Posted on 08/26/2022 2:16:29 PM PDT by SamAdams76
Donald Fagen - I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World - 1982
This nugget from Donald Fagen's "Nightfly" album of 1982.
Could have been a Steely Dan album. Should have been a Steely Dan album. But was not to be. Instead, it was Donald Fagen out on his own. And this jazz-influenced tune poured optimistic "feel-good" Friday afternoon vibes out of the speakers during the somewhat miserable autumn of 1982, just before Reaganomics kicked the economy into high gear.
Fern bars were still somewhat a thing at that time and you can picture men in leisure suits sipping on a Heineken (this was before microbrews) or perhaps a glass of Asti Spumante while this song played. Women with Mindy haircuts (from "Mork & Mindy) would nervously sit at the other end of the bar with wine coolers waiting for these men to make a move.
If you invested $1,000 in the Standard & Poor 500 in October of 1982 and just left it alone while re-investing your dividends, you would be a millionaire today.
The song refers to the International Geophysical Year which occurred between about July 1957 to December 1958. This was basically when a bunch of scientists came together to project their visions of the future world to come.
Everybody was so optimistic about the future back then (i.e. "Ninety Minutes from New York to Paris"). The song also mentioned solar-powered cities, transatlantic tunnels and spandex jackets - only the latter of which came to be true.
Spandex jacket? Yep, we got those.
There was no official video to go with this song when it came out as MTV was fairly new and the Steely Dan guys just weren't too much into that video thing. Instead, they spent nearly their entire waking time hunched over soundboards and ensuring that their carefully crafted songs were absolutely perfect. In fact, I don't think Donald Fagen saw even a ray of sunlight from about 1972 to 1983.
But this isn't Steely Dan but Donald Fagen out on his own. Walter Becker might have been out getting a suntan during this time. Who knows.
Without a doubt, one of the greatest albums of all time! I’m going to guess I’ve listened to it 2,000 times, and it never gets old...
Very well. Wish granted. Here you go...
Lu Chang, her brother, is burning with rage.
Absolutely!
If you invested $10,000 in S&P 500 in 1982 (and did nothing else while re-investing divends), you'd have a million dollars today. Not $1,000.
Love Steely Dan and Donald Fagen...love their perfection and the way they used the best studio musicians in LA to get the sound just right.
If you had bought $10,000 in Apple stock and never touched it, it would be worth over $200,000,000 today.
Timeless. I saw Steely Dan the July of Becker’s last tour. Fantadtic show.
Miss them.
You know, as many times as I've listened to it, I always misunderstood it.
I thought the lyric was "Lucian, her brother, is burning with rage."
But you're right, "mandarin plum" should have tipped me off. It is about her brother, Lou.
Really underrated song. Goodbye look is also a classic! "Won't you pour me a Cuban breeze, Gretchen?"
I lived in New York and we all wore the same Brooks Brothers suits, blue blazers and khakis we had always worn (except perhaps for those visits to discos in the 1970's).
Great song, great album. Becker was dealing with his heroin problem, which is a lot of what broke up Steely Dan.
Great song!
And don’t apologize for using Youtube for music. Rumble will never have the sheer numbers of music videos Youtube has.
If FReepers don’t want to go there, they can skip these posts, just don’t shoot the messenger!
We'll be clean when that work is done
We'll be eternally free,
and eternally young, ooooh.
I’d like to know
what’s on his mind...
He says “hey buddy, you’re not my kind.”
Walk Between Raindrops is my personal fave on that album.
Regardless, the album is a true masterpiece.
I’m still stuck trying to unwind all the drug references in ‘Time Out of Mind.’
I will go to Rumble as much as possible but they are light years behind YouTube with regard to content. Just the way it is but I'll support Rumble whenever I can.
That can also be said of the Steely Dan albums.
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