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Donald Fagen - I.G.Y. (What A Beautiful World) - 1982
Out On The You Tube (Rumble Does Not Have This Yet) ^

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.


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To: SamAdams76

“Ninety Minutes from New York to Paris”

Still hasn’t happened for civilians. The SR-71 did New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes in 1974. I took the Concorde from London to DC and it took 3 hours and 45 minutes.

I thought this song did a better job predicting the future;

Manfer Mann - “Lies (Through The 80s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FGZk98BDSY


21 posted on 08/26/2022 2:58:12 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult
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To: dfwgator
Walk Between Raindrops is my personal fave on that album.

Every single song on it is terrific.

Ruby Baby is my personal fave.

I.G.Y. is brilliant, a musical monument to the days of the Great Society.

I believe I actually remember the very picture Donald Fagen alludes to for the supersonic underwater train connecting NYC to Paris: "all graphite and glitter." I'm pretty sure it was on the cover of Popular Science back then.

22 posted on 08/26/2022 3:00:44 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Voter Fraud] == [Civil War])
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To: Captain Peter Blood
If you had bought $10,000 in Apple stock and never touched it, it would be worth over $200,000,000 today.

Funny thing about that is during the 1990s, people were saying to dump it. Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy. Microsoft was going to rule the world.

Then Steve Jobs returned.

If I could go back in time knowing what I know now...

23 posted on 08/26/2022 3:01:25 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (3,918,974 users on Truth Social)
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To: SamAdams76

I love that CD!


24 posted on 08/26/2022 3:15:26 PM PDT by TennesseeGirl
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To: bakeneko

“Lu Chang, her brother, is burning with rage.”

Loved the background vocals immediately after, singing “Lu Chang burns with rage”.


25 posted on 08/26/2022 3:44:54 PM PDT by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: dfwgator

“Walk Between Raindrops is my personal fave on that album.”

Killer walking bass line on that song!


26 posted on 08/26/2022 3:47:42 PM PDT by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: SamAdams76

Sorry, I ain’t wearing spandex until my car flies and makes that Jetson noise.

Only then will you be forced to see me in spandex. One for everyone.


27 posted on 08/26/2022 4:16:29 PM PDT by CTyank
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To: SamAdams76
Yes, brilliant album. But I usually find myself playing Kamakiriad when I’m in the mood for Donald Fagen music. I’ll grant you that later album is not as sharp as his first solo, but there’s just something about Kamakiriad that is immensely listenable. It just relaxes me.
28 posted on 08/26/2022 4:30:08 PM PDT by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: SamAdams76

I always hated this song. Love Steely Dan, but I hate this particular song.


29 posted on 08/26/2022 4:37:23 PM PDT by bondjamesbond (Because, deep in my heart, I do believe, that we shall overcome some day.)
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult

90 minutes from New York to Paris...

If you dig a perfectly straight tunnel between any two points on earth, and have a frictionless car running in an evacuated tube, it will roll through the tube and occupants back and forth by gravity alone, with a period of 184 minutes, so the one way trip from NY to Paris would take 92 minutes.

Phun with Physics...


30 posted on 08/26/2022 4:43:58 PM PDT by bondjamesbond (Because, deep in my heart, I do believe, that we shall overcome some day.)
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To: bondjamesbond

Of I late not occupants.


31 posted on 08/26/2022 4:45:51 PM PDT by bondjamesbond (Because, deep in my heart, I do believe, that we shall overcome some day.)
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To: SamAdams76

I prefer New Frontier from that album myself.

L


32 posted on 08/26/2022 4:46:58 PM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: bondjamesbond

Oscillate, not of I late

Autocorrect really does not like oscillate.


33 posted on 08/26/2022 4:54:51 PM PDT by bondjamesbond (Because, deep in my heart, I do believe, that we shall overcome some day.)
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To: SamAdams76

New Frontier
Donald Fagen

Yes we’re gonna have a wingding
A summer smoker underground
It’s just a dugout that my dad built
In case the reds decide to push the button down
We’ve got provisions and lots of beer
The key word is survival on the new frontier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi4hbVAfRCw


34 posted on 08/26/2022 5:06:59 PM PDT by FarCenter
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To: Flycatcher

Don’t forget Morph the Cat which was the 3rd album of his solo trilogy. The last song closes with opening bars of IGY. I saw SD this summer and I really thought they sounded better than ever. Same band w/o Becker of course.


35 posted on 08/26/2022 5:34:45 PM PDT by gavjoe
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To: TennesseeGirl; End Times Sentinel; Magic Fingers

You might enjoy these guys/gals on a few SD tunes. Really well done. Irish folks, I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePjkr-Uq4nI


36 posted on 08/26/2022 6:43:30 PM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (Apoplectic is where we want them)
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To: FarCenter

Great Video!


37 posted on 08/26/2022 7:02:28 PM PDT by Boiler Plate ("Why be difficult, when with just a little more work, you can be impossible" Mom)
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder

Lexington Lab Band covers Steely Dan as well as a variety of others.

E.g. My Old School

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0L2hcCsanY


38 posted on 08/26/2022 7:43:00 PM PDT by FarCenter
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To: bondjamesbond

If you dug a hole exactly straight down through the Earth you wouldn’t reach China. From all places in the continental US you would end up in the Indian Ocean, just off Western Australia. It’s called an antipode. Here’s how to find it;

https://www.antipodesmap.com/


39 posted on 08/26/2022 8:09:07 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult
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To: Paal Gulli
I’m still stuck trying to unwind all the drug references in ‘Time Out of Mind.’

PRAY to GOD you don't know anyone addicted to heroin. We had the burden of having a beloved family friend, who made the mistake of that (he's recovered now) but it's a really accurate description of what time on heroin is like.

It is an incredible song. Really brings you into something you'd never want to experience, but without being on the hook for something terrible.

40 posted on 08/27/2022 8:08:24 PM PDT by End Times Sentinel (In the conflict between the stone and the stream, the stream will always prevail.)
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