How Steely Dan Composes A Song 

Steely Dan is one of the bands I would listen to the whole discography in one sitting.

They were genius at every level. From hand selecting Purdie, Porcaro, Carlton and the other perfect studio players to the meticulous production and cryptic lyrics- Steely Dan is perfection.

As a non-musician who doesn't know the first thing about music theory, I love it when people break down music like this. Kudos!

This is just wonderful. There are two types of people in the world: those who don't get Steely Dan, and those who do. There's is the ultimate expression of quality music in every respect. We will never see their likes again.

Walter and Donald did cross that fine line. Thank you Walter & Donald....you've made this planet better.

Great video, +Nerdwriter1! Thanks for the shout-out.

Don’t forget the amazing backup vocals. They really make the song, I like how the “I” in “I play just what I feel comes in just before Fagen. Cool timing. Anyway nice vid, thx

Aja on earphones equals paradise

awesome!

Good stuff - The Dan is my favorite all-time band.

I got into Steely Dan a couple of months ago because of this video (big fan of your stuff, Evan). So... coming back to pay my respects. RIP Walter Becker, one of the greats.

"Every instrument has its own life" - YES!!! This is one of the things about SD that I love the most. Thank you for putting into words what I've always known.

I had a buddy once whose hobby it was on Saturdays to take his Steely Dan tapes to high end audio stores under the guise of looking to make a big purchase when all he wanted to do was just hear Steely Dan on a high end audio system. He's even bring his own headphones.

Lyrics are great, music is great, production is great, musicians are world class. What's not to like? Stunning stuff. Imo.

I’m 21, and fell in love with this song a couple months ago. I didn’t even care what the lyrics said, the sounds alone drew me in. Now I love it even more because of this video

Like everyone else, I grew up hearing the radio tunes like “Reelin’ in the years” and “Dirty Work” countless times. However, I still remember being 15, working the dish tank at a restaurant and hearing “Deacon Blues” through a beat-up old chili-caked boom-box for the first time. I stopped what I was doing and just sat there with my jaw on the floor for the duration of the song. Just a kid realizing that rock n’ roll, and music in general, can be so much more. Another 15 years later, and I can thank that moment for bringing me into the larger world of jazz. Also, Larry Carlton is a god among men, and Steely Dan would have not had that extra 3000% to push them over the edge in some of their greatest tracks without him. Even my four year old son says, “Daddy, ‘Kid Charlemagne’ is the bam.” “Yes, Son. Yes it is.”

Oh man, you're such a great fit to be a TED speaker, congratulations!

I crawl like a viper through these suburban streets.

i listen to Aja every day. Black Cow and Deacon Blues are some of my favorite songs of all time

Smart, smart, smart. Well thought out, well researched and fascinating. Worth spending 10 minutes of your life watching . Thanks for a superb effort.....

the visual of orange text over snow falling is amazing, pretty editorial

"A suburbanite in crisis fantasizing about becoming an alcoholic saxophone player"

I bet most people don’t realize just how many Steely Dan songs they actually know.

few albums can flash me back to the place I was in 1977 like Aja. It's greatness makes me cry

You've introduced me to Steely Dan, thank you ever so kindly.

Started listening to Steely Dan in 1976, my 18th year of life and never stopped. I turned on so many to this band. It warms my heart that college students today appreciate them even now. ✌🏻🧡

The Medieval people never understood why that was such a big hit song and crossed over so many categories

I saw Steely Dan in Portland, OR in the late 90’s. They were magical. I have always loved their music because of the precision.

Aja is one of my favorite albums and Deacon Blues is the best song from it. Thank you so much for this. The video was an amazing analysis of a truly wonderful song. I learned a lot and it made me think about how other music is composed. Job well done sir, job well done.

I'm glad I found your channel to keep me busy while I wait for Every Frame A Paintings uploads.

Just saw this today in my recommended feed and am sitting here, stunned, speechless and in awe of your analysis of my favorite song of all time. Thank you so much for choosing Deacon Blues! Great song and brilliant work on your part.

The most sophisticated music to every hit the pop charts, as a jazz Snob I love this period of popular music.

It's incredible how you can grab our interest for about 10 minutes with every video you make! Great video!!

Touching~! You hit home hard with this one. Excellent work putting this one together. I'm off to go rediscover Steely Dan.

There's a lot to learn about Steely Dan's work.

My all time favorite Steely Dan song. ( among tons of great songs ) I just love them. This musical-analysis and visual-imagery were phenomenal. Really enjoyed it.

Captains Log: Star Date 17: proof of intelligent life forms on planet youtube...

My favorite song of all time. Makes me wanna' cry. Experiencing soft tears in a hard core man.

I remember calling my cable provider for service and I was playing this song in the background and they were telling me how much they loved the song. One of my favorites from a legendary group 👍🏼

Whether you never lose touch or come back to them, Steely Dan is a timeless example of musical inspiration, education, and joy. Great vid! 🎧🎼

One of my favorite songs of all time. Makes me wanna cry every time I think too hard on it

OMG! I love Jazz Fusion, please make more videos about music. A Bob Dylan video would be amazing and a video about the Blues would be great.

Loved the video. You've expressed my own sentiments when breaking down songs, yet you were able to elucidate your points in a broader more comprehensive manner giving the listener of both the classroom environment and the personal/familiar vernacular. I look forward to more of these videos.

This is as good a video as I have ever seen on RU-vid. Here's the part where a RU-vid commenter strokes his ego and tells you about your inadequacies, how you've come up short here and here and here and how I am so much better because of this knowledge or that experience. The fact is .. I've never seen the subject matter ever covered any better and I don't know how you could compose or perform something superior to this. Simply the best I have ever seen.

Whoah! How so lucid, your descriptions? About sonic, verbal, philosophical angles. I'm impressed! And slight surprised. Subscribed, subscribed, and kudos lauded.

I was a senior in high school in 1973, Reeling in the years was popular at that time, years went by and I forgot about that popular song, many many years later I heard a song on the radio that I thought was Steely Dan so I bought the latest album, Aja. well the song I was looking for was not on there, but what I heard blew….me…out…of…my chair, I began to buy all their older albums….what a national treasure these guys are. Their music NEVER gets old.

This is one of the most thorough breakdowns/explanations for their sound I’ve seen. Musical and technical

One of my favorite songs of all time! I have noticed their early albums used as demos in high end audio shops over the years. I currently have their DECADE OF STEELY DAN cd downloaded to my FIIO X1 player and listening to SENNHEISER HD 202 headphones , great for my long train commute daily to and from work. Great detail and great video!

Damn this is brilliant!! Has a kind of Anthony Bourdain feel to it. Well written, well researched, well done!

Can't believe sometimes that I played in a band that covered Steely Dan tunes back in the late 70s. Yes, we even did "Peg," and except for the guitar solo, I'd say we pretty much killed it. Sacrilegious, I know, but we were just kids, and we LOVED Steely Dan. And I still do. Best American band of the last few decades.

I love the band and their style. You’ve done really well with braking this song down. Thanks for that!!

This is one of the most convincing little pieces of music crit I've seen in a bit. Lovely. Thanks for making this and enhancing my appreciation of this song.

I had listened to Deacon Blues a few times befoe, but never with this level of attention. That was an awesome video. I completely agree with the literary quality of the lyrics, especially the chorus. The "die behind the wheel" part is hauntingly beautiful and so poetic. I think the feeling a passage like that evokes is what so many poets try to do but not many achieve.

Show me a Dan hater and I'll show you someone that has never played music.

Can,t believe you made me watch the whole thing! New appreciation for what they were doing. Took out my only steeley Dan album, gaucho, will give it a listen, now workin on mu major chords on piano. Have a great flight and TED.

That was an outstanding video, 9 and a half minutes well-spent for me. Thanks for the hours and hours you put into this, delving into this iconic song.

Please do one of these on Pink Floyd, or if you're up to the challenge, Frank Zappa!

Never knew what it was about their sound of music that sent me to where I’d never been before. Thanks for this.

I always loved their sounded. Had a laid-back sound,so smooth.

Probably my most favorite Steely Dan songs...and what a GREAT in-depth look at it, thanks!!!

This is an analysis worth listening to. Very informative and insightful. Thanks.

this video is the best thing i've ever seen on the internet

Gave me goosebumps man........... I was playing the Dan at WLFC Findlay College Radio back in the early-mid 1970s fell in LOVE with their music. So unique, so persistent in their pursuit of perfection. And with that, I compliment you on your excellent analysis with historical reference. While not a particularly adept student of music, my genes are filled with 'em... I'll look forward to more work from you on Steely Dan - thank you!

BRAVO!!! It’s great to see others appreciate Steely Dan as I do! I’ve always wanted to see a breakdown of this music like this! Kudos!

i have to thumbs up someone who appreciates how beautiful their music is. awesome vid

You're made for Ted! Break a leg, nerdwriter!

Oh, wow! What a great treasure trove of info I’ve stumbled upon here. I love Steely Dan sooo much...and to run into this video that breaks down one of their most iconic songs (in a way nobody else has) makes me love “Deacon Blues” even more. Thank you!! (And such classy, unique video, I’m a new sub!)

Well done Man, this is incredibly good work. We are kindred spirits, I really loved this, and played it back and for just to really sink it in. I cannot easily put it into words what SD means to me, suffice to say they were/are a MASSIVE part of the soundtrack to my life. I wish you peace and love. Paul.

Sometimes you read negative comments about Steely Dan here and there about how they suck, "I hate Steely Dan," blah blah blah. I don't understand it. Their music is interesting and complex, their lyrics thought provoking. Maybe it's because they are so calculated and polished...the haters think they're pretentious or something. Oh well...haters gonna hate I guess. Doesn't stop me from liking them.

The Mu Major chord, is really only an 'add9' chord.

First off, Steely Dan is my all-time favorite band. Their music is timeless. As a keyboard player I enjoy playing their material and would love to play in a SD cover band just for the joy of it. I was pleasantly surprised by your insightful commentary. Excellent piece which has moved me to sub to your channel. Can't wait to dive into the rest of your vids. Keep up the great work fellow nerd.

Very well made video. Great analysis of song composition and recording, and a stellar choice of band and song for the example. Bravo and well done. Thanks for taking the time to produce this video, and for sharing it.

I FUCKING love this channel

Great breakdown.

I loved it! Thank you for putting this together!

2019 and Aja is still one of my most played and favorite albums. When it came out, my brother had me listen to the whole thing and then broke it down for me with chord progressions. We have both been musicians since we were little kids and this is still one of the most distinct recordings I've ever heard.

Appreciate the breakdown, good job. I was hooked when Can't Buy A Thrill came out. They seemed to get better and better. I saw The Doobie Bros 3 times in early seventies and the Dan twice together. Now in 2018 bucket list to see The Living Dangerously Tour. A lot of the players have passed, but it will be like driving a classic muscle car again.

I started learning this song in the early 90s. It took years for me to finally get it into a presentable form. After that I took on Aja. It took me nearly as long. It seems silly to spend so much time and effort on a single tune. But in retrospect these two songs had a great deal to do with making me the player I became.

Excellent. Love the in depth examination of one of my all time favorite songs.

Wonderful job breaking it down! You hit it from a number of very accessible angles that different people can connect with. You have a new enthusiastic subscriber!

Well-stated and presented. Not your average RU-vid video.

Best video I ever saw. Thank you for this.

Man, so glad to see there's a video about Deacon Blues. It's my favourite song of theirs and I constantly catch myself humming the lyrics.

As a very young drummer in middle school many many years ago I was captivated by this band and still love steely dan as a now 50 something year old man. GREAT MUSIC

I love hearing the stories behind the music , more entertaining than reading any book..

How do you manage to create videos that feel so familiar? Love it ❤️ Will definately check out this band.

Great analysis, dude. Steely Dan's music is so rich that it would be easy (and tempting) to spend all day looking into all the nuances and details of a masterpiece such as Deacon Blues. These nine minutes have simply whetted my appetite for more. Very enjoyable. Cheers!

Job well done Nerdwriter1 !!! A lot of interesting and informative comments on a band and song that are both IMHO wonderful. Keep up the good work!

awesome! I played in a soul cover band years ago, and we did our own version of Peg... easiest verses ever, most difficult chorus ever.

WOW! This is an amazing overview and analysis of a great piece of music. Every word! Totally fitting of a perfect piece of music. BTW, Deacon (dee-kaa-on) in Hebrew means a depressed mindset!

Thanks for creating and posting this wonderful video about this magnificent masterpiece - one of many by Steely Dan.

Well done, one of my favorite bands. Appreciate the work you put into it.

Black Cow (and FM) was my introduction to Steely Dan, both got a lot of airplay when I was a teenager. I love Deacon Blues, but my favourite of Steely Dan is Hey Nineteen. Fantastic on good headphones.

do an episode about Frank Zappa

The band that keeps on giving. What I mean is you can listen to their music on so many levels. Their sophistication is amazing. The musicianship simply stunning. A bit of history - back in 1972 I used to go to the Union Rowing Club alongside the Nottingham Forest football ground by the River Trent. They used to host discos every Thurs/Saturday/Sunday night with their legendary DJ Petal. This guy was really into his funk and fusion and Steely Dan featured prominently in his sets. Eminently danceable tracks which personified the ‘coolest’ club in Nottingham! Here I am more than 40 years later still listening and appreciating their music. Less obvious tracks which I may have passed over at the time now seem like classics. These guys were very clever musicians. If the songs don’t get you first time don’t give up. Like so much great music it challenges you to unlock its beauty and when you know the tracks they get better with every listen. BTW, I think we should all welcome the diversity of comments. All viewpoints should be valued. These are my comments which some of you may agree with but if you don’t it’s still really cool. Just explain why you disagree as that’s also interesting. My God, if we all felt the same way about everything the world would be so boring!!

You NAILED the production of this video. Excellent work! I watched this over and over. The narration, visuals, sound, and subject... a story all perfectly timed and proposed. Bravo!

One of the best sounding bands ever. Every instrument sounds like it's own band.

"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."

Thank you SO much for this lesson about "Deacon Blues",...probably my favorite Steely Dan song. I particularly like the line "they've got a name for the winners of the world, I, I want a name when I lose",...breaks my heart. I cry when I hear that line. Thank you again. And a P.S.,.....I also like the Ramones very much. It's OK to like different stuff or a variety of music. Let's throw a little JS Bach in there too. I could go on and on.

It took a few years to get there while exploring their catalog, but it is my favorite Steely Dan song. A few times a year when the mood is right, I will just listen to it an nothing else for days.