In the Steely Dan Biography "Reelin' In The Years", Donald Fagen claims the lyrics of this song are about time travel. In many ways however, I wouldn't be suprised if this song was meant to be somewhat autobiographical. Pretzel Logic was released around '74 or so at time in which the musical landscape was experiencing a transition towards more heavier sounds. Artists such as Grand Funk Railroad and Deep Purple were paving the way for the more edgeier "Classic Rock" Artists that would define the mid to late Seventies. Even by their own self admissions, Steely Dan acknowledged that live audiences were becoming non-receptive towards The Dan's more structured Jazz inspired improvisational performances....a factor which contributed
to the abandonment of touring after the Pretzel Logic album. In addition to this, the booking of Steely Dan at this time was ridiculous. There would be shows in which The Dan would be booked with the likes of Black Oak Arkansas...and of course they would get blown off the stage. All of these factors, coupled with the factors of which we do not know, had to raise some self-doubts within Steely Dan. Perhaps there were nights when they would question weather or not they should adbandon their jazz style in favor the more straight forward hard rock style
of music occurring at the time
In the Steely Dan Biography "Reelin' In The Years", Donald Fagen claims the lyrics of this song are about time travel. In many ways however, I wouldn't be suprised if this song was meant to be somewhat autobiographical. Pretzel Logic was released around '74 or so at time in which the musical landscape was experiencing a transition towards more heavier sounds. Artists such as Grand Funk Railroad and Deep Purple were paving the way for the more edgeier "Classic Rock" Artists that would define the mid to late Seventies. Even by their own self admissions, Steely Dan acknowledged that live audiences were becoming non-receptive towards The Dan's more structured Jazz inspired improvisational performances....a factor which contributed to the abandonment of touring after the Pretzel Logic album. In addition to this, the booking of Steely Dan at this time was ridiculous. There would be shows in which The Dan would be booked with the likes of Black Oak Arkansas...and of course they would get blown off the stage. All of these factors, coupled with the factors of which we do not know, had to raise some self-doubts within Steely Dan. Perhaps there were nights when they would question weather or not they should adbandon their jazz style in favor the more straight forward hard rock style of music occurring at the time