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

"Any World" was my #1. Most beautiful thing they've done.

a vision of a child returning
a kingdom where the sky is burning
honey i will be there
yes i'll be there

two cynical jewish dudes write spiritual. is great.

Yay! In my top 5. This track gets stuck in my head more than any SD track. Here's a great version that someone posted on the nom thread or something, by Burnt Sugar with Vernon Reid.

http://vimeo.com/38797597

Love this song so much. Maybe my favorite Michael McDonald vocal.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-GxL-042yg5w/Uz7yMYuTNsI/AAAAAAAAAU4/daQXf5liURo/w640-h320-no/Midnight+Cruiser.jpg

39. Midnight Cruiser
From: Can't Buy a Thrill
Released: November 1972
402 Points, 18 Votes

^^^ YES

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m6ejkF-cSk

That chorus is gold.

in re: "Any World" even the "truck driver gear change" key change at the very end still gets me, cliche or no

& "Midnite Cruiser" was my #2. What a chorus, good God.

"I wanted to do something on 'MTV Live' with Steely Dan," Gunz said. "[They would] come out and do 'Black Cow' and then we bust into the "Deja Vu" thing. They won't even, you know? I knew they were recording in this studio, I go by the studio, you know? They're not here. So they won't even return our calls or nothing, so I threw all my Steely Dan CDs out."

in re: "Any World" even the "truck driver gear change" key change at the very end still gets me, cliche or no

Me too. One of my favorite moments in their oeuvre.

Jim Hodder - drums, percussion, lead vocal on "Midnite Cruiser."

Not a fan of those types of key changes usually, but the way Fagen jumps up at the end of "better than the one I come from" really makes it

anyone know why Hodder wound up singing this one? Why not give it to Palmer, the alleged lead singer?

let your madness run with mine

the way Fagen jumps up at the end of "better than the one I come from" really makes it

i think the way fagen jumps up at the end of that line, which, yeah, really takes the song to a higher place, also absolves it of the charge that it is a cliche truck driver gear change.

It's hard to remember first hearing the song, but I think the key change caught me off guard, which would imply it's not a traditional use - after all, the chorus sounds like it's completely winding down before that point. Of course nowadays I anticipate it.

yes, good point. the last "I come from" before the key change seems as if it's about to be faded out, and then bam!

my #2!

this is the one I put on mixtapes to fool Dan-skeptical acquaintances; they invariably love it....

That's two in a row I voted for, love them both. Love the shift of mood from the upbeat intro to the verse on Midnight Cruiser, and the piano chord on "my old friend" is one of my favorite chords in their discography (with lots of competition obviously.)

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-84_ycbhmnlY/Uz75Bpy0MxI/AAAAAAAAAVg/1sOJqASUPsY/w640-h320-no/Home+At+Last.jpg

38. Home At Last
From: Aja
Released: September 23, 1977
408 Points, 19 Votes, 1 Number One

whoa

i know this super highway
this bright familiar sun

Such a leisurely amble of an arrangement; it makes the chorus harmonies sweeter.

Surprised to see that this is the first song from Aja. Purdie's gonna be pissed.

you done underappreciated the hitmaker

"she serves the smooth retsina." such a nice hellenic touch, to go with all the other ones.

TOO LOW!

I had it at #5

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-evWZYn_peOs/Uz7-_BLqQ2I/AAAAAAAAAWM/Par2u-1c26Q/w640-h320-no/Don%2527t+Take+Me+Alive.jpg

37. Don't Take Me Alive
From: The Royal Scam
Released: May, 1976
418 Points, 20 Votes, 1 Number One

the first song from my ballot to make it.

Agree with the upthread discussion of how fun SD is to sing along to - "Home At Last" is probably my favorite. ("Black Cow" is unfortunately pretty much impossible.)

"Any World...," out of all the Michael McDonald features, is the one that tends to bring the old SCTV bit to mind: http://youtu.be/b0HzWMqLeiE

my favorite dan lyric!

i hear my inside
the mechanized hum of another world

"Home At Last" was my #1. it's the song where I first ~~~got~~~ the Dan

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-heo8q-vii7w/Uz8E_o5VkcI/AAAAAAAAAW4/pgCNmKOkPNs/w640-h320-no/Glamor+Profession.jpg

36. Glamour Profession
From: Gaucho
Released: November 21, 1980
427 Points, 21 Votes

I mean, I'd been listening to them for years, but "Home At Last" sinks way deeper. Fagen's voice at its most arachnid, lost amidst its own webs; and the triumphal horn break mocking his own self-mockery.

brut and charisma
poured from the shadow where he stood

Too low!

Hollywood, I know your middle name...

OK, that is crazy low.

i know, such a great song.

One of my personal favorite ilx posts

all aboard
the Carib Cannibal
off to Barbados
just for the ride
Jack with his radar
Stalking the dread moray eel
At the wheel
With his Eurasian bride
--

good luck unpacking all that

― J0hn D., Tuesday, July 1, 2008 11:03 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Only figured out recently that this song was the origin of John Cusack's character in One Crazy Summer. I thought they both were referencing some old celebrity I didn't know, which is kind of SD's MO

character name*

I chose "my rival" over "glamor profession". There I said it. Cool song and useful if you secretly wanted to rate a Nightfly song in the tracks poll.

Here's where I'll not only point out the first misspelling in the graphics, but also plug their very user-friendly website.

xps (which was in response to me not knowing SHIT about gaucho but talking shit about it anyway)

I'm no headphone fetishist, but "Glamour Profession" sounds killer over them. So many synth parts I didn't hear. And that stately tread.

Giving the world another "Cherchez La Femme" was a true and noble cause.