Taking Sides: Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years" vs. Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town"

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Most of my life, Steely won, but the last couple-a-years have been trying to show me that Lizzy's is better.

Can you push me one way or the other?

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:13 (twenty years ago)

reelin

― metal detective (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

Thin Lizzy. Fagen's unconfident vocal detracts from an otherwise ripping tune (dueling-guitar-riffage breakdown!!!)

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:16 (twenty years ago)

unconfident?!?

― metal detective (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

Too close to call.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

Lizzy.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

REELIN

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

Fagen sounds like he was called in to sing after an afternoon spent reading Kerouac in the couch outside the studio.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

Lizzy wins this one. Reelin' is a great song, but it feels formative. "Boys Are Back" is confident and it swaggers.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

he'd never stoop to reading something as pedestrian as kerouac.

― metal detective (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

Lizzy blasts the Dan into a thousand pieces with a rock missile the likes of which even Jeff Baxter couldn't defend

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

remind me what's so great about swagger?

― metal detective (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

I haven't quite understood the ILM love for Thin Lizzy yet. "Reelin" is a great song though.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

Lizzy blasts the Dan into a thousand pieces with a rock missile the likes of which even Jeff Baxter couldn't defend

Classic

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

On the basis of which one shows up in my head more often, TL wins by a thousand miles.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

"Reelin'" because musically they tie, but the lyrics to this one are much better.

― Hillary Brown (Hillary Brown), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:07 (twenty years ago)

The Dan on lyrical content alone (xpost)

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

Finally: Long-awaited evidence that somebody besides myself used to get those two songs mixed up, 'lo so many years ago! (Vaguely similar semi-arpeggiated harmonized twin-guitar part.)

Close call, but I gotta choose the Dan, largely because "Reelin'" wasn't used to sell Molson's products for far too long.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:16 (twenty years ago)

[ponders] Hmmm...Are you reelin' in the beers?/Are you stowin' away the limes?

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:17 (twenty years ago)

"Reelin'" because musically they tie, but the lyrics to this one are much better

How can yo argue with these lines in specific:

"That night over at Johnny's place
Well this chick got up and she slapped Johnny's face
Maaaaaaaaan we just fell up out the place
If that chick don't want to go forget her..."

Granted, these do put up a good fight:

"You been tellin' me you're a genius since you were seventeen
In all the time I've known you I still don't know what you mean
The weekend at the college didn't turn out like you planned
The things that pass for knowledge I can't understand..."

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

Finally: Long-awaited evidence that somebody besides myself used to get those two songs mixed up...

You may also want to chime in on this other thread regarding semi-clones too:

TS: Chuck Berry's "Maybelline" vs. Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love"

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:21 (twenty years ago)

"Boys Are Back"; hands down.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

The Dan song is terrific, as is the Lowe song that lifts the riff, but Thin Lizzy wins on sheer sentimentality - makes me think about when me and my high school buddies get to hang out during the holidays.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

Papa Wheelie's lyrical analysis is dead on, both have great lyrics, and those are my two favorite parts of the lyrics from those songs.

Gah...this is a super hard one. I really don't want to choose. They both have great openings, but the guitar line at the begin of reelin is definitely more memorable for me.

No, can't decide.

― Scott CE (Scott CE), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

"And So It Goes," right? That's what I tend to segue into singing rather than the Lizzy track.

― Hillary Brown (Hillary Brown), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

Whenever some Anglophile friends of mine would bitch about the unimaginativeness of sampling I'd bring up their hero Nick Lowe's tendency to cop a riff or 18.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

"But at least he actually plays it!"

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:47 (twenty years ago)

Whenever some Anglophile friends of mine would bitch about the unimaginativeness of sampling I'd bring up their hero Nick Lowe's tendency to cop a riff or 18.

Hmm... Perhaps they've heard of more obscure examples such as Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones or The Beatles?

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:48 (twenty years ago)

see Rick's line.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

to be fair they were just being willfully whiny crypto-racist luddites.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

"Boys are Back in Town" is probably my least favorite track by Thin Lizzy, but it still mops the floor with fuckin' Steely Dan.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 21:23 (twenty years ago)

I like Reelin' but hate the chorus - typical of Steely Dan for me. The glossy harmonies grate. GRATE.

Boys SLAYS.

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 02:16 (twenty years ago)

"Boys are Back in Town" is probably my least favorite track by Thin Lizzy, but it still mops the floor with fuckin' Steely Dan.

Thank you.

― giboyeux (skowly), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

dude - nick lowe/steely dan exact riff match! i know! ILM is the best! theres always someone else who notices/affirms my thoughts. this hivemind thing is so comfy.

(thin lizzy by a very fine hair)

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 03:59 (twenty years ago)

((in general, thin lizzy by a more substantial portion, but that is THE dan song in my mind))

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 04:00 (twenty years ago)

I love both songs, but have a slight preference for "Boys Are Back." See, I LIKE Thin Lizzy's other recordings. I don't care for Steely Dan except for this one song. "Reelin' In The Years" is a guilty pleasure that reminds me of being a kid in the 70's.

And after you get past those long-winded lyrics, "Reelin'" is the most bitter breakup song this side of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine." The guy in Steely Dan just stops short of telling the girl to go fuck herself.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 07:47 (twenty years ago)

"Boys" is the only Thin Lizzy track I really like. I like it more than "Reelin'" BUT if I listed my fave SD/TL tracks in order there'd be an awful lot of Dan tracks before TBABIT showed up in 47th place or whatever.

― frankiemachine, Wednesday, 15 June 2005 08:15 (twenty years ago)

Boys...Reelin' in the Years seems too regretful about past goings on, whereas Boys seems to celebrate the hilarious retelling of the same old, same old.

Boys is bar ENTRY music, Reelin' is Man-I-should-get-outta-this-bar music. I like entering bars. Hence, Boys.

Both guitar lines are classics that, like Hotel California, even non-guitarists can sing along with.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

the dan

the blonde officer on Reno 911! would agree - as of last night's episode she's a steely dan groupie

― Cheek0 (Cheek0), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

for that matter, I think "So It Goes" beats the shit out of either one of these songs. "The promoter's got the muscle" is a better line than the Dan ever came up with, I think. "Coming back from a peacekeeping mission."

Yeah--I happened to see that Reno 911 thing too! Very funny indeed--a Dan groupie, what would *that* be like...?

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

Boys...Reelin' in the Years seems too regretful about past goings on, whereas Boys seems to celebrate the hilarious retelling of the same old, same old.
Boys is bar ENTRY music, Reelin' is Man-I-should-get-outta-this-bar music. I like entering bars. Hence, Boys.

Both guitar lines are classics that, like Hotel California, even non-guitarists can sing along with.

O. T. M.

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

yeah, seriously

― Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Wednesday, 15 June 2005 20:00 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

miccio do you acually listen to "the Boys are Back in Town" with your...boys....when you're...back in town?

― gear (gear), Saturday, 29 October 2005 07:06 (twenty years ago)

i like this miccio guy. on my last day of high school me and my boys piled into my friend Dan's tiny Nissan and rolled down Main street in Rockford blasting and singing along to "School's Out" by Alice Cooper.

― gear (gear), Saturday, 29 October 2005 07:07 (twenty years ago)

How very Dazed and Confused.
US high school life is so glamorous!

― naranjito (Koens), Saturday, 29 October 2005 09:24 (twenty years ago)

Steely Dan are gay. Phil from Thin Lizzy was a Black Irishman who died from heroin abuse. How the fuck can REELIN' compete with that?

― Freddie (freddie), Saturday, 29 October 2005 09:40 (twenty years ago)

This one's easy. Listen to the part where Thin Lizzy whisper-sings "the boys are BACK, the boys are BACK" in the background,like they just had a fifties show-tune musical moment, and you will know that the Dan wins this one.

Who says things are "gay" anymore, anyway?

― footlog, Saturday, 29 October 2005 12:34 (twenty years ago)

i have an aversion to the thin lizzy song due to its inclusion in "toy story", despite its greatness. "reelin' in the years" wins here because the verse's cadence sounds like its tumbling over itself and finally gets its rhythm right at the chorus. i cant remember if michael mcdonald [my #1 most hated musician of all-time] sings on this track but if he does, im willing to overlook it.

― maria tessa sciarrino (theoreticalgirl), Saturday, 29 October 2005 13:21 (twenty years ago)

Not even close! "Reelin' in the Years."

― merritt ranew (merritt), Saturday, 29 October 2005 13:35 (twenty years ago)

The Dan win again!

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Saturday, 29 October 2005 14:38 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

Hey, the radio just played these two back-to-back, practically! And I'm struck by another coupla similarities - same uptempo triplet feel, same more-spoken-than-sung vocal (the result of cramming an excess of anecdotal verbiage into a fairly compact space.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 27 February 2006 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

shit, i shoulda just made it reelin' vs. sammy davis jr.'s candy man. same fuckin riff.

― abusive comments (PappaWheelie V), Sunday, 12 October 2008 03:38 (seventeen years ago)

"Reelin'" is a terrible song. "Boys" is a song that I find somewhat confusing though I don't mind it.

― Shushtari (res), Sunday, 12 October 2008 04:57 (seventeen years ago)

I love the Dan. I have never understood the Lizzie. I have respect though.

― Nate Carson, Sunday, 12 October 2008 09:35 (seventeen years ago)

Steely Dan definitely. Although I like this Thin Lizzy number too.

― Geir Hongro, Sunday, 12 October 2008 10:40 (seventeen years ago)

I like the version of "The Boys Are Back in Town" that's in 48 Hrs. a lot better than the Thin Lizzy version. Plus, "Reelin'" has an amazing guitar solo. And "You've been telling me you're a genius since you were seventeen. / And in all the time I've known you I still don't know what you mean."

― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 12 October 2008 15:09 (seventeen years ago)

Reelin' is a better song, although, like a lot of early Dan it still feels like an overreach.

― Everything is Highlighted (Hurting 2), Sunday, 12 October 2008 15:12 (seventeen years ago)

six months pass...

DOWN AT DINOS

― cool app (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 21:07 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

It's sad that the majority of folks who know the name "Thin Lizzy" associate it with Boys. But in this instance, Boys is rock n roll. Reelin is a long winded studio session with sub par soul.

― atlogik, Tuesday, 20 March 2012 03:28 (thirteen years ago)

i dunno about that, but "boys" in a walk either way. if a band had to be associated with one song, you could do a lot worse than "the boys are back in town". and "jailbreak". two songs! though they really oughtta be known for "wild one":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2ZRhB1Dol0

― Fozzy Osbourne (contenderizer), Tuesday, 20 March 2012 03:38 (thirteen years ago)

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