The earliest Steely Dan music was made for a Richard Pryor movie
Formed in 1972 by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, Steely Dan has forged a legacy as one of the definitive American rock bands. Seamlessly blending elements of jazz, traditional pop, R&B and rock, they distinguished themselves from their contemporaries with sophisticated studio production and cryptic, ironic lyrics that rewarded listeners who studied them closely.
Their impact on the music landscape is undeniable, and their discography continues to influence countless artists across genres. Yet, a lesser-known opening chapter of their journey takes place in cinema, where the embryonic sounds of Fagen and Becker found a unique platform.
Though primarily celebrated for their musical prowess, Steely Dan’s story-driven songs naturally lend themselves to the world of cinema. The pair have also frequently made it known how immersed in movies they are – they even penned a hilarious open letter to Wes Anderson in 2006, simultaneously ridiculing him for stagnating whilst offering their own musical services as a chance to rejuvenate his directorial career. But this unsolicited contact with Anderson wasn’t their first foray into filmmaking – far from it.
Before ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number’ or ‘Dirty Work’ echoed through the airwaves, Fagen and Becker had, in fact, ventured into the world of film composition. As it turns out, their earliest collective musical endeavour was not an album – it was a soundtrack for the 1971 comedy-drama, You’ve Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You’ll Lose That Beat. Beyond boasting one of the least snappy titles in film history, the Peter Locke-directed movie features the very first instance of music made by the two men that would later be known as Steely Dan.
In an even stranger convergence of the worlds of movies and music, it also featured the incomparable Richard Pryor in its cast, who debuted a prototype of his infamous ‘Mudbone’ character – an alcoholic’ philosopher’ from Mississippi that would be formally introduced four years later in his 1975 stand-up album, … Is It Something I Said?.
As for the movie itself, it provided a snapshot of New York’s Central Park during the 1970s, capturing one young hippie’s quest for existential significance. Whilst the film hasn’t endured the decades like other mammoth entries to cinema during the same era, it nevertheless sounds like the perfect material for an early Steely Dan; it’s easy to imagine one of their songs featuring the same plot.
Regardless of whether the project was successful, it gave Fagen and Becker a platform to work together, and the soundtrack alone is an absolute testament to the legendary music we’d get from Steely Dan in later years. Considering the pair are so into cinema, one can only hope that one day soon, we’ll hear another score from them – perhaps this time under the official Steely Dan banner.
