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

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

Banyan: A type of tropical fig tree. The term "Banyan" includes many subspecies such as Indian Banyans, Chinese Banyans, Sacred Figs, and the sinister-sounding Florida Strangler Fig! In all cases, the banyan's distinguishing feature is its branches, which send out shoots that grow down to the soil to form secondary trunks. Of historical interest is the fact that Siddhartha (the young Buddha) was apparently sitting under a banyan tree when he received enlightenment. The specific tree in question is known as the Bodhi tree — sharing the same root (no pun intended) as the word bodhisattva.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8xf5etKrZH4/U0C5erd0IjI/AAAAAAAAAqk/y37JGg2TrCw/w640-h320-no/Show+Biz+Kids.jpg

14. Show Biz Kids
B-side: "Razor Boy"
From: Countdown to Ecstasy
Single Released: 1973
761 Points, 32 Votes, 2 Number Ones

lol @ graphic

pplains hit it out of the park with that one.

a song that did end up making my list, surprised because at first didn't think it had a chance.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j3pSZNs8va8/U0C9Ts_S-tI/AAAAAAAAArM/wxaocSNgJtc/w547-h552-no/steely-dan-show-biz-kids-abc.jpg

1973: "Show Biz Kids" (B-side: "Razor Boy")
Label: ABC 11382
Chart: US Pop 61

The song features a slide guitar solo by Rick Derringer.

The song was sampled by Super Furry Animals on their 1996 single "The Man Don't Give a Fuck".

The song was also covered by Ricki Lee Jones on her 2000 album It's Like This.

flip that record over

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

― some dude, Saturday, April 5, 2014 7:57 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I was the other one. I'm just disappointed "Show Biz Kids" finished ahead of it. I mean COME ON PPL.

king of the world and aja two of my top three. genuinely surprised neither broke the top ten.

Is the fact that "Show Biz Kids" is so musically repetitive and boring supposed to be an ironic meta-commentary? Did SD just not give a fuck about anybody else, and this is how they showed it?

I'm with you SlimandSlam

"Aja" and "Gaucho" were my #1 and #2, so TOO LOW!

"Aja" is their symphony, and it truly stands alone in their catalog.

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

YES! Also, the ending when Gadd finally hits that epic drum groove is the best way to end a song ever.

Re: show biz kids, with every song I've revisited due to this poll, the poll has been correct though.

King of the World behind show biz kids is a travesty on par with the 2000 election hanging chad fiasco.

Haha. I am inclined to agree. But I will study first.

Fagen and Derringer are the only ones in SBK who get to have any fun. Everyone else plays the same plodding riff (which doesn't even rise to the level of "groove") over and over and over and over. Bill Magill otm.

the #1 voters must speak!

Yes, reveal the secrets!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PqJucx523L0/U0DLVjcvYMI/AAAAAAAAAr8/7qVwS6sjlPw/w640-h320-no/Bad+Sneakers.jpg

13. Bad Sneakers
B-side "Chain Lightning"
From:: Katy Lied
Single Released: March 1975
767 Points, 39 Votes, 1 Number One

I can't. GO TO BED.

<3 bad sneakers <3

Is this like "My Bad Old Sneakers"?

My Bad (Sneakers)

"And for the coupa-de-GRAHHHSSS/they're OUTRAGEOUS" is one of the shittiest lyrics ever, that track spoils CTE bigtime

will all 7 classic period LPs have a top 10 track?

my bad sneakers is a classic example of a song i accidentally love, despite my best intentions.

absolutely did not vote for it.

kinda wishing i voted for Aja

love Bad Sneakers. being down 'n' out never seemed so alluring.

tbh I fucking love the countermelody the instruments play in the verses. But I did not vote for it.

Charlie, I wasted a vote on I got the news that I wish I have to Aja.

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

― kornrulez6969, Saturday, 5 April 2014 23:53 (Yesterday)

http://libcudl.colorado.edu/sheetmusic/Images/Rag/RagBoston/RagBoston01b.jpg

Didn't have to think v.hard about it:

The Boston Rag, my favourite Dan song - the piano! The way it unfurls! "Any news was good news / And the feeling was bad at home / I was losing my mind and you were on the phone..."

Show Biz Kids in second place, really need to make a beardo edit of one of these days.

― etc, Friday, 20 June 2008 04:06 (5 years ago)

Would've been my #1 had I voted

will get that title fixed

And I'm going insane
And I'm laughing at the frozen rain
And I'm so alone
Honey when they gonna send me home

Sufjan, yeah i can't quite remember how Aja made its way out of my top 20, but it was a weird, ruthless decision.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-hUHlYO5EjrA/U0DdrTt26RI/AAAAAAAAAso/iMXAc8jOqIg/w563-h552-no/steely-dan-bad-sneakers-abc-2.jpg

1975: "Bad Sneakers" (B-side: "Chain Lightning")
Label: ABC 12128
Charts: 103 US Pop

Michael McDonald's vocals on the song are one of his first for the band; he would continue to perform background vocals for the band in recordings until 1980.

did not know that McDonald fact. Thanks!

Man, this is weird. 12 songs left and I only count 9 stone cold stunners unannounced!

I will coin the other three the 'triforce'

13) 767 Bad Sneakers 1-39
14) 761 Show Biz Kids 2-32
15) 732 Aja 3-30
16) 722 FM (No Static At All) 34
17) 699 King Of The World 2-28
18) 686 Pretzel Logic 3-33
19) 678 Josie 1-32
20) 669 Gaucho 2-27

21)646 The Boston Rag 2-27
22) 644 Reelin’ In The Years 32
23) 628 Third World Man 1-26
24) 627 The Caves Of Altamira 25
25) 575 Black Friday 28
26) 556 Barrytown 1-27

27) 543 Only A Fool Would Say That 22
28) 540 Time Out Of Mind 24
29) 522 Night By Night 24
30) 513 Razor Boy 22
31) 492 Rose Darling 24
32) 478 Your Gold Teeth II (2-23)
33) 475 Haitian Divorce 23
34) 468 Your Gold Teeth 1-23
35) 433 Bodhisattva 1-20
36) 427 Glamour Profession 21
37) 418 Don’t Take Me Alive 1-20
38) 408 Home At Last 1-19
39) 402 Midnight Cruiser 18
40) 374 Any World (That I'm Welcome To) 1-15

41) 308 Pearl Of The Quarter 14
42) 304 The Royal Scam 16
43) 302 Everyone’s Gone To The Movies 17
44) 268 Charlie Freak 1-12
45) 264 The Fez 13
46) 259 Green Earrings 1-13
47) 244 Here At the Western World 13
48) 227 Daddy Don’t Live In That New York City No More 13
49) 189 Sign In Stranger 10
50) 179 Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under Me) 9

just popping in here to say that i never vote in these things but i'm glad this one has led to a critical mass of dan appreciation.

I hate to say it, but Bad Sneakers is too high!

^^^

it was my no. 6, so pretty stoked for its surprisingly good showing

My #10. A perfect song.

Who is that

― Master of Treacle

I've been out, but in case your question never got answered, the girl in the graphic for FM is Jan Smithers, better known as Bailey Quarters of WKRP in Cincinnati.