The amazing thing is he gets all the theory. All the chord construction. But he puts it together in the most tasty way And then he takes the whole thing and creates hits.
Have you ever notice how Steely Dan's imitators, like Rupert Holmes, Christopher Cross, Ambrosia, etc. became known decades later as Yacht Rock, but not Steely Dan. They're their own genre.
I learned to play this in '79 on piano, then played it on guitar as a cover in a metal band I played in on the Sunset Strip in '86. It went over well. Great song, but it works best when played as close to the record as possible, and nobody plays it like Donald and company.
