Reelin' In The Years Lyrics

Lyric discussion by The Dog That Ate... 

Cover art for Reelin' In The Years lyrics by Steely Dan

Good song, yet not one of my favorites by the Dan. Hum, Donutbandit, the music business metaphor just can't fit : that song was issued in 1972 !!! And I never thought the Dan was progressive (except, maybe, on the song "Aja")... Then, why do you say that disco has a "ugly head" ? It's not just Boney M and all that crap, disco had deep underground roots, and great artists that had nothing to do with the mainstream shit : Loose Joints, Larry Levan, for example. Did you ever mention that on the album "Aja", there were great jazz/funk/disco musicians, say members of the Crusaders ? Hear the sound of songs like "Josie" or "FM", or the bass work on "Peg"... To end this, why do people think that every song, every sentence written by Fagen & Becker is "obscure" or "cryptic" ??? They also wrote songs whose meaning is really obvious and which don't need to be over-interpreted : this one, or "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", "Dirty Work"...