Rikki Don't Lose That Number

The Wikipedia article didn't really quote the article in Entertainment Weekly, but paraphrased it.

For those of you interested in the actual quote from the actual article:

ew.com/ew/article/0,,1174152_3,00.html

"Tucked in the woods behind Stone Row, down a narrow path many students never notice, sits a one-room, octagonal stone structure known as the Observatory. It is there that Fagen most wants to visit. ''I used to practice here,'' he explains, gazing around the room, which, it turns out, was converted into an office in the early '70s. This isolated space was one of Fagen's most cherished escapes. ''There was nothing in there but a grand piano,'' he says. ''I had wonderful hours in here practicing scales, things that no one else should hear, you know? I'd write tunes in here, too. And if you were rejected by someone you were in love with, you could scream. I was always in love with someone [who] ignored me completely. That was my Bard experience. There was a Sorrows of Young Werther vibe about it.''

One such unrequited crush might have been a professor's young wife named Rikki Ducornet, whose first name will be familiar to Steely Dan fans. Fagen won't admit it – he's always been extremely reluctant to explain his songs – but it's easy to imagine that Ducornet was the inspiration for one of his band's most famous tunes, ''Rikki Don't Lose That Number.'' ''I remember we had a great conversation and he did suggest I call him, which never happened,'' says Ducornet, now a well-regarded novelist and artist. ''But I know he thought I was cute. And I was cute,'' she laughs. ''I was very tempted to call him, but I thought it might be a bit risky. I was very enchanted with him and with the music. It was so evident from the get-go that he was wildly talented. Being a young faculty wife and, I believe, pregnant at the time, I behaved myself, let's say. Years later, I walked into a record store and heard his voice and thought, 'That's Fagen. And that's my name!'''

Fagen would have better luck with a former Bard student named Libby Titus, whom he encountered on campus in 1966 and married 27 years later. And that's hardly his only happy memory of the school. ''I was coming straight from a housing development in New Jersey, so it was great,'' he says. ''I loved the teachers and the girls, you know. I had friends here. Probably the only time in my life,'' he says with a laugh, ''that I actually had friends.'' "

Apparently Horace Silver wasn't pleased at them using his bass line in this song which sort of surprises me. Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter expressed their admiration to these guys quite a lot. I must say this song has a very unusual chord sequence (as did most of them). Musicians I meet often comment on how strange it is to play bizarre jazz chords and change key unexpectedly. I pity the cover bands! Right on!

Here's something to muddle all conclusions:

The person of the title is Rikki Ducornet, see page 3 of:

ew.com/ew/article/0,,1174152,00.html

The short story is that Rikki was the young, pregnant wife of a professor at Bard that DF had a flirtation with.

Okay, I don't know anything about the history of this song or anything, but taking into consideration what Buddy said and the words, it sounds like the song is the drug talking to the person. You know what I mean? Yeah that's how I feel.

:)

This is a gr8 SD song and I absolutely LOVE the guitar solo. When I heard it on the radio in the 70s, I thought was about unrequited love; the kind I was going through at that time, so I felt the song was 'mine'. I've since read some music critics comment about the 'homosexual allusions' in it; still loved the song, but it bummed me out a little just because I thought it wasn't mine anymore. Glad to read Fagans' response on the meaning.

I don't have an interpretation, just I can't help but compliment Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. I mean, how many meanings has everyone come up with? Ricki Nelson, Rikki Ducornet, gay seduction, pot, LSD, or just some random girl named Rikki. These two may have not known that it would cause such uproars among Internet forums, but they know how to write with a deviant sense of vagueness. Anyone can make a case for any meaning but the only way we'll know for sure is if Fagan and Becker confirm; and that won't happen anytime soon.

The drug addiction seems right. If you look at the lyrics 'We can go out driving on Slow Hand Row.' Slow Hand was a popular Clapton album in the 70's with songs like Lay Down Sally and Cocaine on it I do believe. hmmmm.

granatino.com/sdresource/9lyrics.htm according to one of the songwriters, the lyrics are to be taken literally, it's a a song about a guy asking a girl not to lose his number.

and they even spelled her name properly, as in RIKKI, not Ricky or whatever.

its not about a guy or a gay guy or whatever. its about a girl. my name is rikki and i'm a girl. that is the girl spelling. ricky is guy, "rikki" even though its a rarer spelling, is purely girl!