My Old School - Steely Dan | College Students' FIRST TIME REACTION! 

Hey guys!! An awesome Friday checking out some more Steely Dan!! So what are ya’ll feelin’, Deacon Blues or Hey Nineteen next?!?! 🙌🏻🔥

Next Steely Dan : ‘FM’. No static at all.

"ANY MAJOR DUDE WILL TELL YOU...." This is a great song...!

“Don’t Take Me Alive” - Larry Carlton at his finest.

“California tumbles into the sea...” (followed by tumbling sax line). Steely Dan in 4 bars. Outstanding.

As I've watched this channel, I kept thinking "Why the Hell haven't they reacted to My Old School?" It has everything! Awesome vocals, harmony, great lead guitar, and amazing sychopated brass. One of my favorite songs ever.

I'm still campaigning for "Don't Take Me Alive" or 'FM". Each of these songs has everything you could ask for in a Steely Dan song: Great writing, musicianship, guitar work etc.,... I could go on...

Here's Fagan on the bust: ”These were the days when there was a ‘war on longhairs,’ as they used to call it, and Bard’s in this kind of rural district. They picked up about 50 kids just at random. There were a few warrants, and one was for me, which was based totally on false testimony. They handcuffed our hands behind our backs and put us in a paddy wagon and took us off to the Dutchess County Jail. They took all of the boys, about 35 of us, most with really long hair, and shaved our heads. I remember some of them were crying. I don’t think any of them had seen their head for three or four years. It didn’t make that much difference to me. But it was scary, you know? To hear the cell-block door slam shut, the whole business with the handcuffs and the paddy wagon. I’d never been arrested or put in jail before. ”I asked them to bail my girlfriend out. She had nothing to do with this and was just visiting me. And they refused to do it. So when graduation time came I protested by not going. My case had already been dismissed-they had withdrawn the charges, actually. So I was sitting on a bench in front of Stone Row with my father and lawyer, just watching the graduation. A lot of the students were also angry because apparently the school had let an undercover policeman be planted in the building and grounds department. Their cooperation with the investigation was despicable.”

Stop procrastinating. "Don't take me alive." After hearing Larry's initial filty chord slip into the intro guitar solo, you'll know you chose wisely.

The "Old School" referred to in this song is Bard College in Annandale, New York, where Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met. The song is at least partially inspired by an event that occurred at Bard, where both Becker and Fagen, along with their girlfriends, were arrested in a pot raid on a party that was orchestrated by an ambitious young District Attorney named G. Gordon Liddy (hence the line "Tried to warn ya about Geno and Daddy G"). Despite the fact that California has not (yet) tumbled into the sea, both Fagen and Becker have returned to Bard.

Prediction: You’re gonna love Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter’s solo work and outro noodling on this. Also, you’ll think the horns are great. Wish I was hearing this for the first time!

If you dig guitar centric songs, you have to give "Bodhisattva " a listen.

Best line for me was "California tumbles into the sea, that'll be the day I go back to Annendale"

And on that guitar? Jeff “Skunk” Baxter.

I think the only way to solve this dilemma is to do a "dual" or even a "duel" reaction video to "Hey, Nineteen" AND "Deacon Blues" in the same sitting. Play them both then duke it out! Could be lots of fun for you and us!

Couldn't even wipe the smile off Andy's face!😁😁😁 Skunk Baxter's best solo.

Next recommended Steely Dan song: “FM (No Static at All)”

Check the rhymes! "Remember" with "Septmeber"; "Oleander" with "I can't stand her"; "California" with "tried to warn ya"!!!

At last!!! What a great banger. Steely Dan with guitars and horns a-blazin'. Historical note in the lyrics: Daddy G is G. Gordon Liddy of Watergate fame, then a local prosecutor in New York. Now...onward to "Don't Take Me Alive"...

So fortunate to have had 40+ years appreciating these guys. Arguably The most prolific/creative/original/musically sophisticated-yet accessible song-writing team in Pop music history. Don’t neglect their newest stuff and Fagen’s solo projects also guys, you won’t be disappointed!!

Why did STEELY DAN’s Fagen & Becker write such amazing lyrics? They both cared enormously for literature... reading doesn’t just make one a great conversationalist... it’s why their phrasing is just so damn good.

"Josie" is to jazz-rock what "Just What I Needed" is to new wave--the perfect pop song with all the musical ingredients of that genre packed in.

Steely Dan - Don't Take Me Alive, Home at Last, Babylon Sisters, Time out of Mind Or just the entirety of Aja - best record ever produced.

Alex demonstrating the guitar tone....MORE OF THIS TYPE OF CUTAWAY PLEASE! Would love to see you guys dig deeper into educating listeners!

The backing vocals on their tracks are SOOOO underrated !! They are equivalent to instruments in their own right

I’m really looking forward to the full Aja album react. Complete with leather chairs, cigars, and bourbon. Remember, “Steely Dan sounds like leather smells.” What a great line.

Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter’s work on this song is soooo good. Though he is most known for his years with the Doobie Brothers his solo work on various artists albums is a testament to his talent. You guys also need to listen to ‘Dirty Work’ . Definitely another Steely Dan classic. 😀

I love you guys - you have a great attitude and your friendship shines through! Plus, you really understand and appreciate the music.

Steely Dan is the ultimate groove machine. I can't think of one bad or mediocre song they've made.

The "you" in the lyrics is Dorothy White, Fagen's girlfriend from Bard College. She painted the cover of this album.

Jeff Skunk Baxter was still working as a guitar customizer at Valley Sound in LA when Steely Dan recorded this song. He made this guitar himself from a maple tree he cut down, fretted it himself, the works. Walter Becker told Baxter to plug it directly into the console, and that's what they did.

"Different from other Steely Dan songs, but so Steely Dan." Exactly.

I’ve seen Steely Dan 3 times and this is the song that always gets the audience up on their feet and the place rocking!

Wow! I hope you love this song as much as I do. To this day I cannot resist cranking the volume on it.

This is one of my faves, of any artist. FM and Deacon Blues, when you get to them, will become favorites.

'70's music was sometimes described as "the search for the perfect guitar lick". Skunk Baxter totally nails that lick here. Just great stuff!!!!

FINALLY!! Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter slays on those solos. That fade out kills me and I would kill to hear the full take on this. Bodhisattva that kicks off this album is another one of my all-time favorites, too.

This song is one of the pinnacles of human artistic achievement.

When you have “Skunk” Baxter, Denny Diaz, and Walter Becker all playing guitar on the same track, amazing things are going to happen!!

I was watching for your reaction after "California...tumbled into the sea" then the damn run!! Yas!! HA! I love Steely Dan, they are so raw and real and they write about their life. Bard College, going out to Los Angeles, then them being nostalgic for the old college days in Annandale. So cool.

Hey 19 is Awesome!! Going to listen to it right now.

My favourite Dan song, EVER! Looking forward to this.

Great song! For a real banger and more stunning guitar virtuosity from Denny Dias and Jeff Skunk Baxter check out BODHISATTVA from this same album. Thanks

Leonid and Friends covered this song to perfection! Give that a listen!

Andy’s face for the guitar solos were the same ones from 25 or 6 to 4 😂

For a total ‘nother flavor of Steely Dan, but yet still very “Dan”, you HAVE TO listen to ‘The Royal Scam’.

Steely Dan you’ll like- Haitian Divorce Bodhisattva Green Earrings Pretzel Logic

Let me try again. I just finished 4- 12 hour days working in Covid ICU. Tried to sleep and just couldn't get there. Turned you guys on and I felt alright. Drifted back to1974ish. I was in my room joint rolled, incense burning and hoping my parent wouldn't come in telling me to turn the music down. Such good music to take anyone away. Thanks guys. Deacon Blues is quintessential SD and just so damn good.

Finally, finally, finally. Been waiting for you guys to hear this. My favorite song by my favorite band. Such a fun song. Glad you liked it.

"...California... tumbles into the sea..." I remember that was something we all used to think was going to happen any day!

ask Rick Beato about how they made that guitar sound. He would know. :)

So... when will the “Babylon Sisters” get a turn or from another poll “Hey Nineteen”.... seriously good stuff🎸 cheers fellas🥃.

I appreciate the intelligent breakdown of some of my favorite songs. Gives a new perspective of what I have taken for granted for a long time. Mucho gracias!

So MANY Great Steely Dan Songs... This Is One of Everyones Faves for Sure! Enjoy It Guys ))) ))) )))

Excellent. Can't get enough Steely Dan. This is one of their best. "Aja" should be on your list to hear soon.

Al-right! Busted you pulling the cowbell out right on time! Great Song and love Steely Dan!!!! Those horns layered together and trading leads with the guitars!!!!

Wooooohoooooo! Just asked you guys yesterday when you were going to get to this one. Finally! I love this song and am so happy you guys reacted to it. I knew you'd both like it a lot. Thanks for making my night lol.

You should do "The Last Waltz" and "Stop Making Sense" the two best concert films/documentaries ever made.

Great Album. Old School is great. But do Show Biz Kids cause they Don't give a fuck about anybody else

You can't be in a bad mood when listening to that song! My fave Steely Dan.

One of my two favorite Dan songs. Love the baritone sax.

One of my all time favorite Steely Dan songs. If you haven't already...you really need to listen to their song Bodhisattva, especially if youre into the drums, as I know you are :) On the same album and I think it will blow your minds! Happy Listening!

Yesss! Looking forward to Hey 19, Deacon Blues, Don't Take Me Alive, FM, Babylon Sisters, Doctor Wu, Josie, Haitian Divorce… so many more!

The "Old School" referred to in this song is Bard College in Annendale, New York, where Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met.

Thank you for playing one of my fav Steely Dan tunes! I like it because it is so breezy. As I am sure you have read already, great story behind the song. The great Jeff "Skunk" Baxter plays this solo. He later would join the Doobie Bros and is now a consultant with the Defense Department on high tech warfare. Deacon Blues, Hey 19, FM, Rikki...no losers at allllllll. btw-back to the poll this won, got to get some Cheap Trick in your lives soon!

My favorite song by this artist. Hope it resonates the same way.

Good morning! The gents will love this one! I am having an enjoyable work morning while watching Monterey Pop Festival 1967

1 of my Top 5 Steely Dan songs, thank you for putting it up!

Love the reaction... but have to just acknowledge your guys’ evolution. I’ve been following you guys for a few months & have watched TONS of your reactions. To see you go from Andy’s bedroom, to having just the wall... then the wall got the awesome wood paneling & your logo... to now see your set up with the vinyls and music merch on display - I just love it!! You guys rock & I hope your channel continues to grow in the upcoming year. Sending lots of Love & good vibes from Houston! 🤘🏽❤️🎶😊

How do you guys not have ten times the subscribers? The most intelligent and entertaining reactions on the Tube.

Greatest sax riff of all time as California tumbles into the sea.

Always went to the Beacon in NY when the Dan made their yearly visit and what made this one such a fan favorite was we all loved to sing along

Yay! Thanks for playing a Steely Dan song I suggested! But, you really can’t go wrong with any SD song!

Don't Take Me Alive for next Steely Dan Song!

Easily my favorite Steely Dan song and one of my top ten of all time. Give it a few more listens and it will continue to get better. The horns and guitar work are incredible.

This is definitely one of their more fun, upbeat songs. There is still so much more from these guys.

Everytime i hear this song i think this 7:33 is a masterpiece!! An army of musicians, hand mixed in the old eight track studio. Phenomenal! Just masterful musicianship and production

Love how their "band" was whomever they wanted on a particular song. In this case I loved Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on guitar.

Hey Nineteen is such a hot track. Deacon Blues has a similar vibe, but you can’t really go wrong.

Love you guys for over a year and love watching y'alls progression. I've turned multiple friends on to you!!

Yes, yes, yes! This is my favorite Steely Dan song. The story about this song is so cool, and this is such a fun fusion song.

Hey Nineteen. Loved it at 19, and lived it at 40. Smugly, I report that she left my ex-husband 4 months after the divorce... it’s a great little ditty of a song!

Best Steely Dan song ever .... Horns, bass, vocals, guitar, drums counters and blends to create incredible flavors - JUST AWESOME !!!!!

Andy, there are lots of YT sites that have videos to the guitar solos to SD songs, so you can see exactly how it's being played. Makes a world of difference once you see them.

This is a cool song. I can just see Donald and Walter at Bard College in upstate New York. Great times there I bet.

Steely Dan created more "S" songs than any band ever.

I remember hearing this on the radio when I was a kid, Steely Dan has always been one of my favorites, its amazing to see college students hearing it for the first time and seeing the reaction, loving it just as much as I did in the 70"s

great to see you guys enjoy one of my favorite STEELY DAN songs....great job interpreting

The three guitar solos are fire💥🔥💥🔥

"Loved the horns"? Time to get back to CHICAGO

Next Steely: "Time Out Of Mind" ...honestly, Alex-I mean we ARE talking about Steely Dan so, yes: (practically speaking) ALL of their tunes (nearly) are great (and, WITHOUT QUESTION, far beyond the creative and constructive echelons of MOST (if not all) other bands/musicians!), HOWEVER, with THAT context in mind: "Deacon Blues" is, actually, one of the weaker songs in their catalogue. (...esp. from [meaning: "out of"] the "major radio bangers." It was a rock radio staple, along with the majority of the AJA album and tons of their other songs, in the '70s, '80s *, even, into the '90s). >>>Yes, some people (for whatever reason) love it and I am not "anti-" the song, however, as a song-writer, I can tell you: It is one of their "B-grade" compositions. (And Fagen and Becker have confirmed this, over the years, as well.). 👍 ...Steve Gadd's world-altering drum solo and -breaks in the title-track "Aja" [which he was so stoned on H, at the time he recorded, or soon after; that he, literally, forgot he played them! - Great story, actually!!!!!! 😛🤪] are, far more important listening experience. ...So are tracks such as: "Don't Take Me Alive", "The Royal Scam" or "The Caves Of Altamira" ...or the fan-favorite "secret" track: "Night By Night" [an out-and-out BANG-ERRRRRR!!!!!, from them; on which an 18 or 19 year-old Jeff Porcaro [GODS rest his soul - we still miss you, Jefff!!!!! 😭😭😭😭🤘🤘] came in and cut the drum track in one take! [Pretzel Logic is, also, where the original band broke-up (Yes. there WAS an entire BAND; NOT, just, Becker and Fagen!!!!! 😡🙄🤦‍♂️🤷), they stopped touring after the Pretzel Logic tour and became a "studio only" band (...which they remained until the early '00s and their return to live performance and recording!) ...as MOST, casual, fans, now, think of them/know them/knew them in their heyday.] or: "Home At Last" (featuring Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and his legendary "Purdie shuffle." 👍👍👍👊🤘🤘👍 - although, I think if you want to hear Mr. PURDIE at the top of his game, you need to go listen to ANOTHER artist and an unknown, "deep cut" album track by: Daryl Hall & John Oates [generally, but incorrectly, referred to as, simply: 'Hall & Oates.']: "Everytime [sic] I Look At You"!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🧡🧡🧡⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🤘🤘🤘🤘👊👊👊👊👊⚡☝🌩 - Most people shit themselves ("in a good way," as the saying goes. 😛😜😋😉🤘🤘🤘) when they hear it. It is bad-ass to the Nth degree and with more "bad" and "ass" than most can imagine! -NO JOKE! ...Also: "Any Major Dude Will Tell You", "Black Friday", "Haitian Divorce", "Any World (That I'm Welcome To)", "Everything You Did", "Babylon Sisters" [but "Time Out Of Mind" -a love song to heroin, literally.- is a much better song, & more of a fun listen, overall, too. 👍👍] ...I guess: "Bodhisattva", as well. ...you guys already DID "Josie" right??? (Sorry. I'm forgetting, now....) [If not: STEP ON IT. NOW!!!!!!🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🤘🤘] -Also, the guitar solos in this song are all by one of the 2 original guitarists in the band: Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (Well, that unfairly, cuts out Walter Becker, who was a BRILLIANT, brilliant guitarist (and started playing the guitar, again, on Pretzel Logic and forward -basically, 'cause they discovered Chuck Rainey and with Chuck there??? ...there was NO reason, WHATSOEVER for him, to ever entertain, sitting behind the bass guitar again, PERIOD! [NOT that "he sucked," or something...Just: Rainey is THAT, fucking, GOOD! 🤘🤘👍👊👊👊] (Becker had taken on the bassist role in the original line-up, because they had 2 brilliant guitarists in the fold and no bassist. He didn't need to compete/fight for space.)-). Skunk rips all of the solos in this cut (and they are mind-bogglingly good!). ...In early Steely Dan stuff, all of the guitars are performed by, either: Jeff Baxter or Denny Dias ...and, often, they share (unless another guest-performer is named in the credits ...I, personally, can't think of any such instances on the first 2 Dan albums. 👍) ...as on: "Do It Again" (where Dias does the electric sitar solo and Skunk does a, later, shorter, electric guitar solo (among other solos)). A good "general rule," for Skunk and Denny is: ...if you hear a note being bent (or having vibrato or trills used), that's not Denny (he never used those -an old-school jazz thing, mainly, I think... 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤦), it's Skunk. ...Also: for the most part: Skunk always plays with a pick and Denny does so much less often. Even when the band became "an orchestra of whoever they wanted" and Larry Carlton became a major contributor on guitar, Denny and Walter were, still, also, playing parts and contributing solos, as well. [On GAUCHO, Becker (even in the throes of heroin addiction, basically) contributes a good deal of the guitar work. ....] Denny Dias was, really, the only founding member, besides, Becker and Fagen, who stayed with the band and contributed to almost every Steely Dan album. 👍🔥🔥 Jeff "Skunk" Baxter wanted to be a touring musician and departed when he heard Becker and Fagen announce that the band would be a non-touring outfit (after the Pretzel Logic tour). HE is, generally, more well-known/better-recognized for his NEXT gig (although he had been a session player for years -as had all of the other original members of Steely ...save, Dias, I believe 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️- and had done sessions with the song-writing team of Becker and Fagen for years, in N.Y.C., prior to any notion of any band!): "Skunk" ended-up becoming a member of: the Doobie Brothers (that's RIIIIGGGGHHT! 😁😁🤘🤘) -whom he had, already, done some session work for!- ...with his role, there, increasing after Tom Johnston got ill, for a while (leading to the addition of Michael McDonald and the 2nd wave of the band) ...but "Skunk" had been there already (I forget if Jeff JOINED the Doobies on The Captain & Me album, or if THAT album was the last album he contributed to as a session musician, for them 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️). ...so, that's more of "the long and the short of it." 😜😛😋 (I'm pretty sure I've left out SOME things I had wanted to mention ---- there is always SO much, that I nearly always SEEM to! 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️🙄🤦‍♂️😛 ...but, o.k. ....Here we are! ....)

DEACON BLUES! Was listening to it yesterday on a long drive and thought of you guys.

Steely Dan is like watching the insides of a Rolex watch, everything smooth, polished and done to the highest standards with absolutely no emotion or feeling.

Dan's best LP might be Countdown to Ecstasy? One for full review?

A lot of people have their favorite, Steeley Dan, guitar solo but this is one everyone forgets about.

Great review guys. Good stuff. Steely Dan can never be put in a box. Their musical history is incredibly eclectic and varied. Never know what's coming or, quite what the lyrics mean. If you want to hear a real head-scratcher, try "Throw Back The Little Ones" from Katy Lied.

Deep Purple Space Truckin' . Just reminding you. It's time. ;)

GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING A&A FAMILY!!!!

I think Anondale is the home of Bard.College where Don and Walter met.

One of my all time favorite Steely Dan songs. Can't help but groove to this track.