Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill POLL

"Dirty Work" tho it feels un-Danlike in many ways. "Midnite Cruiser" deserves more love than it's likely to get here.

Correction, most of the songs on this album that aren't "Do It Again" deserve more love than they're likely to get here.

"Reelin'" is probably my favorite Dan single, or at least the one I'm least likely to ever get sick of, but I'm gonna go with "Kings," which I've been really into this week.

AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN!

http://www.comcast.com/MediaLibrary/1/1/About/PressRoom/Images/LogoAndMediaLibrary/Photography/CableNetworks/Teletubbies-Group2.jpg

Dirty Work y'all

I love "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again"

Also love "Do It Again", but that one will get lots of votes anyway.

it's between "do it again" and "years" - both have legit claims to top dog status here, and both claims rest on 1) tremendous soloing (the extended dreamy druggy one in "do it again" and the fierce guitars and pianos of "reelin' in the years") and 2) the lyrics, which aren't at all subtle, but are well-crafted and sharp. "do it again"'s lyrics sort of run out of steam in the third verse, though; the first two verses are savage, but the one about vegas doesn't match the scary pathos of "then you love a little wild one/but she brings you only sorrow," which, if you've been in the right sort of situation and are now looking back at it, can give you some bad chills. "reelin' in the years" might suffer from public misreading (I think the question is posed in a very shitty way by a complex narrator, but when the chorus is isolated and the verses forgotten, that's absent, and it's fair to blame the song for that a little) but is poignant all the same; again, it lacks subtlety (no trouble pinning down how the narrator feels about the addressee's present state), but subtlety's not everything, and "your everlasting summer, you can feel it fading fast/so you grab a piece of something you think is gonna last" is pretty fucking on-point.

Shakey Mo's right that "Dirty Work" is the real dark horse here, and again - unusually, given the situations that'll intrigue Becker & Fagen later, it's another song in which we're asked, I think with success, to relate to the speaker. But it's not wrought finely enough for me; "times are hard, you're afraid to pay the fee/so you find yourself somebody who will do the job for free" can draw tears out of me on the right day, as can that brutal chorus, but "when you need a little lovin' 'cause your man is outta town" etc is clumsy. It has great harmonies, but not better than "Reelin'."

"Do it Again" for the extended solo, the percussion, and those withering first two verses.

nb "shitty" as in "this is an unpleasant narrator," not "badly written"

Midnite Cruiser

the only SD album I don't own!

(hiss if you must)

possibly stupid question I've always meant to ask, but does anyone know why "Dirty Work" has always been a really familiar song to me that I know really well? Can't Buy wasn't one of the SD albums I heard growing up and it was never a single and isn't on most of their best-ofs, so i'm not sure where i would've heard it much before owning this album. did it ever get much classic rock radio airplay or was it covered by someone or something?

David Palmer's singing at least a third of it has hindered the album.

"Dirty Work" must've got a lot of airplay in the UK at least, it was very familiar the first time I heard CBaT in toto.

Geir,help me out, you like Do It Again--the most monotonous, one chord, totally unmelodic SD song this side of Show Biz Kids? Does this strike anyone else as just a tad inconsistent?

Yes, but they wrote it and has a melody, so it's all good.

"Midnight Cruiser". "Kings" and "Dirty Work" also have pretty killer choruses.

Say what?

Like a castle in his corner in a medieval game
I foresee terrible trouble, but I stay here just the same

a boy with a plan
a natural man

c'mon, "only a fool would say that" wins just for that, "only a fooo-oooooo-OOOOOOO-OOOL" part where the drums go double-time for a few secs! so cool.

not that aren't some other cool songs. but not that cool.

Geir,help me out, you like Do It Again--the most monotonous, one chord, totally unmelodic SD song this side of Show Biz Kids?

It isn't a one chord song. It has a contrasting bridge, you know.

My unimaginative choice is "Do It Again". I've always been a sucker for those extended modal FM-radio classics. Dunno why exactly, but the song's vibe always reminds me of Rousseau's "The Sleeping Gypsy". (And that's the first(?) and last time I try to compare a song and a painting on ILM.)

It wasn't a single, but "Dirty Work" gets a fair amount of airplay. Apart from the two big hits, it's the only CBAT song I've ever heard on the radio. Plus I saw Tony Soprano singing it in his car just two days ago! Yeah, I'm a "Sopranos" latecomer.

I really dislike "Dirty Work". I might go for "Brooklyn"

reelin in the years or dirty work will win so ill vote for "fire in the hole"

"Dirty Work," but "Do It Again" is primo sex muzik.

"Dirty Work", for those harmonies alone. It got a ton of classic rock playtime in the US in the late 80s at least.

Like a castle in his corner in a medieval game
I foresee terrible trouble, but I stay here just the same

yeah, key couplet - makes the song for me. that and the harmonies on the choruses, which I always enjoy trying to untangle

and yeah I mentioned this on another thread but Tony Soprano singin Dirty Work = possibly my favorite moment of the whole series

'only a fool would say that'

so many good ones... Reelin's pretty hard to top - classic derisive becker/fagan lyric, virtuosic playing on all fronts (drumming is sick; is that Jim Hodder? or did they farm that one out?), but still rocks. but ask me another day and it could be any of the others.

Like a castle in his corner in a medieval game
I foresee terrible trouble, but I stay here just the same

yeah, key couplet - makes the song for me.

absolutely love this song, EXCEPT for that couplet, which has never made any sense to me. castles/rooks start every chess game in the corner, sure, but they are valuable and vicious attacking pieces that never stay there. to "castle" in chess is to simultaneously move your king and your rook in such a way as to put the king closer to the corner, in a safer place, while moving your corner piece, your rook, your castle, into more of an attacking position. maybe becker and fagen played the game differently. but, then, they probably always lost.

'only a fool' is just the tastiest little ditty

the rook is usually one of the last pieces to move - pawns, knights, bishops, etc. all move first. Hence the "foresee terrible trouble" line.

x-post

but as soon as they CAN move and as soon as it would be useful for them to move, they do. in complete contrast to the narrator of the song, who can (and perhaps should) move, but chooses not to.

narrator has already pointed out that he is a "fool", I don't see what the problem is.

he sees the game unfolding, he knows he should do something before the shit hits the fan, but he's a fool, so he stays where he is

he's calling the rook a fool too. i'm saying that ain't fair to the rook. when the rook can do something, he actually does.

like a castle in his corner he foresees terrible trouble - a rook moves later in the game than most pieces, and castles are tall towers from which people can see things. BUT he stays where he is, cuz he is a fool. to do your dirty work. oh no.

this is truly imposible. also, i love palmer's vocals.

hey you guyz stop assuming it's chess. it could be another, er, medieval game

obvious answer: 'reeling in the years'
correct answer: 'reeling in the years'

props for 'do it again' also. actually its surprising ive never heard it in any movies. its like perfect dealer walking thru the airport with a suitcase of coke music.

"Do It Again" and "Reelin'" are great, but "Dirty Work" is the one that gets to me.

hmm yeah now that you mention it I can't think of a single licensing instance with the Dan...? Are there any? why/why not?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1598912/

there's the me myself & irene sndtrk, but it's all covers(?)

"Rikki" in Say Anything

My favorite Dan because it's their most successful fusion of FM and meta-FM (or pop and not-pop). Which is why they should have kept David Palmer around as sometimes lead vocalist. He's essential to that project, blending into Fagen more than most fans would admit.

I find that the two hit singles upset the balance a bit too much (stone cold genius though both of them are). So "Dirty Work" gets my vote for Palmer's serviceable vocal and the sax solo that chortles until someone shuts it up.

And yeah, I've heard "Dirty Work" quite a bit on classic rock stations.

"Dirty Work" = extended metaphor for relationships = dirty lulz win + truth nuke

On the other hand, I am another gentleman loser.

I finally got this three days ago! Everyone mostly OTM. I really dig these Brill Building numbers with sophisticated cords. Let me pick one not cited enough but whose hook grabbed instantly: "Change of the Guard."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Happy, contrarians?

"Dirty Work" is the best song, but the best version of this was done by the Pointer Sisters -- maybe the only Steely Dan cover that bested the Dan themselves

wow! underdog shocker. i went with reelin' in the years, even though i normally say dirty work

righteous

I am pretty surprised that Do It Again didn't walk away with it.

I think a lot of us heard it on Z103 CLASSIC ROKK radio in Dad's car one too many times.

From the horribly beautiful mind of @JamesGunn... check out the brand new trailer for #TheSuicideSquad, set to Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work.” In theaters August 6. pic.twitter.com/MxN9b5FF04

— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) March 26, 2021

"Fire in the Hole" is the most stripped-down Dan song: piano, steel guitar, bass and drums, with some great solo interludes.
I might have voted for "Kings" here, with its amazing lead guitar.

love fagan's piano on "fire in the hole," especially that funky intro riff

"Kings" maybe the most jaw-dropping guitar solo on a Steely Dan record. That or "Your Gold Teeth II"

I was tripping out at the “kid charlemagne” solo yesterday, that one gets a little out there

TIL 'only a fool would say that' was a response song to 'imagine' by john lennon

The man in the street draggin' his feet
Don't wanna hear the bad news
Imagine your face there is his place
Standing inside his brown shoes

You do his nine to five
Drag yourself home half alive
And there on the screen
A man with a dream

I heard it was you
Talkin' 'bout a world where all is free
It just couldn't be
And only a fool would say that

damn, ethered

Lol I like the song even more now

it's ambiguous though whether the narrator is less of a fool?

also wow at dirty work beating reeling in the years

It is “Do It Again” for me. That song has stuck with me ever since hearing as a kid on the old AM radio. It is the first of the Dan’s true crime feeling epics as the story in the lyrics makes you feel. I just love the cheap echoing sounding organ and the sitar/guitar solo is just one of the best. Such kinda ugly sounds and yet blues but with enough jazzy extensions being hit to bring in the unresolved feeling of the whole tune.

Cover band I was playing with years ago tried working it up sans keyboard and while it sounds like a simple 2 or 3 chord kinda Santana groove- without the keyboard to play those extensions it don’t work. More there going on than you think is a big Steely Dan thing.