Ha! I thought this one was awfully eloquent, even for WB. Sure enough, the phrase originates with Kakfka 😂
... but he gets major respect for writing it down in his notebook. And you know, I guess I understand why he would be taken by the line. I truly recognized the sentiment as something I believed he felt/knew/lived/had been saved by
Entries from my notebooks, reflecting the depth of my soul, run more toward Dave Chapelle jokes and shopping lists
Walter explaining to BAM magazine his growing appreciation of the quicker, less labored (obsessive?) production of SD material in favor of more spontaneity :
Someone once said it takes two people to paint a picture: one to paint and one to shoot the guy so at some point the painting will be finished.… it's something I'm comfortable with right now
After dispensing the pearl of wisdom above, he then went on to say (write):
There is no doubt another pithy and pertinent {Proustian] bon mot I could lay on you, but no, you can never find these when you need them in these crappy incomplete Cliff Notes versions; I probably should have gotten wise when I saw the title was “Remembrance Etc.”
"That's not a chorus, that's a cry for help."-Walter Becker on the songwriting process. Excerpt from: In Their Own Words: Songwriters Talk about the Creative Process
Contacted by phone for comment on how the opening Midwest dates on the tour went last weekend, Becker answered, “Well, not too good. It turns out that show business isn’t really in my blood anyway, and I’m looking forward to getting back to working on my car . . . “
A state of weirdness is the ultimate beauty. Standing slightly outside of the normal perspective allows you the advantage of viewing the world from an unobstructed point of view.. All of my paintings are created from this vantage point. Everything is much more satisfying and joyful.. Lary
“I always look for the weirdest note to land on....I felt that that was the least I could do for the great musical traditions which I’ve spawned. If there’s a strange way to do something, I would certainly like to know about it. I feel that I owe that to my public.”
"particularly drummer Keith Carlock. He also played on one track on Two Against Nature and is able to play in any number of styles and still remain himself" WB
I believe I mentioned how I learned most of my drumming skills, playing styles, it allows the drummer to be where he wants/needs to be at any point in time. As long as you've chosen the correct one.
Question: So you do actually consider that to be a paradox: Smoothness of music versus dark content?
Answer: Yes, absolutely,...And particularly we were influenced a lot in that by black humor, where the writing was simultaneously often very sad and tragic and very funny.
Walter's note-to-self as he planned 11TOW :
Sloppiness needn’t be a goal or an esthetic — just do the best you can, that will be plenty sloppy enough.
"You're in a room with Hitler, Mussolini and Kenny G and you have a gun with two bullets. Who do you shoot?
Kenny G. Twice, to be sure." --Walter Becker
Another from the notebooks:
...where does the truth come from
...where do you think you're going
On a notebook page brainstorming ideas, lyrics,
the final line on the page seemed to suggest a kind of reverse-engineering process
:
Now-- what does it all look like it might mean?
MOJO Magazine interview "The Return Of Steely Dan" October 1995 http://sdarchive.com/mojo.html
MOJO: Barbara Streisand recorded one of your songs, didn't she?
Fagen: The first song we ever had recorded [I Mean to Shine]. Not a good song, but at least she recorded it.
MOJO: What kind of royalties did you see from it?
Becker: The royalties from that song were actually signed over to our previous manager, to escape from his clutches.
MOJO: Which manager?
Becker: One of the previous managers.
MOJO: You had several?
Becker: Well, the tradition is to have a succession of previous managers. Like suitors at a gang-bang, y'know?
folks who live in the walls-
why are they talking to me
how come they know things I've forgot
what are they looking at that I can't see
folks who live in the walls
not content to wait for their turn
wailing for some water in the live long day
crying for fire while the minions of the midnight play
crying for fire while seven cities burn
I very much like, "it's no wax off your bikini." Very, very good.
hey Lisa - do you mind?
I'm the last remaining vestige of my kind
and if I want to scream and shout —
if that's what I'm all about —
well I don't see how it matters much to you
it's no wax off your bikini if I do
hey Lisa - do you mind?
I'm the last remaining vestige of my kind
I'm just walking down the street —
and my life seems quite complete—
i know everything I ever want to know-
so could you take the bad news with you when you go
Ah, this one I like.
Ask anyone who don't know me anymore -
am I lucky?
Art is the axe for the frozen sea within us
Don't call me the freedom kid
That has 4ever been
my slave name
A voice said
"Your photos are ready.
Pick up at the photomat in the back of your mind"
-- One of Becker's early Girlfriend lyrics for the section:
So I'm visualizing
A cute little bunny
Walter explaining to BAM magazine his growing appreciation of the quicker, less labored (obsessive?) production of SD material in favor of more spontaneity :
Someone once said it takes two people to paint a picture: one to paint and one to shoot the guy so at some point the painting will be finished.… it's something I'm comfortable with right now
After dispensing the pearl of wisdom above, he then went on to say (write):
There is no doubt another pithy and pertinent {Proustian] bon mot I could lay on you, but no, you can never find these when you need them in these crappy incomplete Cliff Notes versions; I probably should have gotten wise when I saw the title was “Remembrance Etc.”
A photograph becomes art
only when the subject has changed
and ceased to resemble the image
or has gone forever from this earth
Walter (loosely) quoting Proust
"That's not a chorus, that's a cry for help." -Walter Becker on the songwriting process. Excerpt from: In Their Own Words: Songwriters Talk about the Creative Process
By Bill DeMain
Contacted by phone for comment on how the opening Midwest dates on the tour went last weekend, Becker answered, “Well, not too good. It turns out that show business isn’t really in my blood anyway, and I’m looking forward to getting back to working on my car . . . “
A state of weirdness is the ultimate beauty. Standing slightly outside of the normal perspective allows you the advantage of viewing the world from an unobstructed point of view.. All of my paintings are created from this vantage point. Everything is much more satisfying and joyful.. Lary
“I always look for the weirdest note to land on....I felt that that was the least I could do for the great musical traditions which I’ve spawned. If there’s a strange way to do something, I would certainly like to know about it. I feel that I owe that to my public.”
- Downbeat, Sept 6, 2017
-Remembering Walter Becker: A Maverick in Plain Sight
From notebook Re: Whack scheduling
Ways to accelerate:
- work a couple long nights a week -- dinner at studio?
- Shep do solos at night?
- Mix after tour
- kill self
[ Sometimes... ]
"particularly drummer Keith Carlock. He also played on one track on Two Against Nature and is able to play in any number of styles and still remain himself" WB
I believe I mentioned how I learned most of my drumming skills, playing styles, it allows the drummer to be where he wants/needs to be at any point in time. As long as you've chosen the correct one.
I hadn't read that piece, thx
Whao, Book of Liars at 39!
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=All+New+Steely+Dan+Orchestra+1993&&view=detail&mid=6D651E17A200E897375B6D651E17A200E897375B&&FORM=VRDGAR
"Our interest in surround and high sample rates and DVD technologies and stuff like that represents a solemn prayer for world peace.”
- Sound On Sound
What Matters Most?
This, from WB's very early notes on 11 Tracks of Whack:
All that really matters:
Songs. Structure. Soul.
12 Years With The Nuns
© Walter Becker 2009
The climax was the piercing of your soul
Now we’re strung out like beads on a string
of impossible assertions
From here out to the hereafter
The holy guest, the mysterious stranger
The padre somehow knows where you were
all night
That fickle madonna
Tears of blood, breath of roses
Now no cup of wine can make it right
The Jesuits, they want your love forever
But I just want to have it for a while
In honor of Pancake Day today, I give you this thoughtful WB quote: “8 Miles to Pancake Day is a reconciliation of the classic space-time dilemma.“ 🤔
Bitch Fight!
Scratch & Bite
The fur is flying on the beach tonight.
Put your money on the redhead.
Question: So you do actually consider that to be a paradox: Smoothness of music versus dark content?
Answer: Yes, absolutely,...And particularly we were influenced a lot in that by black humor, where the writing was simultaneously often very sad and tragic and very funny.
found it
Question: He wears a hearing aid… Why did you make “your rival” have this impediment?
Answer: Because “tiny withered dick” doesn’t rhyme with “charade.”
lol -- somehow I missed that one :-)
Robert Klein to D&W on his 1980 radio show: "So I understand you had a song accidentally erased from the new album by an engineer?"
Walter: "Not an engineer. Not anymore."
"Who are you talking to anyway?
I wasn't born again yesterday"
"To this day when I read some text that somebody writes about alienation, I always think to myself, Gee, they make it sound like it's a bad thing!"
"...and that's an order!"
Becker/Klein c. 2007
well maybe
love this
Love it!