Steely Dan: Peg

I've seen your picture
Your name in lights above it
This is your big debut
It's like a dream come true
So won't you smile for the camera
I know they're gonna love it

I like your pin shot
I keep it with your letter
Done up in blueprint blue
It sure looks good on you
And when you smile for the camera
I know I'll love you better

Peg
It will come back to you
Peg
It will come back to you
Then the shutter falls
You see it all in 3-D
It's your favorite foreign movie

References

Uploaded on Jan 25, 2009 by Jan van Mulligen

Wikipedia: Peg (song)
"Peg" is a song by rock group Steely Dan that was released as a single from their 1977 album Aja. In G Major, it, like many Steely Dan songs from the period, blends rock with jazz and R&B elements. The song became a big hit in 1978.

The song's guitar solo was attempted by seven top session guitarists before Jay Graydon's version became the "keeper". He worked on the song for about 6 hours before the band was satisfied. Rick Marotta played drums on the track.

Michael McDonald can be heard providing backup vocals in the choruses; keyboardist Paul Griffin can also be heard improvising background vocals in the final chorus and fadeout.

Wikipedia: Aja (album)
Aja is the sixth album by the jazz rock band Steely Dan. Originally released in 1977 on ABC Records, it became the group's best-selling album. Peaking at #3 on the U.S. charts and #5 in the United Kingdom, it was the band's first platinum album, eventually selling over 5 million copies. In July 1978, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording. In 2003, the album was ranked number 145 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.

Wikipedia: Steely Dan
Steely Dan is an American rock band; its core members are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker. The band's popularity peaked in the late 1970s, with the release of seven albums blending elements of jazz, rock, funk, R&B, and pop. Rolling Stone has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies."

The band's music is characterized by complex jazz-influenced structures and harmonies played by Becker and Fagen along with a revolving cast of rock and pop studio musicians. Steely Dan's "cerebral, wry and eccentric" lyrics, often filled with sharp sarcasm, touch upon such themes as drugs, love affairs, and crime. The pair is well-known for their near-obsessive perfectionism in the recording studio, with one notable example being that Becker and Fagen used at least 42 different studio musicians, 11 engineers, and took over a year to record the tracks that resulted in 1980's Gaucho — an album that contains only seven songs.

Steely Dan toured from 1972 to 1974, but in 1975 became a purely studio-based act. The late 1970s saw the group release a series of moderately successful singles and albums. They disbanded in 1981, and throughout most of the next decade, Fagen and Becker remained largely inactive in the music world. During this time, the group steadily built and maintained "a cult following." In 1993, the group resumed playing live concerts; later Steely Dan released two albums of new material, the first of which earned a Grammy Award for Album of the Year. They have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001.

official web site: Steely Dan
[latest news, concert dates, lyrics to all songs]

official web site: FAQ: origin of the name
Since both of [Fagen and Becker] were avid readers of 1950's "Beat" literature, they decided to name the band "Steely Dan" after a dildo in William Burroughs' "Naked Lunch."

Some personal notes
Why do I write a blog and post these music entries? Simple, I like music. Even though the length of the cord on my earphones is limited, I do occasionally dance beside my computer desk. FYI: The earphones give a far better sound quality than the small laptop speakers and I dance much better with good sound.

Why do I put in these references? As I've said elsewhere in this blog, yes, I'm stating "my opinion" but I like to think I can prove it and I have the references to back me up. (see my blog: What the @#$%^* do I know?) But for these musical entries, I'm offering you, the reader, an opportunity to discover some interesting points about this great music. There are some fabulously talented people in the world and they deserve credit for their extraodinary abilities.

By the way, since I am using Wikipedia in my references, I started this past year to make a monetary donation to the non profit organisation. Unfortunately I can't get a tax credit for this but no matter, I think founder Jimmy Wales is doing a good thing in the world and supporting this is more important than my tax credit. I'm not rich but I can afford to support worthwhile projects. I also give blood regularly. Yes, I'm just that type of guy. :-) Let's all pay it forward. "It will come back to you."

2012-01-08

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