5/18/14, 1:22 AM Intro to the Song Book

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Intro to the Steely Dan Song Book
(a long time ago)
[For info on more recent SD Song Books go here]
Standing at the third sun-dappled crossroads of our career, having freshly glimpsed the thirty-
fth heaven, having kept our vow to put nails in our corporate ass, and, what is more, having
been up all night smoking packs and packs of Delicados Ovalados, hecho en Mexico, we salute
you: the loyal fandom of the Steely Dan band (hopefully that includes you, Mr. Sy Feldman of
Warner Bros. Publications in New York City).
Because we are so rarely allowed to air our views on the printed page, we would like to take this
opportunity to get a few things off our chest. First, these replies to some fan mail: To C.K. of Fair
Lawn, New Jersey: Certainly not. The rather novel type oaf interview you have repeatedly
requested cannot possibly be arranged, even in the state of California. To J. "S" Baxter of Los
Angeles: Sorry, Jeff, but our royalties haven't come in either. And nally, to Ruthie, age fourteen,
R.D. 52, Eugene, Oregon: No; yes; no; about seven and a half inches; sure thing, you bet; Mahalo
Hilton, October 25th and 26th, ask at the desk.
In the course of our back-breaking public appearance schedule all across this great nation, many
young musicians and composers have asked for guidance regarding some oaf the more technical
problems, both musical and lyrical, encountered in the reproduction of our songs. Unfortunately,
we are usually accosted in concert halls, while riding in station wagons, loitering in coffee shops,
airports, etc., and these questions most often go unanswered. At this time, with a "Little help
from our friends", we are prepared to present not only the correct and complete lyrics for the
songs in this book, but also an invaluable interpretive aid to be used in conjunction with these
exclusive renderings for piano and/or guitar: The revelation and explanation of the dynamic
major chord!
The major (moo major) chord is the most frequently used stylistic device in the arsenal of
music effects responsible for dening and maintaining the distinctive Steely Dan sound. Without
the major chord it would be impossible to achieve the airy, modern, almost jazzy quality that
the sensitive listener can detect in just about every Steely Dan recording. The major chord is
constructed as follows:
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Note the substitution of a major second in place of a conventional tonic in the chord structure (in
the case of a major, B natural for an A natural in the right hand). Of course, this chord can be
built on each of the twelve root pitches found in most western music. Some of our more
harmonically sophisticated readers may know this chord by one of several other names such as
"deus de musica (1st expansion)", "major triad avec neoplastic distension", or "'M' Lords
Consonance". Used only sporadically in most contemporary popular music, we have found this
little honey to be a sine qua non in almost every song we have written to date. All the members
of Steely Dan, past and present, have come to believe, as we do, that the luminous, mystic quality
of the major chord is capable of greatly enriching the musical vocabulary of our otherwise
discordant era. Virtually any piano owner can experience this sonority in the privacy of his or her
own home if she or he is willing to take the trouble, when confronted with a major triad, to come
down on the keyboard with his or her thumb just slightly to the right of where it would normally
land. Once you become accustomed to this wholesome harmonic mindbath, you'll soon nd
yourself sneaking seconds into minor seventh chords and stacking fourths like a Hindemith gone
haywire in Harlem. Inversions of the major may be formed in the usual manner with one
caveat: the voicing of the second and third scale tones, which is the essence oaf the chord's
appeal, should always occur as a whole tone dissonance.
We are painfully aware of the fact that even the most lucid explanations of simple musical ideas
re by themselves meaningless to the rare guitar player who may be willing to expand his
conception and technique. Through years of bitter experience, working with our own rock and
roll orchestra, we have come to know that the noble savage armed with a screaming Stratocaster
or a vintage les Paul, if he is to be made to understand, must be addressed in the peculiar
language associated with his chosen instrument. In many cases, even this is not enough; and a
"brother" (another guitarist) must be brought in to translate and hopefully, to ease the sometimes
nasty relationship that tends to develop between the well-meaning, earnest, highly trained
composer/musician and the pragmatic, possibly bisexual, guitar player. For these reasons, we
now pass the pen to a rst line guitarist and colleague, , Mr. Denny Dias, who should be well
known to you all, and who studied for many years with Downbeat and Metronome Poll Winner
of the Fifties, Mr. Billy Bauer. (non-guitarists may skip the following section.)
Hi! I'm really glad to be writing this part of the music book because it took me years and
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years to get the hang of these funny chords and I gure I can save a lot of people a lot of
time. The reason it took me so long is because I had to gure it out for myself. Walter
knows some oaf these chords but always seems to have his hand on the wrong fret or
something, and Donald is, as my girlfriend Debbie puts it, "the worst guitar player I ever
heard." So they wouldn't be much help. These major chords aren't easy to play on the
guitar, believe me, but once I realized that my playing wouldn't really cook with the band
until I could play them, without thinking, and all the keys and in any position, I got my stuff
together pretty fast. What I'm putting down here is a complete rundown of the major
chords I use in my playing. Even Billy Bauer probably didn't know some of these.
Here's the rst major chord:
Strum this one a little and get used to the sound. Compare it to an E major chord
And see if you can hear the difference. Now by playing this same voicing on the fth fret,
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you get an A major chord, and you can play the right major chord for any tonic note by
starting with that note on the low E string (6th string), barring across that entire fret, and
making this voicing with whatever ngers you have left. This next chord has its tonic on the
5th (A) string.
The same chord but as a bar chord.
Here's another one.
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Relax your left hand for three minutes, then try this one.
The same voicing barred (good luck).
Those of you with jazz chops may like this 4-string chord with a major third on the bottom.
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I guess that's all of them. What you have to do is practice these chords until you get so good
that you can automatically substitute the right major chord voicing for any major triad in
the Steely Dan Songbook, or whatever they're going to call it, without thinking. How do
you know which voicing is the right now? Usually I use the one that's easiest to get to from
where I am on the neck so I don't have to move my hand back and forth a lot, especially
when it's humid like Hicksville, or hot and dry like Woodland Hills. Usually that's the way I
do it, even in some of the real jazz sessions I've been playing. But, in the studio or on the
road, Donald and Walter will make me play a major chord that's real high or real
awkward or something and I'm never sure why they want that particular one--but they have
the nal decision. I guess you can choose any one you want, because how are they going to
know about that?
Thank you, "Brother" Dias. I suppose it's only fair to warn you people that lately we have been
visiting many of the excellent nightclubs and discotheques all around the country without prior
notication and, if you're up on the bandstand playing an unaesthetic voicing of the major
chord in, say, Rikki or Reelin in the Years, we're going to notice the minute we walk in and so will
anybody else with half an ear (nice try, Denny). So tighten up.
*5/96*
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