Steely Dan - Kid Charlemagne First Listen (REACTION to Steely Dan)
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Amazing song!!
Original Video: • Video
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Okay, so just some fill in... As others have said, this was based loosely on Owsley Stanley who was, indeed, and LSD chemist, but not just ANY LSD chemist. Stanley's version of LSD left people feeling particularly amorous, and that launched "the Summer of Love" in 1967, and the "free love" hippie culture. It's postulated, were it not for Stanley's LSD, this would never have happened, hence the "crossed a diamond with a pearl"... he crossed something with LSD and ended up with LSD that was an aphrodisiac. "Did you feel like Jesus?" Well, with everyone coming to him and telling him how they were brought together by him, and telling how great he was, he may just have.
I was a tad surprised you didn't get the drug culture reference from the "every A frame had your number on the wall" and "laced with kerosene, but yours was kitchen clean." I mean, yes, Stanley made it, and did work late into the night, but I wouldn't say he stopped living on the edge. He wasn't rich and powerful, just cool, and in fact, I would say that's principal to the song that he DID live on the edge, which is why he'd go to LA on a dare (much stronger crackdown on dealers in LA than in SF). Day-glo freaks that used to paint the face referred to hippie culture, and how after the 60s, they all got jobs and started being normal people. "you are obsolete, look at all the white men in the street," as others have pointed out, refers to coke dealers as they pushed LSD out of the mainstream as the DoC.
Of course, the next verse kind of really gets into him being an outlaw... test tubes and the scale--tools used in producing drugs. Is there gas in the car? It's rumored Stanley was arrested because he had drugs in the trunk and ran out of gas.
Anyway, yes.... drugs... you hit upon it at the end. Once you start to really understand the lyrics, let me tell you, this gets better and better. I enjoyed the journey, brother.
The "technicolor motor home" was the bus owned by Ken Kesey, who wrote The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Kesey was a cohort of Owsley's and their plan was to go to Los Angeles to dose the water supply with acid. The bus was called "Further", and is why when the Grateful Dead performed with others after Jerry Garcia's death, it was dubbed the "Further Fest". I think if you just say the initials of Kid Charlemagne (KC), you'll come up with Kesey, which is how he pronounced his name.
Wow you guys are like a steely dan encyclopedia. I read the electric kool aid acid test back in high school and completely forgot that I read it. I knew some of this but you guys filled in all the blanks
Art of Free Speech I only recently learned that he was also the sound engineer for Grateful Dead.
Yep, good old Bear.
djfrank68 not just any old sound engineer- he revolutionized live concert sound with numerous breakthroughs, eventually culminating with the famous “Wall of Sound” PA system. He was also a trained ballet dancer, a blacksmith, was descended from European nobility, and ate virtually nothing but meat for decades in his later life. Definitely one of the more fascinating characters to emerge from the 60’s. Someone oughta make a movie about him.
This kid looks just like he's right out of 1976. The hair, the shirt, even the headphones and the peach fuzz. This is just how we looked while listening to this when it was brand spanking new.
I was thinking the same thing
So true!!!!! Ha!
Me too..but u gotta admit..it's..magnetic...
Yeah...I think I even had that shirt! Classic.
beautiful. Good point.
While the music played was the Grateful Dead playing. Owsley’s kitchen clean LSD was the centerpiece of our lives. He and Jerry Garcia were the most influential people in my life.
It was definitely a good time when they came to town! 😁✌🤘
Usually the hip hop people’s eyes light up when they hear the line”you were a champion in their eyes” because Kanye West sampled it.
Also the phrase "Is there gas in the car? Yes, there's gas in the car" refers to the supposed fact that Stanley was caught by the police after a brief chase because his car ran out of gas. Every time I hear that line I start laughing.
lsd is not cool dont do it i hope people realize that now
Here's the Wikipedia link that explains the song somewhat: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Charlemagne. By the way, the "white men" is a reference to cocaine dealers who were beginning to supplant the marijuana and LSD dealers in the early seventies. The character in this song is a producer of LSD.
P.S. Please react to Aja and the title track to this album, The Royal Scam. I'd call it a dark, cynical masterpiece.
“Clean this mess up else we’ll all end up in jail” you can hear the panic in that line. Donald Fagen is actually a really good vocalist. There’s no one that really sounds or sings like him.
Ex Air Force vet Owsley Stanley who became a successful LSD manufacturer during the California psychadelic scene of the late 60s until the masses moved on to the cocaine craze of the 70s...well that and his subsequent arrest of course.
It’s loosely inspired by Owsley Stanley, who was an LSD chemist in California. And this solo is incredibly complicated! You can tell Larry Carlton grew up listening to jazz, given all those brilliantly intricate lines 🔥 I’d say Time out of mind or Josie, as the next pick to hear some of their more sleek (but excellent) stuff!
I'd say the song is a bit more than "loosely inspired" by Mr Stanley's exploits.
steven fondo The comment was loosely inspired the exploits of a wikipedia contributer
A lot of guitarists rate Larry Carlton's 1st solo (and also the 2nd solo that ends the song) on KID CHARLEMAGNE to be as great as Gilmore's 1st and 2nd guitar solos in COMFORTABLY NUMB (which are often touted as two of the best solos is rock music). I agree. There all great!
I was in high school when this album (The Royal Scam) came out. At that time-I had heard Steely Dan on the radio and really liked them. But, I only knew their hits. My friend's older brother had this album and we listened to the whole thing. I thought--what the hell have I been missing. I was just blown away, TBH, I had no idea what Kid Charlemagne was about. I knew the lyrics were brilliant--but my interpretation of some of their songs was way off haha. I went to college in CA. My boyfriend was a musician and he & his musician friends knew as much as u could at the time about SD and the musicians that played with them. When Aja came out they went nuts. It was great. I was lucky enough to see Larry Carlton (who played the guitar solo on this song and lots of other SD songs) at the Baked Potato in LA. SD did not tour then--so seeing one of the musicians was as close as u could get. He was amazing and so nice. Keep listening SD---u won't be sorry.
The legendary Bernard Purdie on drums.
His LSD was pure (kitchen-clean) compared to a lot of the product available at the time (laced with kerosene.)
Strange, because the normal contaminate in Acid is Strychnine, which is why it can make your ribs feel irritable.
It’s your fire baby, don’t get burned.
Also, Bernard Purdie on drums, Larry Carlton on guitar! Beasts
I thought I heard the Purdy shuffle going on
How are you gonna leave Chuck Rainey in a lurch on what was probably his most beast-like bassline for them? The piano stops... yikes. He's back to Aretha days here.
@@eboethrasher Absolutely, I should've mentioned him first!
Steely Dan is my all time favorite band, with a tie for second between Electric Light Orchestra (try Mr. Blue Sky and Livin' Thing) and Earth Wind and Fire (September), but I think Al Stewart is entirely underrated. Listen to "Time Passages" and "Year of the Cat" through headphones; the musicianship, arrangements, and lyrics are fantastic.
I love ELO too
We are doomed.
After the fall of Rome, just as The Dark Ages were settling in, along comes Charlemagne. He was a great man under whose rule the golden age briefly returned (before morphing into the ineffectual Holy Roman Empire).
Wasn't Mr Owlsley thinking he was ushering in a new golden age?
he did.
excellent ! now THAT is some bass playing right there !
A lot of the comments have already mentioned that this is about Owlsley making LSD. It was his acid that fueled the “acid tests” that led to the hippie culture. Read Tom Wolfe’s book Electric Cool Aid Acid Test to get the full story.
I love the naivety of this kids initial interpretation of the lyrics. I just love watching young people's first reaction to The Dan.
Charlemagne is considered one of the masterpieces of the Era.
My Old School has like 3 guitar solos
My Old School was our Song & Theme of or Senior Prom '77 😊
great job discovering Steely Dan. doesn't get much better as they're pure perfectionists. if you keep going down their rabbit hole, i recommend Doctor Wu and Caves of Altamira-- a song about cave paintings!
It was only thanks to people such as yourself that I ever found this group:) I will indeed be continuing down, and hopefully will get to those, they sound very interesting!
Doctor Wu has always been a particular favorite of mine
Not enough love for Caves of Altamira out here, definitely second that!
@@3redstreeter256 The horns, the horns.
@@submandave1125 Sublime melody. From the Katy Lied album which is often overlooked despite having some great songs on it.
The technicolor motor home is a reference to the Bus that the Merry Pranksters traveled in. The song is about a hypothetical acid cook but uses Owsley and Nick Sand ken Kesey etc as references.
Have a few suggestions:
Mountain - "Mississippi Queen" Great guitar of Leslie West
King Crimson - "21st Century Schizoid Man"
Pink Floyd - anything by them, but listen to "Money" for David Gilmours guitar solo in the middle. Three different guitars, the middle one being a home made guitar from a guy in British Columbia.
You wanted suggestions of other 70’s bands to try:
Rush
Supertramp
Genesis
ELO
Steve Miller Band
Led Zeppelin
Allman Brothers Band
The Doobie Brothers
Stevie Wonder
Gentle Giant, King Crimson.
Roger Hennie KC will get blocked, but an absolute thumbs up for GG!
and Little Feat
Almost a mad scientist!
I can’t even remember when I knew so little about this song, so it’s fun to see someone start to piece something together. I hope he gets around to “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.”
Love that outro solo!
Yes! If you liked this, you should check out Black Friday for sure
Sort of like "Breaking Bad". He created the best drugs around.
Only if you have a very loose definition of best
For years I thought the verse said, "Did you realize you were Italian in there eyes?"
Yes, the song is about a drug dealer. I would be careful, though, about attaching the lyrics too literally to the real life people who inspired them. Though Steely Dan characters are often based on real people, or a combination of people, they are original characters.
True, their lyrics are often up to interpretation and characters could be based on anyone, but in this case I think it’s pretty clear exactly who this song is about.
Owslys downfall was a changing ing market, his LSD love potion fell out of favour for coke. Hence the “white men on the street” Owsleys Technicolored motor home was his LSD delivery truck, and the reference to “Is there gas in the car” refers to cops stopping to help when he ran Out of gas and got busted.
I did not know that about the cops helping him when he ran out of gas. Is there a reliable citation? That is totally weird!
I am only passing on what I had read in another post by someone who was armed to the teeth with all of Owslys past. Suggest doing a search for a biog on him. Cheers.
Oh, we are rockin' out tonight! *I'm saving more of RUSH for another day. Daniel, you are something very special.
For the first time listening to this song, I think for your young age you did quite well understanding the meaning of the song and lyrics. Great job... it's hard not to get into Steely Dan for this very reason, they have a lot to say and play.
I have a lot of their albums from early seventies. I love steely Dan!!!!!
Ppl down the hall were the legion of paid informants at the time.
You are an young American and you have, of course the whole life infront of you. I wish you all the best of course. Go on with steely dan and also read the beatnick--generation. They came from that. They were intellectuals without borders. And it is a part of your American history. Stay safe! Cheers!
You won't find better production than Steely Dan. They are literally the best. Musically, they know the best musicians and vocalists and put them to work to produce some amazing music. This song is one of my all time favorites. It captures such an important historical point of the 60's culture/history. Owsley was the big LSD creator of the hippie scene. He did something amazing and he couldn't quite survive it all. It is kind of a tragedy. He should be a hero living a comfortable life, instead...well...the US is not always as fair and nice as it should be. He should be blessed for the good he did, instead...his life was rotted. This song at least does me a good one. Musically, this is brilliance. And, if you are copacetic with the blessings of Owsley, you know what an amazing song this is. God bless him. God bless all who tried so hard to make our world a little better. Let's keep this memory alive!
'Bear' Owsley was the sound technician for the dead. His greatest contribution to the world was his famously clean acid, followed by the Wall Of Sound. Definitely a mad genius at his core. He did serve time for his exploits, hence Kid Charlemagne. You're on the right track. Keep going
Young man, give a listen to Scarlet Begonias/Fire on the Mountain from the 5/8/77 Grateful Dead show at Cornell. The Betty Boards are tremendous sound quality.
Some of these comments sell Owsley Stanley a bit short. After he was busted for selling LSD, he became what he started beforehand. He was responsible for the Grateful Dead's sound system. It became known as the"Wall of Sound". It was huge. Some parts were over 60 feet tall. It took so much time to put it up and take it down, they had to have two complete systems. When the band was playing a series of shows in one location, the equipment crew would be tearing down the previous location and taking it to the next one. It completely revolutionized the sound systems in arena and other smaller shows.
First gig I took the girl I would marry to was to see Steely Dan, no surprise she loved it and the rest is history.
Take a look at Jeff Beck- You know what i mean
Steely Dan is one of the most amazing groups ever
this is supposedly about Owsley Stanley (Bear)....mad scientist, sound enthusiast, one-time manager/sound man for the Grateful dead. he suppleid much of the LSD that was around California in the 60's. another intesting thing....he was one of the early 'keto' guys...believed that carbs, veggies were deadly....at a lot of meat. lots of interesting reading out there on 'Bear;
I truly cannot understand why Hollywood actors are not lining up to play Bear in an Owsley biopic!
@@ericminch so true ! what a story !!! the guy was a madman~!
Holy fuck you reacted to kid charlemagne! Damn I need to check the play list in the future before asking. Rock on ,oh yeah just saying hearing this song reminds me the 80’s were a lot of fun🤘
It's kinda fun watching u trying to figure out the lyrics!😅 Really appreciate the effort, tho~especially from a youngun' like yourself!👍
“Kid Charlemagne” tells the story of the rise and fall of a San Francisco drug manufacturer. In a 2000 online chat with the BBC, Becker revealed that the lyrics were based on Owsley Stanley, a famous LSD chemist of the 1960s known professionally as Bear. “I would say it was very loosely inspired by a character named Owsley,” said Becker. “He was a well-known psychedelic chef of the day.”
Saw Larry at the Baked Potato in Studio City years ago.
Owsley was the first drug synthesizer from our western culture to invoke spiritual intention into his chemistry. In fact he insisted on the purest hearted assistants and would not suffer dirty energy during synthesis, lest the bad vibes be transferred into the LSD and taint the customers trip with spiritual impurities
The white owsley was super ,kitchen - clean
I miss my old friend Bear.
Please react to "MAJESTIC DANCE" by the jazz super group Return to Forever
Yep, this was a story about a drug chemist; but the music was so incredible. Re-listen and think about the intricate chord progressions; this was not simple music, but rather was carefully crafted and technically complex, with one of jazz's best guitarists (Larry Carlton) soloing twice in it. And of course, it was held together by Bernard Purdie and his "Purdie Shuffle" on the drums.
yep ,,still my fave steely dan ,,,,
If you could up the volume, I sure would appreciate it.
Carlton's two magic solo's were like crossing a diamond with the pearl .... Elsewhere on YT there's plenty of discussion about the greatness of his playing here .....
ty
Charlemagne United the various kingdoms of Gual which eventually became France, during the middle ages.
What is the story behind Kid Charlemagne?
“Kid Charlemagne” tells the story of the rise and fall of a San Francisco drug manufacturer. In a 2000 online chat with the BBC, Becker revealed that the lyrics were based on Owsley Stanley, a famous LSD chemist of the 1960s known professionally as Bear.
Steely Dan was named after a womans sexual appliance. The bass lines are always gold.
Swiss watch.
Indeed. They got it from William Burroughs 'Naked Lunch' book, described in it as a 'steam-powered dildo'.
I did not like that Burroughs novel, naked lunch. At least something decent came out of that book.
Fuck yeah Chuck Rainey.
"Is there gas in the car? "Yes, there's gas in the car".
You’ll have about as hard a time with Steely Dan’s lyrics as you will Jon Anderson’s of Yes. They will both leave you scratching your head.
I think the technicolor motorhome line is in reference to Ken Kessey’s hippie school bus.
Amazing song x 1000 and Carlton's solos are unreal.
If he was the same age when the album came out, he’d have a much better understanding of this song because what was happening around him. A bunch of great comments on this one.
Kid you're so off base because this song has very specific 60s counter culture historical references. Kid Charlemagne is Owsley. An amature chemist who produced very pure LSD for the psychedelic scene based in San Francisco. He then went on to become sound man for the Geartful Dead. But it's their little fantasy about the death of that psychedelic drug culture that influenced the Beatles Sargent Peppers LP and Hendrix and launched or influenced many a rock Band and writer like novalist and Ken Keasey and poet Allan Ginsberg and Harvard professor drop outTimothy Leary etc etc Recommended reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Electric Kool Aid Acid test.
These pre song Facts checks a little different I'm not used to it but it's still enjoyable
Romantic Warrior by Return to Forever. Will blow your mind,
Album to check out is Pirates by Rikki Lee Jones. If you like Dan.
You'll be 30 years old by the time you finish listening to their songs LOL
Did you know that Dai Kon, in japanese is the translation for radish ?
Owsley Stanley descended from an old Kentucky family than was reputedly descended in turn from Charlemagne.
It's about a drug maker/dealer.
My favourite Steely Dan song, Bodhisattva, isn’t in this list so I hope you decide to revisit this fantastic music.
John Mulaney is also a great Steely Dan fan and I hope that his tour, Kid Gorgeous, was named in honour of the band.
I named my cats Charlemagne and Felonious in tribute to Steely Dan.
ruclips.net/video/ESvLITUPpfE/видео.html
Maybe try these songs too:
Caves of Altamira
Any major dude will tell you
Aja album
Now you know why Yeezy stole the line. 'Champion in their eyes'.
I prefer to listen to songs through first and then analyze them later if so desired. Listening and enjoying the music comes first, regardless of what the lyrics say. Then I may or may not try to figure out what the song was saying.
'Nuf sed. We all enjoy things in our own unique ways . I gave you a thumbs-up. Peace out. Let the music play!
Daniel, seeing a lot of posts here saying "It's about drugs"/"It's a drug song."
I mean, sure, there are drugs in the story, and the subject is a drug dealer, but the song is a slice of life view of the transition of one (huge) generation's defining cultural moment into its next phase, growing out of its former naive idealism into abject cynicism and a worship of money, and how fraught this was for so many who didn't then follow the crowd to Wall Street/Yuppiedom. And, of course, Fagen, ever self-deprecating, loves to write a song about a loser, whether on a local or grand scale.
The year after this, Pink Floyd released "Animals" which covered the exact same ground over a whole album, but even *seven* years prior, in 1969, two years after "The Summer of Love," Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda had (possibly accidentally) hit the nail on the head with "Easy Rider."
Point is, this isn't a song about drugs per se, and there are loads of songs and films about this historical philosophical shift up into the '80s, which make for very interesting listening and viewing.
Excellent point
"It's like every song I've heard by this group has been better and better and better as it goes on..." [Nodding head with a slow "ah! the young man knows" acknowledgement of wisdom] Since the protagonist of this funky ballad was a drug-chemistry genius, his "candlelight" was most likely the glow from bunsen burners...busy as he was bonding diamonds with the pearl.
Owlsleys Acid was the very best.
I believe that Breaking Bad was based loosely on the Stanley character.
This is a drug song guy. Just keep following bernard on the drums and you cant go wrong.
Welcome to the Steely Dan Rabbit hole! Do you know what this band was named after?
The dude was selling acid until it all fell apart...laced with kerosene...the acid was. BTW, CHARLEMAGNE was an emperor, so was the kid..of the drug trade.
"Ts bout a famous LSD chemist/dealer, who's trade was dying up'coz of the popularity of coke & crank, (dealers of which were called 'white men)', & his slide into oblivion.......
Kid its a song about hippie outlaws ok no rich glamour shit.
He was wanted in L.A. He’d go alone on a dare.
Here’s one you haven’t reacted to 😀passage to Bangkok by rush 🤘
Black cow steely dan, is good
Larry FUCKING Carlton
Is there gas in the car?
Can you please react to Moonchild "The other side".
Actually Steele Dan ..is just two guys Walter Becker and Donald Fagan..these two pick new musicians for each new album..
Stopped painting the faces. Think Hippies. Think the great LSD cook Owsley Stanley. His LSD was the best and most amorous in its effect on people. This summer of love hippie movement was thought to be a result of his LSD but it was now gone, those hippies had mostly rejoined the human race. Later in the song, Stanley famously ran out of gas while the police were chasing him.
Sorry to be critical: I enjoy your reactions while the music is playing very much and most of your chat, interpreting lyrics on the fly doesn't make you look good, particularly ones that aren't straight forward.
There's a received narrative on this song (I see you pinned it). It took me a long time to eventually get it spoon-fed to me. In the mean time I enjoyed luxuriating in the unique SteelyDan groove, which is the major element I like about your videos.
I understood this song better after I moved to San Francisco in my 20s.
I like your spirit!!! Like the kid bro i never had...lol...ur off on this one..simply..the story is about a dark known to certain others...drug dealer whos time has come and ...mostly gone..hence the test tubes and tree he scales...drug making and distribution materials...don't over analyze the song!!! Just sit back and enjoy it!!! Shut off the analysis!!! Listen to that guitar solo!!! Ur so ....good ...seeing u try to analyze it!!! A little nievity is nice !!! U continue to do this thing ...by the way..many people over the years have tried to analyze the lyrics...to no avail!!! Lol!!!! They're known for that! Lol.
Your so kitchen clean. The scale is for weighing something very high value and will put you in jail. This dude is a one man manufacturer who thoiught he had it made.
LSD
You're guess that Kid C was a kind of "mad scientist" is pretty close, as you can see from the comments. Considering its highly unlikely you've had the, um, 'experience' as it were to understand this song, that's a helluva guess.
This kid looks exactly like all my friends when I was in high school. Which is where I was when this came out...actually a freshman in college, but still...
Drugs, laddie. We're talking about drugs.
Drug maker/dealer. Based on a real person