Psychedelic electro jazz waltz with cryptic lyrics. A genre that could only come from the mind of Walter Becker

Haven't listened to this one in a while and the e-mail notification urged me to put it on. One observation I have is this song has a instrumental stylistic sound (to me) similar to the Rippingtons. Mainly the pan-flute style solo. Interestingly, where I am The Rippingtons have been used for The Weather Network's background music which kinda ties the seasonal thing together in a neat way! Regardless I love this song, thanks again :)

Was listening to this wonderful tune for about the umpteenth time today when I was suddenly struck by the similarity of the keyboard part with that of Dave Brubeck's 'Take Five' piano.

"The one time" assumes I only made a particular number of suggestions :-)

Well then D-Mod... what was the one time he did follow your suggestion??

o god...i fairly BEGGED him to add this to their tours! Maybe as the band intro song or something... I swore even the clueless would go wild for it. Alas. But typical; I think my batting average for suggestions to accepted suggestions was about .001

The bloddy brain tap shuffle lose your mind...ha ha. Suppose after that FIDELITY did become a priority!

awwww, Honey Honey.....some classic bubblegum right there! In the Sound On Sound article on "the making of...", Walter mentions that he had a start on a few of the songs that ended up on C$ -- that's your classic pipeline right there. He mentioned Upside and Audrey, and there might have been shreds of a few more ---but he also says they "wrote all the songs from scratch over a period of about a year," Strokes > different < Folks.

Wow, so 2003. I imagine Becker always had tons of bits and pieces and song starts laying around - probably going all the way back to the early 70's, that he probably perused when starting a new album. Unless, He and Larry started the "Circus Money" from more or less scratch - which, knowing the SD method, means a writing period of, at least, ten years.

Thank you for your quick response. As a songwriter, myself, in fact, I'm the son of Jeff Barry, the Brill Building legend who probably stared aghast at Donald and Walter in New York in the late 60's when they tried to play him "Brain Tap Shuffle," I am a great student and fan of the songwriting process and these demos and insights have proven fascinating and so entertaining. While my father may have written "Be My Baby" and "Sugar Sugar," I grew up in the 80's, a fan of folks like Elvis Costello and Tom Waits and agree with those who understood Becker and Fagen were so much more "punk rock" and subversive than the Sex Pistols dared dream to be. I should ask my father if he remembers Donald and Walter from back in the Brill Building, although he, himself, moved out to Los Angeles about the same time they did. He probably even knew them from out here, as well - as much as one can claim to "know" Becker and Fagen - or, for that matter, even SEE them outdoors in sunny California during their extended stay on the west coast.

Either way, thank you again for your response and my deepest, most sincere condolences for the lost of your good friend. What you are doing here is a true gift which enriches soul, brain, heart and ears.

Best,

JCB

Hi nepilcot, deep thanks for those wonderful sentiments, boy it makes me feel good when these little shreds of unadorned melodies inspire appreciation (or re-appreciation) for the breadth of his talent. He never tried to prove anything throughout the long years of some pretty belittling assumptions about his talent or contribution. And even in the face of some robust revisionism of recent years, he just sat out the turf wars entirely. I admired him for that. Still...

Dave Russell's inimitable script tells us the final 2 mixes were completed a few days before my '03 birthday. Christ, almost impossible to realize how long ago that was...

Hi, thank you so much for sharing these intimate and remarkable songs with us. I've aways been an enormous fan of Becker as both a solo artist way beyond his contribution to Steely Dan. These rare demos and recordings only solidify what I knew - he was an equal partner in SD and Fagen's solo material , while brilliant, often suffers from "phantom limb syndrome" os missing what Becker brought to the table.

I was curious what the basic date/era this track comes from? I apologize if I missed that information in the above posts, also I did scan look for it.

Either way, this site is remarkable and thank you again for keeping the memory of Walter alive and continuing to share his magic with the world.

I think Denise is right. I know I got it the day it came out, and then got the U.K. version for Dark Horse Dub

D-Mod, I already had bought a copy, so I did not pickup another. I suspect all Walter's fans had already gotten a copy by that time - it had been out a few months.

Matthew, I totally agree.

Just want to add my two cents about this great track...

After Walter's death in September, I was middling inconsolate. Even though I hadn't been in steady contact with Walter since circa 2003, it still felt like there was a chance that I'd wake up one morning, check my email, and receive an invitation to check out a new track, come to a show, or whatever. It sure as shit didn't feel like it had been seventeen years since the Two Against Nature tour, a summer packed with almost as much Steely Dan as I might desire. Instead, I woke up that morning to the devastating news that I had lost a hero—not the kind of hero that flies about in the distance, but the kind that occasionally mails a cd or tour shirt to a sixteen year old fan, or asks when he sees you how each show was, if it sounded okay...who genuinely seems to give a shit and remembers what you talked about last time and says nice things about you to people you respect.

So when the request came from walterbecker.com, I jumped on the chance to give something back, in the form of the Hey19 Raps archive at www.dandom.com/hey19, which I worked on with longtime community leader and all around good guy Jim "Hoops" McKay. When our beloved moderator asked if I would be willing to help with a few other projects, I of course responded in the affirmative. When she asked if I would be willing to help her fulfill a promise she had made to Walter, to share with his fans any material that was worthy of being heard, this was the first track she shared with me. I laid on the couch in my living room in the middle of the night listening to this song, at once both broken by the immeasurable sense of loss that I knew we had all suffered, myself and this community much less that Walter's family and friends, and giddy with the prospect that that what had felt so brutally final could be in some way moderated by this song and the prospect of more to come. It made the loss feel deeper and greater, while at the same time making sense of it all. There is only one season here.

The song is unmistakably Walter. Even in 6/8, you immediately know you're at home. The process of shifting the context is fascinating, illustrating the versatility and intelligence that has long imbued all of Walter's music with that special something that is so hard to capture. Without waxing musical theory, Walter manages to effortlessly compose something familiar and radically different from what's come before, reminding me of everything I fell in love with in my initial discovery of the Steely Dan catalog, and in his solo efforts.

In this track I am reminded of what we lost, but also of all we were given by this remarkable writer. And he, and his wife, keep giving now, with no expectation of reward. That is a damn remarkable thing, like hourstuff said above, that I don't see prior precedent for in modern pop culture. It is touching to me that Walter cared about his fans enough to request this kind of thing, and that his wife has done all of the hard work of preparing and disseminating each track for us to greedily consume. It really helps.

Thank you.

On The Corner - thanks for the rec to "Still Bill" - great flick! Great artist. He was on some of the Rock N Soul dates I believe

Thanks, Denise.Now the Q we all want an answer to; did you get a copy? Was watching people exit and they seemed most eager to get outside on the street. So even GIVING it away had a middling batting average. -sigh - lol

I believe it was the Beacon in NY. I remember him saying it, and I attended shows at NY & Boston that year - I'm pretty sure it wasn't in Boston.

I wish I could remember where it was, sorry. There was some natural opportunity in the "stage repartee" with DF (long story about the merch table) that gave him an easy opportunity.

also, i was not at the show where becker gave away copies od Circus Money, but i rememebr hearing about it... was it at the beacon?

i loved that album and was holding out hope for a solo WB tour to support it after nothing from it was played during that summer’s Steely Dan tour.

moderator writes:

”In that moment he was likely running the phrase through some kind of " context thesaurus" where the phrase takes on other meanings. I came to think of this as a type of untethered, superflexible three-dimensional engagement with language that "regular" Folk just didn't naturally have without trying for it. His song typifies this notion.. ”

reminds me of scenes the fantasic bill withers documentary, Still Bill. He talks about how he‘d often ask someone to write down particular turns of phrases he’d hear and eventually write songs around them... im sure many songwriters do that, but very few set a scene and tella story like Becker has here (and to be fair, Withers did too).

many thanks to D-Mod for sharing this, it’s really wonderful to hear.

D-Mod: Yes, laminate away! I'd be honored. :-)

That sounds familiar and I might have been there... are you sure it was only one show where he did that?

hourstuff -- sniff sniff --may I laminate your comment, and pull it out of my wallet whenever I or somebody else questions what I'm doing here? Which is common enough. Your post was very fortifying. Thank YOU.

Funny I was writing someone today trying to enumerate why I though this place was unique, and we wrote mainly the same thing: "a site that gives away sought-after, unpublished, never-heard material from a respected musician in very high audio standards…free and completely divorced from any "commercial initiative" of any kind". It's this last I think that's the really different part...almost EVERYTHING, including "giveaways", are somehow attached to trying to sell something else.

Honestly I can't thank you enough for your comment - it's exactly what I hoped somebody could get out of this effort and the only thing that would make the effort worthwhile. And if we have come up with something unique, I also told my correspondent, Walter would be pleased; he always liked coloring outside of the lines..

PS: Is there anybody out there who was at the show when Walter told everybody to pick up a free copy of Circus Money from the merch table on their way out? He just wanted it -- and the wonderful, generous work of his musicians -- to be heard.

What a great song. When the chorus hits there's this overwhelming feeling of once again being delighted by something truly great. When you've got it, you've got it.

I think this whole site and the wonderful downloads available here are just fantastic!! I can't think of any other artist who has done anything even remotely similar to this. Think about it. Most artists have a treasure-trove of goodies (just like WB) that never see the light of day. The cream of the crop may get released by the record companies, but the stuff we're being privy to here might never typically get into the public's hands to be heard and enjoyed by the craving fan. I just wanna thank both WB & DB for having the foresight to come-up with this clever idea and being so willing to freely share these beautiful little nuggets. Thank you.

well Peg is a solidly tonal work with a central 12 bar blues verse, yes a "chorus" and other nifty formal elements; indeed Graydon's classic solo is over the 12 bars, so if Phalen's notes were accurate, Walt and Don were just being sarcastic (probably of the music journalism apparatus generally). Here we have a 16 bar form plus 2 bar tag. Delicious. Yes pentatonic scales are one standard framework of bassline construction, so that's a likely context. In this case the main pedal is around a persistent flat seven pentatonic based figure, so in the final phrase (under the word "season") when the bass plays once the 6 (here an "A" note) as the passing tone, that creates momentary sunshine that sets off the main darker color of the piece, as a painter would.

well if "pantonal" is a construction, there is some scale that he favors, and he named it for me many times when I would ask him abiout some of his runs....it was definitly pan-somthing. Pentatonic maybe? But that's a common scale, no? He was probably just having me on..

Right, “pantonal 13-bar blues” on Peg was I think how it was described! And the critic said that was double-talk. It reminds me of one of my all-time favorite Walter responses in an interview. At the time of Gaucho, WB and DF were guests on the Robert Klein Radio Hour. Robert asked them “so what does bodacious mean?” And in perfectly dry typical Walter fashion, he said, “It’s a kind of cowboy.” Which thoroughly cracked up both me and the audience. Still does

"pantonal" was tongue half-in-cheek, half Aja liner notes (for "Peg"), e.g., http://www.broberg.pp.se/sd_aja.htm half just sounding about right :-)

See! That's just the crowd-source knowledge I hoped for! Right you are, Rob, thanks. I'm changing the credit now... btw, the article rob cites above is a good one for those interested in stages of Circus Money.

.

perhaps "opticode" should be "opcode" (unless there's some additional obscure meaning). I didn't know opticode, but did see this https://www.soundonsound.com/people/walter-becker

Rob - thanks for your post. I myself am ignorant of the sort of music theory that would allow me to deconstruct a song like this -- I just know it has that Becker scale (pantonal you say?) and "sounds" like him -- even with all it's different features. I a;ways hoped that discussion about our posts would include music nerds :-) and others who could have fun pointing out things to the rest of us and talking amongst themselves ....so any other scale-sleuths out there please join in! And Rob, if you're part of another community that might enjoy this sort of thing, bring em on over! ...This sort of discussion is part of Walter's legacy as well, and I'd love for it to be part of our site.

To everyone else, your responses are lovely, and I thank you for your insight and delicacy. I was sort of a wreck the last couple of days...but now, I'm very glad I shared it.

I knew it, I just knew it!! My Wife and I enjoyed our Honeymoon on Maui in 2002, we did only special things. Having no idea, thoughts, or concern for who lived there or where they might live while driving on that beautiful Highway, I was struck, blind out of nowhere, I looked to the side and I just knew it!! This is where he was, still don't know about that Karma or how things like that happen to minds, I JUST KNEW IT!!!! "HE" lived here. I'm geting chills.

Awseome, unbeleivably personal and just untouchable. Thx for sharing YOUR song

a new favorite - this one has the goods, a few strong muscles sprung into lyric endoskeleton. the hook for me is from the high tradition of pantonal blues - at the IV of the verse the bass goes V, so the 2 of the chord and WB magic is made. Walking back down through the strange mode, back to one, pedal under a sweet melody and shimmering lyric "...only one season...". Is it major? minor? both? neither? exquisite!

Aw thanks DB. That view means a lot to me. My partner & I went to P___ in 2012 & poked around for a few days in between other, more casual island pursuits (swimming; walking; making art-photographs; meeting mongeese & wild chickens) & met some folks who, upon realizing we were a/ Canadian, and, b/ shy, and, c/ not demanding or otherwise intrusive on artists' personal privacy, kindly shared some memories & other details with us. The closest we ever got to Channel One was the H__'___a overlook at dusk before our Mama's reservation, the dull thump of breakers audible all the way up the cliff, a few brave surfers out there in the dark blue April water. It was totally worth the bumpy 5+ hours in the air to & from Vancouver. Thanks again for that view, & all that you do here.

cjbrayshaw: the chairs in the video are like a namecheck; the actual scene is this --at the edge of the lawn, there's a 15' drop to a rocky coast. Down some rock stairs and a few steps away is a little bay with enough sand to get into the water without getting all cut up. The picture was taken during low tide. Fantastic view with lots of action in the water (huge turtles--they all had the name Big Head Todd the Turtle God: wave-riding fish: tidepool denizens: spinner dolphins — and in season, farther out past the second break, momma humpbacks with new baby, slapping and breaching). We used to call it Channel 1. "Hey you want to watch Channel 1 for a while?".

Thanks very much for this, & for all the HTML-architecture around it. A beautiful song; a great, moving, & funny story. Am I wrong to think that that very quick initial drone-shot, those two chairs, that green lawn, might be somewhere on the coast near P___, on the north shore, where Sayan laid part of Walter to rest? If so, thanks for including it. It's a good view, something a gentleman avocado farmer would have rightfully been proud of.

Beautiful and personal, thanks for releasing and sharing this!

Initially I felt kind of a 'Take 5' vibe, but of course it's very Walter.

It's also indicative of how a creative mind appreciates the islands.

I love the vibe of the tune, jazzy and smooth. It has a big touch of 'Nightfly', showing how likeminded Walter and Donald where. Thanks for sharing this very personal gift from Walter to you!

Downloads for Only One Season now online

Thanks for sharing this great music and the great personal sentiment that it came with! This place makes me feel like I understand the man, the nonpareil - Walter Becker - even better.

Thanks for sharing mod. Amazing stuff. The song is pretty good too. :-)

I love everything about this, the story, the poem, the song, the lyrics, and the idea of a "context thesaurus." (Where can I get one of those?)

Schweeeeet!! What more can one say?! This is great. Thank you so much for sharing this very personal and wonderful tune with the world. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

Wow! What a compliment D-Mod! That’s truly one of a kind and a great tune. Thank you for sharing something so personal with us.

Great to hear Walter's voice again.

Here I am, sitting around at 3am when I get an email from the WB website. Weird on all accounts, had to check it out.

Glad I opened it and found this song, and this new site.

Thanks for sharing, it means a lot.

ONLY ONE SEASON Walter Becker

© Zeon LLC 2017

The old friends and the family

Rumbling in the alley

Somehow you don’t care anymore

The guts and the glory

The old hard luck story

Heard it all before

The bad breaks and the heartaches

You give ‘em , you get ‘em

Make all the same mistakes

That’s cool, you let ‘em

No use trying to please them dear

There’s only one season here

You cut loose of the whole deal

You jump on in your bad wheels

There’s just not a whole lot more to know

You drop down into first gear

You start out from right here

And point it where you want to go

The rain falls and the wind blows,

That’s how they rig it

It’s all part of the floor show

Sit back and dig it

You don’t need a reason dear

Only one season here

Now we all had some good fun

But this one here’s a re-run

Generally it’s more sad than true

The bad guys and the black hats

We’ve been there and done that,

Now I’m gonna do something new

The good luck and the big bucks

You get ‘em when you need ‘em

It’s up there in the headlines

It ain’t hard to read ‘em

Ringing out loud and clear

Just the one season here

Ringing out loud and clear

Just the one season here

No use trying to please them dear

Just the one season here.

Vocals & Opcode: Walter Becker

Vocal recording and engineering: Dave Russell .