From their 7th album, " Gaucho", 1980, this tune contains all the quintessential qualities that encapsulates the phenomenal experience of Steely Dan. Mark Knopfler's added distinctive riffs, drives the toe tapping beats from Rick Marotta, with the drums rocking like crazy, the magical horns and sax and Michael McDonald adding his back up vocals to produce a great substantial tune. Always a joy to listen to. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and Neal. 👏👏 Cheers from Canada. 🇨🇦
@@dtsdigitalden5023 Nichols employed the Wendel drum machine only on "Hey Nineteen", "Glamour Profession", and "My Rival". Marotta played all the drum beats on this song. According to Elliot Scheiner, the recording engineer on "Gaucho."
Chasing the dragon refers to inhaling heroin smoke as it's heated on a piece of aluminium foil. This song is so smoooooth, it is indeed "perfection and grace"!
Mark Knopfler is playing lead guitar on this track. Becker & Fagen wanted his unique sound for the song but Knopfler didn't have the best experience. Knopfler could not sight-read and had to prepare by listening to a tape of the song at home, where he realized he did not know all of the chords or which parts of the song he was expected to play over. In the studio, Knopfler was asked to do a multiplicity of takes, working for hours until 4 a.m. Ultimately, B&F were happy with the results but Mark called the session "pain-staking." Gives you an idea of how good you had to be to play on a Steely Dan record. Even someone with Knopfler's talent was hard-pressed to deliver the goods. Thanks Neil anf Harri.
@@damonhines8187 It's a quote from Mark himself in an interview. And I'm a spelling snob. The correct arrangement of letters of the word (yes, it's one word) is painstaking.
Steely Dan is touring with the Eagles at the moment. Saw them last Sat night at the Kia Forum in L.A. Only Donald remains and he is getting old but their music is timeless.
We have tickets to see them with the Eagles here in STL in February. Boy those tickets were expensive. I have seen them twice before, they're the best.
When I first heard "Hey Nineteen" on the radio' I immediately recognized Don Fagen's voice. And wondered what band he was featured on as a guest. This song was so radically different from Aja or any of their previous work. A few days later my older brother came home with Gaucho. For me there was NO turning back!!
Saw them a few times live. Amazing! On one tour, each night they would play an entire album and that would be the center piece and then they would fill the show out with tunes from other albums. I went on the "Aja" night.
I saw them in LA several years ago when they played the AJA album from beginning to end to start the show . I was gobsmacked . They played this song towards the end of the show and it was a JAM the entire crowd was up and swaying this swung so hard
This came out around the same time my wife and I were married. The Gaucho album was then and is still one of our favorite albums. I love every song on that album.
I actually got the "gaucho" album first, then eventually went backward listening to them. I grew up on mostly AM r&b and top 40 (and what my older brothers brought home). It was after high school that I started listening to FM\AOR and started hearing Steely Dan. They're desert island music now.
And typical of the Dan, the song dances around it's subject, without mentioning it. In this case, the subject is smoking and shooting H. Lots of references. But that takes nothing away from a great record. I love this song, and McDonald's vocals are the cherry on top.
Best Song about doing Heroin ever written...! YES, read the Lyrics. Turning the silver foil... gold, and turning water into cherry wine...(blood in the needle)
Hey Neal. It’s always good to hear Steely Dan. They’re just so amazing and their songs have so many intricacies, I just love it. Thanks Harri and Neal. 🌺✌️
Chasing the dragon is a metaphor for chasing the opiate High. They often make beautiful music with a tough topic! One of the best bands of all time for certain! Thanks for playing this one Hadri! ✌️❤️🤘🥁
@@kimberlyhalloran5724 Yes, many of their songs from around '75 to '80 are about shady people, hookers, crime and drug addiction (not always clear from the lyrics, of course)
And none other than Dire Straits Mark Knopfler on the guitar licks. He said of the cameo,he never even met Fagen and Becker,he was given instructions by a studio techie and told how to play it,then got on a plane back home,he also said that the whole set up was perfectionism with everyone knowing their part.
The "Billie Jean" beat has been attributed both to this song and to Hall & Oates "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)", which topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and the US r'n'b chart in early February 1982 - very unusual for a white act to top the r'n''b /soul chart! The lyrics definitely allude to drugs and hokey new-age ideas about how to use them to get religious illuminations ("mystical sphere...direct from Lhasa") but the feel of the *music* is that it captures the vibe of being young and having all of life ahead of you, with such eloquence: "it's perfection and grace". The sound of this song really feels like being twenty all over again. :)
Nobody gives the great Tom Scott any shout-outs. He arranged the horns on both Aja and Gaucho and blew on one of many people's favorites, Black Cow. He formed the LA Express as the backup band for Joni Mitchel. Their first self-titled album spawned the LA Fusion sound. The band had future Steely alumni Tom Scott, Larry Carlton, Joe Sample along with Max Bennet and the great John Guiren on drums. If you like SD and crack players, you might give Tom Scott a listen. I like the live from the Bottom Line, 1976-77, with Steve Gadd, Chuck Rainey, Hugh McCracken, and Richard Tee, too, plus a pre-Aja solo by Gadd. You can see why B&F wanted these guys to perform on their recordings. Nothing but the best.
More of the pure genius of Steely Dan, i.e. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (RIP) when Bach jammed with Mozart, or any two great masters of the past you choose. They so would have got it!!!
It was the 80s, every drum beat was that one. 😄 At least they knew their music would be wasted on that decade and saved it for those who would better appreciate it.
What you really mean, is when you hear Billie Jean, you hear the Time Out Of Mind rif... this sone came out 3 years before Billie Jean... Love the reaction!
I think some of these players were also on Billie Jean. Not sure. Is this song waxing romantic about cooking smack ? I wouldn’t be surprised. Great tune amazing groove.
Great song, but I don't hear any sounds that give me a Billie Jean vibe. This was well before Billie Jean and Michael Jackson could only dream to sound like this.
I know theyre a bit new for you, but please consider reacting to Pentatonix. All of their Christmas songs, Amazing Grace, Imagine, Sound of Silence, are my favs.
I saw ‘Steely Dan’ with Donald Fagan almost 2 summers ago after the Covid delays. Although it was an outstanding show and played almost all my Favorites within 2 hours, Donald’s voice is not nearly as fresh as in the prior days and that is acceptable considering the age. He stayed at the keyboards throughout the show. The rest of the band was great however a live show now is not the same. Both Donald and Walter Becker were musical guests on David Letterman. Those shows are on TH-cam and you may be safe viewing those without hearing any Easter eggs you haven’t heard yet ✌🏽
Steely Dan at their peak glossy. Heroin is a helluva drug. Mark Knopfler is on this one. You have the wrong Billie Jean influencer Harri; listen to Do It Again (again). There's quite a famous mashup. You might start reacting to their official live album (it's very good...). Alternatively buy Citizen SD like I suggested 2 years ago. Donald Fagen really was a superb singer. I think it gets lost among the plaudits for the solos, bands, arrangements. He's brilliant and his voice *is* Steely Dan,
Imagine how much better Gaucho would have been if Becker didn't have his "issues". Track 1:Babylon Sisters gives us a taste. Fagen himself was having early anxiety and depression problems which he fought throughout the 1980's. He literally disappeared after his Nightfly album was released in '82. Aja was a great album (a 10). Gaucho is a 7
Factually, the inspiration for the hit song, Billie Jean was the Hall and Oates song, I Can't Go For That. Michael Jackson even admitted that is the case.
My interpretation: dishonest preacher, telling congregation to put a dollar in the kitty. The silver (small contributions) will turn to gold (he will make a fortune). Chasing the dragon is talking about Satan. The light in my eyes, smile on my face etc. the water my change to wine reference Christ’s first miracle. Time out of mind means this has been going on forever (Plato).
"Time out of Mind" is about hard drug abuse Harri, and being so stoned out of your tree you don't even know what is going on. This is sad but true. "Chasing the tiger" is about smoking opium or doing any opioid based drug liker heroin or morphine. While the musical part is great, I don't think Donald Fagan or Walter Becker should be proud of writing such a song. I stand 150% against what they are glorifying! 🤨😡
sorry... a HORRIBLE song, from a HORRIBLE album... after so much incredible music, to put out this piece of pop drivel (the entire album was).... so disappointing...
More Steely Dan please
From their 7th album, " Gaucho", 1980, this tune contains all the quintessential qualities that encapsulates the phenomenal experience of Steely Dan.
Mark Knopfler's added distinctive riffs, drives the toe tapping beats from Rick Marotta, with the drums rocking like crazy, the magical horns and sax and Michael McDonald adding his back up vocals to produce a great substantial tune. Always a joy to listen to. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and Neal. 👏👏 Cheers from Canada. 🇨🇦
Wendell is on drums on this track, I'm afraid.
@@dtsdigitalden5023 Nichols employed the Wendel drum machine only on "Hey Nineteen", "Glamour Profession", and "My Rival". Marotta played all the drum beats on this song. According to Elliot Scheiner, the recording engineer on "Gaucho."
Chasing the dragon refers to inhaling heroin smoke as it's heated on a piece of aluminium foil. This song is so smoooooth, it is indeed "perfection and grace"!
Mark Knopfler is playing lead guitar on this track. Becker & Fagen wanted his unique sound for the song but Knopfler didn't have the best experience. Knopfler could not sight-read and had to prepare by listening to a tape of the song at home, where he realized he did not know all of the chords or which parts of the song he was expected to play over. In the studio, Knopfler was asked to do a multiplicity of takes, working for hours until 4 a.m. Ultimately, B&F were happy with the results but Mark called the session "pain-staking." Gives you an idea of how good you had to be to play on a Steely Dan record. Even someone with Knopfler's talent was hard-pressed to deliver the goods. Thanks Neil anf Harri.
I read in another interview that MK realized(paraphrasing): " I'm not as much of a perfectionist as I thought I was"...
You're welcome, John. Thanks for the insight.
Pains taking, but I'm a grammar snob snotty a-hole 🤦🏽😅😂
😊🤙🏼🎶❤️✨️🕊
@@damonhines8187 It's a quote from Mark himself in an interview. And I'm a spelling snob. The correct arrangement of letters of the word (yes, it's one word) is painstaking.
@@John_Chu I separated the components of the compound word in service of my point, which remains true
fantastic! love the hard drum beat & horns come in & has punch sound, great work from back in the day.
Perfection and grace.
Steely Dan is touring with the Eagles at the moment. Saw them last Sat night at the Kia Forum in L.A. Only Donald remains and he is getting old but their music is timeless.
We have tickets to see them with the Eagles here in STL in February. Boy those tickets were expensive. I have seen them twice before, they're the best.
I saw them last year! Still perfection, despite the loss of Walter! Wish I had seen them years ago, but super grateful for this, just the same!
Sometimes it’s smooth Jazz, sometimes it’s definitely funky Jazz, every time it’s outstanding!
Best song on the album( along with Babylon Sisters)
RIP Walter Becker
Along with all the others.
@michaelbaucom4019
th-cam.com/video/OACEpKrLuxQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=k-71Gyszy_unddhZ 👊
th-cam.com/video/OACEpKrLuxQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=k-71Gyszy_unddhZ
My favorite “band”.
Just saw them 3 days ago at the LA Forum. Donald sounded amazing..Band was top shelf. Great night.
I think the bridge section of this song is one of the finest chord progressions ever.
PNC - You can't go wrong with a Steely Dan song, and this is certainly no exception. Excellent submission choice, in my opinion.👏
Thank you, Dave! 👊
When I first heard "Hey Nineteen" on the radio'
I immediately recognized Don Fagen's voice. And wondered what band he was featured on as a guest.
This song was so radically different from Aja or any of their previous work.
A few days later my older brother came home with Gaucho.
For me there was NO turning back!!
This song is just outstanding
This is my jam! My favorite song from one of my favorite bands.
Very cool! This is my sixth Steely Dan selection Harri has reacted to.
Saw them a few times live. Amazing! On one tour, each night they would play an entire album and that would be the center piece and then they would fill the show out with tunes from other albums. I went on the "Aja" night.
I saw them in LA several years ago when they played the AJA album from beginning to end to start the show . I was gobsmacked . They played this song towards the end of the show and it was a JAM the entire crowd was up and swaying this swung so hard
This came out around the same time my wife and I were married. The Gaucho album was then and is still one of our favorite albums. I love every song on that album.
I actually got the "gaucho" album first, then eventually went backward listening to them. I grew up on mostly AM r&b and top 40 (and what my older brothers brought home).
It was after high school that I started listening to FM\AOR and started hearing Steely Dan. They're desert island music now.
Smooth as silk. Thank you pncombies. Very classy. 👍👍👍
The pleasure was mine, Imadrummin. You're welcome, brother.
And typical of the Dan, the song dances around it's subject, without mentioning it. In this case, the subject is smoking and shooting H. Lots of references.
But that takes nothing away from a great record. I love this song, and McDonald's vocals are the cherry on top.
Best Song about doing Heroin ever written...! YES, read the Lyrics. Turning the silver foil... gold, and turning water into cherry wine...(blood in the needle)
Alchemy.
Hey Neal. It’s always good to hear Steely Dan. They’re just so amazing and their songs have so many intricacies, I just love it. Thanks Harri and Neal. 🌺✌️
You're welcome, Debbie - "it's perfection and grace..."!
Definitely in my top 5 concerts.
They're right up there with my Allman Brothers.
Chasing the dragon is a metaphor for chasing the opiate High. They often make beautiful music with a tough topic! One of the best bands of all time for certain! Thanks for playing this one Hadri! ✌️❤️🤘🥁
Harri!
Just like Dr WU
@@kimberlyhalloran5724 Yes, many of their songs from around '75 to '80 are about shady people, hookers, crime and drug addiction (not always clear from the lyrics, of course)
And none other than Dire Straits Mark Knopfler on the guitar licks.
He said of the cameo,he never even met Fagen and Becker,he was given instructions by a studio techie and told how to play it,then got on a plane back home,he also said that the whole set up was perfectionism with everyone knowing their part.
The "Billie Jean" beat has been attributed both to this song and to Hall & Oates "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)", which topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and the US r'n'b chart in early February 1982 - very unusual for a white act to top the r'n''b /soul chart!
The lyrics definitely allude to drugs and hokey new-age ideas about how to use them to get religious illuminations ("mystical sphere...direct from Lhasa") but the feel of the *music* is that it captures the vibe of being young and having all of life ahead of you, with such eloquence: "it's perfection and grace". The sound of this song really feels like being twenty all over again. :)
Chill and relax with Steely Dan !
Michael McDonald on the chorus doing those cool runs!
Nobody gives the great Tom Scott any shout-outs. He arranged the horns on both Aja and Gaucho and blew on one of many people's favorites, Black Cow.
He formed the LA Express as the backup band for Joni Mitchel.
Their first self-titled album spawned the LA Fusion sound. The band had future Steely alumni Tom Scott, Larry Carlton, Joe Sample along with Max Bennet and the great John Guiren on drums.
If you like SD and crack players, you might give Tom Scott a listen. I like the live from the Bottom Line, 1976-77, with Steve Gadd, Chuck Rainey, Hugh McCracken, and Richard Tee, too, plus a pre-Aja solo by Gadd.
You can see why B&F wanted these guys to perform on their recordings. Nothing but the best.
At the time of making this album it was the most expensive LP ever made.
Michael McDonald is in the background vocals towards the end of the song!❤
Michael McDonald, Lesley Miller, Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson - backing vocals[
This Song came out in 1980, I was in the Air Force in Frankfurt.........If anything someone looked into this Groove!!! When did Billie Jean come out?
Great choice. Not one of their better known songs but a great track! They have SO MANY of these.
Thank you!
More of the pure genius of Steely Dan, i.e. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (RIP) when Bach jammed with Mozart, or any two great masters of the past you choose. They so would have got it!!!
Michael McDonald on background vocals.
Another great pncombies selection. Not sure there has been a song with such contrast of bright uplifting music with dark lyrics.
@danielmccann8325 Thank you, sir!
Simply the best.
It was the 80s, every drum beat was that one. 😄 At least they knew their music would be wasted on that decade and saved it for those who would better appreciate it.
What you really mean, is when you hear Billie Jean, you hear the Time Out Of Mind rif... this sone came out 3 years before Billie Jean... Love the reaction!
FYI, Steely Dan is currently touring and opening for the Doobie Brothers! I've been trying to get tickets! ✌️❤️🤘🥁
Gaucho came out in 1980, couple of years before Michael Jackson's Billy Jean.
I think some of these players were also on Billie Jean. Not sure. Is this song waxing romantic about cooking smack ? I wouldn’t be surprised. Great tune amazing groove.
Great song, but I don't hear any sounds that give me a Billie Jean vibe. This was well before Billie Jean and Michael Jackson could only dream to sound like this.
He’s refers to the opening and continuous drum beats- MJ clearly borrowed it!
That's what I thought 😊@@TheDivayenta
He’s right the beginning beat of the song sounds the same and the same beat carries thru the whole song.
Cool song
I know theyre a bit new for you, but please consider reacting to Pentatonix. All of their Christmas songs, Amazing Grace, Imagine, Sound of Silence, are my favs.
Gaucho is a great album
I saw ‘Steely Dan’ with Donald Fagan almost 2 summers ago after the Covid delays. Although it was an outstanding show and played almost all my Favorites within 2 hours, Donald’s voice is not nearly as fresh as in the prior days and that is acceptable considering the age. He stayed at the keyboards throughout the show. The rest of the band was great however a live show now is not the same. Both Donald and Walter Becker were musical guests on David Letterman. Those shows are on TH-cam and you may be safe viewing those without hearing any Easter eggs you haven’t heard yet ✌🏽
Steely Dan at their peak glossy. Heroin is a helluva drug.
Mark Knopfler is on this one. You have the wrong Billie Jean influencer Harri; listen to Do It Again (again). There's quite a famous mashup.
You might start reacting to their official live album (it's very good...). Alternatively buy Citizen SD like I suggested 2 years ago.
Donald Fagen really was a superb singer. I think it gets lost among the plaudits for the solos, bands, arrangements. He's brilliant and his voice *is* Steely Dan,
Imagine how much better Gaucho would have been if Becker didn't have his "issues". Track 1:Babylon Sisters gives us a taste. Fagen himself was having early anxiety and depression problems which he fought throughout the 1980's. He literally disappeared after his Nightfly album was released in '82. Aja was a great album (a 10). Gaucho is a 7
Huh?
Hate the subject. Love the misic. # The Dan
Again, Michael McDonald lurking in the background.
Factually, the inspiration for the hit song, Billie Jean was the Hall and Oates song, I Can't Go For That. Michael Jackson even admitted that is the case.
Musically they are ripping off weather report. Sounds to me.
gaucho album. :)
you mean billy jean sounds like steely dan.
Unfortunately, they are not still together as Walter Becker is no longer with us.😢
You've listened to too much Michael Jackson. 😂 Lol
Good song, but some of the lyrics….oh boy…
My interpretation: dishonest preacher, telling congregation to put a dollar in the kitty. The silver (small contributions) will turn to gold (he will make a fortune). Chasing the dragon is talking about Satan. The light in my eyes, smile on my face etc. the water my change to wine reference Christ’s first miracle. Time out of mind means this has been going on forever (Plato).
Alchemy.
If it's Steely Dan, it's got drugs, seedy characters & inappropriate behaviour!!
"Time out of Mind" is about hard drug abuse Harri, and being so stoned out of your tree you don't even know what is going on. This is sad but true. "Chasing the tiger" is about smoking opium or doing any opioid based drug liker heroin or morphine. While the musical part is great, I don't think Donald Fagan or Walter Becker should be proud of writing such a song. I stand 150% against what they are glorifying! 🤨😡
This is one of my least favourite songs of theirs, but you get Steely Dan. There's much better stuff of theirs to listen to.
sorry... a HORRIBLE song, from a HORRIBLE album... after so much incredible music, to put out this piece of pop drivel (the entire album was).... so disappointing...