Saturday, January 12, 2008

PERSONAL- Yesterday was Donald Fagen's Birthday

January 10, 1948. Donald Fagen turned sixty years old yesterday. I'm sorry I missed it because I consider Mr. Fagen's solo work and his collaboration with Walter Becker in Steely Dan some of my favorite pop music. Steely Dan (named for a self pleasuring device in William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch) has an immediately recognizable sound that mixes elements of pop and jazz and combines smooth upbeat melodies with stingingly satirical lyrics. The music is complex and Fagan never shied from allowing his prodigious intellect to shine through the lyrics.

Happy birthday, Don. (Now how about a new album!)

In this, the title track from the 1982 album THE NIGHTFLY, Fagen waxes nostalgic about late night radio DJs from his youth.

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