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By Liam Steele

It was the 70s: An era where quality music was as inspired by turbulent global affairs as it was by the soup of drugs within the artists’ veins. All of your dad’s favorite bands had their greatest hits in these years; from the Beatles to the Rolling Stones and Doobie Brothers, there is no denying this period was integral to the history of music as we know it today. While many of these groups leaned their lyrics towards love, peace, and an end to the war (which one, am I right?), one duo, in particular, leaned into humor and cynicism, embracing less favorable subject matter with lyrics to be imposed upon their studio-perfect jazz-rock fusion tracks. 

Steely Dan (look up the origin of the group’s name at your own risk), comprised of lead singer and pianist Donald Fagen and guitarist and bassist Walter Becker, was formed when they were recent Bard College graduates, tired of unsuccessful songwriting work in both NYC and California. Facing an industry not understanding of their overly intricate and strange compositions, Becker and Fagen formed a band with fellow bard college friends Denny Dias, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter (Fun fact: this guy is now a defense consultant for the U.S. Congress. Seriously.), Jim Hodder, and David Palmer. The lineup was never the same for long, and this original formation would eventually disband, leaving Becker and Fagen to work with all sorts of famous session musicians to make their music, like Bernard Purdie, Chuck Rainey, and Michael McDonald. If any of these names don’t sound familiar, I urge you to also check out their work, McDonald especially. Mcdonald and Baxter were both a part of the Doobie Brothers as well; another group with immaculate compositions. 

The main characters of most Steely Dan songs fall under three categories; unfortunate and powerless, unfortunate and embracing it, and well, just straight-up bad people. This sounds dreary, I know, but the songs around these characters are beautifully composed with solid and humorous lyrics. Seriously, no other group could make me sing “Drink scotch whiskey all night long and die behind the wheel!” (from Deacon Blues) with gusto quite like the Dan can. While the artists that worked with them were ever-changing, the offbeat and sarcastic themes of the Dan’s music were a constant. Here are some of my favorites:

“Kid Charlemagne”Notably sampled in Kanye West’s Champion, this jazzy tune follows the exploits of a drug dealer on the run in San Francisco who “crossed a diamond with a pearl” and “turned it on the world,” only to realize that his “kitchen clean” LSD is losing popularity with the rise of cocaine, as the narrator remarks, “You are obsolete, look at all the white men on the street.”. This song holds a special place in my heart as it was what got me into Steely Dan in the first place due to the connection to Kanye, another artist whose music I enjoy (I refer to the music in particular because the artist himself is far from appealing at this point). 

“Royal Scam” – This song, with a heavier and more serious sound, follows the plight of Puerto Rican immigrants fooled by “the American Dream,” here known as the royal scam. The very first and last lines of the song, “and they wandered in from the city of St. John without a dime,” imply the cyclical nature of the royal scam, where the poor immigrants seek the American Dream and instead find adversity in “a bad town amid the ruins.” In an effort to save face, they write to their families abroad about how “they are paid in gold just to babble in the back room all night and waste their time,” leading the song, and the royal scam, to repeat itself. This song kind of hits different for me as a Caribbean immigrant myself, but the rich vocals and layered lyrics are undeniable. 

“Turn That Heartbeat Over Again” – This song, sung from the perspective of a dying heroin addict, shifts tonally several times, starting with the main character looking for more heroin since his usual supplier “closed the package door.” The pre-chorus then plays in a much lighter tone, urging you, the listener, to “love your mama, love your brother, love ‘em til they run for cover,” before the song’s tone shifts yet again to our main character praying, “Oh Michael, oh Jesus,”  asking his guardian angel and Jesus, to “turn that heartbeat over again,” or keep him alive, as he asserts that he has a reputation for “playing a good clean game.” These segments of the song repeat, with the darker segments describing the loss of the main character’s friends to drugs, and his continued consumption of it in the company of his dealer, “Stir it up nice, I’ll eat it right here.” The contradictory nature of this song only adds to its charm, and its been the cause of me randomly smiling to myself in public like a weirdo on several occasions. 

“Only a Fool Would Say That” – This song directly references and beautifully contrasts John Lennon’s “Imagine,” a song imagining a peaceful world with no issues. The chorus almost directly speaks to Lennon’s words, alleging “I heard it was you, talkin ‘bout a world where all is free, it just couldn’t be, and only a fool would say that.” The song characterizes the blind optimistic views of Lennon into “a boy with a plan, a natural man, wearing a white stetson hat”, a young hippie eager to lead a movement. The singer of the song speaks directly to this character, asking him to put himself in the place of the less fortunate and “do his nine to five, drag yourself home half alive, and there on the screen, a man with a dream.” The bridge takes a lighter tone to remind the Lennon character that his fortunate position in the world and youthful naivete cloud his judgment, giving us the impactful line, “You feel no pain, and you’re younger than you realize.” I sometimes remind myself of my own place in the world with this line. 

“Cousin Dupree” – This Grammy-winning song from their penultimate album follows a sleazy, unsuccessful musician who – well…I won’t sugarcoat it – wants to fuck his first cousin, Janine. This song is among the most overtly comedic in the group’s discography, with a story describing Dupree moving in with his aunt to “plan his next move” in his unsuccessful music career, then being blown away by his little cousin, to which he remarks “she turned my life into a living hell in those little tops and tight capris.” The chorus takes an even creepier turn, where he notes how Janine has “grown like a rose” and advances with “Well we used to play when we were three, how about a kiss for your cousin Dupree?” The tension comes to a head when Dupree makes his move on his cousin asking how she can stand his “boyish charm and good looks”, to which she succinctly replies “Maybe it’s the skeevy look in your eyes, that your mind has turned to applesauce, the dreary architecture of your soul.” Dupree, undeterred, asks “But what is it exactly turns you off?”, which is followed by the last chorus and an outro of repeated requests for kisses, thirteen to be exact. 

Fire in the Hole – This melancholy ragtime-y piano tune is often read as a protest to the Vietnam War, following a troubled man fighting his own conscience about going to war and contemplating draft dodging, as he declines to “walk the line,” the line between life or death. The chorus rings out the song’s title, proclaiming that there’s “fire in the hole and nothing left to burn,” evoking both the literal use of the phrase as it relates to explosives and the interpretation of there being no more fuel (men) for the fire (war). The protagonist ends the chorus with a dejected acceptance of fate, saying “I’d love to run out now, there’s nowhere left to turn.” 

I feel like this song’s theme of individual helplessness in the grand scheme of global affairs is particularly relevant to me as I become more politically aware. 

For some more honorable mentions:

  • “Charlie Freak” (drugs. This is the saddest Steely Dan song.)
  • “Haitian Divorce” (marital strife)
  • “Throw Back The Little Ones” (womanizing behavior, also the guitar solo goes crazy)
  • “Peg” (guy in love with porn model)
  • “Hey Nineteen” (old man hitting on college student at a bar)
  • “Deacon Blues” (total loser imagines life as a successful musician)
  • “Barrytown” (prejudice, political divide)

Far more lyrically cynical and musically perfect gems lie in the Steely Dan discography, as well as in Becker and Fagen’s independent work which I also highly recommend. Go listen!

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