Puddles Is Good, But Not, You Know, Steely Dan Good

by John Holbo on March 5, 2014

So maybe you will prefer Mayer Hawthorne’s version. (I could go either way.)

In other news, it seems reasonable to argue that Pharrell Williams should have won for “Happy”. Because Idina Menzel is good but not, you know, Donald Fagen good.

{ 32 comments }

1

Chris Bertram 03.05.14 at 7:09 am

A link to the 24 hour version of Happy surely, John? (I particularly like the sequences shot in and around LA’s Union Station).

http://24hoursofhappy.com/

2

John Holbo 03.05.14 at 7:12 am

Yes, yes, of course! I don’t know why I didn’t myself.

3

oldster 03.05.14 at 11:53 am

So I’ve been listening to Fagen and Becker since, christ, they were born or so. But I have no idea what joke you are making about them, either in the title or in the second paragraph.

4

John Holbo 03.05.14 at 12:38 pm

Oh, just that Pharrell Williams has made clear his love of Donald Fagen. Here:

http://www.vulture.com/2013/06/pharrell-williams-interview.html

And Mayer Hawthorne makes his love of Steely Dan here. Here:

http://www.spin.com/articles/mayer-hawthorne-where-does-this-door-go-interview/

I think the influence is audible in both cases as well. When I heard the song in “Despicable Me 2” I heard some the Fagen in there and loved it. But I was just being a bit absurdly obscure about the title.

I’ve commented before – somewhere or other – that Steely Dan is oddly uninfluential on their fellow musicians. But perhaps the Dan is enjoying a moment of Renaissance. I like Mayer Hawthorne’s determination to make Steely Dan sexy, not just sleazy.

“So much Steely Dan in this album. My motto’s always been: ‘If you don’t like Steely Dan, I don’t like you.’ Steely Dan is a great divider among music fans. Either you love it or you don’t. I don’t know anyone who kind of likes Steely Dan. It’s very divisive. Fortunately everyone who I worked with on this record really appreciated it. I think even people who like Steely Dan as much as I do can admit that there’s nothing sexy about Steely Dan. And so basically what I tried to do on this album was to take Steely Dan and make it sexy.”

5

oldster 03.05.14 at 2:02 pm

The first step might be making Steely Dan less misogynistic. I have met SD lovers and SD haters, but very few women among the first category.

6

P.D. 03.05.14 at 2:59 pm

Huh. I merely kind of like Steely Dan.

But I totally dig the Royals cover.

7

Pat 03.05.14 at 3:16 pm

8

JakeB 03.05.14 at 5:06 pm

I hated Steely Dan until I got old enough to be part of the audience they were singing to. That was about 35 for me.

9

Kenny Easwaran 03.06.14 at 3:54 am

I love that 24 hours of happy video. I’ve only probably watched an hour of it so far, but it seems like one of the most interesting video portrayals of Los Angeles in a long time. Instead of showing what they expect audiences want to see out of Los Angeles, they show what the people who live here want to show. It’s a showcase of (some amounts of) diversity of people, walking through many neighborhoods, some more or less walkable than others, but all with at least one happy dancing person going through.

10

oldster 03.06.14 at 4:36 am

The other amazing consequence are the “Happy” videos filmed by spontaneous local groups all over the world. I watched one from Nantes, one from Beijing, one from Morocco–and there are more being uploaded.

It’s kind of incredible. It turns out to be a brilliant ready-made showcase for giving people a few seconds in which to display their joy, dignity and common humanity. It achieves that highest accomplishment of art, making the human race appear lovable.

11

Joshua Holmes 03.06.14 at 5:11 am

I’ve commented before – somewhere or other – that Steely Dan is oddly uninfluential on their fellow musicians.

Music got a lot more visual in the 1980s; Becker & Fagen were ugly.

More seriously, 80s rock was much, much stupider than 70s rock. I assume MTV should take the lion’s share of the blame, but surely it isn’t the reason rock got that vapid and lame.

And so basically what I tried to do on this album was to take Steely Dan and make it sexy.

So basically, 1970s Hall & Oates? This is a very good thing.

12

Belle Waring 03.06.14 at 3:25 pm

oldster: here I will blow your mind by telling you that I am that woman who loves Steely Dan.

13

oldster 03.06.14 at 11:42 pm

Doesn’t surprise me in the least, Belle, nor conflict with my claim above.

Your leading traits are those of very few women. Or misogynists.

14

Ed Herdman 03.06.14 at 11:48 pm

@ Joshua Holmes:

Maybe not so unserious though. Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus has admitted their crazy outfits were tax-deductible (because they weren’t, umm, street-legal). Articles on this are from mid-Feb.

Also, Steely Dan seems awesome. Where has this been all my life? Just looked up The Royal Scam.

15

Ronan(rf) 03.06.14 at 11:53 pm

My mother loved Steely Dan fwiw.

16

Ronan(rf) 03.06.14 at 11:54 pm

Loved is a little much, but liked.

17

Ronan(rf) 03.07.14 at 12:00 am

Which is in response to oldster (kind of) not just me saying things randomly

18

oldster 03.07.14 at 3:47 am

Yes, if she loved the band for what it is worth, then she would have to do something well short of loving it.

19

js. 03.07.14 at 4:18 am

Steely Dan is a great divider among music fans. Either you love it or you don’t. I don’t know anyone who kind of likes Steely Dan.

To only slightly complicate your theory: I pretty much love exactly one song by Steely Dan, and do not at all like anything else by them, that song being “Do It Again”. Seriously, there was a moment several years ago when several of my friends suddenly got super into Steely Dan, and it was like: what the fuck has turning 30 done to you? I started subjecting them to early era PIL as revenge.

20

js. 03.07.14 at 4:43 am

PiL, sorry. And re Joshua Holmes:

Yeah, the 70s are awesome for rock music (tho the 80s don’t all suck either). But Steely Dan!? There’s just no excuse for that. You’ve got glam, you’ve got punk, you’ve got Holland-era Beach Boys. You’ve got the unclassifiable awesomeness that is Taking Tiger Mountain. There’s just no excuse.

21

Kevin 03.07.14 at 6:05 am

Steely Dan? The 80s was all about Molly Hatchet. That was the 80s wasn’t it?

22

Ronan(rf) 03.07.14 at 11:02 am

oldster – na. even if she was loving it for what it’s worth you’d have to quantify the what it’s worth to find the true depths of love,which I didnt do.

23

Ronan(rf) 03.07.14 at 11:03 am

I also kind of like Steely Dan fwiw ; )

24

oldster 03.07.14 at 11:09 am

hey, I liked SD fwiw, too. You’ve got to mark it to market.

Agree with js., though: the ’70s was a vast swirling galaxy of better and worse, rotating slowly in space. “Taking Tiger Mountain” is the central shaft.

25

Ronan(rf) 03.07.14 at 11:25 am

Ok, fwiw, I texted her and she loves them at times, likes them at other times and doesnt think about them regularly.

26

oldster 03.07.14 at 12:07 pm

Are you sure that she understood she was being polled about SD, and not about her children?

27

Ronan(rf) 03.07.14 at 12:11 pm

I really walked into that one

28

Belle Waring 03.07.14 at 12:12 pm

oldster: I was being somewhat facetious. I figured you would correctly assume I’d love Steely Dan. Since I do every single thing which otherwise is mostly done by dudes. Such as like Warren Zevon and Frank Zappa!

29

Chris Bertram 03.07.14 at 12:22 pm

Here are all the international tribute ones, indexed by city:

http://www.wearehappyfrom.com/

30

oldster 03.07.14 at 12:33 pm

No reader of this blog, Belle, can be unaware of your macho tendencies. If it’s risky, self-destructive behavior, you’ll be the first to take the double-dare–whether it’s going to Las Vegas, playing with a gun, cruising at midnite, doing dirty work, or even listening to Steely Dan.

31

Bloix 03.07.14 at 10:15 pm

When you make a Pandora radio station for Steely Dan, you get a lot of Chicago, Doobies, Hall & Oates. Saturday in the Park. What a Fool Believes. Wait, what? This isn’t what I like!! I’m way hipper than this!!!

So is that what Steely Dan really is? Blue eyed soul and fusion, but cynical instead of sincere? I can’t bring myself to believe it, but Pandora never lies.

32

AG 03.09.14 at 5:50 am

Cynical blue-eyed-soul fusion is pretty good, but I guess you knew that. Perhaps less a measure of soul and an extra of fusion.

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