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

all time great guitar solo

look at all the white men on the street

every a-frame. this slipped in at 19 on my ballot, but was my favorite SD song when I first got into them.

I'll admit it - my #1. Such great storytelling. The first time I heard it, when it first came out, the smartness of the lyric blew me away. I was familiar with who Owsley was, and I knew immediately knew exactly who this was about.

Listened to The Royal Scam a lot in high school. Didn't really care for "Kid Charlemagne," haven't heard it in 35+ years, just listened to it off YouTube. Still don't care for it. But finding out it's about Owsley, who I wouldn't have known anything about at the time, is neat.

this probably is a thought that's been expressed in ilx before but it's kind of crazy that Breaking Bad never used it. (i'm glad they didn't)

This was the last song I cut from my ballot, if I was voting today it'd be in the top 15 no problem.

"Rikki" was the song that turned me around on the Dan--for years I didn't really pay much attention them (though I'd heard "Do It Again" "Reelin'" "Hey 19" and "Peg"). To me they were just some AOR band like Santana or something. But then I heard "Rikki" on the radio and decided I had to now more about this group.

― I got the glares, the mutterings, the snarls (President Keyes), Sunday, April 6, 2014 5:50 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

For me, "Rikki" was the only Dan song I liked; I considered it an accidental masterstroke by an otherwise awful band. Friends of mine who loved Dan hated "Rikki," confirming my theory. Once I got heavily into Dan (and subsequently changed my opinion of them), "Rikki" was still my favorite.

Kid Charlemagne - yet another outstanding cut that did not make my ballot.

I cut Rikki at the last moment.

i think i finally appreciate how totally deranged "Show Biz Kids" is

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-hvb6BrSMnRY/U0HT5EFoVaI/AAAAAAAAA28/a75i2tZbyIA/w509-h511-no/Kid+7.jpg

May 1976: "Kid Charlemagne" (B-side: "Green Earrings")
Label: ABC 12195
Chart: US Pop 82

Writers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have stated that the lyrics were loosely inspired by the exploits of the infamous 1960s San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley Stanley — although it conflates the core story with numerous other images of the Sixties:

On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your Technicolor motor home

Every A-frame had your number on the wall

The first two lines draw on the fact that Owsley's acid was famed for its purity, and the third line is likely a reference to the famous psychedelic bus named Further, which was used by the Merry Pranksters, who were supplied their LSD by Owsley himself.

The lyric "You'd go to LA on a dare and you'd go it alone" alludes to a story in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test about a trip taken by chief Prankster Ken Kesey.

The final verse foreshadows Owsley's eventual bust:

Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there's gas in the car

I think the people down the hall know who you are

Owsley and another person were arrested after their car ran out of gas.

In 2007, Kanye West released the song "Champion" on his double-platinum album Graduation that samples "Kid Charlemagne" extensively.

Kid Charlemagne was my number 1. My favorite Dan tune since 1978.

The lyric "You'd go to LA on a dare and you'd go it alone" alludes to a story in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test about a trip taken by chief Prankster Ken Kesey.

Fagen, sitting in with Levon Helm's band, covering the Dead:
http://youtu.be/WRscoPmXA0U

It's all a rich tapestry.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8Ieg9D9MFu0/U0Hbbwk0UGI/AAAAAAAAA3s/EjgC4B_dK74/w640-h320-no/Doctor+Wu.jpg

4. Doctor Wu
From: Katy Lied
Released: March 1975
1,252 Points, 44 Votes, 7 Number Ones

that's the one I was forgetting about

too low

Wu my #1. Are you with me.

never been a huge fan of the song. although i had Double Nickels On The Dime before i had Katy Lied, and never much liked the cover much, cool as it was that the Minutemen covered the Dan.

i neglected to vote for "dr. wu" and i am completely perplexed as to why. i had apparently spent the last piaster i could borrow on some other katy lied track.

How much of a Minutemen bounce does this song get? Would it be Top 5 without their cover?

no idea. the thought of it being their most loved non-hit by some distance is a little ridiculous to me, though.

In my case it was sublime bounce.

i had no idea this song was so loved, it did make my ballot but number 4 overall is somewhat surprising.

amazing song, languid and bittersweet

I've only heard the Minutemen version a couple of times.

Great song great cover. It's not KoW though.

Was hoping for "Rikki" or "Dr. Wu" at #1. No luck. Maybe it'll even be one I've never heard.

i kind of seriously doubt "dr. wu"'s top 5 placement has anything to do with a minutemen cover

yeah, Wu was considered a highlight way back in the seventies (Xgau called it their greatest song). the minutemen version is minor.

dr. wu is perfect. will be miffed if peg gets #1

You guys don't know Cubans and Biscayne Bay.

i voted for all of the top 3 and adore them all and would be happy to see any of them at #1.

I think everybody here will be miffed if one or the other of these gets #1. I'm looking at you, Deacon Blues.

xp: whoops. well, I guess not.

(xposts) As I mentioned on the other thread, Marcus also singled out the "all night long" lyric as one of the greatest ever written--it's always been an acclaimed song.

yeah, remember the Marcus line. Deacon Blues is the only one of the remaining three that deserves such a high placement

now that it's reasonably clear "chain lightning" is not gonna make a surprise top 10 appearance, this is as good a time as any to post:

donald fagen talks about "chain lightning":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_KCcxFKTuk

there are a few of these "fagen talks about" youtubes, including one about one of the tracks still to come, and they're all great chord-porn, but this is my fave. dude would make a great music teacher.

Doctor Wu is my favorite song of all time, by SD or anyone

I'm listening to "Deacon Blues" now. Sorry--all I can think of is the Bangs line, "tasty licks and all that Traffic twaddle."

fuck Bangs

I hated it at fist but once the lyrics kicked in I was sold for life.

Xgau: "not only is "Deacon Blues" one of their strongest songs ever, it's also one of their warmest."

President Keyes: "fuck Bangs"

*first

For what it's worth, he wasn't referring to "Deacon Blues"--I am. (Fuck clemenza!) Not sure what he what he was talking about.

7 number ones is what really grabbed me about "Doctor Wu."

Doctor Jing Nuan Wu (1933-2002), an acupuncturist and artist based in Washington DC. Emigrated from China to the US at a young age and graduated from Harvard to become a Wall Street venture capitalist, finally setting up a Taoist clinic in Washington in 1973. Apparently helped one of the band members to overcome drug addiction in the mid-70s, hence the lyrical tribute.

(I love Lester Bangs of course but am at peak SD defense mode now sry)

There's an EMP project to be written about Cuban-American/Nixon imagery in the Dan.

"cuban-american imagery, nixon's shadow and traffic twaddle: steely dan in the '70s."

I'm a little defensive too right now--feeling a generational split in these results (old people = first four LPs/ younger = next three), but maybe I'm wrong.

Nope. Love the first two, adore Gaucho and Katy Lied.

guys let's not spoil this now