Did Steely Dan really invent the term “gaslighting”?
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen achieved so much during their time with Steely Dan, piercing the cultural fabric deeper than most other outfits.
From a misanthropic outlook to sardonic lyrics and refined, jazz-influenced textures, the shaded pair of creatives established a back catalogue with such an intergenerational pull that everyone from Walter White to Mac DeMarco has been affected by their work.
Taking cues from Frank Zappa and The Fugs, rock’s first countercultural experimentalists, with emphasis placed on the idea of countering the norm, Becker and Fagen would find common ground when students. This was over a general disdain for hippiedom – despite their longhaired aesthetic – a love of jazz, and perhaps most importantly, comedy in rock ‘n’ roll, which the acts above excelled at.
In tandem with Becker and Fagen’s shared creative vision and undoubted musical mastery, these aspects would form the basis of Steely Dan. The band quickly developed after its formation in 1971 and would cut a different figure to the mass of indivisible bands that their era produced. Their debut, Can’t Buy a Thrill, a surreal and narcotic sonic journey which packaged the inherently bizarre essence of the Los Angeles in which it was recorded, remains a highlight of the age, complete with staples such as ‘Do It Again’, ‘Reelin’ in the Years’ and ‘Dirty Work’.
Most conversations surrounding Steely Dan concentrate on their first decade of operations between 1971 and 1981. While it is the group’s most significant chapter, as they only released two more albums after reuniting in 1993, this final pair of records that arrived in the early years of the 21st century is also masterful and does not get the credit they deserve outside of the group’s immediate fanbase. 2000’s Two Against Nature, which marked Becker and Fagen’s first studio album since 1980’s celebrated Gaucho, was a stellar way to return, seeing the pair of old friends reel back the years and take Steely Dan to new and maturer heights.
The opener, ‘Gaslighting Abbie’, is a fascinating aspect of the album. Unfortunately, the term “gaslighting” is commonly used in the contemporary era and is frequently employed to describe a specific form of mental abuse someone experiences at the hands of a romantic partner. However, it also defines other destructive scenarios, including in the workplace and family.
According to the Newport Institute, gaslighting is “a form of psychological manipulation in which the abuser attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in their victim’s mind.” It’s become a more easily understood term today, which is both a sad indictment of the world and perhaps a necessary evil, as education can often lead to eradication.
Unsurprisingly, the song illustrates this dynamic. It is about an affair between a married man and his mistress, who conspires to drive her lover’s wife insane. It’s the kind of lyrical endeavour that has punctured all of the band’s catalogue.
Did Steely Dan come up with the term “gaslighting’?
Although Becker and Fagen might have popularised the term with the song, they took it from a 1937 British play. In the production, Jack Manningham, subtly alters their home’s gaslights and convinces his wife, Bella, that she’s imagining the flickering, leading her to believe she’s going insane.
But the term really took off in 1944 when George Cukor’s Ingrid Bergman-starring movie Gaslight gained a lot of attention. The movie has become a part of the cultural canon because of the term’s proliferation.
Listen to ‘Gaslighting Abbie’ below.
