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Written & Photographed by Kenn Sava (*- unless otherwise credited)
Part 2 of an ongoing Series. Part 1 is here.
“Deacon Blues” by Steely Dan, written by Donald Fagen & the late Walter Becker, as recorded on their classic album, Aja, in 1977.
Hideki Fujii’s (1934-2010) classic Photo of the extraordinarily enigmatic model & actress Sayoko Yamaguchi (1947-2007). She did far more, including being a ground-breaking Artist, but even if she had only done this one Photograph, she’ll live forever.
Comment- As close to the unofficial/official Theme Song of NighthawkNYC.com as there is likely to be, and I said as much in my very first Post in July, 2015, and here in in 2024. For me, Steely Dan represents a kind of zenith in Pop & Rock- the moment where pure instrumental musicianship peaked before the machines, computers and automation began taking over. (There’s nothing inherently “wrong” in that. It’s just different.) “Libations. Sensations. That stagger the mind…”
Compared to the otherworldly beauty on the cover for Aja, it looks like the band didn’t have a lot of input into the single’s cover. Photographer unknown.
Lyrics-
This is the day of the expanding man
That shape is my shade
There where I used to stand
It seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
At ramblers, wild gamblers
That’s all in the past
You call me a fool
You say it’s a crazy scheme
This one’s for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I’ll make it this time
I’m ready to cross that fine line
Learn to work the saxophone
I’ll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love
With those of my kind
Libations
Sensations
That stagger the mind
I crawl like a viper
Through these suburban streets
Make love to these women
Languid and bittersweet
I rise when the sun goes down
Cover every game in town
A world of my own
I’ll make it my home sweet home
Learn to work the saxophone
I’ll play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
This is the night of the expanding man
I take one last drag
As I approach the stand
I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too long
This brother is free
I’ll be what I want to be
I learned to work the saxophone
I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
Tenor solos by Pete Christlieb.
Making a masterpiece. The making of “Deacon Blues”-
;
“We would work then past the perfection point (italics mine) until it became natural.”
I get chills watching this. When Aja came out, I, and every musician I knew, were just in awe of the incredible taste shown on every single note, and what wasn’t played. Then, there’s the lyrics…
Great Music will never die. Pay Steely Dan forward.
*-R.I.P. Walter Becker (1950-2017)
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, 1979.