Steely Dan - King of the World (REACTION)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ธ.ค. 2024
- Check out Sight After Dark reacting to "King of the World" by Steely Dan!
We've reacted to the entire "Countdown to Ecstasy" album, so check out the rest of those reactions as well!
Listen to our debut album "Waves for Daze" here!
distrokid.com/...
If you enjoyed, please LIKE the video and don't forget to subscribe for more music content!
S.A.D. Shirts:
www.sightafter...
Social Media:
Twitter: / sightafterdark
Instagram: www.instagram....
Facebook: / sightafterdark
Website: sightafterdarkonline.com
Business inquiries? Shoot us an email here: sightafterdarkpromo@gmail.com
If you enjoyed this, check out our podcast on Steely Dan!
th-cam.com/video/2tNasxBrqnM/w-d-xo.html
Loved this song from the moment I first heard it in the Fall of 1973. Steely Dan is simply genius.
So many incredible Dan tunes but this one especially has a remarkable distinction of certain amount of restraint yet cooks so well you can hear it a million times and never tire of it.
Agreed! Superb song all around. Thanks for watching Bob!
I think that nails what is so great about this track. Being a Dan fan for over 45 years I have heard it a million times and will never tire of it.
a slow burn. one of their best
This may be Denny Dias' crowning achievement as far as guitar playing on a steely dan record. Maybe tied with Gold Teeth II but really his playing is so fluid yet so swift, cutting through those chord changes at that tempo....incredible player
Amazing guitar work for sure! Definitely underrated
@@SightAfterDark I think he wanted it that way haha. Denny rarely played with anybody outside of SD and spent most of his life working as a computer programmer. He also studied with the great Billy Bauer, a bebop guitarist from the 40s, which is where those jazz chops come from
Yeah he was the best rock guy playing bebop stylings on a guitar. Especially on your Gold tooth 2
The way they mixed “die” in this song is so genius. Really haunting
Agreed!
YES! That part always gets me!! This song is brilliant.
What are you talking about?
@@liamsmom6177What part? What are you talking about?
@@ezekielbrockmann114 At 3:21
Walter Becker's groovy bass line and Denny Dias's ethereal guitar background give this track it's other worldly, floating quality. Fagen's Moog was a relatively new keyboard instrument at the time.
The moog sounds AMAZING
I think it's actually an ARP.
He hated that thing. It would constantly go out of tune so he destroyed it.
Whenever I hear a fade out at the end of a Steely Dan song, I wonder how long they kept playing and how much great instrumental music we didn't hear cause they had a limited amount of total time on an album and they couldn't fit all the music in. Just wonder if somewhere there are the master recordings that had all the music we didn't hear.
i pray we’ll get more unreleased songs in years to come
One of my very favorite Steely Dan songs! 👍🔥🔥🔥🔥
No one captured the vibe and spirit of the 70's like Steely Dan.
When I first encountered this album back in the 80s, this tune was on endless replay for me, and is still my favorite from Countdown. Great reaction! Thanks.
Thanks for listening!
I'm enjoying you guys more and more! You had me with Little Feat, but now that you're going deep into Steely Dan's discography, I'm totally hooked. Keep em' coming!!!
Thanks for watching! We won’t let you down!
Steely Dan has this strange quality of making songs with dark and depressing subject matter sound peppy and uplifting.
Yes, that is their true genius!
Lyrics about life in a post Nuclear-apocalypse, devastated waste land world, where flowers are gone, leftover wine is poisonous, the sky is scorched and hazy w/ fallout ash and cigarettes are contaminated w/ radioactive cobalt. Lead guitar by Denny Dias.
As a recent transplant to Albuquerque, I love the line “any man left on the Rio Grande is the king of the world” so much. I’ve liked Steely Dan for a long time, but I never got into this album until later lol
Right about 4:41, when you heard the lows coming in....priceless, BIG smile
Amazing that something so incredibly sad and terrifying (post-apocalypse, post-nuclear holocaust) would have such an upbeat tune. Obviously a Dan technique. This setting takes place in New Mexico which the entire Rio Grande river bisects the state from north to south. So the sole survivor would be the King of the Rio Grande and until he makes contact with any other survivor, he is - de facto - the King of the World. Why would New Mexico be targeted in the Cold War? Because Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Labs and White Sands Missile Range (where they detonated the first atomic bomb). They were different times...
Thanks for adding your perspective Steve!
You got it right man,best song on the album for sure.
Glad we agree!
Not only the best song on the album (saving the very best till last) but one of my favourites by anyone ever.
This song was the opening intro for a local Buffalo morning-talk-news show. So I heard this long before I knew who Steely Dan was.
- "Hey guys! It's your first show since Covid and you are late!"
- "Yes, we were listening to Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy"
- "Oh! OK! You are totally excused!"
Hahaha basically
Love your reaction Sifa....I can tell your listening intently to the guitar work in the background..lol..rock on girlfriend!
Thanks Ron!
Don't you dare act like this ain't intimidating, ok Sight after Dark. I'm a musician and I'm intimidated by the freedom in Steely Dan's chord changes and background vocals. I am humbled....What about yall?
Admiration? Yes. Awe? Yes. Intimidation? No. Either way, we can all agree that Steely Dan is amazing!
Stereolab, yes! Great reference. The keyboard riff is very much Stereolabish. No doubt they were fans.
Yes, they have gotta be fans. I respect both bands so much!
Totally haven’t thought about stereolab in years! Nice reminder!
I LOVE STEELY DAN. ANOTHER SONG I KEPT REPEATING THE FIRST TIME I HEARD IT.
Gosh, I hate it that I found this channel months late!
This is the song that made me a confirmed SD fan a VERY long time ago, when you guys’ grandparents were dating. I was working a graveyard shift desk job where there was nothing to do but study and listen to Houston’s only progressive rock FM station at the time. I started requesting the song every night, and finally the DJ said, “Look, man; you don’t need to keep calling. I’ll play it!” Brilliant song, brilliant album. I’m happy to see Becker and Fagen have two new, young converts.
No such thing as late! We're still making videos! Thanks for watching, we're loving SD!
Razor Boy is my favourite track off Countdown To Estasy but King Of The World is a close second.
Magnificent album which in my opinion shaped the way they were going with their music.
Donald Fagen's Moog instrumentation is excellent.
I just love Steely Dan.
A massive fan from Scotland 🏴
The Moog really makes it. Steely Dan is the best. Thanks for being here!
Thats a great song yeah! Thanks
Indeed!
Thanks for another great reaction! I'm a big SD fan, but I must admit I never *got* this song until now. The whole apocalyptic theme, which goes with theme--coming through a ham radio. Fun stuff!
Hope you're well, keep on rockin!
Thanks Curious George! Glad you’re here!
@@SightAfterDark 😁😁❤❤
When I first heard this piece in 1975, I instantly made a connection to Pat Frank's "Alas, Babylon" and Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz", both masterpieces of post Apocalyptic literature.
Can definitely see that! Love some good post-apocalypse
When they went to the half time break, there's what's supposed to be someone on the ham radio talking about not doing so well, like "my face is melting" etc.
I woke up this morning and said to myself, “I should watch Sight After Dark’s reaction to King of the World.” I knew you would love it!
Glad you enjoyed :)
Thank you for allowing me to listen to your great album. I do not listen to much of today’s music though you guys are clearly the exception and how can I not listen to someone from NY like myself being born in Brooklyn and growing up in the city! I heard a bit of the Stones on one of your songs, also a little Gwen Stefani and Joan Jett. You definitely have much more than the hip hop sound going on. Keep doing your thing and if you ever play out on Long Island please let your fans, and I just might be one, know when and where!👍🏻❤️☮️
Thanks Joel! Means a lot! We’re glad you enjoyed! Hopefully we’ll be playing more shows soon. If you wanna stay up to date you can subscribe to our email list at sightafterdarkonline.com to get updates from us! Thanks again for listening!
When she said "stereolab" I just thought - "EXACTLY". I've been wondering what it reminded me of in the past. Good spot.
Glad you appreciate the video. Thanks for watching James!
Thanks for the recommendation on Stereolab. Checked them out and am really enjoying them.
Glad you enjoyed!
The instrumental synth solos (after the second refrain, and the ending) sounds a lot like Goodson-Todman game show theme music by Score Productions from the 70's. (Sounds like it should have been used as a fee plug cue on "Tattletales".)
That has a good feel to it..sort of rocking but it extends into a jazz fusionary fadeout..nice moog and clav..good players for 1973..You were not hearing these production values from west coast to really saturate pop music till 74-75....this was released 73 so they were working on it in 72....good effort....best session players no doubt
I grew up with Steely Dan and they one of my favorite all time bands. This song is about a nuclear end of the world, they can be very dark..
Very mad max vibe in this song. Must be why we love it!
Cookin'!
What's my favorite Steely Dan song?
Which ever one I'm listening to!
Lol sounds about right
Thanks for turning me onto Stereolab. 😎🙏👌I'm a big Dan fan and see some melodic similarities. But no one is like the Dan
Truth!
All time hook in this one .
Bass line shows out .
Guitarist takes it home .
Who ever thought country and jazz would work together?
The synth you hear on this gave them so many problems with tuning it to every chord change (some technical reason to do with relative tuning that I don't really understand) that when they finished recording it, they kicked it down the stairs of ABC studios in LA, I think, into a grassy patio area and set fire to it. Apparently the burned remains of the keyboard are still on display in the studio...
Woahhhhh. That’s sick! We gotta see that sometime!
@@SightAfterDark really appreciate the response :) here's the story as told by Denny Dias www.sdarchive.com/dennys.html - even funnier than I remembered it.
Jim Hodder on drums, I believe.
Thanks!
Joe Jackson does a great cover of this song . Rikki lee jones does a great cover of show biz kids which I believe was produced by Michael Becker . I tried to hit up on Rikki lee jones on social media . I think she said phux off
The great Skunk Baxter on lead guitar.
Killing it as always
post-apocalyptic lyrics with some of L.A.’s best session men. Only in the 70’s….lol
LOL
Would have enjoyed to be in the studio after they faded out of the recording as they kept jamming along
Hell yeah! Would’ve been great
The mixing, engineering, getting a high quality sound of all the instruments used in every song on every album that Donald and Walter produced was brilliant. Even with more sophisticated technology of today their unique sound would be difficult to match. Not that today's musicians lack the talent it's the enormous expense it would cost during these times. Only a very successful artist could invest such money and feel confident they could turn a profit. Donald and Walter were meticulous and uncompromising about their mixing, which was hard on the musicians they hired but rewarding.
They so knew the sound they wanted and didn't like to compromise. The "Katy Lied" album was almost scrapped. ABC records somehow ( I'm not sure how) damaged some technology that basically destroyed what they were striving to accomplish for the album. They salvaged it but couldn`t bring back the exact mix and sound they wanted. Walter and Donald wanted to scrap the album but that didn't happen. Yet afterward both Walter and Donald both said they couldn't bare to listen to it and didn't.
You guys seem very genuine and respectful. I hope your dreams come true......
Thanks so much for your support Dan!
Listen again and think of the synth as an air raid siren. BTW, sounds like you figured out a way of improving the audio, yes?
That's an awesome way to look at it! And yes, we think we figured it out :) Thanks for sticking with us through the hard (audio) times!
This should be included in Fallout... .
Insanity’s is trying to pick a best SD song
Ha! Right?!
This song UNINTENTIONALLY prefaces the downfall of Jonestown. Too many connections.
Didn’t even think about that! Thanks for watching Matthew!
Isnt Area 51 in New Mexico ? Wooo wooo woo...
👽🤯
Ah shit she likes stereolab
😊
I love this song as well, along with “Your Gold Teeth”, “Show Biz Kids” and “Bodhisattva” from that same album. Just a great album overall!
Indeed!