Elton John sent a Christmas card to the Lennons in New York, where they occupied an entire floor of the Dakota Building. He inscribed: "Imagine six apartments/It isn't hard to do/One is full of fur coats/Another just for shoes".
The room full of fur coats was refrigerated to protect the natural animal hair from deterioration and insects. The room had almost 100 full-length mink and other highly valued fur coats. Elton John probably had a large room to hold his vast collection of designer eye-glasses.
I read somewhere that Chevy Chase played drums with Fagan and Becker, not sure if he was actually in a band with them or just maybe at a party or something?
@@vmguy1 If that happened, then it was purely for show. Fagen and Becker were notorious for getting each song perfect in the studio. They would audition many different musicians to play a single part in a song, and only use the one that was best and fit their vision. And even then they might do 100 takes to get it perfect. Brian Wilson was the same. Essentially, Steely Dan was just Fagen and Becker and studio musicians until lately as they started touring.
John Lennon reminds me of today's out of touch celebs who preach to us not to waste fuel, yet fly their own jets, and preach to us all these things that they themselves don't do, but we should. I was born in 1960...I love Paul McCartney...I never liked John, and I despise his wife, especially what she did to his son, Julian. Out of touch, greedy, selfish, disgusting people, too ignorant and narcissistic to see themselves for what they truly are! On a high note though, I love Steely Dan!
Com-ism/atheism. I always thought it was obvious what the twit was virtue signaling about. The man didn't have the sense or balls to tell his wife she couldn't sing a lick. So he bluffed and virtue signaled their way into oblivion.
I have always felt the same. I call Imagine the hypocrite's song. I don't want to be lectured by a guy living in the Dakota whose wife had a separate apartment just for her furs.
John Lennon left his first wife and son destitute and devastated. No nothing. If it wasn’t for Sir Paul McCartney, they would’ve lived a completely different life. His concept of peace was, Leave me alone and don’t judge my disgusting actions.
I was going to mention that too. No love or peace at all, or w the Beatles demise. Then he had a mistress for 18 months. After his death, Yoko left his wife and son an extremely low amount. It was criminal. How disgusting.
I'm 72 and grew up with Beatles music. I came to despise John Lennon and especially Yoko Ono. The way he treated Cynthia and Julian is despicable. He deserves mocking.
I'm 65 and grew up with their music as well. I also had come to despise Lennon and saw him as an arrogant hypocrite back before his untimely death. When the news broke that he was shot to death, I felt absolutely nothing; no joy nor sorrow - nothing! his wife Yoko isn't even worth commenting on.
Unfortunately, Mark David Chapman felt the same way and yet there are far too many that are well out in front of any vanity, greed or other sins of John Lennon. Am I right Luigi? Yoko is too wrapped up in herself. Drugs have snared some, sex others. What kept John so enthralled? We know it wasn't any artistic talent.
Steely Dan is simply pure unadulterated genius on the highest level. I didn't notice anyone mentioning how they got their name. Everyone probably already knows.
My car has garbage speakers and only the amp built into the head unit, and Steely Dan still sounds phenomenal. Just all around expertly crafted music. Perhaps not coincidentally, I mostly listen to Steely Dan while driving.
Hmmm. It's possible to see "Only a Fool" as an answer to "Imagine," but in this video I didn't hear any real connection showing Fagan and Becker intended that. On the other hand, Costello's line--"Wasn't it a millionaire who said imagine no possessions?" --leaves no doubt as to the target of his skepticism.
When you realize that Imagine is a hateful anti western society, pro atheists pro communist propaganda piece. Then you get it. I just wish I had heard about their connection sooner. John Lennon was a pos in my opinion. He deserves to be derided. Particularly for how he allowed Ono to treat his son Julian.
Elton John was a friend of Lennon he rewrote the lyrics and gave them to John as a joke. "Imagine six apartments, it isn't hard to do, one is full of fur coats, another's full of shoes."
As to Lennon’s abandonment issues as a child, here are a couple things to know about his mental health and his likelihood to throw violent tantrums: (1) Lennon almost killed a child, I believe, because of his inability to drive a motor vehicle at some point. (2) his contradictory relationship with money and wealth could be to insulate himself from others. I know that, for some reason, he loved to play Monopoly and hold certain acquisitions that speak of wealth, luxury, and fear of poverty(?). On the other hand, Yoko Ono, as a designer and so on, probably influenced Lennon and his material choices in dress. In conclusion, Lennon does not come to mind as much as a rich man flaunting his wealth; he is indeed a mentally sick man trying to get by undiscovered as a (flawed) person.
Hey Dancer, ever the rabbit hole diver, I’ve wasted a lot of time in the past trying to analyze Becker & Fagen’s lyrics. I’ve resigned myself to just enjoy what I’m hearing musically first, and the analysis is just not that “important” anymore. I’ve heard all the interpretive stories of their deep meaning…and sorry - but I’m just not convinced they want or need ME (of all people) to try and decode the message. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…
I was a DJ at a small station in central Vermont in '72. Went to Baltimore to visit my very hip cousin who turned me on to SD ("Do It Again"). Bought a copy of the album and played the vinyl on air, for the first time in that area, I suspect. Was that really half a century ago?
This gets said a lot. But most don’t anticipate getting assassinated at 40. Even if a person gets sick at that age they have trouble writing out a will
Saw them do that album at the Beacon in NY some years back.Was great except for some 22 yr olds standing and dancing making noice,was ready to throw a punch the ushers had to come by and stop them,more than once,America for you.
Elvis Costello's track, "The Other Side of Summer": "Was it a millionaire who said 'imagine no possessions'? A poor little schoolboy who said 'We don't need no lessons'".
@@roscorabbit3517 Imagine looking like David Lee Roth. OUCH! Also, I bet David would get lost in a Costello lyric. Likely too many big syllables and thinky metaphors.
@@traviswall1982 Dave actually is highly intelligent. The only front men I've seen w that much stage presence are Plant and Bowie; and Bowie had to work at it. Elvis is one of those guys that can't sing yet insists on doing it anyway. Far too many in that category. Songs are ok, I'm not into singer/songwriters .I did appreciate his SNL song change tho.
Correct. Why would Steely Dan model themselves after a multi-millionaire who when he wasn't writing gibberish like "Imagine no possessions?" liked to run around a club in LA wearing a Kotex pad on his head ?.
As a 14 year old, I thought it was a nice song. As a 24 year old, I realized more what it meant. By age 54 I remember having experienced a deeper feeling and thought process about it.
A multi millionaire rock star telling me to have no possessions has never sat well with me and I applaud Donald Fagan for writing the song. See I'm not the only one.
Lennon was such a hypocrite , talking about “peace” while he beat up his first wife, Cynthia. He was also notorious for getting drunk and brawling with anyone who pis#ed him off ( the May Pang-Los Angeles -Lost Weekend ). Mr Peace and Love, my ass.
Fully agree and that’s why he was killed too not that it’s a reason to kill but what a hypocrite ! RIP Walter . Walter and Donald were both geniuses. Thank God we still have Donald.
20 years ago when I was younger and certainly dumber I would have disagreed with you. Thankfully many of us, including me got older and wiser. To the greater degree, John was just another boring virtue signaler. And Yoko Ono? OMG... WTF. But his marrying her only serves to support my feelings on the matter today. My god she's a tw*t.
I'll always be grateful I got to see these legends in a live performance. They were doing one of their rare tours, and were at Irvine amphitheater c. 1997, normally I really dislike crowds and lines but to see these two greats, I felt like I was walking on air while cold sober. Becker was dressed in jeans like an every man, which he wasn't of course, but Donald Fagen proceeded to take over the show dressed in 90's dark casual suit with no tie that was the style. Fagen's performance was effortless and it was obvious we were watching a master at work; watching him and Becker perform as Steely Dan for one of the last times, was an experience I remember with reverence. Sadly Walter Becker left us in 2017 - but I'll always remember the time I saw two legends of music perform live.
I was at that show - unfort NOT very sober. But... I swear you could drop the needle on any song they were playing and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the live song and the LP version. They were just that good. Definitely in the top #5 concerts I've been able to go to.
Thanks for the description. I got every record the Dan ever made but didn't get to see them live. They always inspired me to be a better musician. Thanks for filling out the image.
I agree.' Imagine' is an atheistic, utopian song by a man whom only saw the world from a balcony. He wrote some great stuff with McCartney, but his solo work was angry. He had no peace in his life until Sean, and even then, look how he treated Julian. Here is a life who missed God, imho.
Clean this mess up or we'll all end up in jail Those test tubes and the scale. Just get em all outta here. Is there gas in the car? (Yes there's gas in the caah!) I think the people down the hall know who you are! Nobody was singing about stuff like that!!
I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me that "Do It Again" has lyrics describing various addictions or vices. So I love to play it on the jukebox as I indulge my Bowling addiction. It really is something!
I saw them in April 1974 at the San Diego Sports Arena I was 18yo. I bragged all thru the 80's that I was one of the very few people who had seen them live, then the 90's came and everybody had seen them live! I also saw them here in Houston in the 90's. But yeah, what a band! I was dancing like crazy on the floor of the Sports Arena to my favorite song, Bodhisattva.
@@AndySalinger33 They were sooooo good ! I don’t think that SD got the recognition that it deserved; BUT I’m so happy that they were inducted by the R&R HOF in 2001, before Walter passed. It blows my mind that they only received 4 Grammys, and not until the 2000s.
@@graciesmom62 right on. I’m with you. And yeah, even at the time they were inducted, I recall feeling so glad it was happening while they were both still with us! And though I realize SD is highly regarded by people like us, I agree…they don’t get nearly the accolades and adoration their art rightly deserves. They were simply too smart for this world. Their music was too advanced for its time. And thank God that’s the case, eh? It sure makes for some good listening. As in…a whole lifetime of listening. They are the soundtrack. Cheers. And send my regards to Gracie…wherever she may be.
Donald Fagan can be polarizing, arrogant, opinionated, and cynical but he's certainly not stupid! He's got a razor sharp wit, and he's pretty well spot on with his criticism.
@@terryboyer1342 Complete opposite of Trump. complete. Intelligent, sincere, hard working, creates things of value. On one of their later albums he sung "That right-wing hooey sure stunk up the joint".
I remember Can't Buy a Thrill but I was pretty busy with young living at the time and there was so much amazing music going on. Their catalog is just brilliant and today, I play them almost every day.
Cerebral & masters of tongue in cheek self abasement. "The kid will live & learn..., As he watches his bridges burn..., From the point of no return...,😅!
@@ACDZ123- Get over your hero worship. Lennon was a hypocrite and an ass, and his music self-important to the point of being trite. Fagan and Becker nailed it, seeing him for exactly what he was.
My earliest childhood memory was recognizing "Dirty Work" at age 3. It came on in my parents Corolla two days in a row when i was in the back seat with my family as my dad ran errands. I said outloud this is that dirty work song. It was my first cognizance. The year was 1979 or 1980. Steely Dan will always be my favorite band and i still have never done it without the fez on!
Only wrote a few good songs? I wouldn't even agree with the statement "they only wrote a few bad songs!" They arguably are one of the top 5 greatest American bands of the 70s & 80s.
Pure Marxist communist drivel given to him by his guru/cult leader Yoko so called wife. She like most upper echelon communists is a rip roaring money hungry creep. She tried to cheat Julien out of his inheritance and was a major reason John rarely saw his son. She did NOT want to share at all. She just wants everyone else to so she doesn't have to pay taxes. Champagne socialist is there any other kind? Ugly, greedy rich folks telling everyone else to share that crust of bread and that 5 to a room tenement apt. Yeah sure when you share what you have and life in a one room apt! What no then shut up John or all those over paid fools of 2020. Hollywood was allowed to work while mom and pop places when bankrupt.. So compassionate don't you think. Try tone deaf and condescending.
There is only one winner! John Lennon! Steely Dan has A long way to go YET to equal what John Lennon and The Beatles gave to the World!! Steely Dan didn't even get the real meaning of "IMAGINE"
it helps that recording technology was finally able to capture sounds accurately. had SD been born earlier, they'd be stuck with whatever tech there was in earlier decades. makes a HUGE difference. Timing is everything.
@@guscooger5366 Steely Dan also said that if the sophistication of the music matched the sophistication of the technology, we'd all be listening to Debussy. 🙂
I just learned last weekend that Steely Dan was a band started at Bard College, and originally had three members including a drummer named Chevy Chase. Chase was expelled, and the other two stayed as a band. And it looks like both sides ended up quite successful.
Fagan's song, "IGY/What A Beautiful World" speaks exactly of what Lennon wrote in "Imagine". Either this too is tounge-in-cheek or he was just coming around to the idea of making a better world tomorrow, today.
IGY was written about the international geophysical year, which Donald Fagen experienced as a kid, in 1957-58. He was expressing the optimism of the late 50s in America, the IGY had all these great plans but fell short, much like today with various causes
@@paulhundy2986 Fagen is now 75 and Lennon would have been 73, so they likely both were aware of IGY in '57/'58. I do agree that "Imagine" is a bit maudlin, Sometimes, we need optimistic persons who say foolish things sometimes.
@@jameswaters3939 Good to put these artists into their contexts, particularly as entertainers of complex ideas jammed into 3-to-5 minute pleasures. Lennon: "I don't believe in Buddha". "God" is a test, quite as extreme as "Imagine". Meanwhile "Bodhisattva" sounds too good to be mere satire, but, yes, it's tongue in cheek- SD's detachment is an end in itself while Lennon consistently searches for deeper belief. Lennon (83 this year) is a cynic too, but rarely portrays other people while Fagen and Becker rarely portray themselves. Lennon's work is filled with ways to legitimate something as childlike and elegant as "Imagine". ...."Why on earth are we here? Surely not to live in pain and fear."
@@kanlithunder The wry & sly and just the musicianship - S.D. - best ever. Good analysis. S.D. warps my mind with great lyrics, best melodies, just takes me on a ride.
@@paulhundy2986Exactly! Well said! I was a kid in the 1950’s and received a yearbook describing the International Geophysical Year. I never forgot it so when “IGY” came out I knew exactly what Fagen was describing. (Fun fact: I printed the album cover for “The Nightfly” by Fagen which included “IGY”. 😁)
I can't pick a favorite Dan album. Although I think the first four (Can't Buy A Thrill to Katy Lied) are slightly stronger than the next three (Royal Scam to Gaucho). And the "comeback" albums were pretty weak.
One could interpret Lennon's lyrics as one who has had it all letting us know materialism isn't the path to fulfillment. On the other hand, I'd like to give materialism a chance.
Underappreciated. A lot of people dont get even slightly complex music. And lyrics that have different words than you usually hear, and references to places and events not everyone has heard of. I think a lot of people who listen t them also read books!
Fair enough. I've gone full circle, having lived through John Lennon worship, and seen the anguish of high school classmates when he was shot. In the end we have to accept that there may be people who accomplish wonderful things, but those same people can be shitty individuals in real life. Whether John or George were as wonderful or as awful as some claim, they impacted generations in tremendous ways.
Then of course Paul, never moved overseas and became a tax exile, continued grafting away making music because he loves doing it, has been a clean living vegitarian for decades, set up a school for young musicians, works for numerous charities and travels on public transport.
EXACTLY. It was from reading a volume of Caro's biog. of LBJ I came to think this. LBJ was pretty manipulative reaching the presidency and then he did wonderful things for the common people-the Voting Rights Act, rural electrification, etc. One can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
@@keithkoenig5320 If you're a Beatles fan there are plenty of interviews where John Lennon explains the motivation behind his songs, Help being the most poignant. He was also the first to say if a song was just wordplay & non sense such as Hey Bulldog. Imagine was an idealized view of existence.
I had bought their greatest hits CD from 1972 to 78, And in 2000 and they were least “Two Against Nature”. I finally saw the band in 2009. Fagen and Becker Pretty much kept it in the studio releasing album after album. It was very ingenious of the two of them not basing their success on showmanship and more with the songwriting. It was also one of Michael McDonald’s first gigs as a session artist before joining the Doobie brothers in 1976 full-time.
No disrespect to Becker or Fagen (they are musical geniuses), but deciding to forego touring to create albums in the studio was done by another popular band a few years earlier.
John Lennon reminds me of today's out of touch celebs who preach to us not to waste fuel, yet fly their own jets, and preach to us all these things that they themselves don't do, but we should. I was born in 1960...I love Paul McCartney...I never liked John, and I despise his wife, especially what she did to his son, Julian. Out of touch, greedy, selfish, disgusting people, too ignorant and narcissistic to see themselves for what they truly are! On a high note though, I love Steely Dan!
I think it would have made a huge difference if, in the song Imagine, John had said "I wonder if WE can," instead of "you". I saw a video of him singing it live once where he did make the change...
1] John was known for notoriously slipping up and forgetting lyrics -listen to the Beatles recorded version of _"Tell Me Why"_ and you'll hear him have a bit of pronoun trouble… *that was left in the final mix.* 2] Since the narrator/singer is asking _you_ to imagine something it is because he or she have *_already imagined it._*
I'm not sure why the interpretation came to be that John Lennon is singing to only poor people. Yeah, John had money and was a pretentious artsy-fartsy type and Steely Dan were resentful that the only real hit they had was intended as a mockery of Bob Dylan, not in their own style. But I always thought of it as criticizing the conservative orthodoxy of classism, war and especially religion. IDK that Lennon's ideal hinged upon control/obedience and intolerance like those he was challenging. I'm not convinced that it requires a vow of poverty. Hippy-dippy, yes, but hypocritical?
I agree. I’ve been listening to (and playing) Imagine for decades. The more I think about the lyrics the more clearly they seem to be an indictment of capitalism, organized religion and nationalism. It has literally never crossed my mind that he was suggesting anyone take a view of poverty or speaking to the poor or disadvantaged.
Wow....... I like both......... But SD is within my frequency of perfect taste! Both were great in their own right! But I like nearly everything SD, not so much Beetles! They were of my sisters generation!
It seems John had profound childhood losses. Through his youth, he covered his grief and fears with bravado that often came out as bitter sarcasm and cruel anger. As a young man he would mug drunks and, when one resisted, John beat him severely then feared he'd left the man for dead. His moderate poly-substance use disorder was growing at this time, a disease which he'd try in vain to control. His brilliant wit and songwriting talent enabled him to use the Beatles to build a broad support network which enabled his addictive disease. As his disease became severe he became increasingly violent, seeking bar fights as entertainment with his friend Harry Nillson. He once grabbed Peter Lawford by the collar and put his fist to Lawford's face (Lennon sent an explicit apology the next day which confirms the story). Demonstrating hippie values was a feeble best effort to counter his rage and self-hatred; he was powerless over his childhood grief and illness, and his addictions were enabled by so many people, that he didn't stand a chance. -Doug Pratt, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Love Steely Dan, clever lyrics and sublime music that doesn't sound like any other band. I never knew this song was about John Lennon though 😂 Funny. I'm a Beatles fan too but John was no angel and himself no stranger to songs that mock others! How do you sleep? 😳
When he wrote "How do you sleep," he was responding to three McCartney ditties on Ram that had attacked him, George and Ringo. "But he doesn't publish his lyrics, and I do," John said on U.S. tv, so he still gets blamed for a biting song. Ringo replied to Ram with his own smash hit "Back Off Boogaloo," and the second song on George Harrison's Living in the Material World was "Sue Me, Sue You Blues." So it started with McCartney publicly attacking--and suing--the others.
@@dreamfable It's been over fifty years and people still don't get it. They forced Paul into a contract with Allen Klein that he did not want, and the only way out of it was to sue the corporation, which -- unfortunately -- included the other three Beatles.
Michael Mcdonald who met Skunk Baxter through his sessions as a vocalist/piano player for Steely Dan said it wasn't uncommon for him to do hundreds of takes on a song !!!!!! Using as many as 3 entire bands they kept floating around. Peg took 9 guitarists to get the right solo. 😮
Yup. Finding the right guitar solo for Peg was an ordeal. Becker and Fagen were almost crazed in their perfectionism. It always seems to have paid off though.
Skunk Baxter didn't mind SD's perfectionism. He said the duo spent half an hour finding just the right chair for him to sit on. He didn't care as he was being paid $300 an hour. SD is great, but not on the level of Lennon or McCartney.
I heard a Lennon interview where he says Imagine is an internal dialogue with himself (not preaching to others). Imagine is also supposedly based on Yoko's writings from her book Grapefruit.
@@joesmoker3378 Nah. Steely Dan just pointed out the glaring hypocrisy of the words versus the lifestyle reality of John and Yoko. And even if Yoko had a hand in the writing, it is a soppy piece of fantasy dreaming which none of his/their fans (or a bunch of famous ceiebrities) could ever live by. The song still makes me vomit till this day, and I turn it off whenever it comes on.
Imagine...the Beatles: four 20-something British boys, shocked, overwhelmed, and bewildered by fantastic success. Pulled in many opposing directions by alien forces, people, and agencies they had no mechanisms to cope with. And they did, thought, said much nonsense. Is that surprising?
As a die hard BEATLES fan I am not blind to the fact that John was not a God and would even hate that thought...( Even though he famously said they were bigger than Jesus..).. He was a flawed man, but without a doubt a true genius. I always think of Paul being the HEART of the band and John the SOUL. STEELY DAN were the Coen Brothers of music and they made great music with a sardonic 'wink wink' which I would think John would appreciate. A lot of great music from both bands.
Lennon talked about love yet dumped his son, spoke about kindness but got into fights, and no possessions while living in that penthouse. And Lennon being p-whipped by Ono was a major factor in the bands breakup. Lennon reminded me of that guy who has no male friends because he is under his woman’s control.
@@williamgullett5911 Paul wrote Hey Jude for Julian and was more of a father figure to him. John was a Man Child and maybe why he needed a mother figure like Yoko who was much older than him. A truly flawed genius.
@lonwolf8245 Sounds like his contemporaries didn't like John much. Steely Dan wrote a couple songs about Lennon that mocked him. Supposedly Elton John mocked Lennon by asking how a guy who talked about no possessions could have a huge penthouse. Imagine. The Beatles were good, they just weren't my favorite
Seems pretty obvious the members of the Beatles were swapped with lookalike replacements for the Pepper album onwards. The lawyer and author Cynthia F. Hodges a.k.a. Tina Foster and AurigaBooks online has spent many years uncovering this as a Beatles fan herself.
A sharper parody of "Imagine" was buried in Elvis Costello's The Orate Side Of Summer" ... : Was it a millionaire who said "Imagine no possessions". a poor little schoolboy said "We don't need no lessons" [ouch]
John praised Costello's 'What's So Funny About Peace, love and Understanding.' He didn't dole cudos to his peers often. Could you imagine to have just read the Playboy interview in which John gave the rare shout-out to him only to be utterly shocked hours later in learning of his violent death by five bullets to the back? Elvis had only the highest regard for the Beatles and John. Besides doing a cover of his song 'Bulldog,' as did the Foo Fighters(Dave Grohl), he believe it or not covered Yoko Ono's song 'Walking On Thin Ice.' Elvis lyric you're referring to probably was a jab at Steely Dan looking at a grownup song like a kid who fights over toys or all jazzed for the new Nike shoes Daddy bought for him.
It's a stretch to say it's about John Lennon specifically. Like a lot of Dan tracks, it's ambiguous, capable of many interpretations. It comes across as a piece of bitterness, siding with the common man against the iniquity of cheap but convincing-sounding easy solutions. Given their attacks on cults on other tracks, this feels like one of their generalised ironic commentaries on the state of political theatre and the games of the rich compared to the realities faced by most.
Many grew up in the shadow of the Beatles. Yes, I understood the meaning of their songs once I got a bit olde & started liking "boys" @ 14-15 years old, the time Steely Dan became so popular. I believe many, many solo artists & rock/Pop groups resented The Beatles, especially John Lennon. It's the musician's world where there is too much ego. I loved Lennon & still do, regardless of his antics, but I also admired Fagan & the group, because they were different, highly talented, & a good piece of my teenage years.Those years in the '70's were AWESOME, thanks to the great musicians.
Having only gotten into "The Dan" around the time of Katy Lied, there are several of their older songs I haven't paid much attention to, so it was interesting to hear about this song's reference to Imagine, which is fairly obvious, now that you've pointed it out. I differ with you, though, in terms of how you interpret Becker's and Fagen's attitude as lyric writers. You must have noticed that a lot of their songs are written from the point of view of an imaginary character, whose views are not necessarily the same as their personal opinions. Songs like Don't Take Me Alive, Everything You Did, Kid Charlemagne, and Goucho being obvious examples. So, given that tendency, I think it's risky to presume, based on the lyrics of this song, that they were actually disdainful of Lennon, as distinct from painting a portrait of someone who was. You also state that Lennon "wasn't enamored" of Steely Dan, which seems like an assumption on your part (I'd be interested to know if Lennon ever said something publicly in that regard). I understand that TH-cam is largely driven by the public's love of conflict, but I think you may have cooked up a feud here that never actually existed.
One of the best gigs I ever went to was Steely Dan at the Hammersmith Odeon - or The Apollo as it’s now called. It was in Sept. 2000 & the tickets were an expensive (at that time) £45 each, but the concert they gave was easily worth the money… a superbly balanced sound system meant that each instrument’s output was heard crystal clear with ‘space’ around it, and boy… could the guys play those instruments. The lead guitarist in particular was absolutely brilliant, I think he may have been a session musician Dan liked to tour with, but I don’t actually know. So glad I finally managed to see them live after too many years waiting!
I've never tried to figure out Steely Dan lyrics. Half the time, donald and walter didn't even know what they were writing about. It's not a matter if I don't think this song is about john lennon. I know for a fact it's not about john lennon. @conceptualclarity
Yea, far out man. I appreciate that Steely Dan have written some very witty and cryptic lyrics; the problem that I have with it though, is that you have to wade through so much shlocky pop and cod funk in order to get to them.
@@granthurlburt4062 It's ok. We're all allowed to have an opinion. In my own defence though, I did point out that I appreciated their songwriting skill - I have my own preferences. They tend to be the earlier compositions.
Never was a Steely Dan fan. Haave come to appreciate them more now that I'm older. As I have with a lot of musics and artists I may not have cared for when younger
Same. It took me years and years of hearing the Rolling Stones to realize that yes, they are the greatest band ever, or at least one of the greatest bands ever.
Steely Dan though I always liked. Ever since I heard the commercial for Aja when I was 11 or 12, with the opening to Josie playing in the background. I was instantly hooked on them.
I never realized this number was about "Imagine", but personally I always wondered why so many people were enamored with John Lennon. He to me seemed so fake and contrived, an axe to grind with God for who knows why. Instead of his reasons, we hear his complaints and his downright denial, displaying an utter lack of curiosity for the most important event to have ever occurred, simply to give vent to his apparent self-assured superiority to the creator of everything we see, when I think it should be abundantly clear that he lacked so much. Humility, John had none. Steely Dan shows so much more true musical ability than John Lennon, they hardly belong in the same sentence. A well-done video, likely the best I've see in a long while. I hope you keep at it and work out more of these gems.
So agree. Imagine there's no religion (read faith in the creator ) . . . Well the west has largely delivered on Lennon's wish, and consequently it gets uglier, sicker, less safe and more without hope by the day. Lennon didn't have a dream, he had a nightmare.
@@bcssylf you will have your day to regret your words. I could tell you about the day an alien came into my delivery van, but alas, would it have any effect on you?
Becker and Fagan, the best composers of my lifetime. So many tunes that I have wiled hours away enjoying. So sad about Walter. He and Donald were forever irreverent.
Right up there with the sentiment ‘all you need is love’. Easy for someone worth many, many millions to say it. But you trying paying the rent, or buying groceries, or keeping the heat on with ‘Love’. 🙄
What’s up with the Steely Dan guitarists guitar? Looks to be a Ibanez Destroyer or Flying V with an aftermarket neck. I’m probably well off but this is from several viewings of a couple grainy videos. Anybody know what the guy plays? Thanks
Zappa 4 years earlier did a song, Oh No, critical of All You Need Is Love, with a melody (in 5/4--previously an instrumental segment on the orchestral Lumpy Gravy) and lyric much better than Steely Dan's mockery. Even so John and Yoko later performed in 71 with the Mothers at the Fillmore.
Two words: perspective. And viewpoint. I personally (and boy am I not wealthy!) feel the idea and ideals of the song "Imagine" are awesome & relevant … But of course how one perceives it might be different than the original intention (as can happen with many forms of art). In any event, I certainly am a big Steely Dan fan - especially some of their later work, such as the albums Gaucho & of course my favorite, Aja 🙂
Great point. I'm sure Lennon was referring to the super rich when he sang "Imagine no possessions; I wonder if you can." I like Steely Dan too, though I'm more the Greatest Hits kind of fan. I've listened to all their albums on Spotify, but I don't think this song stood out. Have to give it a re-listen now.
@@russellziske7385 -- "Imagine" just pinpoints the three main reasons man wages war: Possessions (aka, 'riches'), religion, and borders. No possessions, no religions, no borders ... no war. Has very little, if nothing at all, to do with Marx or socialism. It's an anti-war song ... a.k.a, "livin' life in peace."
John Lennon thought he was a working class hero but he was just another rich, famous guy telling poor people how to live. I love his music but not his preaching.
It is a bittersweet song without a hint of mockery. And SD were not known for ramming their opinions down people’s throats in their lyrics, but rather, were ironists who wrote in other people’s voices. So there is doubt in my mind about the premise of this video.
Yeah, it could be about a girl he knew that wouldn't just shut up and screw , so Don snapped bad . A lot of his lyrics are sections that inspire each other but aren't a continuation of the preceding section , so the Man on the Street part might have come from an op ed Don read about rich liberals vs working poor . I notice he doesn't quote Fagen anywhere , so this interpretation is just something he thought of .
"Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen...." -- Mary Wortley Montagu Steely Dan's writing style in a nutshell.
@@terryenglish7132 "A lot of his lyrics are sections that inspire each other but aren't a continuation of the preceding section." That's a good way to put it. I'm still confused by the lyrics from the end of Hey 19 and how it relates to the rest of the song: "The Cuervo Gold/The fine Colombian/Make tonight a wonderful thing." I read something somewhere about this is just the song's narrator fantasizing about 19 in a tequila haze after realizing that they can't be together, though where the evidence of that is in those lyrics, I don't know.
It’s hard for anyone to say exactly what either songs true meanings are, especially because very few where there. Also there seems to be a common thread among struggling actors musicians and the like. They will do anything to make it big and put in all the effort and sacrifice. But then after making it they realize the true cost of this, and it staggers them.But let’s face it maybe imagine and that line was John realizing life’s true wealth was not material things at all. I’m a fan of both bands seen the Dan but not The Beatles.
"Preach" is the word - rich evangelical mega-church preachers asking the poor to tithe. Then, keeping it all and not using it to do good works for the poor.
Me too. Leave it to Steely Dan to troll John Lennon🤨🤑😴 Imagine if musicians were not allowed to daydream or dream and were relegated to writing cynical songs about other musicians and the occasional joyous song about their coke-dealer buddies. You'd probably end up with Steely Dan.
A gentleman by the name of Elliott Randall was a session guitarist, who for many years, sat in on many of Steely Dans tracks. I can say he was a friend of mine a long time ago.
When Walter Becker passed away they put his equipment up in an estate sale online. I looked at his equipment for three days and still didn’t finish seeing it all. He had an obscene amount of guitars! Enough for a small country.
@@wylierichardson-tu6zs Years ago, I read a few rock&roll books that gave a factoid or story on that Eagles track. One of the most prominent rumors back in the day was the connection between the Eagles, and Anton LeVay, the leader of a Satanic church in California.
I loved Steely Dan. Good point there about the obscenely rich and famous laying down supposed inspirational ideas for the working classes... while walking hand in hand into fantastic estates... Look at Yoko in this film segment - totally spaced out, detached?
I remember shopping in a small record shop in SoCal in 1971 or ‘72 and seeing album with Fagan and Walter Becker-then Steely Dan, by their older group Ultimate Spinach.
Elton John sent a Christmas card to the Lennons in New York, where they occupied an entire floor of the Dakota Building. He inscribed: "Imagine six apartments/It isn't hard to do/One is full of fur coats/Another just for shoes".
😆😆😆
Elton is da man!
The room full of fur coats was refrigerated to protect the natural animal hair from deterioration and insects. The room had almost 100 full-length mink and other highly valued fur coats. Elton John probably had a large room to hold his vast collection of designer eye-glasses.
Elton John has always been too harsh on himself.
Elton - infinitely better songwriter than Paul McCartney has ever been
The rich are always telling the poor to "Don't worry, be happy."
It's part of the gaslighting
And go to my concert!
"You will own nothing, and you will be happy!" Some Rich Guy
they are all party to Mr. Klaus' view of the poor, i.e., let them eat crickets
Who truly believes that the rich relate to the ordinary folks?
My daughter graduated from Bard College - where Steely Dan originally formed. They are still legends there and . . .everywhere else.
I read somewhere that Chevy Chase played drums with Fagan and Becker, not sure if he was actually in a band with them or just maybe at a party or something?
Not at my house, the snobs.
@@vmguy1 If that happened, then it was purely for show. Fagen and Becker were notorious for getting each song perfect in the studio. They would audition many different musicians to play a single part in a song, and only use the one that was best and fit their vision. And even then they might do 100 takes to get it perfect. Brian Wilson was the same. Essentially, Steely Dan was just Fagen and Becker and studio musicians until lately as they started touring.
@@vmguy1 Chevy Chase was also at Bard, possibly the connection. Some of the Beastie Boys went for a short while.
@@timthetoolman5522 Chase played with them in college, before they were Steely Dan and long before Chase was famous.
This is great. I thought it was rare that people saw the disturbing contradictions in that song. Love Steely Dan.
The clue is the title of the song. What are the contradictions?
John Lennon reminds me of today's out of touch celebs who preach to us not to waste fuel, yet fly their own jets, and preach to us all these things that they themselves don't do, but we should. I was born in 1960...I love Paul McCartney...I never liked John, and I despise his wife, especially what she did to his son, Julian. Out of touch, greedy, selfish, disgusting people, too ignorant and narcissistic to see themselves for what they truly are! On a high note though, I love Steely Dan!
Com-ism/atheism. I always thought it was obvious what the twit was virtue signaling about. The man didn't have the sense or balls to tell his wife she couldn't sing a lick. So he bluffed and virtue signaled their way into oblivion.
A favorite memory ; Listening to “FM” on the fm driving around back in the day. Thanks Steely Dan.
No Static At All!
Great long distance driving music is "Jessica" Allman Brothers Band at least I think it is.
I have always felt the same. I call Imagine the hypocrite's song. I don't want to be lectured by a guy living in the Dakota whose wife had a separate apartment just for her furs.
And it was played at carters funeral..isn’t that weird?
@@susangallen4548 he just said imagine. Nothing else. You people are all insane with your hate
John Lennon left his first wife and son destitute and devastated. No nothing. If it wasn’t for Sir Paul McCartney, they would’ve lived a completely different life. His concept of peace was, Leave me alone and don’t judge my disgusting actions.
I was going to mention that too. No love or peace at all, or w the Beatles demise. Then he had a mistress for 18 months. After his death, Yoko left his wife and son an extremely low amount. It was criminal. How disgusting.
He was a communist. Which is odd because he hated Jews. Typical weirdo
Well, he was a vociferous communist.
Not true.
Lennon had his taste of women in his ollidnuf. What an ylgu jap traf.
I'm 72 and grew up with Beatles music. I came to despise John Lennon and especially Yoko Ono. The way he treated Cynthia and Julian is despicable. He deserves mocking.
❤❤❤❤
I'm 65 and grew up with their music as well. I also had come to despise Lennon and saw him as an arrogant hypocrite back before his untimely death. When the news broke that he was shot to death, I felt absolutely nothing; no joy nor sorrow - nothing! his wife Yoko isn't even worth commenting on.
Unfortunately, Mark David Chapman felt the same way and yet there are far too many that are well out in front of any vanity, greed or other sins of John Lennon. Am I right Luigi?
Yoko is too wrapped up in herself. Drugs have snared some, sex others. What kept John so enthralled? We know it wasn't any artistic talent.
@@hootinouts🎯
Mark David Chapman would’ve been released yrs ago if he’d killed one of us.
Steely Dan is simply pure unadulterated genius on the highest level. I didn't notice anyone mentioning how they got
their name. Everyone probably already knows.
BUT WAS IT A PLUG-IN OR BATTERY POWERED?
@@cactusblob1688 steam powered.
To this day I still use Steely Dan tunes to demo stereo gear. Not many better bands to do this with, and the songs are still fresh today.
Me too, also Alan Parsons
My car has garbage speakers and only the amp built into the head unit, and Steely Dan still sounds phenomenal. Just all around expertly crafted music. Perhaps not coincidentally, I mostly listen to Steely Dan while driving.
If you went into MOST stereo shops you would find Alan Parsons. One of the best sound engineers who did Abby Road and Dark Side of the Moon.
What's a 'stereo?'
@@williamchiafos3889 100%
Hmmm. It's possible to see "Only a Fool" as an answer to "Imagine," but in this video I didn't hear any real connection showing Fagan and Becker intended that. On the other hand, Costello's line--"Wasn't it a millionaire who said imagine no possessions?" --leaves no doubt as to the target of his skepticism.
Good point but I still think he may be right about the true meaning of this song's lyrics.
It only feels like a few parts are directed at him, not a huge deal imo
When you realize that Imagine is a hateful anti western society, pro atheists pro communist propaganda piece. Then you get it. I just wish I had heard about their connection sooner.
John Lennon was a pos in my opinion. He deserves to be derided. Particularly for how he allowed Ono to treat his son Julian.
Pretty sure they literally said it was targeted at Lennon in an interview.
Elvis Costello's "Mighty Like a Rose" (from which the line you've mentioned) doesn't have a bad song on it. Really great.
Cheers
Elton John was a friend of Lennon he rewrote the lyrics and gave them to John as a joke. "Imagine six apartments, it isn't hard to do, one is full of fur coats, another's full of shoes."
As to Lennon’s abandonment issues as a child, here are a couple things to know about his mental health and his likelihood to throw violent tantrums: (1) Lennon almost killed a child, I believe, because of his inability to drive a motor vehicle at some point. (2) his contradictory relationship with money and wealth could be to insulate himself from others. I know that, for some reason, he loved to play Monopoly and hold certain acquisitions that speak of wealth, luxury, and fear of poverty(?). On the other hand, Yoko Ono, as a designer and so on, probably influenced Lennon and his material choices in dress. In conclusion, Lennon does not come to mind as much as a rich man flaunting his wealth; he is indeed a mentally sick man trying to get by undiscovered as a (flawed) person.
Elton John wrote "Can Johnny come out and play" after John Lennon died.
Elton could just as well be describing himself. He was that era's Liberace after all. A hypocrite calling out other hypocrites.
Nearly every Steely Dan song has a message you can spend a lifetime trying to decipher.
Or as my girlfriend used to say, "Their lyrics don't make any sense." It was hard to argue with her on that one.
Hey Dancer, ever the rabbit hole diver, I’ve wasted a lot of time in the past trying to analyze Becker & Fagen’s lyrics. I’ve resigned myself to just enjoy what I’m hearing musically first, and the analysis is just not that “important” anymore.
I’ve heard all the interpretive stories of their deep meaning…and sorry - but I’m just not convinced they want or need ME (of all people) to try and decode the message.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar…
@@danielh9844, if your girlfriend is anything like mine, it's pointless to argue with her *on any topic.* 🤗🤗🤗
Each to their own, I suppose..
Yes, who really was Josie?
I was a DJ at a small station in central Vermont in '72. Went to Baltimore to visit my very hip cousin who turned me on to SD ("Do It Again"). Bought a copy of the album and played the vinyl on air, for the first time in that area, I suspect. Was that really half a century ago?
Yes...time Rolls...Laugh it Up.
Yep hard to believe, but true. Time flies while you're having fun.
Wow, back when DJs could actually do things like that. Radio and music was so much better.
"Imagine no possessions..." John left his son, Julian, out of his will.
He left everything to his wife, apparently trusting her to take care of things fairly...
@@QueenAstroParticle I heard that he had left it all to her to be used for singing lessons.
I heard that Julian actually had to buy some of the things from Yoko that should have been his birthrights.
This gets said a lot. But most don’t anticipate getting assassinated at 40. Even if a person gets sick at that age they have trouble writing out a will
Imagine no possession Yoko
Aja is one of the best albums of all time
That's a fact
This song isn't part of "Aja."
Saw them do that album at the Beacon in NY some years back.Was great except for some 22 yr olds standing and dancing making noice,was ready to throw a punch the ushers had to come by and stop them,more than once,America for you.
@@trailblazer1047 The nerve of some people, dancing and carrying on at a concert!
Truth.
I remember someone doing a one line review of the song at the time "Imagine John with no possessions"
"Imagine" is basically the Communist Manifesto set to a catchy tune.
@@Nzbdjcnx
What am I biased about exactly?
@@someguy7805that you feel socialism is a bad thing. Shame on you.
@@MrDavidknigge
Shame on you for apparently being ignorant of history.
@@someguy7805 I'm on your side. Just clarifying @NoTime84
Elvis Costello's track, "The Other Side of Summer": "Was it a millionaire who said 'imagine no possessions'? A poor little schoolboy who said 'We don't need no lessons'".
"You know why music critics like Elvis Costello ? Music critics look like Evis Costello" - David Lee Roth
@@roscorabbit3517 Imagine looking like David Lee Roth. OUCH!
Also, I bet David would get lost in a Costello lyric. Likely too many big syllables and thinky metaphors.
@@traviswall1982 Dave actually is highly intelligent. The only front men I've seen w that much stage presence are Plant and Bowie; and Bowie had to work at it. Elvis is one of those guys that can't sing yet insists on doing it anyway. Far too many in that category. Songs are ok, I'm not into singer/songwriters .I did appreciate his SNL song change tho.
"Imagine there's no money, it easy if you're rich."
In other words, "Money's not important . . . unless you don't have any."
Imagine there's no money, it's easy if your rich; lennon's an efin as*h*le, Yoko's a real b*t*h.
Money can’t buy happiness, but it does make the misery easier to bear.
"I said pretend you've got no money, and she just laughed and said 'ha, you're so funny! I said 'yeah?'..."
"john"= the average worker "lennon"= communist "imagine"=commie love song thanks for nothing tavistock institute
Summary: The Beatles 'Imagine' was mocked by Steely Dan with 'Only a Fool Would Say that'
Imagine was a solo work by Lennon. Not a Beatles song.
They didnt "model themselves on the Beatles". They just didnt like touring.
No. Becker was a perfectionist.
@@michaelfallon2527 They both were known as perfectionists.
I literally laughed out loud when he said that.
Yup.
Correct. Why would Steely Dan model themselves after a multi-millionaire who when he wasn't writing gibberish like "Imagine no possessions?" liked to run around a club in LA wearing a Kotex pad on his head ?.
The older you get as a man in this world, the more you understand and appreciate Steely Dan
Exactly
Very talented & not fully appreciated at the time
S*ckd back then and still does. Thas facts man. 😂
I agree completely. One of the best bands ever, musically and lyrically.
As a 14 year old, I thought it was a nice song. As a 24 year old, I realized more what it meant. By age 54 I remember having experienced a deeper feeling and thought process about it.
A multi millionaire rock star telling me to have no possessions has never sat well with me and I applaud Donald Fagan for writing the song. See I'm not the only one.
Lennon was such a hypocrite , talking about “peace” while he beat up his first wife, Cynthia. He was also notorious for getting drunk and brawling with anyone who pis#ed him off ( the May Pang-Los Angeles -Lost Weekend ). Mr Peace and Love, my ass.
he said Imagine
Fully agree and that’s why he was killed too not that it’s a reason to kill but what a hypocrite ! RIP Walter . Walter and Donald were both geniuses. Thank God we still have Donald.
20 years ago when I was younger and certainly dumber I would have disagreed with you. Thankfully many of us, including me got older and wiser. To the greater degree, John was just another boring virtue signaler. And Yoko Ono? OMG... WTF. But his marrying her only serves to support my feelings on the matter today. My god she's a tw*t.
It was, and is, an aspiration, but only an unintelligent goon would think otherwise!
2:12 - the name of the song is "Only a Fool Would Say That." It's literally the subject of your video, and you got the name wrong.
Thanks, I didn’t want to watch the whole video.
This was the remark I was looking for, THANK YOU!
He also got the date of imagine wrong, they said it was written in 1971. Ha ha ha….. just off by 10 years
@@shortaybrownit was written in 1971.
That is AI for you, getting the facts wrong and then boring you to death with the reading of the script.
I'll always be grateful I got to see these legends in a live performance. They were doing one of their rare tours, and were at Irvine amphitheater c. 1997, normally I really dislike crowds and lines but to see these two greats, I felt like I was walking on air while cold sober. Becker was dressed in jeans like an every man, which he wasn't of course, but Donald Fagen proceeded to take over the show dressed in 90's dark casual suit with no tie that was the style. Fagen's performance was effortless and it was obvious we were watching a master at work; watching him and Becker perform as Steely Dan for one of the last times, was an experience I remember with reverence. Sadly Walter Becker left us in 2017 - but I'll always remember the time I saw two legends of music perform live.
Me too. Once, outside Scranton, PA. The band was like one huge instrument, all parts working perfectly together. Loved them from their first album.
Yup. Saw them in '93 and '94. Unforgettable.
I was at that show - unfort NOT very sober. But... I swear you could drop the needle on any song they were playing and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the live song and the LP version. They were just that good. Definitely in the top #5 concerts I've been able to go to.
Watched their live performance in Minneapolis in 1997. They were great!!
Thanks for the description. I got every record the Dan ever made but didn't get to see them live. They always inspired me to be a better musician. Thanks for filling out the image.
The older I get the more I like Steely Dan.
It happens.
Less.
It’s old fart 💨 music
@@danielprune7921I resemble that remark!
Truth!
I have always liked Steely Dan since the 1970's
Same here.
I have all of Steely Dan's music and saw them twice. In my top five bands of all time.
I agree.' Imagine' is an atheistic, utopian song by a man whom only saw the world from a balcony. He wrote some great stuff with McCartney, but his solo work was angry. He had no peace in his life until Sean, and even then, look how he treated Julian. Here is a life who missed God, imho.
What’s wrong with atheism? Almost everybody is atheist since chose one god and reject the others 😂
Imagine was written after his primal therapy (A. Janov). Arthur Janov's psychology was materialistic, i.e. atheistic.
Their Royal Scam is a masterpiece,instrumentally and lyrically.
Completely correct.
Yes! I love that album!
Shall check it out thankyou
Clean this mess up or we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale.
Just get em all outta here.
Is there gas in the car?
(Yes there's gas in the caah!)
I think the people down the hall know who you are!
Nobody was singing about stuff like that!!
@@davedecker1725love that song, it’s about owsley Stanley.
Old school has references to g Gordon liddy lol
I don't know about anyone else, but it seems to me that "Do It Again" has lyrics describing various addictions or vices. So I love to play it on the jukebox as I indulge my Bowling addiction. It really is something!
Bowling is a great addiction. Good for you!
You need to rock "Miss Marlene" by Fagen. "Can’t you hear the balls rumble? Miss Marlene, We’re still bowling Every Saturday night"
@@kamikariad Nice!
Dr. Wu will cure the addiction. ;)
The dude abides man
Saw The Dan live 3 times…they were FANTASTIC ! One of my favorite bands of all time. RIP Walter Becker.
lucky bastard! Fantastic! 🤝👍
I saw them in April 1974 at the San Diego Sports Arena I was 18yo. I bragged all thru the 80's that I was one of the very few people who had seen them live, then the 90's came and everybody had seen them live! I also saw them here in Houston in the 90's. But yeah, what a band! I was dancing like crazy on the floor of the Sports Arena to my favorite song, Bodhisattva.
@@AndySalinger33 They were sooooo good ! I don’t think that SD got the recognition that it deserved; BUT I’m so happy that they were inducted by the R&R HOF in 2001, before Walter passed. It blows my mind that they only received 4 Grammys, and not until the 2000s.
@@graciesmom62 right on. I’m with you. And yeah, even at the time they were inducted, I recall feeling so glad it was happening while they were both still with us! And though I realize SD is highly regarded by people like us, I agree…they don’t get nearly the accolades and adoration their art rightly deserves. They were simply too smart for this world. Their music was too advanced for its time. And thank God that’s the case, eh? It sure makes for some good listening. As in…a whole lifetime of listening. They are the soundtrack. Cheers. And send my regards to Gracie…wherever she may be.
@@AndySalinger33 Thank you, Andy. Gracie has passed, but always missed.
John was singing about Communism
Oh, thanks for clarifying
New World Order. I never liked that song....imagine. clearly, he didn't believe in God.
It sounds very much like a Klaus Schwab quote, "You will own nothing and be happy. I think John was announcing the NWO, and here we go.
Donald Fagan can be polarizing, arrogant, opinionated, and cynical but he's certainly not stupid! He's got a razor sharp wit, and he's pretty well spot on with his criticism.
Fagan had "the courage to be disliked" (as Bruce Lee might have put it).
And good thing he did. Otherwise we wouldn't have any Steely Dan songs.
Kinda sounds like Trump.
@@terryboyer1342 Complete opposite of Trump. complete. Intelligent, sincere, hard working, creates things of value. On one of their later albums he sung "That right-wing hooey sure stunk up the joint".
@@granthurlburt4062 Yeah all those Jobs Trump created were nothing of value to the people that have them.
@@granthurlburt4062 yeah, almost as bad as that left wing hooey!
Watching the video of Imagine with Yoko and John in the gigantic mansion always seemed a little ironic to me.
I didn't truly appreciate the genius of Steely Dan until I was in my 40's. They're brilliant.
I remember Can't Buy a Thrill but I was pretty busy with young living at the time and there was so much amazing music going on. Their catalog is just brilliant and today, I play them almost every day.
I was in my 50s, having listened mostly to bop. Felt right at home right away
I can relate
I didn’t know this song was a rip on Lennon’s Imagine til I was 70!
I loved Steely Dan already.
I love Steely Dan even more now.
McCartney himself said John would have hated being turned into "Martin Luther Lennon".
They both suffered the same fate in the end, though.
Steely Dan remains forever one of the cerebral and talented bands of all time.
ok, ok...
Cerebral & masters of tongue in cheek self abasement. "The kid will live & learn..., As he watches his bridges burn..., From the point of no return...,😅!
At last some sanity. Well said that man
Yer so talented that they mis interpret John. He said imagine no possessions. He didn't say do it ffs
@@ACDZ123- Get over your hero worship. Lennon was a hypocrite and an ass, and his music self-important to the point of being trite. Fagan and Becker nailed it, seeing him for exactly what he was.
My earliest childhood memory was recognizing "Dirty Work" at age 3. It came on in my parents Corolla two days in a row when i was in the back seat with my family as my dad ran errands. I said outloud this is that dirty work song. It was my first cognizance. The year was 1979 or 1980. Steely Dan will always be my favorite band and i still have never done it without the fez on!
I wanna be a holy man too. We're about the same age with the same good SD memories. Cheers.
One of the few good songs they did.
@@daverichardson924horrible take. Steely Dan has countless. Kings is 10 times the song off the same album. You don’t know anything
Only wrote a few good songs? I wouldn't even agree with the statement "they only wrote a few bad songs!" They arguably are one of the top 5 greatest American bands of the 70s & 80s.
@@user-zo8hh4dv3b agreed. They made so many classic songs. They aged like fine wine. Truly one of a kind. My favorite album is Katy lied
Lennon was a cornball formulaic songwriter. No need to pity him, he did more than enough of that on his own.
he is talking about a world that doesn't exist. I think that's where the word "imagine" comes in. Could be wrong, but I'm not the only one.
With today’s globalists wanting us to own nothing and be happy by 2030, seems it will exist sooner than never.
And if you're rich, you have the luxury to sit idly contemplating utopia.
@@markpawlowski4863 He was a hard working musician who brought a lot of joy to millions of people though his music. What are you up to?
@@markpawlowski4863That's why theres half a billion Buddists. Unlike Christian, Muslims and Jews, they haven't started any wars. Must work.
Pure Marxist communist drivel given to him by his guru/cult leader Yoko so called wife. She like most upper echelon communists is a rip roaring money hungry creep. She tried to cheat Julien out of his inheritance and was a major reason John rarely saw his son. She did NOT want to share at all. She just wants everyone else to so she doesn't have to pay taxes. Champagne socialist is there any other kind?
Ugly, greedy rich folks telling everyone else to share that crust of bread and that 5 to a room tenement apt. Yeah sure when you share what you have and life in a one room apt! What no then shut up John or all those over paid fools of 2020. Hollywood was allowed to work while mom and pop places when bankrupt.. So compassionate don't you think. Try tone deaf and condescending.
I like John Lennon and I also like Paul McCartney and Steely Dan. Jeez.....do we really have to choose and pick a winner ?
I like John Lennon too. And I also agree with Steely Dan's take on John Lennon's song. There. I didn't choose sides or pick a winner.
Just thought it was a lovely song. That’s all.
There is only one winner! John Lennon! Steely Dan has A long way to go YET to equal what John Lennon and The Beatles gave to the World!! Steely Dan didn't even get the real meaning of "IMAGINE"
@@billmiller6274 Mary Ann
Thank you
Reelin in the Years is 50 years old. It sounds nothing like music today but is still modern. Excellence never fades
It's one of the first songs I remember hearing on the radio in my mom's Pacer when I was 3 or 4 years old. It's a gem that I've always loved.
it helps that recording technology was finally able to capture sounds accurately. had SD been born earlier, they'd be stuck with whatever tech there was in earlier decades. makes a HUGE difference. Timing is everything.
@@guscooger5366 Steely Dan also said that if the sophistication of the music matched the sophistication of the technology, we'd all be listening to Debussy. 🙂
Almost all music today is generic sound-alike music - anysong by anyband.
I just learned last weekend that Steely Dan was a band started at Bard College, and originally had three members including a drummer named Chevy Chase. Chase was expelled, and the other two stayed as a band. And it looks like both sides ended up quite successful.
I also read years ago that Chevy Chase was their drummer, but I thought he quit on his own.
Steely Dan. True MUSICIANSHIP
More like truly great writing. That was their strength. Aja became the first where they relied upon only or mostly hired guns
Fagan's song, "IGY/What A Beautiful World" speaks exactly of what Lennon wrote in "Imagine". Either this too is tounge-in-cheek or he was just coming around to the idea of making a better world tomorrow, today.
IGY was written about the international geophysical year, which Donald Fagen experienced as a kid, in 1957-58. He was expressing the optimism of the late 50s in America, the IGY had all these great plans but fell short, much like today with various causes
@@paulhundy2986 Fagen is now 75 and Lennon would have been 73, so they likely both were aware of IGY in '57/'58. I do agree that "Imagine" is a bit maudlin, Sometimes, we need optimistic persons who say foolish things sometimes.
@@jameswaters3939 Good to put these artists into their contexts, particularly as entertainers of complex ideas jammed into 3-to-5 minute pleasures. Lennon: "I don't believe in Buddha". "God" is a test, quite as extreme as "Imagine". Meanwhile "Bodhisattva" sounds too good to be mere satire, but, yes, it's tongue in cheek- SD's detachment is an end in itself while Lennon consistently searches for deeper belief. Lennon (83 this year) is a cynic too, but rarely portrays other people while Fagen and Becker rarely portray themselves. Lennon's work is filled with ways to legitimate something as childlike and elegant as "Imagine". ...."Why on earth are we here? Surely not to live in pain and fear."
@@kanlithunder The wry & sly and just the musicianship - S.D. - best ever. Good analysis. S.D. warps my mind with great lyrics, best melodies, just takes me on a ride.
@@paulhundy2986Exactly! Well said! I was a kid in the 1950’s and received a yearbook describing the International Geophysical Year. I never forgot it so when “IGY” came out I knew exactly what Fagen was describing.
(Fun fact: I printed the album cover for “The Nightfly” by Fagen which included “IGY”. 😁)
The 1977 album "Aja" was the pinnacle of their career. I fell "Gaucho" was a close second.
Do yourself a favor and listen to ‘Royal Scam’ in its entirety
✌🏽
I can't pick a favorite Dan album. Although I think the first four (Can't Buy A Thrill to Katy Lied) are slightly stronger than the next three (Royal Scam to Gaucho). And the "comeback" albums were pretty weak.
One could interpret Lennon's lyrics as one who has had it all letting us know materialism isn't the path to fulfillment. On the other hand, I'd like to give materialism a chance.
Most underrated band. I swear I havent heard a song by them that I wasn't vibing to.
Underappreciated. A lot of people dont get even slightly complex music. And lyrics that have different words than you usually hear, and references to places and events not everyone has heard of. I think a lot of people who listen t them also read books!
Hardly underrated
Steeley Dan never sound dated. Always fresh.
@@sloburnjo If ANYTHING, they HAVE to be the MOST overrated band ever!
How are they underrated?
I always noted that John Lennon was playing "Imagine" on a pricey piano in a beautiful house.
It's satirical.
Apartment
@@terryenglish7132Nope. It was an estate!
@@FrankHerrera-qr1mh I heard it was shot at the Dakota
@@terryenglish7132 Yikes!
Fair enough. I've gone full circle, having lived through John Lennon worship, and seen the anguish of high school classmates when he was shot. In the end we have to accept that there may be people who accomplish wonderful things, but those same people can be shitty individuals in real life. Whether John or George were as wonderful or as awful as some claim, they impacted generations in tremendous ways.
It’s the devils work. He can manipulate and deceive us into believing crap like a stupid Beatles song is worthwhile. It is garbage.
Then of course Paul, never moved overseas and became a tax exile, continued grafting away making music because he loves doing it, has been a clean living vegitarian for decades, set up a school for young musicians, works for numerous charities and travels on public transport.
EXACTLY. It was from reading a volume of Caro's biog. of LBJ I came to think this. LBJ was pretty manipulative reaching the presidency and then he did wonderful things for the common people-the Voting Rights Act, rural electrification, etc. One can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Yeah, it's the impact of that song on legions of vacuous groupies and fanbois that I condemn Lennon for
He made the deal though
My favorite part of this video is at 4:24 when the ad for the next video covers Yoko's face.
@@connieo1332how unbelievably shallow
@@pyenapple😂😂🤣🤣
@@connieo1332John was into some serious drugs.
Lennon was much better at describing his own life than some imagined one.
Imagine, one of his own songs...
...oh, so you knew John Lennon? No? Then how can you spectulate...
@@keithkoenig5320 If you're a Beatles fan there are plenty of interviews where John Lennon explains the motivation behind his songs, Help being the most poignant. He was also the first to say if a song was just wordplay & non sense such as Hey Bulldog.
Imagine was an idealized view of existence.
I never took Imagine as telling people to abandon anything, possessions, God, religion….anything. Lennon was putting a thought experiment to music.
@CornbreadOracle "You never took." Good for you, but the rest of us take it another way.
"It's just a bloody song, mate." - John Lennon
It is a song that sucks.
"Let's write us a Swimming Pool"-Paul McCartney
Imagine he was on downers that day......
Your correct it's only a song!
Yup, love Lennon but don't like this particular song.
At least Lennon didn't want to write*******SILLY******* Love songs. And there's nothing wrong with that, if you would like to know.
I had bought their greatest hits CD from 1972 to 78, And in 2000 and they were least “Two Against Nature”. I finally saw the band in 2009. Fagen and Becker Pretty much kept it in the studio releasing album after album. It was very ingenious of the two of them not basing their success on showmanship and more with the songwriting. It was also one of Michael McDonald’s first gigs as a session artist before joining the Doobie brothers in 1976 full-time.
They also have 2003's Everything Must Go
at that point The Doobies were dead to me.
No disrespect to Becker or Fagen (they are musical geniuses), but deciding to forego touring to create albums in the studio was done by another popular band a few years earlier.
4⁴⁴4
John Lennon reminds me of today's out of touch celebs who preach to us not to waste fuel, yet fly their own jets, and preach to us all these things that they themselves don't do, but we should. I was born in 1960...I love Paul McCartney...I never liked John, and I despise his wife, especially what she did to his son, Julian. Out of touch, greedy, selfish, disgusting people, too ignorant and narcissistic to see themselves for what they truly are! On a high note though, I love Steely Dan!
I think it would have made a huge difference if, in the song Imagine, John had said "I wonder if WE can," instead of "you". I saw a video of him singing it live once where he did make the change...
1] John was known for notoriously slipping up and forgetting lyrics -listen to the Beatles recorded version of _"Tell Me Why"_ and you'll hear him have a bit of pronoun trouble… *that was left in the final mix.*
2] Since the narrator/singer is asking _you_ to imagine something it is because he or she have *_already imagined it._*
Nah.
I'm not sure why the interpretation came to be that John Lennon is singing to only poor people. Yeah, John had money and was a pretentious artsy-fartsy type and Steely Dan were resentful that the only real hit they had was intended as a mockery of Bob Dylan, not in their own style.
But I always thought of it as criticizing the conservative orthodoxy of classism, war and especially religion. IDK that Lennon's ideal hinged upon control/obedience and intolerance like those he was challenging.
I'm not convinced that it requires a vow of poverty. Hippy-dippy, yes, but hypocritical?
I agree. I’ve been listening to (and playing) Imagine for decades. The more I think about the lyrics the more clearly they seem to be an indictment of capitalism, organized religion and nationalism. It has literally never crossed my mind that he was suggesting anyone take a view of poverty or speaking to the poor or disadvantaged.
Vow of poverty…not “view”
For me Steely Dan is like a great meal. Every bite is layered with flavor and depth and leaves you wanting more
SD wrote a lot of catchy songs but they never inspired me like the Beatles did.
Wow....... I like both......... But SD is within my frequency of perfect taste! Both were great in their own right! But I like nearly everything SD, not so much Beetles! They were of my sisters generation!
Sd where easily the equal of the fab four I'm a fan of both sd are a underrated band they deserve far more praise 👏
Haha 😂
I listened to the Beatles growing up but I BOUGHT Steely Dan albums. I wore the grooves out on every one!
They were always a unique band.
It seems John had profound childhood losses. Through his youth, he covered his grief and fears with bravado that often came out as bitter sarcasm and cruel anger. As a young man he would mug drunks and, when one resisted, John beat him severely then feared he'd left the man for dead. His moderate poly-substance use disorder was growing at this time, a disease which he'd try in vain to control. His brilliant wit and songwriting talent enabled him to use the Beatles to build a broad support network which enabled his addictive disease. As his disease became severe he became increasingly violent, seeking bar fights as entertainment with his friend Harry Nillson. He once grabbed Peter Lawford by the collar and put his fist to Lawford's face (Lennon sent an explicit apology the next day which confirms the story). Demonstrating hippie values was a feeble best effort to counter his rage and self-hatred; he was powerless over his childhood grief and illness, and his addictions were enabled by so many people, that he didn't stand a chance. -Doug Pratt, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
They’re both and all great, it’s not an either/or music is a both/and, there’s no need to but boundaries on taste. Grateful for all their music!
It's political of course. Lennon, the intellectual socialist vs SD, the down to earth conservative. It gets people thinking at the very least.
Trumpers with guitars!
Love Steely Dan, clever lyrics and sublime music that doesn't sound like any other band. I never knew this song was about John Lennon though 😂 Funny. I'm a Beatles fan too but John was no angel and himself no stranger to songs that mock others! How do you sleep? 😳
Only Bradley can sing sublime songs
When he wrote "How do you sleep," he was responding to three McCartney ditties on Ram that had attacked him, George and Ringo. "But he doesn't publish his lyrics, and I do," John said on U.S. tv, so he still gets blamed for a biting song. Ringo replied to Ram with his own smash hit "Back Off Boogaloo," and the second song on George Harrison's Living in the Material World was "Sue Me, Sue You Blues." So it started with McCartney publicly attacking--and suing--the others.
Neither Donald Fagen nor Walter Becker ever said the song was about Lennon. Only this rag is saying it.
@@scurvybro8850 Also, "Imagine no possessions" isn't asking poor people to give up their crust of bread. I'm a fan of both bands, anyway.
@@dreamfable It's been over fifty years and people still don't get it. They forced Paul into a contract with Allen Klein that he did not want, and the only way out of it was to sue the corporation, which -- unfortunately -- included the other three Beatles.
From the Tavistock Institute to the steps of the Dakota Building, via the lost weekend and Imagine… there’s so much left untold.
Peace 🏴
Michael Mcdonald who met Skunk Baxter through his sessions as a vocalist/piano player for Steely Dan said it wasn't uncommon for him to do hundreds of takes on a song !!!!!! Using as many as 3 entire bands they kept floating around. Peg took 9 guitarists to get the right solo. 😮
Yup. Finding the right guitar solo for Peg was an ordeal. Becker and Fagen were almost crazed in their perfectionism. It always seems to have paid off though.
Yet Steve Gadd recorded aja one of the most coveted drum tracks of all time in 1 take.
I'm not surprised Peg is a brilliant song
@@sarahwelty9223 it is brilliant. The guitar work is sublime.
Skunk Baxter didn't mind SD's perfectionism. He said the duo spent half an hour finding just the right chair for him to sit on. He didn't care as he was being paid $300 an hour. SD is great, but not on the level of Lennon or McCartney.
I heard a Lennon interview where he says Imagine is an internal dialogue with himself (not preaching to others). Imagine is also supposedly based on Yoko's writings from her book Grapefruit.
Yeah, well, Yoko is so far up her arse and away from reality.
@@thedolphin5428 no, she isn't
John's lyrics were strong and some just didn't get it, like these steely Dan guys
@@joesmoker3378
Nah. Steely Dan just pointed out the glaring hypocrisy of the words versus the lifestyle reality of John and Yoko.
And even if Yoko had a hand in the writing, it is a soppy piece of fantasy dreaming which none of his/their fans (or a bunch of famous ceiebrities) could ever live by.
The song still makes me vomit till this day, and I turn it off whenever it comes on.
Well then, he should have kept it to himself. Why release a poem or a song if you dont want others to hear it and love it and believe it?
Lennon treated his son like shit. That's enough for me.
And he beat his wives, was a fake activist, fetishized his own mother, Lennon was a garbage person. I like Paul better and always have.
Lennon, deadbeat dad.
Imagine...the Beatles: four 20-something British boys, shocked, overwhelmed, and bewildered by fantastic success. Pulled in many opposing directions by alien forces, people, and agencies they had no mechanisms to cope with. And they did, thought, said much nonsense. Is that surprising?
As a die hard BEATLES fan I am not blind to the fact that John was not a God and would even hate that thought...( Even though he famously said they were bigger than Jesus..).. He was a flawed man, but without a doubt a true genius. I always think of Paul being the HEART of the band and John the SOUL. STEELY DAN were the Coen Brothers of music and they made great music with a sardonic 'wink wink' which I would think John would appreciate. A lot of great music from both bands.
Lennon talked about love yet dumped his son, spoke about kindness but got into fights, and no possessions while living in that penthouse. And Lennon being p-whipped by Ono was a major factor in the bands breakup. Lennon reminded me of that guy who has no male friends because he is under his woman’s control.
@@williamgullett5911 Paul wrote Hey Jude for Julian and was more of a father figure to him. John was a Man Child and maybe why he needed a mother figure like Yoko who was much older than him. A truly flawed genius.
@lonwolf8245 Sounds like his contemporaries didn't like John much. Steely Dan wrote a couple songs about Lennon that mocked him. Supposedly Elton John mocked Lennon by asking how a guy who talked about no possessions could have a huge penthouse. Imagine. The Beatles were good, they just weren't my favorite
"Bigger" meaning "more popular". Although Jesus was and is pretty popular, too.
Seems pretty obvious the members of the Beatles were swapped with lookalike replacements for the Pepper album onwards. The lawyer and author Cynthia F. Hodges a.k.a. Tina Foster and AurigaBooks online has spent many years uncovering this as a Beatles fan herself.
A sharper parody of "Imagine" was buried in Elvis Costello's The Orate Side Of Summer" ... :
Was it a millionaire who said "Imagine no possessions". a poor little schoolboy said "We don't need no lessons"
[ouch]
John praised Costello's 'What's So Funny About Peace, love and Understanding.' He didn't dole cudos to his peers often. Could you imagine to have just read the Playboy interview in which John gave the rare shout-out to him only to be utterly shocked hours later in learning of his violent death by five bullets to the back? Elvis had only the highest regard for the Beatles and John. Besides doing a cover of his song 'Bulldog,' as did the Foo Fighters(Dave Grohl), he believe it or not covered Yoko Ono's song 'Walking On Thin Ice.' Elvis lyric you're referring to probably was a jab at Steely Dan looking at a grownup song like a kid who fights over toys or all jazzed for the new Nike shoes Daddy bought for him.
It's a stretch to say it's about John Lennon specifically. Like a lot of Dan tracks, it's ambiguous, capable of many interpretations. It comes across as a piece of bitterness, siding with the common man against the iniquity of cheap but convincing-sounding easy solutions. Given their attacks on cults on other tracks, this feels like one of their generalised ironic commentaries on the state of political theatre and the games of the rich compared to the realities faced by most.
If I grew up in Great Neck, I'd be a bit queasy about life too.
Many grew up in the shadow of the Beatles. Yes, I understood the meaning of their songs once I got a bit olde & started liking "boys" @ 14-15 years old, the time Steely Dan became so popular. I believe many, many solo artists & rock/Pop groups resented The Beatles, especially John Lennon. It's the musician's world where there is too much ego. I loved Lennon & still do, regardless of his antics, but I also admired Fagan & the group, because they were different, highly talented, & a good piece of my teenage years.Those years in the '70's were AWESOME, thanks to the great musicians.
The song was not written about Lennon. Totally made up by the author of the article
@@petefogel2133Prove it.
Having only gotten into "The Dan" around the time of Katy Lied, there are several of their older songs I haven't paid much attention to, so it was interesting to hear about this song's reference to Imagine, which is fairly obvious, now that you've pointed it out. I differ with you, though, in terms of how you interpret Becker's and Fagen's attitude as lyric writers. You must have noticed that a lot of their songs are written from the point of view of an imaginary character, whose views are not necessarily the same as their personal opinions. Songs like Don't Take Me Alive, Everything You Did, Kid Charlemagne, and Goucho being obvious examples. So, given that tendency, I think it's risky to presume, based on the lyrics of this song, that they were actually disdainful of Lennon, as distinct from painting a portrait of someone who was. You also state that Lennon "wasn't enamored" of Steely Dan, which seems like an assumption on your part (I'd be interested to know if Lennon ever said something publicly in that regard). I understand that TH-cam is largely driven by the public's love of conflict, but I think you may have cooked up a feud here that never actually existed.
Well said
U got it!
One of the best gigs I ever went to was Steely Dan at the Hammersmith Odeon - or The Apollo as it’s now called. It was in Sept. 2000 & the tickets were an expensive (at that time) £45 each, but the concert they gave was easily worth the money… a superbly balanced sound system meant that each instrument’s output was heard crystal clear with ‘space’ around it, and boy… could the guys play those instruments. The lead guitarist in particular was absolutely brilliant, I think he may have been a session musician Dan liked to tour with, but I don’t actually know. So glad I finally managed to see them live after too many years waiting!
I feel bad for you.
@@henryettacollins9095 you feel bad for me because I went to a great gig?! 🤣
Jon Herington is one of their favorites.
Really good to hear that somebody pushed back against the most overrated song of all time!
YEAH, THE GOOD SONG IS "WOMAN"
The only problem is the song is not about john lennon. That was all made up by the author of this story.
@@petefogel2133 so what do you think the song is about if it is not about the song Imagine by John Lennon
I've never tried to figure out Steely Dan lyrics. Half the time, donald and walter didn't even know what they were writing about.
It's not a matter if I don't think this song is about john lennon. I know for a fact it's not about john lennon.
@conceptualclarity
@@petefogel2133 please explain
Money is unimportant only if you have plenty of it.
Yea, far out man. I appreciate that Steely Dan have written some very witty and cryptic lyrics; the problem that I have with it though, is that you have to wade through so much shlocky pop and cod funk in order to get to them.
Not how I feel. Not many people would agree it is shlocky pop
@@granthurlburt4062 It's ok. We're all allowed to have an opinion. In my own defence though, I did point out that I appreciated their songwriting skill - I have my own preferences. They tend to be the earlier compositions.
Never was a Steely Dan fan. Haave come to appreciate them more now that I'm older. As I have with a lot of musics and artists I may not have cared for when younger
Same. It took me years and years of hearing the Rolling Stones to realize that yes, they are the greatest band ever, or at least one of the greatest bands ever.
Steely Dan though I always liked. Ever since I heard the commercial for Aja when I was 11 or 12, with the opening to Josie playing in the background. I was instantly hooked on them.
I never realized this number was about "Imagine", but personally I always wondered why so many people were enamored with John Lennon. He to me seemed so fake and contrived, an axe to grind with God for who knows why. Instead of his reasons, we hear his complaints and his downright denial, displaying an utter lack of curiosity for the most important event to have ever occurred, simply to give vent to his apparent self-assured superiority to the creator of everything we see, when I think it should be abundantly clear that he lacked so much. Humility, John had none. Steely Dan shows so much more true musical ability than John Lennon, they hardly belong in the same sentence. A well-done video, likely the best I've see in a long while. I hope you keep at it and work out more of these gems.
how can you have an axe to grind with a fictional character? 🤔
Glad to know I’m not the only one. I’ve always thought Lennon was completely full of himself and easily dismissed.
So agree. Imagine there's no religion (read faith in the creator ) . . . Well the west has largely delivered on Lennon's wish, and consequently it gets uglier, sicker, less safe and more without hope by the day. Lennon didn't have a dream, he had a nightmare.
@@bcssylf you will have your day to regret your words. I could tell you about the day an alien came into my delivery van, but alas, would it have any effect on you?
you seem to resent John because he wasnt overtly religious. SD didnt pen a whole bunch of peans to god, either! lol
Becker and Fagan, the best composers of my lifetime. So many tunes that I have wiled hours away enjoying. So sad about Walter. He and Donald were forever irreverent.
Right up there with the sentiment ‘all you need is love’. Easy for someone worth many, many millions to say it. But you trying paying the rent, or buying groceries, or keeping the heat on with ‘Love’. 🙄
Never could stand Lennon. What a shyte
Well if you're a hooker, then yes, you can do all that with Love. As long as you charge enough.
My all time favorite Steely Dan tune, never knew it spoke of Lennon.
I didn't know that it was about Lennon either I'm surprised!
I doubt it actually is.
@@fed1up But even if it isn't, it's fun to think it could be. Just because it fits.
Passing a fat doobie around and listening to steely dan what great times those were.
haha, and still are !!
@@swingymcswing🤡 Ooooo....you're sooo cewl doing bongs....
@@lemurianchick youre so cool for making fun of people enjoying themselves 🤡
@@lemurianchickLemuria, huh? Oooh, your so cool doing new age delusions.
Yes indeed.
What’s up with the Steely Dan guitarists guitar? Looks to be a Ibanez Destroyer or Flying V with an aftermarket neck. I’m probably well off but this is from several viewings of a couple grainy videos. Anybody know what the guy plays? Thanks
I know that STEELY DAN (No matter what iteration) are GREAT MUSICIANS... I saw them in concert and I was BORED TO TEARS...
Really? I almost paid several hundred dollars to see them in person. That bad?
Zappa 4 years earlier did a song, Oh No, critical of All You Need Is Love, with a melody (in 5/4--previously an instrumental segment on the orchestral Lumpy Gravy) and lyric much better than Steely Dan's mockery. Even so John and Yoko later performed in 71 with the Mothers at the Fillmore.
Long live the Maestro.....Mr. Frank Zappa!!!
Thx a lot
🙏agree with you!
Beatles suck regardless
Two words: perspective. And viewpoint. I personally (and boy am I not wealthy!) feel the idea and ideals of the song "Imagine" are awesome & relevant … But of course how one perceives it might be different than the original intention (as can happen with many forms of art).
In any event, I certainly am a big Steely Dan fan - especially some of their later work, such as the albums Gaucho & of course my favorite, Aja 🙂
Great point. I'm sure Lennon was referring to the super rich when he sang "Imagine no possessions; I wonder if you can."
I like Steely Dan too, though I'm more the Greatest Hits kind of fan. I've listened to all their albums on Spotify, but I don't think this song stood out. Have to give it a re-listen now.
So glad to see that there are still individuals that are critically thoughtful and not reactionary.
Imagine was essentially written by Karl Marx 🙄
@@russellziske7385 -- "Imagine" just pinpoints the three main reasons man wages war: Possessions (aka, 'riches'), religion, and borders. No possessions, no religions, no borders ... no war. Has very little, if nothing at all, to do with Marx or socialism. It's an anti-war song ... a.k.a, "livin' life in peace."
John Lennon thought he was a working class hero but he was just another rich, famous guy telling poor people how to live. I love his music but not his preaching.
What's a "shtree" 2:59 ?
It is a bittersweet song without a hint of mockery. And SD were not known for ramming their opinions down people’s throats in their lyrics, but rather, were ironists who wrote in other people’s voices. So there is doubt in my mind about the premise of this video.
Yeah, it could be about a girl he knew that wouldn't just shut up and screw , so Don snapped bad . A lot of his lyrics are sections that inspire each other but aren't a continuation of the preceding section , so the Man on the Street part might have come from an op ed Don read about rich liberals vs working poor . I notice he doesn't quote Fagen anywhere , so this interpretation is just something he thought of .
@@terryenglish7132 I hate to break this to you, Spanky, but liberals, rich or not, aren't the problem.
"Satire should, like a polished razor keen, Wound with a touch that's scarcely felt or seen...." -- Mary Wortley Montagu
Steely Dan's writing style in a nutshell.
@@terryenglish7132 "A lot of his lyrics are sections that inspire each other but aren't a continuation of the preceding section." That's a good way to put it. I'm still confused by the lyrics from the end of Hey 19 and how it relates to the rest of the song: "The Cuervo Gold/The fine Colombian/Make tonight a wonderful thing." I read something somewhere about this is just the song's narrator fantasizing about 19 in a tequila haze after realizing that they can't be together, though where the evidence of that is in those lyrics, I don't know.
@@johnbgood52 Say hi to your son and brother for me
It’s hard for anyone to say exactly what either songs true meanings are, especially because very few where there. Also there seems to be a common thread among struggling actors musicians and the like. They will do anything to make it big and put in all the effort and sacrifice. But then after making it they realize the true cost of this, and it staggers them.But let’s face it maybe imagine and that line was John realizing life’s true wealth was not material things at all. I’m a fan of both bands seen the Dan but not The Beatles.
yoko wrote Imagine
Now I know why nobody knows what Steely Dan looks like.
It's about music, not looks.
Thats probably why most people cant name any of their songs either then@@SPAZZOID100
are you a girl or just gay
@@SPAZZOID100 Well they damn sure didn't get by on their looks alone!
Beatles weren't much better looking. John Lennon chose to look like an unkempt bum despite his vast wealth.
What's a "shtream" 1:29 ?
Not just John. They all preach a good line: for thee, not for me.
They are all the same, elites all!
"Preach" is the word - rich evangelical mega-church preachers asking the poor to tithe. Then, keeping it all and not using it to do good works for the poor.
Always loved that tune. Love it even more now.
Me too ✌️
Me too. Leave it to Steely Dan to troll John Lennon🤨🤑😴 Imagine if musicians were not allowed to daydream or dream and were relegated to writing cynical songs about other musicians and the occasional joyous song about their coke-dealer buddies. You'd probably end up with Steely Dan.
A gentleman by the name of Elliott Randall was a session guitarist, who for many years, sat in on many of Steely Dans tracks. I can say he was a friend of mine a long time ago.
When Walter Becker passed away they put his equipment up in an estate sale online.
I looked at his equipment for three days and still didn’t finish seeing it all.
He had an obscene amount of guitars! Enough for a small country.
Steely Dan was the band that inspired the Eagles to record “Hotel California”. Glen Frey said this in a late 1980s radio interview.
"Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening"
Now I get why they wrote that line. Thanks. 🙂
There is an explicit reference to the band in the lyric 'they stabbed it with their steely knives'.
@@wylierichardson-tu6zs Years ago, I read a few rock&roll books that gave a factoid or story on that Eagles track. One of the most prominent rumors back in the day was the connection between the Eagles, and Anton LeVay, the leader of a Satanic church in California.
I loved Steely Dan. Good point there about the obscenely rich and famous laying down supposed inspirational ideas for the working classes... while walking hand in hand into fantastic estates... Look at Yoko in this film segment - totally spaced out, detached?
That's why they call it dope!
Lennon would have been up there with bono at the wef. What a vacuous poseur!
I remember shopping in a small record shop in SoCal in 1971 or ‘72 and seeing album with Fagan and Walter Becker-then Steely Dan, by their older group Ultimate Spinach.