Steely Dan’s Lost 1979 Song ‘Second Arrangement’ Surfaces Online

Ultimate Classic Rock ^ | June 25, 2023 | Corey Irwin

[nickcarraway]

Steely Dan’s long lost song "The Second Arrangement" has surfaced online.

The track, recorded in December 1979 while the band was laying down material for their 1980 album Gaucho, has long held a kind of mythological place among Steely Dan fans. As the story goes, the group recorded the majority of the song, with only a few simple additions needed to bring it to completion. After heading home for the night, they returned to the studio the next morning, only to discover that the "The Second Arrangement" tapes had been accidentally erased. The band tried to recreate what they’d recorded, but Donald Fagen was reportedly disappointed in the new version and decided to scrap the whole song.

In all the years since then, a studio version of "The Second Arrangement" has never been released. Bootleg editions have floated around and Steely Dan performed the song once, during a 2011 show in New York, but that has been the extent of the song’s existence… until now.

Expanding Dan, a Substack newsletter dedicated to everything Steely Dan related, has posted the complete recording of "The Second Arrangement" as it existed prior to the original tape’s erasure.

Roger Nichols, the band’s longtime engineer, made a rough mix of the track on a cassette tape – something he regularly did during his studio work with Steely Dan. Nichols, who also served as the band’s de facto historian, kept the tape along with an overwhelming amount of Steely Dan-related material. He died in 2011, and his adult daughters, Cimcie and Ashlee, took possession of his belongings.

They were already aware of "The Second Arrangement"'s history when they discovered their father’s cassette tape of the song. In 2020, Cimcie posted a picture of the tape on Facebook and was shocked by the overwhelming response it got from the band’s fans.

"Everybody was at home and saw it, and it went viral," Cimcie explained to Expanding Dan. "I actually had no idea the tape was gonna be such a big deal. I started getting hounded by Steely Dan fans. There were GIFs under my post of Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail. I was like, ‘Oh my god, what am I gonna do now?’ I was excited that people wanted to hear the tape, but I didn't want to do anything wrong. I didn't want to just get a Casio boombox and pop in the tape."

Cimcie and Ashlee took the tape to a professional recording facility that was able to extract everything from the tape, which included not only "The Second Arrangement," but also a mix of "Were You Blind That Day," the track that became "Third World Man."

You can listen to “The Second Arrangement” exclusively at the Expanding Dan site.

The cassette tape has been framed along with sheet music of "The Second Arrangement" and will be going up for auction soon. Cimcie and Ashlee are working on a documentary about their father, and proceeds from the auction will go towards production costs, as well as the money already spent on restoring and transferring the audio from the tape.

[Boogieman]

"It seems to be second nature to these kids, since they grow up with laptops and DAWs."

Plus, there's a tutorial for everything available for free nowadays. This guy will teach you the basics and he makes it pretty entertaining too:

Youtube: YouSuckAtProducing

[.44 Special]

That gig was SD’s second live performance. What actually happened was Baxter accidently smashed the neck of his guitar into the mike causing a short and an enormous fireball. Baxter was knocked flat but kept playing, finishing the song. About a 20 minute break followed before they continued the set. You may remember the opening act - Cheech and Chong. Altogether a very good show.

[MD Expat in PA]

I have to say, while a big SD fan, I hated the song “Hey 19” from Gaucho. Because when it came out, I was 19 and dating a 29-year-old who thought the lyrics were hysterical and he kept telling me “Hey, nineteen, That’s ‘Retha Franklin, She don’t remember the Queen of Soul”.

But I did know who she was and knew most of her songs owing in big part to having a much older brother who introduced me to a lot of music, of all genres – soul, Motown, Jazz, Rock, Progressive Rock, and even show tunes and movie soundtracks from the 60’s and early 70’s and lots of classical music too.

The thing was I probably knew a lot more about music from the 60’s and 70’s than he did.

[ConservativeInPA]

Here’s some detail on the money breakout: Rick Beato: How Creators Killed the Music Business The detail is about a 1/4 to 1/3 into the video, overall the entire video it’s pretty interesting. This doesn’t cover the song writers tho, but Beato talks about that on other videos. Sometimes it comes from the band’s cut of the music. You’ll often hear squabbles inside bands about song writing credits, because bands will divide that money differently. I don’t think there’s any set rules. Some labels will cut different deals with song writers and then basically tell an artist that they are going to play that song.

[newfreep]

Denny Dias also played a very tasty solo on “Aja” - just before the Wayne Shorter/Steve Gadd dueling solos.

[Responsibility2nd]

But did you skate a little lower now?

I get why that song and you didn’t get along. I guess if you went skating, you would dread that song being played. Every time.

[MD Expat in PA]

No. I didn’t “skate a little lower”, but I should have known you would go there because you are a POS. FU

[TalBlack]

“…Arrangement” tapes had been accidentally erased. The band tried to recreate what they’d recorded, …”

It’s truly strange how often that fails and miserably. However Blondie, for legal reasons, recreated one of their hits and it was so spot on I don’t think I could tell which was which.

[dfwgator]

IIRC Steely Dan had to re-record the entire Katy Lied album.

[Responsibility2nd]

Oh, what did I do to deserve such a reply? I honestly meant no harm. Didn’t mean to insult you. But I went back and researched the lyrics (won’t repeat them) and I realized I messed up. I insulted you.

And I’m truly sorry. I’m not always a POS. But I was here.

[chickenlips]

I don’t remember him being knocked flat, but then again after 50 years I don’t remember too much of anything from 1973. I can barely remember anything from 2022.

I do recall Cheech and Chong being the opening act.

Were you there?

[MD Expat in PA]

Apology accepted. I am sorry as well that I misunderstood.

[newfreep]

On Katy Lied, The “dbx Noise Reduction” unit caused the problem but “Roger the Immortal” was able to save the original recording/mix.

Currently, their entire catalog is being remastered by Bernie Grundman - so far the first two remasters have been released to VERY positive reviews.

Releases on vinyl, SACD, and HiRez 24-bit Digital download.

[SamAdams76]

You guys are going to make me research the lyric meanings of “Hey Nineteen “! I’ve heard that song a thousand times and always assumed “skate a little lower” was a benign roller skating reference. Roller skating rinks were popular at the time of the song. In my opinion, the song is about an older guy who realizes he needs to start dating women his own age, but tonight, well, we’ll make it work!

My favorite song from the Gaucho album is “Babylon Sisters”, another mainstay of Yacht Rock.

[.44 Special]

Yes, along with my now ex-wife and two other couples. And yes, he did get knocked flat on his back. It happened about 15 feet in front of me. Thr best concert I ever attended was Rory Gallagher at My Mothers Other Place. Also many concerts on the Mall, Baltimore Civic Center, Lanham Center (home of the Baltimore Bullets), Merryweather Post Pavilion, G-Town U. and many orthe places I can’t remember due to age or recreational vices.