# Steely Dan **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095 "2004-06-01T16:54:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/21 "2004-06-02T06:56:56Z")
> [@WILLASS](#): > > Is the rest of the album good? What essential ‘Dan’ albums should I purchase? Every single one! Seriously. I’ve been where you are now and I can tell you from experience that the more you hear the more you will want to hear. Even the stuff you don’t particularly care for at first will grow and grow on you, and after awhile you will find it hard to say which ones you like best. It just becomes their entire oeuvre that becomes your favorite. I will admit, however, that their latest album _Everything Must Go_, while musically good and tight and sounding like Steely Dan, doesn’t break any new ground. It’s basically good just for listening to more of what you’ve already heard from them. Still good though. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/22 "2004-06-02T07:21:28Z")
Ok, I would love to buy _every_ album they have done but my budget won’t stretch to more than maybe one or two albums a month so which should I start with? I want ‘Aja’ so can you recommend another? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/23 "2004-06-02T07:59:18Z")
Well, this is just my opinion, but if I were you I’d start out with their crown jewel _Aja_. After that I would go with _Katy Lied_ or _Gaucho_. After that, just pick up any of them at random. You can’t go wrong. This is the path I followed after finally “getting” them. I liked Steely Dan’s music from the beginning but I didn’t really “get” them until some years later when I happened to hear \*Deacon Blues \* at about 3:00 in the morning while driving on a largely deserted boulevard in Dallas and it suddenly hit me: “Damn! These guys are \*really \* good!” After that I bought _Aja_, and then just started buying whatever I found whenever I found it. Steely Dan was in their 20 year hiatus at that time and their music wasn’t as readily available as it is now, so I just had to take what I could get when I could get it. In hindsight this seems to have been an excellent way to go about it. I didn’t get hung up over whether this song or this album was better or worse than the one that preceeded it, I just experienced everything in a hopscotch manner and it all just seemed to meld into one giant collection of supremely excellent music. An alternative would be to start with their first album _Can’t Buy A Thrill_, and work your way up chronologically from there. In this way you could experience their growth and progression in the same way they (and we) did. Your advantage would be that you would only have to wait weeks or months between albums whereas we sometimes had to wait years. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/24 "2004-06-02T08:05:13Z")
One other thing, too. Since money is scarce, you can go to their website and link to their latest album _Everything Must Go_, which you can listen to for free and over and over. I’m listening to it now, as a matter of fact. ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/25 "2004-06-02T08:21:21Z")
I’ll have to check their website out some other time as I’m at work and can’t use audio but I look forward to listening to it. Thanks for the suggestions, I may get ‘Aja’ and ‘Green Earings’. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/26 "2004-06-02T08:24:15Z")
The lyrics are all over the place. I think King Of the World and Sign in Stranger are science fiction(!) A a heck of a lot are about drugs. Charlie Freak is about a cursed ring (I hope I’ve read that right otherwise someone please straighten me out). But theres a drug reference: “by the blackend wall he does it all - he thinks he’s died and gone to heaven” Everyone’s Gone to the Movies is about showing porn flicks (to kids?) I’d thought Chain Lightning was (yet) another drug song. It isn’t it’s about a Nazi rally, “some turnout - a hundred grand” now it makes sense. Back later. . . ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/27 "2004-06-02T11:35:53Z")
Knock yourself out: [http://www.feverdreams.net/](http://www.feverdreams.net/) All the discussion on Steely Dan lyric meanings you could ever want. BTW, there is no album called Green Earrings. That song is on The Royal Scam. You could do a compilation album but I don’t recommend it. Steely Dan, pre-Gaucho, doesn’t have a single bad tune. Not one. Personally, I would start with their first album, Can’t Buy a Thrill, and move up from there so you can see their style and mood change over time. If you didn’t care for that one, and you’d be nuts if you didn’t, and were constrained by cash to buy only one more, I’d probably go with Katy Lied or Countdown to Ectasy. Don’t forget the album that birthed the song of my eponymous username (The Royal Scam). I also recommend Donald Fagen’s “The Nightfly” and “Becker and Fagen: The Early Years.” Easily the finest modern music ever recorded. Just curious, how old are you? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/28 "2004-06-02T12:10:14Z")
> [@YellowTail](#): > > Aja is about a dude ranch. Gaucho is about an interloper horning in on the singer’s girlfriend. Gaucho always seemed to have a gay theme to me. I heard Becker is gay, but I don’t know if that’s true. ---
**Author:** ![DrMemory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DrMemory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrMemory)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/29 "2004-06-02T12:28:33Z")
Anyone know the High-Up, Low-Down, (whatever that means) to the song East St. Louis Toodle-OO. It easily the most Un-Dan song of The Dan… ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/30 "2004-06-02T12:47:04Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > Just curious, how old are you? I’m twenty four, the guy who got me into Steely Dan is twenty one and is a highly talented musician (he played at Prince Williams twenty first birthday party and is doing a gig for a Louis Vuitton launch party and also backing Lionel Richie that night as well) and he reckons that ‘The Dan’ is possibley the finest band (music skills wise) ever. I really dig them, they groove so well and are so tight it hurts. Can anyone recomend any Michael MacDonald stuff? I imagine he must have some pretty class stuff out as well, I think Ben (aforementioned friend) has played me some of his stuff but I’m not sure. Ben always cracks me up by singing a really funny impression of ‘The M Mac’ doing the backing on ‘Peg’ [MichaelMacDonald]Peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeggggggggg[/MichaelMacDonald] ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/31 "2004-06-02T13:09:25Z")
Much as I love the Dan, many of their lyrics strike me as too clever by half- sardonic in a deliberate, even condescending way. The hip obscurity of the references seems to connote two guys forever winking at each other (never their audience) via craftily worded in-jokes. The interesting thing is listening to Dan records in comparsion to Fagen and Becker’s solo work. One of the things that struck me hearing _The Nightfly_ for the first time was just how free it was of Steely’s derisive wit. I know the album’s meant to carry a very upbeat 1950’s feel as part of its theme, but I wouldn’t have dreamed either Fagen or Becker capable of sounding so damn _happy_. _Kamakiriad_ is similarly straightforward and (relatively) sarcasm-free. On the other hand, Becker’s _11 Tracks of Whack_ is positively lousy with irony and gum-cracking zingers. Which led me to the conclusion that “Steely Dan” is likely the balance derived between Happy, Smiling Donald and Winking, Leering Walter. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/32 "2004-06-02T13:47:21Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > Much as I love the Dan, many of their lyrics strike me as too clever by half- sardonic in a deliberate, even condescending way. The hip obscurity of the references seems to connote two guys forever winking at each other (never their audience) via craftily worded in-jokes. > On the other hand, Becker’s _11 Tracks of Whack_ is positively lousy with irony and gum-cracking zingers. Which led me to the conclusion that “Steely Dan” is likely the balance derived between Happy, Smiling Donald and Winking, Leering Walter. Fagen is far from happy but Becker flames the annoyingly excessive ironic side in him. I agree that there is a touch of deliberate obscurity that smacks of condescension. Fagen is the musical genius while Becker roughens up the sound a bit and probably inspires, or perhaps conspires with, Donald as well. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/33 "2004-06-02T13:51:22Z")
Oh and as for Michael McDonald, I’m sure he’s done good solo work (Shine Sweet Freedom?), but check out The Doobie Brother’s greatest hits as well. As a bonus, you get to hear Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, a session guitarist for some of SD’s great solos. (My Old School, Outro to Bodhisattva, etc…) ---
**Author:** ![Uvula\_Donor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e19adc/32.png) [@Uvula\_Donor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uvula_Donor)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/34 "2004-06-02T13:56:29Z")
> [@DrMemory](#): > > Anyone know the High-Up, Low-Down, (whatever that means) to the song > East St. Louis Toodle-OO. It easily the most Un-Dan song of The Dan… It’s a Duke Ellington cover. Ellington wrote it in the late 1920’s. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/35 "2004-06-02T13:59:00Z")
All these years I’ve never realized Gaucho was about a gay love triangle. :smack: It all makes sense now. OP, I reccomend _Royal Scam_. I guess mainly because it appealed to the anarchist side of me during my college years, but it’s still a good listen today. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/36 "2004-06-02T14:00:48Z")
On another note, does anyone else think Becker is easily as good a singer as Fagen, if not better? I was amazed at what a capable, semi-soulful vocalist he is. They should have been splitting the singing since _Can’t Buy_! ---
**Author:** ![Marathon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Marathon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marathon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/37 "2004-06-02T14:05:03Z")
> [@masonite](#): > > By the way, I am a homosexual. :eek: Just mentioning that, defying any other faggot on the SDMB to come in here and admit love of Dan. As far as I can make out, it simply isn’t done. Prove me wrong. Here I am! This is why I love the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/38 "2004-06-02T14:29:15Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > On another note, does anyone else think Becker is easily as good a singer as Fagen, if not better? I was amazed at what a capable, semi-soulful vocalist he is. They should have been splitting the singing since _Can’t Buy_! I’m not sure that you’re necessarily saying this, but that wasn’t Becker singing on Can’t Buy a Thrill–it was David Palmer. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/39 "2004-06-02T14:39:26Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > I’m not sure that you’re necessarily saying this, but that wasn’t Becker singing on Can’t Buy a Thrill–it was David Palmer. I ain’t talkin about that turnip! You’ve heard “Book of Liars” from Becker’s solo cd (Steely version on _Alive in America_)? “Slang of Ages” from _Everything Must Go_? Walt can _sing,_ man. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095/40 "2004-06-02T14:49:12Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > I ain’t talkin about that turnip! You’ve heard “Book of Liars” from Becker’s solo cd (Steely version on _Alive in America_)? “Slang of Ages” from _Everything Must Go_? > Walt can _sing,_ man. Ok, thought you might be talking about this, hence the qualifier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steely-dan/248095.md?page=3)