| Steely Dan – The Caves of Altamira Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Never had the opportunity to see the Dan live...probably never will, now. But I do have several very good concert DVDs, and I think you're right that SOME of their songs don't play live as well as on the record. In a way they're victims of their own success. Donald and Walter are notoriously picky bordering on perfectionist in the studio. I'm listening for example to "Don't Take Me Alive" from The Royal Scam right now, and I seem to recall that it took Larry Carlton several takes to nail the guitar intro to the satisfaction of the guys. The Royal Scam is my favorite, for what it's worth. I know that Aja's supposed to be the pinnacle for the Dan - and I do love it too - but there's just something about the offbeat stories, and especially the fantastic guitar work by Carlton, Dean Parks, and the other guitarists on that album. |
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| Steely Dan – Sign in Stranger Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Can't believe folks here don't pick up on the obvious. This is talking about a "wild and wooly" PLANET. This is a future SF world being depicted here. "Mizar V" is, in this universe, a "boom planet" that has chosen to minimize legal authority, shall we say, which attracts the more nefarious types to the place, a world where you can go to sort of "disappear," make a new life for yourself. The guy who mentioned Jack Vance is almost certainly spot-on. "You zombies" is a probably a reference to the Robert Heinlein story "...All You Zombies..." from the 50s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_You_Zombies%E2%80%94) The plot of the Heinlein story bears little in common with the story of the SD song, and is probably just a name-check kind of thing, just like the allusion to the Vance story. Most of SD's stuff is autobiographical; this is likely a sort of acknowledgment of the role played by pulp SF in the youth of either Donald or Walter. Or maybe both. |
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