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

haha my number one

interesting. will have to spend some more time with this one.

he's gone — he walks through the old routines
but he's gone — guaranteed

haha my number one

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson)

Brad!

Amazing song, #8 on my ballot

kinda curious to hear what you guys' stories are re TAN. Did you buy it in 2000?

I've never paid much attention to My Rival beyond the "Jolly Roger" chorus, but the story is kind of hilarious (Mike Powell called him "a pirate w a hearing aid" in a Stylus piece on Gaucho). Cool synth solo too.

so that concludes the bonus 10 songs. reasons why i added these. first, two nights before this started i was looking at some other artist polls that were done and saw a bunch of these had more than a Top 50. second, the "My Rival" picture was already made up as both pplains and i thought is was a lock for making the Top 50. third, the "Second Arrangement" story. fourth, "Jack of Speed" getting a number 1 vote.

some of pplains best work were in those pictures, the last bunch he made up. not to say what is coming up is not great because it's actually is but i especially liked a few of those.

Kings was one of the final songs I had to cut

kinda curious to hear what you guys' stories are re TAN. Did you buy it in 2000?

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, April 3, 2014 7:33 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

my dad's 50th birthday was about 2 months after the album was released. his friends threw him a big party, and i believe Two Against Nature was both one of his gifts and the soundtrack for most of the party. i didn't buy a copy and give it much solitary listening until a few years later, though, after a purchase of Citizen Steely Dan had properly immersed me in the back catalog.

"Kings" was prob my last cut, #21.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-geOvLJDS_LY/Uz3ygoW5msI/AAAAAAAAAMw/xFffCBiVlrk/w640-h320-no/Brooklyn+%2528Owes+The+Charmer+Under+Me%2529.jpg

50. Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me)
From: Can't Buy a Thrill
Released: November 1972
179 Points, 9 Votes

Fantastic poll graphics here.

think i first heard two against nature when i was going through like my third dan phase, and i was like, "the reunion records, those are probably good at least." when i first heard it i thought it was my favorite dan record bc it elaborated on the jazzy implications in all of the previous records; after about the third listen i realized that the tunes weren't entirely there, except for "jack of speed" and "west of hollywood."

both two against nature and everything must go are probably my favorite dan records lyrically at this point

i don't really rate 2AN or EMG that highly and in fact never got into them enough to own them but i should probably revisit, i doubt i'd have to spend more than a few bucks on the cds. though i might wait for vinyl reishes.

"Queen Dan Approximately"

Cocaine was mentioned way upthread in relation to Gaucho...what exactly was their drug intake? Becker was deep into heroin and that young girlfriend OD'd in his house. But Fagen was like an occasional user of coke and never heroin, as far as I know. Anyone?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/files/2013/06/stats.jpg

I don't even know Fagen's drinking habits. Then again, I'm always curious about boomer drinking habits after seventies excesses.

i will drink a zombie from a cocoa shell someday

actually, songmeanings.com must be wrong. it has to be coco shell as in short for coconut no?

It's short for coconut. Cocoa beans come in big pods, but I can't imagine anyone serving a drink in them.

everything else is going to have more than 10 votes.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-T1tdq81A2Jo/Uz34dIxs-2I/AAAAAAAAANc/GXcfe9QSzXE/w640-h320-no/Sign+In+Stranger.jpg

49. Sign In Stranger
From: The Royal Scam
Released: May, 1976
189 Points, 10 Votes

nice, this was my #19

hey #19!

i always assumed 'home at last' was a sort-of it not direct sequel to 'sign in stranger', right down to the reprised melody.

pepe has a scar from ear to ear
he will make your mug shots disappear

that would make sign in stranger the iliad

has there ever been a definitive exegesis of #50's title?

All I remember is it's about a downstairs neighbor of a Becker/Fagen apartment in Brooklyn.

RE Steely Dan and drugs, it seems to be established that Becker had a heroin problem in the early 80s - articles make vague reference to it all the time, and usually state that he moved to Hawaii after SD broke up to kick his habit - but I've never seen a corroborating quote about it from Becker himself, or from any of the group's associates, the bio, anything. Aside from that wrongful death lawsuit filed against him after his girlfriend's OD, all the information seems to be vague and secondhand. And everything else I've read suggests these guys were totally together and in control in the studio, always. I don't doubt Becker had a drug problem, I've just always wanted to know where that narrative about it and about his moving to Hawaii to clean up came about.

my son asked for a song at bedtime, and I provided him with a medley of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and "Rikki, Don't Lose That Number"

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O7YlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T_MFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3079,774241&dq=walter+becker+karen+stanley&hl=en

shit, sorry bout that--1981 article about the lawsuit

DON: Our friendly rivals, the Dan, obviously had chops to burn....and they evoked the post-Chandlerian 70s LA ambience like few other ensembles (excepting of course yours truly)......but forgive me if I suggest that their lyrics were at times a little esoteric, even pretentious. Take that parenthetical "under" in Brooklyn--surely a contender for "Most Enigmatic Preposition in the Rock Canon"?

GLENN: Back in the day I had some charmers under me, if ya catch my drift. There was that little fox from--

DON: Well, yeah.

for some reason, I never picture Glenn and Don saying these. I always picture alfred with little Glenn and Don finger puppets, talking out the side of his mouth in a higher pitched voice for Don.

"Sign In Stranger" is one of 3 or 4 Scam tracks that was left tragically just outside my top 20, clawing to get onto the ballot. really i didn't vote for enough songs from that album given that it's my favorite, but it's more consistent to me where the other albums are a bit up and down.

I feel the same way about RS. the highs aren't necessarily as memorable, but it's damn consistent.

still got #2 and #6 on my ballot though...

consistency is the best

Where does this Eagles quotes meme originate?

eagles listening thread

i think?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-XsabFZQ_27E/Uz3-_MaYZAI/AAAAAAAAAOI/5ZQRmLJCOU8/w640-h320-no/Daddy+Don%2527t+Live+In+That+New+York+City+No+More.jpg

48. Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More
From: Katy Lied
Released: March 1975
227 Points, 13 Votes

man the way Fagen hopscotches across every monosyllable in that chorus

Always picture DON here doing the talking and then GLENN adding his bon mots after taking a sip.

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2013/0812/eagles_reason_16_g_mp_576.jpg

*one beat* DON: Well, yeah.

I like the lyrics and all of the hammer-ons and pull-offs in the verses of this song. the guitar soloing is a bit too blues-hammery for me, however.