(Credits: Far Out / Carl Lender)Dale Maplethorpe
Sat 23 December 2023 21:00, UK
Steely Dan, made up of Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, is a band that has never been afraid to push away modern convention. Early in their careers, the two decided to lean away from live performance and instead focus on songwriting.
When they decided on this, they explored what was available in the studio to create more experimental sounds and properly expand what kind of song they could write. Both Becker and Fagen bounced off one another regarding creative freedom, as they were good at bringing out the best in each other. They became a writing force to be reckoned with and are responsible for many songs and albums.
A lot of the time, their experimentation worked exceptionally well. For instance, on tracks like ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’, a highlight from the band’s early years, a fun, funky bassline held all together in what becomes an incredibly busy song. A lot is going on, and the track has many opportunities to slip up, but the duo do very well keeping things tidy.
Additionally, the two expand on a comedy sketch by the late comedian Lenny Bruce on the track ‘Show Biz Kids’. It shows how they complemented each other when they wrote songs and where they could draw their inspiration from; there were no limits between them, hence why they were usually the only two who worked on songs.
When they couldn’t work out tracks, the idea would be abandoned, or a lacklustre tune would result. They only diverted from this formula on the track ‘The Fez’ when they asked for Paul Griffin’s help.
Paul Griffin was a fantastic pianist and one of the many session artists that Steely Dan brought in to help record their songs. With ‘The Fez’, after recording what had been written, the band realised they were a bit stuck with the direction they wanted the rest of the track to go.
“’The Fez’ was recorded using a rhythm chart,” said Fagen during a chat with the BBC, “but there were a few bars missing and Paul Griffin, the keyboard player on the day, came up with a nice little melody, so we felt we should include him in the writer credits.”
Steely Dan is a successful band, and their ingenuity is responsible for several big hits; however, given that they write songs just as a duo, they often spiral creatively and either don’t finish a track or write poorly. It’s good that on ‘The Fez’, they were open to collaboration, as without it, we may not have a track that many fans enjoy.