Posted on 03/09/2022 12:46:42 PM PST by Bullish
Like many of the biggest groups of the early 1970s, Steely Dan grew up under the shadow of The Beatles. When Donald Fagen and Walter Becker came together in 1971, the pioneering group had already been broken up for more than a year. They may have wondered if they had somehow absorbed the ghost of ‘The Fab Four’ and that it was their responsibility to carry the flame in their absence. Indeed, Fagen and Becker intentionally modelled themselves off The Beatles, choosing to emphasise writing and recording than relentless touring. However, Steely Dan could also be highly critical of The Beatles’ former members at times, as the song ‘Only A Fool Would Say’ makes devastatingly clear.
By the mid-1970s, Steely Dan was less of a band and more of a musical operation with Becker and Fagen in the directorial chair. When the pair formed Steely Dan in 1971, they’d always dreamt of it being a space for them to showcase their “special material”. But for a long time, they were forced to write bubblegum pop tunes for artists like Tommy Roe or The Grass Roots. After Donald Fagen’s panic disorder made it impossible for him to front the group and money problems began making touring unfeasible, they decided to take a turn inwards and make their home in the studio, where they quietly honed their ecstatic brand of jazz-infused rock, relying on a stream of talented session musicians.
As time went by, Steely Dan garnered a huge fanbase and several notable fans, including Paul McCartney. However, Macca’s former bandmate, John Lennon, wasn’t so enamoured. The two artists likely crossed paths during Lennon’s time in New York, where Steely Dan had been based since their inception, but it’s unlikely they ever became particularly close. Not least because Steely Dan wrote a song mocking Lennon’s 1971 track ‘Imagine’.
One of the most intoxicating tracks from Steely Dan’s 1972 album Can’t Buy A Thrill, ‘Only A Fool Would Say’, opens with an upbeat bossa nova groove crafted from layers of conga, snare, strummed acoustic guitar, and undulating bass. Floating above mellow electric guitar lines, Donal Fagen paints a picture of Lennon as an ignorant aristo whose talk of world peace is completely at odds with the life of the poor and impoverished. “Our world become on/ Of salads and sun / Only a fool would say that,” he begins “A boy with a plan / A natural man /Wearing a white stetson hat”.
Fagen’s image of Lennon as the highfalutin elitist is quickly contrasted with another artfully rendered portrait: this time of the “man in the street” who doesn’t have the luxury of believing in some hippie’s utopian ideal. Fagen tells Lennon to have a little more empathy, to understand that asking somebody with nothing to abandon their worldly possessions and pursue a life of immaterialism is, at best, laughable, and at worst, dangerously insensitive. “You do his nine to five / Drag yourself home half alive / And there on the screen / A man with a dream,” Fagen sings.
The sentiment behind Steely Dan’s lyrics is likely quite familiar. When Gal Gadot organised a Hollywood singalong of Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ in the first month of the Covid-19 pandemic, she was immediately criticised for misreading the room. Far from sparking a surge in benevolent acts of kindness, listeners found a disconnect between Gadot and the gang’s call for the jobless to “imagine no possessions”, and that fact the various stars who contributed to the rendition were singing from multi-million dollar mansions. Clearly, Fagen was right to mock Lennon; his lyrics are still causing outcry to this day.
Michael Macdonald does not have a massive ego
A very generous man
You’re incorrect
Bands wanted his talent in that late 70s era
Velvet voice and jazz influenced melody
Not my taste but he’s a good guy
It is a real thing.
I have a mild case and so does my 34 year old daughter.
It must be genetic.
...................
We must have met.....................
as well, “What a Beautiful World” on Fagen’s solo record “The Nightfly” is a beautiful ode to American, formerly American, ideals of capitalist driven innovation, science, exploration and optimism. Manifest Destiny is not a bad thing.
What a fantastic show and you're right, they sounded exactly like their record -
If I were on a desert island with only one band available to listen to, it would be Jeff Lynne and ELO.
What are the bands you really like?
But it's about love! Yes, but they don't believe it.
But it ends with a warning of what is to come:
A just machine
To make big decisions
Programmed by fellas
With compassion and vision
We'll be clean
When their work is done
We'll be eternally free
Yes, and eternally young.
I interpret it as "Big Tech" deciding everything for us.
“What are the bands you really like?”
Good question.
I listen to whatever is good.
Here are things I notice I’ve listened to more than most things.
I found out about old time music and going back in time you find good stuff.
Jimmie Rodgers
Carter Family
Robert Johnson
Hank Williams
Those all well pre-date me
My lifetime stuff
Clash
More contemporary
Old 97’s
Avett Brothers
I like a lot of one offs and one hit wonders.
Or certain songs from a band that doesn’t have any other good songs.
I explore for fun.
I was listening to Caatalouha Stomp yesterday, it’s great.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gDGph5BL6RM
And I heard a later swamp pop/blues song. Swamp blues inspired Beatles O’ Darlin
Listen. Slim Harpo Raining in my Heart
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=usAbo-RamWo
I just discovered this also. It was pretty esoteric to me but it’s fantastic.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tMYuY-RpLaA
There’s a lot more.
Bands like Steeky Dan are MSM to me. And hippie crap.
Mainstream media will almost always steer you wrong.
Pure groove and funk… in a stylish wrapping.
Nice guitar touches throughout it…
I listen to quite a bit of John Prine and Townes van Zant too. Bob Wills always. Spade Cooley.
In the car it’s mostly Sirius XM Outlaw Country.
“In the car it’s mostly Sirius XM Outlaw Country”
I discovered this on Jet Blue.
On the plane that’s all I listen to.
And in rental cars with XM.
I heard a lot of good songs on Outlaw Country.
At the same time, a lot are meh.
For example Townes is great. Prine, ok but doesn’t resonate with me.
If I had XM I’d keep it on Outlaw Country.
Yes. This is a great three song set by the Avett Brothers. I’ve done back and watched it many times.
Don’t know these guys. I’ll check it out.
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