Steely Dan 1972 to 1980 #2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Denny Dias

The inimitable Denny Dias - one of the original Steely Dan band - who had an instinctive understanding of Becker and Fagen's music.

Answer: Razor Boy

Ray Brown played acoustic bass on 'Razor Boy'.

Born in 1926, Brown played with all the greats - including Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker - married Ella Fitzgerald - and spent 15 years with The Oscar Peterson Trio.
He died in 2002.

'Razor Boy' remains former lead guitarist Jeff Baxter's all-time favourite Steely Dan song.

Answer: Gaucho

During the 'Gaucho' sessions a studio engineer inadvertantly erased the wrong end of a master tape and wiped 75% of a completed song called 'The Second Arrangement'.

$60,000 was spent trying to re-record the song, but it never quite jelled again and was scrapped.

Answer: Don't Take Me Alive

Becker and Fagen often said that they would rather receive awards for song writing than for anything else, and that they would not rule out the possibility of recording an entire Steely Dan album on which neither of them would play!

Answer: Bernard Purdie

Bernard Purdie - exclusively - with Rick Marotta featured on 'Don't Take Me Alive'.

Purdie - 'a boisterous character' who had signs reading 'Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie' - 'The World's Greatest Drummer' and 'The Hitmaker' which he would display in the studio - and a neon sign flashing 'Another Hit Being Made' - which he would plug in beside him - would occasionally even display hit albums on which he had played on the floor around his kit!

Answer: Gaucho

When asked about the similarity between the title track on the 'Gaucho' album and a track called 'Long As You Know You're Living Yours' from a Keith Jarrett / Jan Garbarek album called 'Belonging' - in an interview in 1980 - Becker and Fagen admitted - off the record - that they had been 'heavily influenced by that particular piece of music'.
When they subsequently approved this admission for publication they were successfully sued by Jarrett who was granted 'a co-writing credit and royalties on all future pressings of the song'.

Answer: Bernard Purdie

Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie - the 'shuffle master' - who featured on 'Deacon Blues' and inimitably on 'Home at Last', briefly claimed that he should have been granted a co-writing credit on the latter track because his drumming played such an important part in it!

Answer: You go to Lost Wages

'You go to Lost Wages' - A favourite Becker and Fagen pun on 'Las Vegas' - as pronounced by the late great Lenny Bruce.

Answer: True

With $1,000,000 in advance orders and sales in excess of $5,000,000 - 'Aja' was by far Steely Dan's most commercially successful album peaking at Number Three in the US album chart - going platinum in December 1977, remaining in the Top 40 for over a year, and going double platinum in July 1993.

Answer: Third World Man

'Third World Man', originally recorded as 'Were You Blind That Day' during the Aja sessions in 1977, was completely re-written with only the sublime Larry Carlton guitar solo being retained!

Answer: Tom Scott

Tom Scott - with a horn section of himself, Jim Horn, Bill Perkins, Plas Johnson and Jackie Kelso on saxophone, Slyde Hyde and Lou McCreary on trombone, and Chuck Findley on trumpet.

Answer: The Fez

The only freely granted Steely Dan shared credit was to keyboard player Paul Griffin who reputedly wrote the main keyboard hook of 'The Fez' on 'The Royal Scam' album. Donald Fagen described it as the 'main theme' - whereas Becker disagreed - saying that Griffin had written 'a melody that is featured' - or that he said he had! As Griffin developed this melody during the session Becker and Fagen became increasingly concerned that it wasn't entirely his own, and so decided to grant him a co-writing credit so that in the event of a plagiarism suit developing down the line he could take the brunt of it! Griffin recalls the saga a little differently.

Answer: Deacon Blues

"They call Alabama 'The Crimson Tide' - Call me 'Deacon Blues'" refers to the football team of the University of Alabama, whose nickname 'The Crimson Tide' dates back to a game played in Birmingham in 1907!

'Deacon Blues' is now part of the repertoire of the college marching band.

In 1995 a movie, set on the submarine USS Alabama and starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington, was called 'Crimson Tide'

Answer: True

'Here At The Western World' - recorded during the 'Royal Scam' sessions and briefly considered for inclusion on the 'Aja' album, and, with Michael Omartian on piano, Chuck Rainey on bass and Dean Parks and Jeff Mironov sharing the guitar credits.

Another track on which neither Becker nor Fagen played.

Answer: Jim Keltner

When Becker and Fagen said they wanted 'something weird' to overdub on the breakdown on 'Josie', the featured drummer, Jim Keltner - who had been given a 'garbage can' lid with rivets in it for Christmas - 'played' that, and the boys liked it!

Answer: Gaucho

During the recording of 'Gaucho' they 'would book an entire band for a couple of nights, not get any acceptable tracks, call in another band for a further couple of nights' and so on and so on.

They spent between eight months and a year laying down basic tracks - used six different studios in recording the album - and used 360 rolls of two-inch tape.

Answer: True

They featured on the 'Gaucho' album - with Randy playing on 'Babylon Sister's and 'Gaucho', Michael playing on 'Glamour Profession', and both playing on 'Time Out of Mind' and 'My Rival'.

Answer: Johnny Mandel

The legendary Grammy award-winning Johnny Mandel - born in 1925, composer and arranger of countless film scores, including 'M*A*S*H' and 'Being There', popular songs and jazz with artists such as Count Basie, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

Needless to say the AM stations were reluctant to give airtime to a track that flattered their rivals, so they took the harmonically compatible 'A' from 'Aja' and mixed it into the song in place of the offending 'F'.

Answer: The Woody Herman Band

Woody Herman's 15-piece 'Thundering Herd' recorded 'Green Earrrings', 'Kid Charlemagne', 'I Got The News', 'Aja' and 'FM - No Static at All', on an album that also featured jazz pianist Chick Corea, called 'Chick Donald Walter Woodrow'.

Having helped Herman select the tunes, Becker and Fagen were 'delighted to attend' the recording sessions - described by Walter Becker as " .. the happiest two days of my life".

Answer: True

'Babylon Sisters' - Although it was nailed on take two, Becker and Fagen still spent three weeks mixing it!

Don Grolnick played electric piano, Chuck Rainey played Bass and Steve Khan played guitar.

Of their own abilities as musicians Fagen said "We've got it all except the fingers! - Both of us have terrific feel. I think we get a lot of points for style - but technique and execution are weak. There tends to be a lot of mistakes and inconsistencies. If we can't find a musician who's comfortable with a particular feel - THEN we'll haul out our instruments!"