The songs Donald Fagen said could hurt Steely Dan’s credibility
Given that they’re two of the most accomplished musicians of their generation, writing highly complex amalgamations of jazz, pop and rock, one thing that Steely Dan perhaps don’t get enough credit for is how they also managed to weave humour into their work.
Now, I’m hardly trying to suggest that Donald Fagen and Walter Becker had put together a tight comedy routine that they managed to deliver through the medium of song, but they had a dry wit that they incorporated into their lyricism, often taking a satirical look at aspects of the world around them and sardonically painting a picture through this humorous lens.
Perhaps this is also something that put listeners off their music, as it was neither gunning for a belly laugh nor was it straightforward in its application of humour, often using clever devices in order to convey this aspect of their work.
If you’re going to be high-brow about the way in which you use humour, then you’ve got to expect some form of backlash or accept the fact that it won’t be something that will register with every listener, but at the same time, this was also what helped Steely Dan find their own adoring fanbase who were appreciative of their attempts at lightening the mood.
That being said, how far were the band willing to take things in terms of using humour in their songs, and did they perceive some form of limit as to how funny they could get away with becoming? If they ended up aiming to chuck more puns and punchlines into their lyrics, would it have proved to be a distraction from the ornate arrangements that they were also conjuring up?
During a 2006 interview with Performing Songwriter, Fagen chose to address this very topic, and explained exactly why they were reluctant to stretch the limits of their humorous elements, and how they went about finding a comfortable middle ground for it to exist in.
“That’s actually something Walter and I discussed, relative to Steely Dan albums,” he stated. “Essentially the question is, ‘How funny do you want to be?’”
By drawing a line that separated them from simply being amusing to going overboard with gags, the duo were able to differentiate themselves from other acts who they believed to have taken things a step too far.
“We try not to let the songs become too much of a pastiche or parody,” he continued. “We don’t want to turn into Weird Al, or even Frank Zappa. I think the songs work on several levels, and I don’t want to lose any of those levels. I think we have succumbed to parody-type stuff on occasion, and I think it hurts the song. I want them to work on a first-degree level.”
While the zaniness of the two artists he mentioned are part of their intrinsic appeal, the fact that Steely Dan toned things down a level is also what made them special to their own fanbase, and had they opted to go for a more direct approach to using humour in the same vein that Zappa had done, they would not only have alienated those fans they’d accrued, but been doing a huge injustice to the beauty of their work.
