Like Wildcat, my favorite SD album is Pretzel Logic, but the song Black Friday from Katy Lied is the song I hear in my mind when I first think of the Dan.
Been enjoying this version with Steve Winwood for a couple years now. From my boot cd and my Youtube channel. Fantastic song it is...
Cool. One of my all-time favorite song couplets: Well the danger on the rocks is surely past Still I remain tied to the mast
Rikki Pearl of the Quarter Razor Boy The Boston Rag Doctor Wu Btw- I can’t stand Show Biz Kids either! Apologies Wildest Cat
It's an uphill battle but I always try to uncouple the idea of a good song from a good performance. There are bands that we adore where their best songs are not necessarily great songs per se, but great performances. I feel this way about Led Zeppelin, it's generally those performances we crave, and not always the song itself. While Dylan and The Beatles performed their own songs brilliantly, for them it's the songs we generally crave, and cover versions can scratch that itch. I mostly think that Steely Dan fall in that Zeppelin category, though Dan's work can be thrillingly covered by jazz artists. So, with all of that said - I think that their best song (one that doesn't need to be performed by them to fully work) is - Any Major Dude Will Tell You
So many ace songs from this band...killer guitar solos + interesting lyrics + great sound...These are 5 that would definitely make my top 10: Reelin in the Years Show Biz Kids My Old School Peg Josie
Glad to see some love here for "Third World Man". Larry Carlton's guitar solo gives me chills every time I hear it.
Knee jerk reaction: Dirty Work I think they did better songs but this one remains at the top of my favorites.
A favorite short story on misheard lyrics, or in this case track name: A gent's band would play covers for a local woman's club on Friday evenings, and every week, one of the members would always request the song "Going Shopping."
My favorite Steely Dan changes often as well, but always near the very top is "Here At The Western World", "FM", "Haitian Divorce" and anything on "Aja". One of the backup singers on "Here At The Western World" Florence Warner sang one of my all-time favorite local TV news jingles way back when here in Cleveland for WEWS, called "When You Catch 5, you've caught it all". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxWUy23DwXA