“The Jazzman Had Nothing To Say”
“A Relatively Subdued Horn Line”
“No One Was Out For A Walk On Greene Street”
“A Quiet Game Of Cards”
“Two Men Go Driving With A Specific Destination In Mind And Arrive There Promptly”
“Neither The Queen Of Spain Nor A Ramblin’ Joker Have Advice For Me”
“I’ve Never Ridden An Armadillo”
“No Jungian Shadow Figures Feature Prominently In My Life Story”
“A Faustian Bargain Has Been Avoided”
“These Overnight Greyhound Bus Passengers Bear No Resemblance To Souls On A Ship Of The Damned”
“I Wouldn’t Care For Any Drugs Or Eight-Minute Synth Interludes, Thanks All The Same”
“Polytonality, Like Riverboat Gambling, Just Isn’t For Me”
“You Can Keep All Your Teeth In Your Head”
“Let’s Not Go Uptown Tonight”
“Session Musicians Are More Trouble Than They’re Worth”
“This Love Story Doesn’t Have Any Math In It”
“Let’s Live In Houses And Apartment Buildings Instead Of At The Bottom Of The Wine-Dark Sea”
“Men In Business Suits May Still Have Rich Internal Lives”
“Tone Down That Slap Bass”
“Let’s Not Sexually Approach Our Cousins But Instead Return To The Oil Rig”
“You Won’t Have To Look Up Any Of These Nouns Or Cross-Reference These Lyrics With The Charlemagne Legends”
Tags: music, steely dan, subverted expectations
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I’ve always wondered what the je ne sais quoi was that made Steely Dan so magical, but I never realized it was gambling-related dishonesty until now.
I’ve always thought that it was their willingness to name their band after a dildo from a William S. Burroughs book, but that probably says more about me than anything else.
Instantly reminded me of this comic strip:
http://achewood.com/index.php?date=06112004
same, although to be fair I think about that comic strip more often than I probably should.
I was privileged enough to see Steely Dan in concert once, and the level of obsequiousness that Walter Becker shows Donald Fagen onstage is really sad and second-hand embarrassing. DON’T BUY INTO IT, WALTER! You are wonderful and your own person, and Donald Fagen is a megalomaniac.
You forgot:
Spilling Absinthe on the Rhodes Piano
Club the Drummer with a Nightstick.
Otherwise, awesome list
Just sent this to my sister, who promptly noted (and she is so right!) that “Let’s Not Go Uptown Tonight” could actually be real, but only on a Fagen solo album.
“Catherine, I Dislike You”
FOR ONCE I am immune to Mallory’s brilliance, because my deep and abiding hatred for Steely Dan prevents me from enjoying this post even a little bit.
“This Love Story Doesn’t Have Any Math In It”
THEN I’M NOT INTERESTED
TONE DOWN THAT SLAP BASS
…..NEVER!!!
And you just know that every one of these songs has some kind of delicious, esoteric electric piano/melodica solo, and the band was assembled by a series of expensive phone calls.
Bless Steely Dan, because they are the greatest.
Although Mr Becker really, really shouldn’t sing.
the Mountain Goats next, please!
(Songs from a Mountain Goats album about a loving relationship not based on alcohol and mutually assured destruction)
I've always thought that it was their willingness to name their band after a dildo from a William S. Burroughs book, but that probably says more about me than anything else.