re: Favorite Steely Dan song?

Definitely a top five band for me. I can't really name a song of their's I don't like and it is hard to name a favorite song as well.

A few of my favorites:

Time out of mind
Any world
Bad Sneakers
Any Major Dude will Tell You
Show Biz Kids

From the "top 5 SD songs" thread about a year ago:

quote:

---

My favorite band. Hard to pick just five. I can say for sure that Green Earrings and Caves of Altamira would be included in any top five that I arrange. Those are probably #1 and #2.

The other three could be any combination of

Charlie Freak
Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More
Boddhisattva
Everyone's Gone to the Movies
Black Cow
Glamour Profession
Janie Runaway

And probably a few more that would get considerable attention.

Not even touching the solo work. Fagen's stuff is incredible.

---

quote:

---

It's like picking a kid for me. But in the end, I love the Steely Dan of the incredibly perfect melody and perfectly crafted song over the Jazz workshop (but it's razor close). The Steely Dan catalogue is like oxygen to me, so I like it all. But here are the ones that I always go back to the most:

Here at The Western World
Any Major Dude
Dr Wu
Rikki
Any World that I’m Welcome to

---

I need to drop in on the music board more often just to see your opinions

You seem to be my music doppleganger (this is also based off of a Radiohead thread where I agreed with almost everything you said)

Don’t think I’m being a super douche here man with the flowery language- but I have always, and I mean since the crib, experienced life through music. All the events of my life , I remember the music. My friends have always been musicians or music freaks. All these years we argued crap, I’ve been raising my children with constant music. And two of them are guitar instructors. My family bonds through music. Yesterday , by noon I had listened to six hour of music and deep dived the catalog of Donny Hathaway . And yet nobody knows or even suspects lol.

Just think of me this way . I am the annoying guy who “ sshhhhhs” Elaine in Seinfeld. I could listen to a four hour presentation on why The Babys were a seminal band or why XTC is the most important pop band since The Beatles. I remember the first time I heard Rikki as a young kid on vacation in Pennsylvania. I can remember the summer between 9th and 10 grade wearing out their albums every day. And through all that weirdness, Steely Dan is kind of in their own specific category. Along with Mark Knopfler- that’s my old reliable go to. But I have like a hundred go- tos depending on genre.

And yes this board is great. There are no political death matches here . Here when VOR posts, I nod approvingly. For instance, I can tell you Rex while on this board, had EXCELLENT taste in popular music. I’ll happily accept a musical doppelgänger!

This is an impossible question, so I'll just name some of my favorites that I didn't see on the first page.

Green Earrings
Razor Boy
Bad Sneakers
FM
I Got the News
Only a Fool Would Say That

Hey Nineteen
FM

Love the groove in these 2 songs. So laid back and cool.

Aja- Classic Albums

This is a must watch for anyone that loves the Dan/Aja.

Amazon video has it in HD if you have it.

The making of Peg is a great clip. I love the other solos that didn't make the record.
LINK

The Dan has always been in my top 5. Lucky enough to see them three times in the last several years (only once without Becker--sad that he's gone but I don't miss his occasional rambling between songs).

And no Steely Dan thread can pass without a mention of how they got their name (especially since some posters have admittedly come late to the Dan).

quote:

---

"Steely Dan" is a reference to William S. Burroughs' 1959 novel Naked Lunch, a book I'll admit to reading but not actually understanding. In Naked Lunch, "Steely Dan III from Yokohama" is a steam-powered dildo, which is not really something that comes to mind when listening to "Reelin' In The Years."

---