![]() ![]() ![]() The verse music conjures an appropriate feeling of uncertainty, while the chorus brings in heavenly female backing singers to hint at possible success (“See the glory of.”) only to have Fagen yank the rug out (“.the royal scam”). Take “The Royal Scam”, a story of immigrants trying to get a foothold in a new country. They also know how to wed music and lyrics in ironic counterpoint. I don’t think they’re out to glorify their imaginary characters – some of whom are rather degenerate – but they use obscure scenarios to set up a droll punchline or two. Under the cover of a catchy chorus and/or polite groove, they sometimes slide into subversive subject matter, if only for comedic or ironic purpose. Lyrically, Becker and Fagen are witty, gritty, playful, obscure, and quite creative. In other words, they borrow some of the content but not the procedure. The main paradox of Steely Dan is that they draw so heavily from jazz in their music (at least from the middle period on), but they don’t follow the jazz ideal of first takes and wing-it performance. Eventually, that facade fell away and Donald and Walter became studio hermits, spending lots of money and hiring top-name players to make albums as perfectly as they could. With guitarists Denny Dias and Jeff Baxter and drummer Jim Hodder, Becker and Fagen operated Steely Dan as a quasi-band in the early years, partly because they had to tour behind the albums. Walter Becker (bass, guitar) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, vocals) are smarter than your average songwriters, dipping into a deeper well than usual while still respecting the idea of listener-friendliness. ![]()
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