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Baring my musical heart
Apr. 22nd, 2005 01:18 amI'm going home for Passover for the weekend, so this is a little Pesach present for everyone--a mix CD. There's no theme to this besides "songs that I like", unusually for me. Actually, there is, but it's not thematic. The mix:
Steely Dan songs that I think will inspire people in some way.
Why? Steely Dan is my favorite band. Ever, ever, ever. Even more so than the Beatles, with whom I was obsessed for a year. Even more so than Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin with their collections of sonic virtuosos. Even more so than Guns 'N' Roses, whose "Appetite for Destruction" album sparked my adolescent rebellion. Even more so than Oingo Boingo, and it's pretty hard to displace Oingo Boingo in my current pantheon of bands.
On the surface, this is kind of a weird choice. I am a hard-rocking nerd chick, after all, and Steely Dan is not hard in the least. (The lyrics maybe, but that's a different kind of hard entirely.) They're jazz rock, college rock, the kind of '70s fusion that got played by baby hipsters in dorm rooms and coffeeshops instead of in discos and arenas.
They even sound old. This isn't music that's cool because your dad used to listen to it when he was a teenager, this is music that your dad still listens to. Nobody under the age of 45 knows who these guys are. I feel like I'm having a midlife crisis just humming "Hey, Nineteen." (Granted, "Hey, Nineteen" would make anyone feel like having a midlife crisis so that they could sleep with teenagers who don't know who Aretha Franklin is. "She thinks I'm crazy, but I'm just growing old...")
It's good music, though. Jazz fusion (not lame-ass soft jazz, good Charlie Parker stuff), blues structures, seemingly simple lyrics with incredibly obfuscated meanings. There's even a page for decoding the lyrics and references: FeverDreams.Net. The themes are deceptive, universal, often subversive (once you figure out what they're talking about, anyway).
I started listening to Steely Dan because my dad would play "Can't Buy A Thrill" to get me to go to sleep when I was young. He pulled out his old records this summer, and hearing them was like being 7 years old again. (This has happened with Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Hot Rize...Dad has good taste in music. He's something of a frustrated music critic, I think.)
Why inspired? This is really just a sneaky, weaselly attempt to make people write songfics for a band I'm forcing them to listen to. "Reeling in the Years" is off-limits only because I already used it. Anyway, there's only one of you drooling mofos on my list who even likes Steely Dan, and I feel it is my cultural duty to educate you. Actually, I don't even mind if nobody writes songfics at all. Just tell me what you think of the songs. Or give me money, money is always good. I promise I will forward most of it to Walter Fagen and Donald Becker.
And if that doesn't grab you, keep in mind that the band name is taken from the homoerotic paranoid drug Beat classic "Naked Lunch." In the book, Steely Dan is the name of someone's pet dildo.
There. Now get downloading. All songs are hosted on YouSendIt.Com, so they will be available until around midnight, Friday, April 29th.
1. "Pretzel Logic", off Pretzel Logic
This song is canonically about time travel. Don and Walt have said so in many, many interviews. Unrelatedly, there is a snack store named after this song. I would eat there, just for the hell of it, but I hate pretzels.
Download Pretzel Logic.
Other people explain "Pretzel Logic"
LYRICS:
( I stepped up on the platform, the man gave me the news )
2. "My Old School", off Countdown to Ecstasy
Nostalgia for a place you couldn't wait to leave behind. Alternately, it's about a high school kid who gets his girlfriend "in trouble." Any way you interpret it, it's one hell of a cheery song.
Download My Old School.
Other people explain "My Old School"
LYRICS:
( California tumbles into the sea, that'll be the day I go back... )
3. "Reeling In the Years", off Can't Buy A Thrill
I like this song so much I named a fic after it. This song reminds me a lot of my father, or at least of our relationship. It's a good daddy issues song, seen from the other side. But hey, who doesn't love daddy issues?
Download Reeling In The Years.
Other people explain "Reeling In The Years"
LYRICS:
( You've been telling me you're a genius since you were seventeen )
4. "Midnight Cruiser", off Can't Buy A Thrill
I'm going to name my first car this. Ironically, it's not a car song at all. I'm not entirely sure what it's about, but it always makes me a little bit sad.
Download Midnight Cruiser.
Other people explain "Midnight Cruiser"
LYRICS:
( The time of our time has come and gone )
5. "I.G.Y.", off The Nightfly
Stands for "International Geophysical Year." This song always reminds me of the early Heinlein/Asimov stories about fabulous futuristic innovations--so optimistic, so enthusiastic. :sigh: If only the future had been like this.
Download I.G.Y., live version.
Other people explain "I.G.Y."
LYRICS:
( You've got to admit it, at this point in time it's clear that the future looks bright )
6. "King Of The World", off Countdown to Ecstasy
This song makes me look forward to a post-nuclear-apocalypse scenario. In a good way, because it's actually about the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse.
Download King Of The World.
Other people explain "King Of The World"
LYRICS:
( You and I will spend the day driving in my car through the ruins of Santa Fe )
7. "Two Against Nature", off Two Against Nature
Voodoo! Zombies! Unnatural creatures and pagan demon-gods molesting vacationers in a ritzy Caribbean resort! This movie, once made, will star Jeff Combs and Bruce Campbell.
Download Two Against Nature.
Other people explain "Two Against Nature"
LYRICS:
( Two against nature slinging dread, these boys wanna bang the skulls of things undead )
8. "Godwhacker", off Everything Must Go
Just what it sounds like--a theocidal detective agency. This song ought to be made into a video game or an anime or something.
Download Godwhacker.
Other people explain "Godwhacker"
LYRICS:
( We track your almighty ass through seven heaven-worlds--me, Slinky Redfoot, and our trusty angel-girls )
9. "With A Gun", off Pretzel Logic
The first half of this song reminds me of "Dead Man." The second half reminds me of "River's Edge." However, the plot has nothing to do with either of these, and is in fact a story complete in itself.
Download With A Gun.
Other people explain "With A Gun"
LYRICS:
( You hide in the bushes, murder the man with Luger in hand )
10. "Do It Again", off Can't Buy A Thrill
Reincarnation and karma in the Old West. Very popular song, relatively speaking; it's the only Steely Dan song I've ever heard being played on the radio.
Download Do It Again.
Other people explain "Do It Again"
LYRICS:
( But the hangman isn't hanging, and they put you on the street )
If people like these, I'll make another list sometime.
Steely Dan songs that I think will inspire people in some way.
Why? Steely Dan is my favorite band. Ever, ever, ever. Even more so than the Beatles, with whom I was obsessed for a year. Even more so than Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin with their collections of sonic virtuosos. Even more so than Guns 'N' Roses, whose "Appetite for Destruction" album sparked my adolescent rebellion. Even more so than Oingo Boingo, and it's pretty hard to displace Oingo Boingo in my current pantheon of bands.
On the surface, this is kind of a weird choice. I am a hard-rocking nerd chick, after all, and Steely Dan is not hard in the least. (The lyrics maybe, but that's a different kind of hard entirely.) They're jazz rock, college rock, the kind of '70s fusion that got played by baby hipsters in dorm rooms and coffeeshops instead of in discos and arenas.
They even sound old. This isn't music that's cool because your dad used to listen to it when he was a teenager, this is music that your dad still listens to. Nobody under the age of 45 knows who these guys are. I feel like I'm having a midlife crisis just humming "Hey, Nineteen." (Granted, "Hey, Nineteen" would make anyone feel like having a midlife crisis so that they could sleep with teenagers who don't know who Aretha Franklin is. "She thinks I'm crazy, but I'm just growing old...")
It's good music, though. Jazz fusion (not lame-ass soft jazz, good Charlie Parker stuff), blues structures, seemingly simple lyrics with incredibly obfuscated meanings. There's even a page for decoding the lyrics and references: FeverDreams.Net. The themes are deceptive, universal, often subversive (once you figure out what they're talking about, anyway).
I started listening to Steely Dan because my dad would play "Can't Buy A Thrill" to get me to go to sleep when I was young. He pulled out his old records this summer, and hearing them was like being 7 years old again. (This has happened with Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Hot Rize...Dad has good taste in music. He's something of a frustrated music critic, I think.)
Why inspired? This is really just a sneaky, weaselly attempt to make people write songfics for a band I'm forcing them to listen to. "Reeling in the Years" is off-limits only because I already used it. Anyway, there's only one of you drooling mofos on my list who even likes Steely Dan, and I feel it is my cultural duty to educate you. Actually, I don't even mind if nobody writes songfics at all. Just tell me what you think of the songs. Or give me money, money is always good. I promise I will forward most of it to Walter Fagen and Donald Becker.
And if that doesn't grab you, keep in mind that the band name is taken from the homoerotic paranoid drug Beat classic "Naked Lunch." In the book, Steely Dan is the name of someone's pet dildo.
There. Now get downloading. All songs are hosted on YouSendIt.Com, so they will be available until around midnight, Friday, April 29th.
1. "Pretzel Logic", off Pretzel Logic
This song is canonically about time travel. Don and Walt have said so in many, many interviews. Unrelatedly, there is a snack store named after this song. I would eat there, just for the hell of it, but I hate pretzels.
Download Pretzel Logic.
Other people explain "Pretzel Logic"
LYRICS:
( I stepped up on the platform, the man gave me the news )
2. "My Old School", off Countdown to Ecstasy
Nostalgia for a place you couldn't wait to leave behind. Alternately, it's about a high school kid who gets his girlfriend "in trouble." Any way you interpret it, it's one hell of a cheery song.
Download My Old School.
Other people explain "My Old School"
LYRICS:
( California tumbles into the sea, that'll be the day I go back... )
3. "Reeling In the Years", off Can't Buy A Thrill
I like this song so much I named a fic after it. This song reminds me a lot of my father, or at least of our relationship. It's a good daddy issues song, seen from the other side. But hey, who doesn't love daddy issues?
Download Reeling In The Years.
Other people explain "Reeling In The Years"
LYRICS:
( You've been telling me you're a genius since you were seventeen )
4. "Midnight Cruiser", off Can't Buy A Thrill
I'm going to name my first car this. Ironically, it's not a car song at all. I'm not entirely sure what it's about, but it always makes me a little bit sad.
Download Midnight Cruiser.
Other people explain "Midnight Cruiser"
LYRICS:
( The time of our time has come and gone )
5. "I.G.Y.", off The Nightfly
Stands for "International Geophysical Year." This song always reminds me of the early Heinlein/Asimov stories about fabulous futuristic innovations--so optimistic, so enthusiastic. :sigh: If only the future had been like this.
Download I.G.Y., live version.
Other people explain "I.G.Y."
LYRICS:
( You've got to admit it, at this point in time it's clear that the future looks bright )
6. "King Of The World", off Countdown to Ecstasy
This song makes me look forward to a post-nuclear-apocalypse scenario. In a good way, because it's actually about the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse.
Download King Of The World.
Other people explain "King Of The World"
LYRICS:
( You and I will spend the day driving in my car through the ruins of Santa Fe )
7. "Two Against Nature", off Two Against Nature
Voodoo! Zombies! Unnatural creatures and pagan demon-gods molesting vacationers in a ritzy Caribbean resort! This movie, once made, will star Jeff Combs and Bruce Campbell.
Download Two Against Nature.
Other people explain "Two Against Nature"
LYRICS:
( Two against nature slinging dread, these boys wanna bang the skulls of things undead )
8. "Godwhacker", off Everything Must Go
Just what it sounds like--a theocidal detective agency. This song ought to be made into a video game or an anime or something.
Download Godwhacker.
Other people explain "Godwhacker"
LYRICS:
( We track your almighty ass through seven heaven-worlds--me, Slinky Redfoot, and our trusty angel-girls )
9. "With A Gun", off Pretzel Logic
The first half of this song reminds me of "Dead Man." The second half reminds me of "River's Edge." However, the plot has nothing to do with either of these, and is in fact a story complete in itself.
Download With A Gun.
Other people explain "With A Gun"
LYRICS:
( You hide in the bushes, murder the man with Luger in hand )
10. "Do It Again", off Can't Buy A Thrill
Reincarnation and karma in the Old West. Very popular song, relatively speaking; it's the only Steely Dan song I've ever heard being played on the radio.
Download Do It Again.
Other people explain "Do It Again"
LYRICS:
( But the hangman isn't hanging, and they put you on the street )
If people like these, I'll make another list sometime.
