Originally published on Oct. 17, 1995
Moderator (Speaker): Thanks for joining us for tonight’s chat with Steely Dan co-founders and rock legends Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The duo is responsible for some of the greatest rock songs of all-time. Their new CD, recorded live on tour, is Alive In America. Please help us welcome DONALD FAGEN and WALTER BECKER…
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Greetings to all you lonesome travelers on the information super-highway! Is it true that the term “information super-highway” was coined by Vice President Gore? Is that true?
Walter Becker (Speaker): I believe that is true… Hello. That’s it.
Moderator (Speaker): Great to have you here guys… Let’s get to the questions.
Dizz G (PRODIGY Member): Is the songwriting process any different now than it was twenty years ago?
Walter Becker (Speaker): There are some tools that exist now that didn’t exist 20 years ago that have changed the mechanics of the process.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): There’s the head massager.
Walter Becker (Speaker): And there are also possibilities for song writing using samples and loops from recordings and so on, that are completely new, and didn’t exist 20 years ago. But for Donald and myself, the basic task of writing songs is still much the same. You are trying to come up with some original sounding music and interesting lyrics.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): We still work with a piano and a guitar.
Walter Becker (Speaker): Let me say parenthetically that the technology of doing this interview, which is similar to one that I did before, leaves everything to be desired, for reasons that are obvious to all of us here in this room.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Which by the way, looks like it was decorated by my mother.
TV Net Guy (PRODIGY Member): Both the box set and the new live album have amazing sound quality. Could you tell us a little about how that was accomplished and how much you guys had to do with it.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): The concerts we did in the summer of ’93 and ’94, that is to say, at least 80% were recorded by our long-time engineer Roger Nichols. They were done with a 48-track Sony digital recorder plugged right into the mixing board. And because there were so many takes to choose from, we were able to come up with really strong performances. ‘Cause out of all those performances, you’ve got to find at least one performance that was at least decent…if you know what I mean.
Walter Becker (Speaker): I would add that the in the case of the boxed set, the original masters were re-done using various techniques that are available in the digital domain, to restore the original quality of the tapes.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): These guys are really fast typists…we’re really impressed!
Moderator (Speaker): Glad you could make tonight’s very special chat event with Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The two musicians join us this evening to talk music, their careers, their new CD (Alive in America) and much more….
tones (PRODIGY Member): I enjoyed your ’93 tour and especially the song Fall of ’92. I was disappointed when it did not appear on 11 tracks of whack. Why didn’t it? Did it fail the studio test?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): It was too dirty to put on a mass-market recording. Just kidding.
Walter Becker (Speaker): The reason it wasn’t included had to do with the fact that it had too many songs, and in particular, too many slow songs. However, it was included in a Japanese album as a bonus track.
TV Net Guy (PRODIGY Member): I saw Steely Dan on tour a couple of years ago, and was awestruck by the band, especially guitarist Drew Zing. How did you guys assemble such an amazing group of musicians?
Walter Becker (Speaker): They were pre-assembled.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): First of all, Drew Zingg spells his name with two G’s. Personally, I think it’s pretentious, but y’know, it’s a punk thing.
Walter Becker (Speaker): Let it never be said that we made a band member alter the spelling of his name.
Gelflin (PRODIGY Member): Which albums could I buy that you could say you had listened to and had made a direct influence on your musical expression?
Walter Becker (Speaker): Meet the Beatles.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): There’s so many of them…that’s the problem. Provocative Percussion by Enoch Light and his Light Brigade. Also, the first record by Moulty and the Barbarians.
AikoAiko76 (PRODIGY Member): Hey Nineteen, where did that song originate from
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Hey Nineteen is a song about the problem a 30-something guy has picking up near-jailbait.
Walter Becker (Speaker): Donald and I are no longer concerned with the problems of 30-something individuals… unfortunately. Jailbait, however, is a subject of enduring interest.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): If only in our minds.
Gary (PRODIGY Member): Donald, is any or all of the song Deacon Blues autobiographical?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): I suppose…except that it probably represents both of our aspirations as weenie jazz fans…
Walter Becker (Speaker): And both of our autos.
Bormalar (PRODIGY Member): Hi guys we had our first date at your concert a year & two months ago. Now we’re getting married! Thanks! We sent ya’ll an invite did you receive it? Teague-Austin Wedding
Donald Fagen (Speaker): You didn’t see us there?!? I was wondering why we didn’t get a thank you note for that silver.
Walter Becker (Speaker): I was the one with the sign which read “Don’t do this terrible thing.”
Snyp (PRODIGY Member): Walter and Donald, thank you so much for 20+ years of excellent music and wonderful memories, the R&S Revue, the back to back tours, will we ever get to hear additional live tracks from the tours in the future (True Companion was excellent live)?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): We’ve got takes left over that one day may be issued.
Walter Becker (Speaker): …although not in the future.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Well, you know what they say…there’s no time like the future to get something done.
SmokesALot (PRODIGY Member): Did the two of you know each other well before you started recording together?
Walter Becker (Speaker): Not well enough!
SmokesALot (PRODIGY Member): I love the box set….tell me just how much formal music training you 2 have had?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Not enough.
Walter Becker (Speaker): Just slightly less than we would have needed, for a first-rate showing.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): I did have a few saxophone lessons wearing a tuxedo…
Bud Powell (PRODIGY Member): How do you feel about the new trend in jazz fusion, “The Wave,” artists like Kenny G. Is that jazz?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Never heard of it.
Walter Becker (Speaker): That’s a hell of a question for a guy named Bud Powell to be asking.
Psillocybe (PRODIGY Member): What’s a “mu”? like in “mu” major or minor. i heard that in an interview once in about 1976 and am still confused by it.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): A mu chord — and now I’m getting technical — is a major triad with an added second. It was very popular in the mid-sixties.
Walter Becker (Speaker): At Donald’s apartment.
tones (PRODIGY Member): I understand you are working on an album of new material. Have you actually begun recording this album yet? If not, when will you? Will it be done in both Hawaii and NYC?
Walter Becker (Speaker): No, Soon, Yes.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): What can you add to that?
LUP DUP (PRODIGY Member): Will your concert be similar to your last tour, and if not, will you play more old favorites or new music?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?
Cool J888 (PRODIGY Member): Is it hard work being in a band like the one you’re in?
Walter Becker (Speaker): For some of the band members, I believe it is.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Is it hard work being in the band that YOU’RE in?
Gary (PRODIGY Member): What is your all time favorite party album and why??
Walter Becker (Speaker): (lots of laughing)
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Well, I always liked Richard Pryor’s That Nigger’s Crazy.
Walter Becker (Speaker): Ditto.
Gelflin (PRODIGY Member): You speak of drugs in many songs: “Those test tube and the scales, let’s get it all outta of here” was that a reflection of the times you lived in, fictional or apart of the musical phase musicians typical experiment with when creating music, love your music,,
Donald Fagen (Speaker): All three!
Bormalar (PRODIGY Member): Do you ever need good back-up singers and where do you get them?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Just send a color photograph, care of this station… and we’ll get back to you.
Bud Powell (PRODIGY Member): Over the years, how have you managed to attract such an incredible array of studio talents, like Larry Carlton, Larry Coryell, Steve Gadd, etc.?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Money.
Walter Becker (Speaker): We just put a bowl of milk in front of the studio door, and in the morning, there they are.
DITTOES (PRODIGY Member): Love Bodhisattva. Play the album a lot. Love the line about “the sparkle in your china, the shine in your japan.” But what’s the song about? Trying to make an Asian woman? Seeing the beauty in all people? A longing for Buddha-like serenity? An answer to karma? What???
Donald Fagen (Speaker): We never put out an album called Bodhisattva…did we?
Walter Becker (Speaker): No. But the song Bodhisattva is about the — wait a minute —
Donald Fagen (Speaker): I can read this straight from the quick-read song notes from the album book…which you too can some day own… in fact, today… and it reads: “Lure of East. Hubris of hippies. Quick fix. Jokey blues.”
Walter Becker (Speaker): Well said.
Anneliese (PRODIGY Member): Have you guys decided what you’re going to play on Letterman this week? Are you bringing other members (sic) of the band for this appearance?
Walter Becker (Speaker): We’re going to play …
Donald Fagen (Speaker): We’re going to play either Ride, Captain, Ride…
Walter Becker (Speaker): Or It’s a Turn Down Day. Which would you prefer?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Or maybe 98.6…
SCRIPTS (PRODIGY Member): What’s Jeff Porcaro doing these days?
Walter Becker (Speaker): He’s asleep with kings and counselors.
Snyp (PRODIGY Member): Donald, the vocals on Alive in America are excellent. Were there any voice overs done?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Just a little patching here and there. But essentially, it’s the real thing.
Walter Becker (Speaker): Donald, try answering that one again. I think you can do better.
DITTOES (PRODIGY Member): I was in high school when I bought my first Steely Dan record. Did you think you would be where you are now, still alive and still releasing songs in 1995? Where do you see yourselves in another fifteen years?
Walter Becker (Speaker): With Jeff Porcaro.
lobois (PRODIGY Member): So what are your current projects?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): I’m building a ship in a bottle… and it’s coming along quite nicely…
Walter Becker (Speaker): …While I am working on new and incredible waste of bandwidth… which would be this.
tones (PRODIGY Member): How many songs have you already written for your new Steely Dan studio album? Will Walter sing lead vocals on any of the new tracks or is Donald still the exclusive Dan lead vocalist?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): That’s so boring, I just fell asleep.
Walter Becker (Speaker): While Donald is sleeping, let me announce that I am the new lead singer.
DITTOES (PRODIGY Member): I got a bet with two old college buddies about Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” Is it 1) a Gay pick up song; 2) a song about drugs; 3) a hetero pick up song; or 4) something else? If 4), then what? I’ve played that single at least 1,000 times since 1974 and I still can’t figure it out. I love songs that I have to mull over for years.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Then what.
Walter Becker (Speaker): What?
prolific (PRODIGY Member): Does it bother you that a lot of people only know you from singles like Reelin’ In the Years and Dirty Work and not from your albums?
Walter Becker (Speaker): I defy you to find one single person who knows us only from the single Dirty Work.
tones (PRODIGY Member): An old rumor claims that there was a song called The Second Arrangement that was slated to be on Gaucho but got erased by a (former) engineer. Is this true? Did you try to salvage it?
Walter Becker (Speaker): Sad but true.
Bepppo (PRODIGY Member): What music are you listening to now?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): The music of The Spheres.
Walter Becker (Speaker): The music of The Spheres.
lobois (PRODIGY Member): What are your views on today’s music?
Walter Becker (Speaker): It’s all good.
SteeleyJohn (PRODIGY Member): Countdown to Ecstasy and Gaucho are my two favorite Steely Dan Albums. What are yours?
Walter Becker (Speaker): Walking on God’s Sidewalk and The Amen Corner.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): They’re going to have trouble finding those…
minimoose (PRODIGY Member): Which musicians do you plan to be using on the new studio album that is currently being recorded?
Donald Fagen (Speaker): To be announced…
Walter Becker (Speaker): Chafe Pucker on Fluegelhorn.
Bepppo (PRODIGY Member): Are you guys friends with the Doobie Brothers? C. Bumpus is on tour with them.
Walter Becker (Speaker): C. Bumpus is on tour with us here tonight.. However, we are not friends.
Mr Nobody (PRODIGY Member): how old were you when you started to write and perform???
Donald Fagen (Speaker): We were both in high school…
Black Friday (PRODIGY Member): Wow, I thought you guys were dead. Just kiddin’
Walter Becker (Speaker): Ha. Ha. Ha.
Donald Fagen (Speaker): Ha.
Moderator (Speaker): Our thanks to Donald and Walter for a great chat!
Walter Becker (Speaker): Keep on hacking. And thank you for letting me be myself…
Donald Fagen (Speaker): …Again! I’ll second that emotion!
No comments yet.