Walter Becker Quotes
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I think every time, before we do an album, we have a discussion where we sort of consider the idea of doing something radically different.
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From a linguistic point of view, you can't really take much objection to the notion that a show is a show is a show.
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The more of what our music does violates the premise of its format that it's presented in, the better. So, hearing our music in the supermarket, a Muzak version, is great.
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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.
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It's great fun to play with a really good band.
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When the first album came out and I heard 'Do It Again' on the radio, that was the greatest thing that had ever happened. After that, it was all downhill.
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There's a great freedom in writing by yourself. You can write anything you want.
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'Deacon Blues' was special for me. It's the only time I remember mixing a record all day and, when the mix was done, feeling like I wanted to hear it over and over again. It was the comprehensive sound of the thing: the song itself, its character, the way the instruments sounded, and the way Tom Scott's tight horn arrangement fit in.
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It's good - it's great when somebody who is 20 years younger than you comes up and says, 'Wow, we just got turned on to you guys, and you're really great,' or something like that. I like that.
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Most of our songs are about relationships.
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We fly to the town in the little private airplane, and then we have to get in cars and drive to the hotel and then drive to the gig. So, I want to do a tour where the performances will actually be at the small airports.
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It's a mystery to me why everybody doesn't love jazz. I've never been able to figure that out.
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We try to write things that work on a variety of levels at the same time: A sleek exterior with a turbulent lyric.
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When you start to work with someone, there's a negotiation that takes place involving what's going to happen when you have a difference of opinion. Most attempts at collaboration never survive the negotiation. Merely being agreeable is not enough.
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We opened for the Kinks, the Beach Boys, the Guess Who, Chuck Berry, Sha Na Na. We opened for Cheech and Chong - I opened for Cheech, and Don opened for Chong.
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I spent a couple of years not doing any music or anything, just here in Hawaii trying to get healthy and adjust to the new regimen I was setting up for myself.
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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.
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I listen to a mixture of old jazz, contemporary, pop, some world beat stuff and various odds and ends.
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We've been allowed to operate unmolested on the fringes of the music scene, really. That's where we enjoy it most.
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Singing, for me, means singing as loud as I can.
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Let's face it, us '60s folks had pretty high expectations.
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Originally, we had a band known as Steely Dan. As we moved away from the band, we got whoever was appropriate for specific tunes. In a lot of cases, we gravitated toward jazz players who had more sophisticated harmonic concepts.
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You can't always count on the devices, attitudes, and conceits that stood you in good stead in 1972 or 1973, or 1978-79, to still have the same impact all these years later.
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I learned a lot from the various artists I produced. Either you see them doing something that you do want to do it, or you see them doing something the way you don't want to do it.