Polled At Last: STEELY DAN - ILM Artist poll #50

My 'Boston Rag' story: during the time that I was I listening to the song for the first time, I lived on 7th avenue and used to get 'out of my mind' on grass every chance I got. The girl that I was into at that time lived in Astoria ( not Bayside but same borough). One weekend afternoon I was out of my mind as usual and she drunk dialed me out of the blue

Another great song. This is probably going to be all killers from here on in.

On some days I think "Pretzel Logic" is my favorite SD song. Glad it's top 20. Love Becker's solo here - his first on record!

yeah "Pretzel Logic" is my #5, wrote a bit about it on some other thread about how it's a canny reflection on the ephemeral and thus their best blues jam

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IOgj_3nbtZo/U0CPZkUtncI/AAAAAAAAAmc/bUaPw8XImFs/w563-h552-no/steely-dan-pretzel-logic-1974.jpg

1974: "Pretzel Logic" (3:59 edit) (B-side: "Through With Buzz")
Label: ABC 12033
Chart: US Pop 57

"Pretzel Logic" is a single released by Steely Dan from their album Pretzel Logic, originally released in 1974 by ABC Records. It reached number 57 in the Billboard charts. In the lyrics, the speaker describes wanting to visit the Southern United States with a minstrel show, wanting to meet Napoleon Bonaparte because Napoleon is lonely, and being the victim of fashion by being questioned about his shoes, to which he answers that he saw them in motion pictures and television and that "the times are changing".

In Brian Sweet's 1994 Steely Dan Biography Reelin' in the Years, Donald Fagen states that the lyrics are actually about time travel. Sweet also hypothesizes that the first verse was inspired by the band's distaste for touring, particularly the tours of the American South that their record label had sent them upon the previous year.

This is one of the first Steely Dan songs to feature bassist Walter Becker as a lead guitarist. He would do so periodically on every Dan release since.

Are they really referring to the South in that line, though? Nobody calls it "The Southland" - in fact, that's a nickname for Greater Los Angeles.

And yes, I know those are Wikipedia's words and not yours, Bee.

"Pretzel Logic" got three number ones, didn't make my list.

/She prays like a Roman with her eyes on fire./



Always hard to explain to my daughter who is, er, named Josie.

yeah "Pretzel Logic" is my #5, wrote a bit about it on some other thread about how it's a canny reflection on the ephemeral and thus their best blues jam

― Euler, Saturday, April 5, 2014 7:18 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What are you talking about?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u5aqKEU1dv0/U0CSQdHisnI/AAAAAAAAAno/fOQMQl-Lxc0/w640-h320-no/King+Of+the+World.jpg

17. King Of The World
From: Countdown to Ecstasy
Released: July 1973
699 Points, 28 Votes, 2 Number Ones

amazing graphic.

(also: i'll confess i was activity anticipating what sort of image Gaucho would get and pp did not disappoint)

Just checking in. Who is the other person who had The Boston Rag at 1? Bring it back now!

Looooove the synth

and the guitarists answering every Fagenism.

"Pretzel Logic" was my #1--but it was actually "King of the World" that I thought would win. I'll resign myself now to an Aja or Gaucho #1

I was one of the #1 voters for KOTW, really was pulling for it to crack the top ten

I think of "King of the World" the same way I think of On the Beach's cover: as one of the greatest encapsulations of the last few months of Nixon. (Countdown came out in July of '73, so they jumped the gun a bit.) What it must have felt like to experience that, I mean. Even though I know they're almost certainly singing about something else--the big one in California, probably.

A Monza for the "King of The World" graphic? Too perfect! Can't comment much now, but will say pp's images own.

Great pic for a great song.

this part of the poll must be the title track graveyard, expecting "Aja" and "Dr. Wu" next

just finished re-listening to "Pretzel Logic" and wondering how i actually didn't vote for it.

the big multi-tracked Fagen harmonies on choruses like "King Of The World" and "Pretzel Logic" are catnip to me, so great

You're fucking kidding me. This is my favorite SD song

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PQHOspGyLGI/U0CZvHw-M0I/AAAAAAAAAog/ulZZWdnIOPY/w585-h320-no/FM.jpg

16. FM (No Static At All)
B-side: FM (No Static At All) - Reprise
From: FM Soundtrack
Single Released: 1978
722 Points, 34 Votes

Gutted about the king of the world placing. But if u don't vote u can't bitch

kick off your high-heeled sneakers. It's party time.

haha, yes you can.

xpost

great song and did make my list but was my very last entry or number 20.

8 of my top 10 remaining, so I wd appear to be Mister Consensus....

Who is that

dunno, but he likes 'dirty work'

Haha, I see what you did there, PP.

No I mean the girl

;-)

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_gNsSlX6xj8/U0Cmv6-bgkI/AAAAAAAAApM/754bJvmZSkk/w448-h439-no/FM_%2528No_Static_At_All%2529.jpg

1978: FM (No Static At All) (B-side: FM (No Static At All) - Reprise)
Label MCA
Chart: 22 US Pop, 30 US Adult Contemporary, 49 UK

This was the first single Steely Dan released on MCA Records (which had released the soundtrack), predating MCA's acquisition of ABC Records by one year.

Three versions of the song by Steely Dan exist. The first two versions, "FM" and "FM (reprise)", originally appeared on the FM soundtrack album and the 12" single. "FM" has a running time of 4:50 and features a guitar solo outro. This version of "FM" also appears on the original 1982 release of the compilation album Gold, the compilation album A Decade of Steely Dan, and the compilation album The Definitive Collection. "FM (reprise)" is an instrumental reprise of "FM" with a prominent saxophone solo and has a running time of 2:53.

A third version of "FM" was created by removing the guitar solo from the end of the original track, and using the FM (reprise) saxophone version as a new ending, yielding a running time of 5:06. This hybrid version appears on the 1991 compilation Gold (Expanded Edition) and most every release after that. It is possible this remix was done so that compilations would not feature two different versions of the same song back to back.

should i save the rest or post a few more tonight?

maybe one more imo. leave some mystery for the last day.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-l_BXgw30nqQ/U0CrjP87XuI/AAAAAAAAAp0/neWrU_fMZg4/w640-h320-no/Aja.jpg

15. Aja
From: Aja
Released: September 23, 1977
732 Points, 30 Votes, 3 Number Ones

Surprisingly low.

Then again, five of my top ten have already shown up. (This was among them.) But I thought I was part of the consensus with "Aja."

such a beautiful song, so reminds me of living in Southern California. that drumming! this was also my #15, so bravo about its placement.

Steve Gadd/Wayne Shorter breakdown puts this tune over the top IMO.

Up on the hill
People never stare
They just don't care
Chinese music under banyan trees
Here at the dude ranch above the sea

for a long time i found "Aja" offputting, but i finally gave in and found its appeal a few years ago, after seeing SD kill it live, and also hearing this

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

ah, fuck, it......TOO LOW!
love Shorter and Gadd, but also the melodies....

Okay, fourteen songs to go, and by my count there are twenty-one songs from the first seven albums that have not been listed yet.

Actually, as far as I can tell, there are a total of three songs from the first seven albums that have not been mentioned in this thread yet. Any guesses?

i've been to a dude ranch above the sea tbh, but that's a story for another thread