stations. Battle apple is another word for penis and steely dan is a term for dildo and they seem to use many really obscure words/terms in their songs. 21.9K subscribers. Though far be it from me to preach.”. Special attention is given to the individual sound of each instrument. The opening of both songs is nearly identical. With producer Gary Katz, Becker and Fagen gradually changed Steely Dan from a performing band to a studio project, hiring professional musicians to record their compositions. Steely Dan uses the tale of Kings Richard and John from Robin Hood as an allegory for the American political climate, as is sarcastically refuted on the record sleeve*:. Though even if you were born and bred in the USA, you might be able to learn a thing or two here — how many Americans know where Lhasa is, or how to mix a zombie? Most rock & roll bands are a tightly wound unit that developed their music through years of playing in garages and clubs around their hometown. STEELY DAN'S ''Black Cow'' song meaning for me, especially if you're a concerned Palestinian/Israeli citizen, Jewish or not, that's about the holy Cow's charred by fire remains. The writer through each of the verses explores how men value certain elements or habits though they … ... Steely Dan (page 1) ... who hovered over the creation of the song like a sword of Damocles, … That Steely Dan is known for jazz-influenced arrangements, quirky lyrics, meaning of steely dan songs the feeling of the,... Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher 600 in 1981 Becker and Fagen announced that they were parting ways for jazz-influenced arrangements quirky. 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