It's amazing how every Steely Dan album has literally no filler tracks. Every song is its own unique thing that had so much effort put into it. Every song sounds different so it's easy to remember them. If you noticed Aja and Gaucho only have 7 tracks. Quality over quantity.
They never phoned it in and they went even further than that in my opinion by challenging themselves to feature different instruments on so many songs. These would feature a violin, electric sitar, vibraphone, etc and then move on to something else.
Here are the credits: Donald Fagen - lead vocals, backing vocals, synthesizer, electric piano Walter Becker - bass, guitar solo Steve Khan - guitar Tom Scott - tenor saxophone, horn arrangement Randy Brecker - trumpet Rob Mounsey - piano Jeff Porcaro - drums Errol "Crusher" Bennett - percussion Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson, Lesley Miller - backing vocals
I just love watching people discover SD songs for the first time - great reactions by both of you. To me anyway, the "studs that match your eyes" is the best line in the song. I took it like, metal studs in the leather poncho, not earrings, but all the lyrics up till then are sardonic, angry, mocking. But then suddenly the lyrics surprise us by changing from "your elevator shoes" to "the studs that match your eyes" (sung so beautifully with feeling) and so (it seems to me) reveals that this man really loves his partner (sounds like they're both guys since he called him a "nasty schoolboy") . And the song pivots on a dime, gives more hurt and depth to this guy's angry rant. There's some talk online that the song's about the imminent breakup of SD itself - not sure about that but I think it stands on its own regardless.
Whoa..that's pretty deep, yet the overlay of two guy 'partners' lives literally being interrupted by the sly Gaucho character appears to be the solidified premise for this song.
I was already a Steely Dan fan when I bought this album (70s?). I couldn't get into it, so different from Aja. So laid back. 2 months later, I was of the opinion that this album was natural progression for the Dan. Just a demanding, sinuous, sensuous melding of styles and lyrics. The song Gaucho....A MASTERPIECE. Every song a classic! What an album 🎶😊🎶
Aja is their masterpiece. It would be hard to follow that album w anything. Oddly enough, I grew up w Steely Dan on the radio but didn’t own an album until high school. That album was Gaucho! So my deep dive was into Gaucho and then Aja. I would rank Aja higher but Gaucho holds a special place for me.
Can't wait you try and break down the lyrics. I think it's about an agent who is upset his client brings his flamboyant foreign gay lover with him at the meeting. Knowing that this can get out to the public it could hurt their business. Who knows with Steely Dan, but anyway it's a cool song.
I think of this in some ways as minimalist Steely Dan because the structure is lyrically atmospheric as opposed to a certain intense dynamic in their earlier works' bold solos, something Fagen would explore a bit more on some songs in his own solo albums. He really is a crooner here rather than the sardonic cynical vocalizations on other songs. But the background vocals are the observant angels on this song. The next song is one of my personal favorites on the album along with Glamour Profession so I got it on Reminder. Looming forward to it. 👍
Here’s what custerdome means from Steely Dan Dictionary (Yes, there’s an actual online dictionary for words from SD songs lol). “A fictional skyscraper containing the luxury apartment where the song's plot unfolds.” And here is what Fagen and Becker said of it in an interview: "It exists only in our collective imagination. In the Steely Dan lexicon it serves as an archetype of a building that houses great corporations...".
The Gaucho represents Walter Becker's dope dealer and this is what led to their breakup. Donald Fagen didn't like him coming to the studio out of it. Walter then took off to Hawaii to get clean while Donald did a solo album. Took two decades for them to get it back together.
Awesome guys! Again it’s worth noting the stellar musical content was all that mattered back in the day, in a world without visual aids and lyric-sheets while the listener LISTENED 100%. Literal meanings In Steely Dan songs are really not relevant and not what “the boys” intended!
I love this song. Isn’t it weird that a lot of the lines don’t rhyme? It’s pretty rare for a song not have lines that don’t rhyme at all but they make it work.
It's very affecting. It's probably their most personal song: Is is true? - I have no idea. I believe in this more though than "I'm a bookkeepers' son.." I really like the immediacy - "Get rid of him", "drop him near the freeway", "Would you care to explain?" The saxophone throughout makes it all real.
So funny to hear the different definitions of "studs" through the generations. I think at the time the song was written, "studs" meant the rhinestone gems place on fabric, usually denim. Today they mean grommets, for lack of of a better term, for piercings. Vive la difference!
A "custerdome" is a fictional skyscraper containing the luxury apartment where the plot of Steely Dan's song Gaucho unfolds. Some of their lyrics are extremely cryptic and open to different interpretations. Only Fagan and Becker know for sure.
I'm ambivalent on Goucho. The next song, a danceable favorite is Time out of mind. An incongruently beautiful song and sickening story (a Steely standard) about heroine use. Becker, RIP, was an addict. I love the major 6's in the verses, the horns, and the progression in general.
the singer is protesting that his girl friend who he takes to big glamor events has developed an infatuation with a raffish drifter, adn is making him look bad - a similar song is You Can;t Do That by the Beatles, where Lennon is protesting that his girlfriend is talking to another guy -- but yes, this cut is quite juicy, ain't it, with great arrangements and performances
Listen to Keith Jarret's earlier "Long as you know you're living yours". Uncharacteristically, Walter and Donald literally ripped off the opening sax riff of Jarret's song and imported it for the opening for Gaucho. Jarret later sued SD and won his copyright claim. Since the entry of that judgment, Jarret's name is now included on all albums that contain SD's Gaucho. I've been a Steely Dan aficionado since I first heard "Do It Again" on a car radio in '72 as a high school senior. I consider the boy's bad behavior in this instance to be a singular aberration in the course of their otherwise stellar career.
@@davidgeocaris3082I became a fan in exactlly the same way.But Gouch is the one LP that has disappointing tracks. A few months ago i saw a RUclips "The lossed Gaucho (1980)", if you dont know it i am sure you will be interested, but i dont think Jarret is mensioned. It would seem Domald ks to blame for the invention of the drum machine. They were prolific borrowers though usually with bavking riffs. (% In the UK we have a tribute band called Neatly Dan who do a very good job of replicatimg the band thugh it is one of the guitarists who does thw singing. I go see them every time they come to my city. :
@@davidgeocaris3082 you know the muso's who played on sessions probably contributed more to the songs then we know..fagen and becker were nowhere qualified to do complex arrangements..This is why baxter and mcdonald and co left because they would not tour so they were on laborers rates and were pissed...maybe the muso's were steering the recording session and the sax player laid the Jarrett tune and they said YES...play that again.
We talk about him and the other greats on our podcast, check out the links below! m.ruclips.net/video/QNuA51iw1qc/видео.html m.ruclips.net/video/WuXNUBYeUj8/видео.html
It's about an older gay man who's in love with a younger guy and supports him financially - and they have an agreement to be exclusive. Young guy brings in another person into the picture - and the sugar daddy is mad - and yet he still loves his lover - and is hurt because he bought him some studs that match his eyes - and now the new guys is wearing them adding insult to injury.
What a great song. Call me Captain Obvious. Fegan had apparently signed on to do solo albums. Some say Becker brought some druggie to a meeting and that was Donald's last straw. SD had 4 title tracks; Gaucho, Aja, Royal Scam and Pretzel Logic. I wonder what song would win a best title track vote. Sifa, the Eagles, was your mouth out with soap..lol
What's he doing with the Pancho that has the eye-matching studs is, he's breaking the heart of the narrator, that's what he's doing. In this song about a conflict in the life of a gay romantic couple, one of them, the song's narrator, is clearly so much more committed to the relationship,. He is being compelled to witness, and apparently without warning, his partner's deliberate betrayal being acted out in a flagrant manner in a very public place with an attractive, but very de classes stranger. This abusive nasty partner fawns all over the stranger, publicly humiliating his lover who implores him to at least restrict this carryings-on to the privacy of their home...but to no avail. But SD, who often leads you to see them as the masters of the cool, with their incredibly hip-hypnotically take-you-away musical grove, here prove themselves to be the most insightful, and compassionate of people. In order to convey the essence of these guy's relationship, we are lead, so artfully to understand how the narrator feels about this "gaucho amigo" being adorned by his boyfriend with his spangled leather Pancho. What is so important about this garment? SD comes up with a line that says it all so succinctly, and yet with an emotional force that pierces the heart... It's that Pancho, the one I gave you, you know..."...with the studs that match your eyes..." Congrats and props to the young woman here who caught this, and so much more, and on first hearing!... all due props to an astute and emotionally available listener...
@@SightAfterDark No, not at all. You guy's do a great job, You consistently reveal an amazing grasp of so many things on first hearing! I have learned through your reactions to hear for the first time things in SD's music and lyrics that I had completely missed.. Many thanks for that. And sorry, I am admittedly very prickly when it comes to SD because I loved them so much back then as each new album emerged when most of my rock-only educated friends and peers thought they were too esoteric and serious...not fun.. I think that you two very attractive astute and entertaining young people and some of your peers have the musical and cultural sophistication to really enjoy and "get" Steely Dan to a degree that was never the case some 45 years ago. ..never...
The opening motif is similar, but that’s about it. I’m not a lawyer or a judge, but In my opinion you can’t really plagiarize something that has no lyrics. There’s an old saying out there: “there are only 12 notes, and they’ve all been played“. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen actually took that little Keith Jarret musical motif or figure or groove….which would’ve otherwise languished in total obscurity, and turned it into an actual composition and SONG with a melody and lyrics and subject matter and a story. So in my opinion the suit was unfounded, but having said that, it was really nice of them to cut Keith Jarrett in on a piece of the royalty pie.❤️
direct rip off..not partial..direct..these guys were song writers and studio session muso's made them..they did not tour...they were strictly studio...after AJA they assembled a touring group but they found out different players were on different rates and greedy studio muso's are all about the rates..they require 5 gorillas to get out of bed and then they ruin sessions by warping time and wanting overtime rates..they are shit
You were right it's like he's the agent to a rising star but his star has an alternative life style he is having an affair with the Gaucho but it won't go over well with the people he's doing business with that messes with both their money so he says you gotta get rid of him keep that at home.
Nice work, y'all. But this song is so complex on so many levels. First, it's a 40 yr old song that still holds up today. Second, a story about either a homosexual relationship that goes awry or a heterosexual relationship that goes awry. Take your pick. Third, I make it short, musically some the most harmonically complex chords and vocal arrangements ever to used in pop music. Fourth, besides being one of the most expensive records ever recorded till that time, meticulously recorded and mixed and is still superior to some of today's digital tracks. Your 9 minutes aren't enuff time to do it justice. When I listen to Gaucho, it is all encompassing, virtually orgasmic. Tissues nearby.
My take on the narrative is that the narrator is a powerful, closeted businessman, high in the Custerdome, who has taken on a younger protegee with the unspoken agreement that "I'll scratch your back, you can scratch mine." The narrator is secretly in love with his protegee (that's why he notices "the studs that match your eyes") and is crushed and embarrassed when his protegee shows up with the flagrantly and outrageously gay Gaucho. I gotta say that the theme isn't exactly fun, except for Steely Dan's trademark witty, cogent depiction of the human condition. Initially it was my least favorite on the album, but with time I've come enjoy the narrator's horror. Thanks for another great reaction. Peace!
Many critics panned this album, which I never understood. There is really only one song to me that is not very good (My Rival) and the rest is at least on par with all of their other albums.
Never try to interpret the lyrics of a Steely Dan song just enjoy it and run with what you think the lyrics mean. The lyrics have mixed meaning that are usually composed of various bits from Fagan and Beckers personal life experiences describing the places they've grown up or encountered along the way, some of the lyrics being inspired by novels they've read (that are usually strange as hell), some being inspired by their own personal exploits with drugs, some sexual innuendoes thrown in (some of which are considered taboo) mixed in with content purposely meant to confuse the listener so that they end up with their own subjective meaning of the lyrics which in turn makes the song more meaningful to the listener. Them naming their group after a steam-powered dildo should give you some idea.
An examination of diverging goals and values, domesticity, and who TF is THIS?! Another creamy track...or is it custardy? Custerdome as in the further armouring and sheltering "some segments of society" deem necessary at the latest assault on their ensconcement by the savages/great-unwashed, etc.? Listened straight thru 3 times, btw...great appraisal up 'til....EAGLES?!! Boy oh boy Love me some cascading chordal riffs, too, yes I do.
the singer thinks he's a player, a fixer, a guy who brings the dope and a hot woman to the party, who gets an invite to the most exclusive box seats because he schmoozes the big fish - and this woman, this party girl, she's gone and fallen for someone exotic, and spoiled the singer's whole deal - now he's embarassed in front of his friends/clients and is trying to be outraged about it but she isn't listening - more luscious cynicism from the Steely Ones
I feel just the opposite. I think Gaucho is phenomenal BECAUSE Aja was so good. The fact that they were STILL able to come up with a whole next album full of super high-quality material as a follow-up to Aja is simply amazing, especially considering everything they were going through at the time with record label disputes, Walter Becker‘s drug problems and being hit by a car and his girlfriend dying of an overdose, engineers accidentally erasing whole tracks etc.
@@SightAfterDark Gaucho’s a phenomenal album, and in some ways I actually think it’s better than Aja. Perhaps not as cohesive in terms of a consistent theme or sound, but every bit as brilliant in it’s own right. They were still pushing limits and coming up with new sounds.
If you enjoyed this, check out our podcast on Steely Dan!
ruclips.net/video/2tNasxBrqnM/видео.html
Choked laughing at the concept of the "custard dome"
It's amazing how every Steely Dan album has literally no filler tracks. Every song is its own unique thing that had so much effort put into it. Every song sounds different so it's easy to remember them. If you noticed Aja and Gaucho only have 7 tracks. Quality over quantity.
Amazing indeed!
They never phoned it in and they went even further than that in my opinion by challenging themselves to feature different instruments on so many songs. These would feature a violin, electric sitar, vibraphone, etc and then move on to something else.
Here are the credits: Donald Fagen - lead vocals, backing vocals, synthesizer, electric piano
Walter Becker - bass, guitar solo
Steve Khan - guitar
Tom Scott - tenor saxophone, horn arrangement
Randy Brecker - trumpet
Rob Mounsey - piano
Jeff Porcaro - drums
Errol "Crusher" Bennett - percussion
Patti Austin, Valerie Simpson, Lesley Miller - backing vocals
.... and Keith Jarrett.
ruclips.net/video/AfVSLdfP1Y8/видео.html
@@briangray00 Exactly.
@@briangray00 I know about the Keith Jarrett writing credit. I was only listing the musicians who played on the track, not the writers.
Chevy Chase started out as their drummer
I just love watching people discover SD songs for the first time - great reactions by both of you. To me anyway, the "studs that match your eyes" is the best line in the song. I took it like, metal studs in the leather poncho, not earrings, but all the lyrics up till then are sardonic, angry, mocking. But then suddenly the lyrics surprise us by changing from "your elevator shoes" to "the studs that match your eyes" (sung so beautifully with feeling) and so (it seems to me) reveals that this man really loves his partner (sounds like they're both guys since he called him a "nasty schoolboy") . And the song pivots on a dime, gives more hurt and depth to this guy's angry rant. There's some talk online that the song's about the imminent breakup of SD itself - not sure about that but I think it stands on its own regardless.
Thanks so much for watching!
Whoa..that's pretty deep, yet the overlay of two guy 'partners' lives literally being interrupted by the sly Gaucho character appears to be the solidified premise for this song.
Sigh, Jeff Porcaro, so good and so missed, that cat could groove like few others, Purdy and Gadd aside.
Truth
I was already a Steely Dan fan when I bought this album (70s?). I couldn't get into it, so different from Aja. So laid back.
2 months later, I was of the opinion that this album was natural progression for the Dan. Just a demanding, sinuous, sensuous melding of styles and lyrics. The song Gaucho....A MASTERPIECE. Every song a classic!
What an album 🎶😊🎶
Exactly! Thanks for watching William!
Aja is their masterpiece. It would be hard to follow that album w anything. Oddly enough, I grew up w Steely Dan on the radio but didn’t own an album until high school. That album was Gaucho! So my deep dive was into Gaucho and then Aja. I would rank Aja higher but Gaucho holds a special place for me.
too bad he stole it from keith Jarret..that is right he sued him and fagen admitted he liked. jarrets song''long as you know you're living yours''
I have read a lot about SD
I recall Walter said it was based on a "hissy fit" he witnessed at a party
I read that also
Lol nice
It' is an amazingly good song.....Fantastic really......Perfect in every way......One of their finest recordings.....
Can't wait you try and break down the lyrics. I think it's about an agent who is upset his client brings his flamboyant foreign gay lover with him at the meeting. Knowing that this can get out to the public it could hurt their business. Who knows with Steely Dan, but anyway it's a cool song.
Pretty much what I take away from this song - apparently overheard at the record label's HQ or whatever.
I've always thought the lyrics are tinged with barely-hidden jealousy, such as when he points out the "studs that match your eyes".
Lol not sure how good of a job we did, but thanks!
Wasn’t it a nod at Walter’s hard drug abuse? I thought the Gaucho was a drug dealer
I think of this in some ways as minimalist Steely Dan because the structure is lyrically atmospheric as opposed to a certain intense dynamic in their earlier works' bold solos, something Fagen would explore a bit more on some songs in his own solo albums. He really is a crooner here rather than the sardonic cynical vocalizations on other songs. But the background vocals are the observant angels on this song. The next song is one of my personal favorites on the album along with Glamour Profession so I got it on Reminder. Looming forward to it. 👍
Great analysis Robert!
Here’s what custerdome means from Steely Dan Dictionary (Yes, there’s an actual online dictionary for words from SD songs lol). “A fictional skyscraper containing the luxury apartment where the song's plot unfolds.” And here is what Fagen and Becker said of it in an interview: "It exists only in our collective imagination. In the Steely Dan lexicon it serves as an archetype of a building that houses great corporations...".
lol gotta love the SDDictonary!
The Gaucho represents Walter Becker's dope dealer and this is what led to their breakup. Donald Fagen didn't like him coming to the studio out of it. Walter then took off to Hawaii to get clean while Donald did a solo album. Took two decades for them to get it back together.
GAUCHO...muy bueno....lol ..common Sifa..smile...its the joy of " sax" ...the masters at it it again.
Thanks for watching Ron
Awesome guys! Again it’s worth noting the stellar musical content was all that mattered back in the day, in a world without visual aids and lyric-sheets while the listener LISTENED 100%. Literal meanings In Steely Dan songs are really not relevant and not what “the boys” intended!
I love this song. Isn’t it weird that a lot of the lines don’t rhyme? It’s pretty rare for a song not have lines that don’t rhyme at all but they make it work.
It's very affecting. It's probably their most personal song: Is is true? - I have no idea.
I believe in this more though than "I'm a bookkeepers' son.."
I really like the immediacy - "Get rid of him", "drop him near the freeway", "Would you care to explain?"
The saxophone throughout makes it all real.
How about "West of Hollywood" for a lyrical narrative devoid of rhyming?
More proof of how awesome they are!
So funny to hear the different definitions of "studs" through the generations. I think at the time the song was written, "studs" meant the rhinestone gems place on fabric, usually denim. Today they mean grommets, for lack of of a better term, for piercings. Vive la difference!
Great horns especially the sax, hard to figure out what was going on but who cares!👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻❤️❤️☮️🎤🎼🎹🎸
I would dare say ya'll had the identical reactions to folks when this dropped in 1980. Timeless music.
One of fav song/albums
I absolutely love how you guys made me laugh!
Thanks for watching!
Custer Dome .That's where bodacious cowboy's go.
As with so many Steely Dan songs, there's a story behind the lyrics that the casual listener doesn't know about.
I love the imagery in this song. I want to see the Cluster Dome!
Lol Us too! Thanks for watching David!
A "custerdome" is a fictional skyscraper containing the luxury apartment where the plot of Steely Dan's song Gaucho unfolds. Some of their lyrics are extremely cryptic and open to different interpretations. Only Fagan and Becker know for sure.
It’s not so much about the lyrics but the overall sound and effect of the vocals and instruments that earns this song 👍🏽👍🏽
Keep rolling with SD. Love doing the album.
SAD loves SD!
I think it is about Walter Becker bringing junkies to parties where record label honchos are present. And I think it's Cluster Dome.
they're just so fin brillant.
Agreed!
Awesome album🎹🎺🎶🎸🎵🎷🎵🎹🎶🎻🎺🎶🎵🎹🔊
I'm ambivalent on Goucho. The next song, a danceable favorite is Time out of mind. An incongruently beautiful song and sickening story (a Steely standard) about heroine use. Becker, RIP, was an addict. I love the major 6's in the verses, the horns, and the progression in general.
It seems the reaction on this album is very mixed!
Goucho, the title track. Love the album.
You're a nasty schoolboy with no place to go...greatest line ever....
the singer is protesting that his girl friend who he takes to big glamor events has developed an infatuation with a raffish drifter, adn is making him look bad - a similar song is You Can;t Do That by the Beatles, where Lennon is protesting that his girlfriend is talking to another guy -- but yes, this cut is quite juicy, ain't it, with great arrangements and performances
That sax intro sounds famliar. ...like the intro to a TV series your gonna like.....
Listen to Keith Jarret's earlier "Long as you know you're living yours". Uncharacteristically, Walter and Donald literally ripped off the opening sax riff of Jarret's song and imported it for the opening for Gaucho. Jarret later sued SD and won his copyright claim. Since the entry of that judgment, Jarret's name is now included on all albums that contain SD's Gaucho. I've been a Steely Dan aficionado since I first heard "Do It Again" on a car radio in '72 as a high school senior. I consider the boy's bad behavior in this instance to be a singular aberration in the course of their otherwise stellar career.
@@davidgeocaris3082I became a fan in exactlly the same way.But Gouch is the one LP that has disappointing tracks. A few months ago i saw a RUclips "The lossed Gaucho (1980)", if you dont know it i am sure you will be interested, but i dont think Jarret is mensioned. It would seem Domald ks to blame for the invention of the drum machine.
They were prolific borrowers though usually with bavking riffs. (%
In the UK we have a tribute band called Neatly Dan who do a very good job of replicatimg the band thugh it is one of the guitarists who does thw singing. I go see them every time they come to my city.
:
@@davidgeocaris3082 you know the muso's who played on sessions probably contributed more to the songs then we know..fagen and becker were nowhere qualified to do complex arrangements..This is why baxter and mcdonald and co left because they would not tour so they were on laborers rates and were pissed...maybe the muso's were steering the recording session and the sax player laid the Jarrett tune and they said YES...play that again.
Check out the lineup of background singers in Michael Trogdon's post. Wow!
Why no one talk about the greatest shuffle drummer ever?!
We talk about him and the other greats on our podcast, check out the links below!
m.ruclips.net/video/QNuA51iw1qc/видео.html
m.ruclips.net/video/WuXNUBYeUj8/видео.html
@@SightAfterDark cool!
I have always thought that Custerdome is a board room.
Very possible!
This Steely Dan song is about a gay love triangle that causes embarrassment for upwardly mobile BF.
Lol we didn't catch that at all
It's about an older gay man who's in love with a younger guy and supports him financially - and they have an agreement to be exclusive. Young guy brings in another person into the picture - and the sugar daddy is mad - and yet he still loves his lover - and is hurt because he bought him some studs that match his eyes - and now the new guys is wearing them adding insult to injury.
What a great song. Call me Captain Obvious. Fegan had apparently signed on to do solo albums. Some say Becker brought some druggie to a meeting and that was Donald's last straw. SD had 4 title tracks; Gaucho, Aja, Royal Scam and Pretzel Logic. I wonder what song would win a best title track vote. Sifa, the Eagles, was your mouth out with soap..lol
Lol hard to decide which title track is best!
There were 6 title tracks. You forgot “Two Against Nature” and “Everything Must Go” are also title tracks.
@@MichaelTrogdon1990 true but I meant up to that point. I should have been more specif
What's he doing with the Pancho that has the eye-matching studs is, he's breaking the heart of the narrator, that's what he's doing. In this song about a conflict in the life of a gay romantic couple, one of them, the song's narrator, is clearly so much more committed to the relationship,. He is being compelled to witness, and apparently without warning, his partner's deliberate betrayal being acted out in a flagrant manner in a very public place with an attractive, but very de classes stranger. This abusive nasty partner fawns all over the stranger, publicly humiliating his lover who implores him to at least restrict this carryings-on to the privacy of their home...but to no avail. But SD, who often leads you to see them as the masters of the cool, with their incredibly hip-hypnotically take-you-away musical grove, here prove themselves to be the most insightful, and compassionate of people. In order to convey the essence of these guy's relationship, we are lead, so artfully to understand how the narrator feels about this "gaucho amigo" being adorned by his boyfriend with his spangled leather Pancho. What is so important about this garment? SD comes up with a line that says it all so succinctly, and yet with an emotional force that pierces the heart... It's that Pancho, the one I gave you, you know..."...with the studs that match your eyes..." Congrats and props to the young woman here who caught this, and so much more, and on first hearing!... all due props to an astute and emotionally available listener...
Great analysis! Maybe you should be the one doing the reactions! lol
@@SightAfterDark No, not at all. You guy's do a great job, You consistently reveal an amazing grasp of so many things on first hearing! I have learned through your reactions to hear for the first time things in SD's music and lyrics that I had completely missed.. Many thanks for that. And sorry, I am admittedly very prickly when it comes to SD because I loved them so much back then as each new album emerged when most of my rock-only educated friends and peers thought they were too esoteric and serious...not fun.. I think that you two very attractive astute and entertaining young people and some of your peers have the musical and cultural sophistication to really enjoy and "get" Steely Dan to a degree that was never the case some 45 years ago. ..never...
@@photo161 Thank you so much! Your kind words mean so much to us :) we hope we continue doing this great music justice!
Tom Scott on horns….Check out his albums, New York Connections and Tom Cat
Search out Tom Scott “ Apple Juice” … 3 nights at the Bottom Line in NYC in 1981. Incredible lineup .
Keep in mind Keith Jarrett sued them for plagiarism on this song and won.
Oh wow
Wow I didn't know that. K J has always had a surprisingly prickly personality, so I could see that happening!
The opening motif is similar, but that’s about it.
I’m not a lawyer or a judge, but In my opinion you can’t really plagiarize something that has no lyrics.
There’s an old saying out there: “there are only 12 notes, and they’ve all been played“.
Walter Becker and Donald Fagen actually took that little Keith Jarret musical motif or figure or groove….which would’ve otherwise languished in total obscurity, and turned it into an actual composition and SONG with a melody and lyrics and subject matter and a story.
So in my opinion the suit was unfounded, but having said that, it was really nice of them to cut Keith Jarrett in on a piece of the royalty pie.❤️
direct rip off..not partial..direct..these guys were song writers and studio session muso's made them..they did not tour...they were strictly studio...after AJA they assembled a touring group but they found out different players were on different rates and greedy studio muso's are all about the rates..they require 5 gorillas to get out of bed and then they ruin sessions by warping time and wanting overtime rates..they are shit
This is the first I've heard of this controversy. Sometimes it pays to scoll down and read the comments!
You were right it's like he's the agent to a rising star but his star has an alternative life style he is having an affair with the Gaucho but it won't go over well with the people he's doing business with that messes with both their money so he says you gotta get rid of him keep that at home.
Razor Boy from Countdown to Ecstasy.🗿
ruclips.net/video/rF22HA2kZpo/видео.html :)
Jeff porcaro on drums
Nice work, y'all. But this song is so complex on so many levels. First, it's a 40 yr old song that still holds up today. Second, a story about either a homosexual relationship that goes awry or a heterosexual relationship that goes awry. Take your pick.
Third, I make it short, musically some the most harmonically complex chords and vocal arrangements ever to used in pop music. Fourth, besides being one of the most expensive records ever recorded till that time, meticulously recorded and mixed and is still superior to some of today's digital tracks. Your 9 minutes aren't enuff time to do it justice.
When I listen to Gaucho, it is all encompassing, virtually orgasmic. Tissues nearby.
My take on the narrative is that the narrator is a powerful, closeted businessman, high in the Custerdome, who has taken on a younger protegee with the unspoken agreement that "I'll scratch your back, you can scratch mine." The narrator is secretly in love with his protegee (that's why he notices "the studs that match your eyes") and is crushed and embarrassed when his protegee shows up with the flagrantly and outrageously gay Gaucho.
I gotta say that the theme isn't exactly fun, except for Steely Dan's trademark witty, cogent depiction of the human condition. Initially it was my least favorite on the album, but with time I've come enjoy the narrator's horror.
Thanks for another great reaction. Peace!
Thanks for sharing Curious George!
@@SightAfterDark Thanks for everything, Dan and Sifa!
In your spangled leather poncho- The leather poncho is covered with studs that match the eyes! The lyrics remind me with gay guys.
lol for sure
Many critics panned this album, which I never understood. There is really only one song to me that is not very good (My Rival) and the rest is at least on par with all of their other albums.
.
"WHO IS This GUY?"
( As I told my first EX-wife with her lover)
.
☺️
Never try to interpret the lyrics of a Steely Dan song just enjoy it and run with what you think the lyrics mean. The lyrics have mixed meaning that are usually composed of various bits from Fagan and Beckers personal life experiences describing the places they've grown up or encountered along the way, some of the lyrics being inspired by novels they've read (that are usually strange as hell), some being inspired by their own personal exploits with drugs, some sexual innuendoes thrown in (some of which are considered taboo) mixed in with content purposely meant to confuse the listener so that they end up with their own subjective meaning of the lyrics which in turn makes the song more meaningful to the listener. Them naming their group after a steam-powered dildo should give you some idea.
😆we definitely realized that in time! Thanks for sharing and watching Sandra!
An examination of diverging goals and values, domesticity, and who TF is THIS?! Another creamy track...or is it custardy?
Custerdome as in the further armouring and sheltering "some segments of society" deem necessary at the latest assault on their ensconcement by the savages/great-unwashed, etc.?
Listened straight thru 3 times, btw...great appraisal up 'til....EAGLES?!! Boy oh boy
Love me some cascading chordal riffs, too, yes I do.
LOL
the singer thinks he's a player, a fixer, a guy who brings the dope and a hot woman to the party, who gets an invite to the most exclusive box seats because he schmoozes the big fish - and this woman, this party girl, she's gone and fallen for someone exotic, and spoiled the singer's whole deal - now he's embarassed in front of his friends/clients and is trying to be outraged about it but she isn't listening - more luscious cynicism from the Steely Ones
Thanks for the breakdown!
@@SightAfterDark probably not what the Dan intended, all their lyrics are like that :)
As a Steely Dan fan,i'll be honest,this song is toilet!
but what is it exactly turns you off?
@@briangray00 all of it
Does that mean you hate the whole album? Gaucho sets the tone for the album... also called Gaucho.
@@kaydantonio3719 no
Too much horns
Gaucho was a big disappointment after the sheer brilliance of Aja, but it's still a really good album
Just as good, but different. More sophisticated chord progressions, but less fusion approach to musicianship.
It seems the reaction on this album is very mixed!
I feel just the opposite. I think Gaucho is phenomenal BECAUSE Aja was so good. The fact that they were STILL able to come up with a whole next album full of super high-quality material as a follow-up to Aja is simply amazing, especially considering everything they were going through at the time with record label disputes, Walter Becker‘s drug problems and being hit by a car and his girlfriend dying of an overdose, engineers accidentally erasing whole tracks etc.
@@SightAfterDark Gaucho’s a phenomenal album, and in some ways I actually think it’s better than Aja.
Perhaps not as cohesive in terms of a consistent theme or sound, but every bit as brilliant in it’s own right. They were still pushing limits and coming up with new sounds.
"Big disappointment"
Maybe for you,certainly not to THIS Danhead!!
Great album top to bottom.
I've always thought this song was about some big time Hollywood agent and his bad boy client with his new "Gaucho" boyfriend that he doesn't approve.
lol its definitely possible Pablo!