Ever love a song for years then realize you have no idea what they’re singing about?

Some songs can bring us to tears.  Some make us want to fight, get romantic, or maybe tell a story.  A lot of lyrics these days are like a dox.  He cheated on me!  She’s a gold digger!  Personal, universal, gender power, inner struggles, outer struggles… lots of angles.

Then there’s Donald Fagen.  He’s in his own sandbox at the far corner of the playground.  Nobody can really tell what he’s building over there, but with black rimmed glasses taped on one side, button up shirt with pencil in pocket,  topping his creation off with a 1/2 pint of milk and pyramid made of cheese slices from the cafeteria… tada!  pure gold!

“I.G.Y.” stands for International Geophysical Year, and is the first track from his 1982 LP “The Nightfly”.

A four chord Fender Rhodes beginning with swirling electric piano notes and 2& plucks, like a cheap sci-fi alien aircraft cruising in from another planet to an immediately infectious jazzy/reggae influenced groove… enter the horn section to a down modulation and first verse.  One thing is clear with Steely Dan and Fagen alike, they sound like no one else, ever.

Even McCartney, likely the greatest songwriter of our time shows influence.  We can hear a mixture of 50’s rock & roll & British skiffle music with even more musical references to the 20’s.  I’m not a theologian of Beatle bibles, but would bet young Paul had exposure to much 20’s era music growing up.

With Fagen you just can’t tell.  We know he loves Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles… and it’s evident his jazz influences are greater than his pop… but what pop did he listen to?  There’s no Beatles, no Stones here.  No Hendrix or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.  There’s R&B, but how rare for a jazz/R&B lover to have this much pop success when it appears he didn’t really listen to or even care for the genre?

His drum and percussion tracks are always perfectly recorded, perfectly in the pocket, even isolated.  Ringo’s like that.  Check out a solo Beatle track sometime and you can feel the song even before all the bells and whistles.  This is the foundation of a hit song, and Fagen/Becker know when they have it.

Probably why Steely Dan would cast sessions with all different players to get a panoramic soundscape of the best direction to go.  Genius if you’ve got the budget.  Few do.

‘You’ve got to admit it, at this point in time it’s clear‘.  So much predictive programming on the subject made people think we must already have the technology.  Certainly in 30 years time (the 80’s) we’ll be real life Jetsons.

‘On that train all graphite and glitter – Undersea by rail’.  -Such cool imagery, and scores a kind of futuristic ‘Virgin Railway’.  We’ve had the concept for high speed rails that could move us under oceans for years.  They’ve yet to appear, but still fun to think about.  And what an image, “all graphite and glitter.. undersea by rail”.

‘Ninety minutes from New York to Paris, well by ’76 we’ll be A-ok’ -He’s truly marching to the beat of his own drum.  I’m so happy to read lyrics that don’t need to explain themself.  This is a totally random inspiration you can read about in an interview or make your own interpretation… anything goes.

Why does it work?  Because the chorus.

“What a beautiful world this will be   What a glorious time to be free”

That’s universality.  That’s driving a convertible to summer beach.  Flying to Costa Rica or parasailing over Hawaiian shores.  Skiing down powder slopes in the California sun. Fine Columbian (Hey Nineteen) at the Hollywood Bowl with your friends before the lights go down.  The crowd cheers, and Fagen’s chorus is what everyone hears no matter the band, no matter the song.  This groove with these words are everyone’s best time.  It’s part of his genius.  It doesn’t matter what he’s talking about in the verse because yeah, what a beautiful world it will be.  Let’s make it now!