Thursday September 22, 2022 “FM (No Static at All)” Steely Dan
Slipping over to the FM frequency today
Steely Dan band founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen wrote and performed today’s song for the 1978 movie FM, which takes place, coincidentally, at an FM radio station. In an interview Donald Fagen recalled writing this song in California . "There was a film called FM and we were asked to do the title song. And I said, 'Does it have to have any specific words?' And they said, 'No, it just has to be about FM radio.' We wrote that very quickly, I remember, in one or two days.
Employing ironic humor and cryptic lyrics, Becker and Fagen’s eclectic body of work strayed from traditional rock & roll as they turned more towards jazz, traditional pop, blues, and R&B. Not a touring band, they created a sophisticated, distinctive sound with melodic hooks and complex harmonies and time signatures, supported by their devotion to the recording studio.
Steely Dan has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001 and appear at number fifteen on the Rolling Stone list of the twenty greatest duos of all time.
We all know that the band name comes from a sex toy referenced in a William Burroughs novel but you probably weren’t aware that Fagen and Becker were in Jay and the American’s touring bnd before they became Steely Dan.
Stay safe and well…and we may all struggle to understand some of the cryptic lyrics in Steely Dan songs but don’t feel bad as even Becker and Fagen have admitted that they don’t understand many of them.