-
I tried to grow up. Honest. Didn’t quite happen. I guess I’m someone for whom youth still seems more real than the present, or the half century in between. And why not? I'm deeply underwhelmed by most contemporary art, literature, music, films, TV, the heinous little phones, money talk, real estate talk, all that stuff. The Internet, which at first seemed so fascinating, appears to be evolving into something even worse than TV, but we'll see.
Donald Fagen Steely Dan -
What a beautiful world this will be What a glorious time to be free
Donald Fagen Steely Dan
-
It wouldn't bother me at all not to play on my own album.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
I can never believe how much time and energy and money and talent and everything else is being poured into horrible ideas.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
What do you do with what you're given, and how do you transform it into something worthwhile?
Donald Fagen Steely Dan -
We play rock & roll, but we swing when we play. We want that ongoing flow, that lightness, that forward rush of jazz.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
I have a feeling there were many, many successful rock duos that just didn't get attention. That's the fault of the rock press. They are always playing up controversy, scandal, aggravation, and irritation.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
In the '70s, my playing was completely untutored, but it sounded good to me, and I tried to find ways to make those very simple things work in more ambitious contexts.
Walter Becker Steely Dan
-
Now why the hell would I want to increase the volume of my ejaculation ? They can already hear me in the apartment next door.
Donald Fagen Steely Dan -
I thought Twitter was a joke. I really thought it was a gag. I thought it was like National Lampoon or the Onion.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
It seemed like the more complex the music we were playing, the less able we were to guarantee its consistency.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
That's sort of what we wanted to do: conquer from the margins, sort of find our place in the middle based on the fact that we were creatures of the margin and of alienation.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
Our career had a sort of funny shape.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
Going out and looking for managers is like going out and looking for rattlesnakes.
Walter Becker Steely Dan
-
I don't particularly like L.A.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
I think what television and video games do is reminiscent of drug addiction. There's a measure of reinforcement and a behavioural loop.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
If you're playing in a room that holds 15,000 people, it's just a question of how bad the room acoustics are and in what way they're bad.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
Rock music is being systematically merged with fashion.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
In the '70s... there were rock players, and there were jazz players.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
When you get a groove going, time flies.
Donald Fagen Steely Dan
-
All our wives are experimental psychologists.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
As jazz fans, it was amusing for us to play jazz harmonies on these big, ugly electric guitars.
Donald Fagen Steely Dan -
What gets people into trouble with records now is that they want to build something up without substantial musical ideas. Without that as a foundation, you can add all the layers of sound you want - it's still going to sound like a mess.
Walter Becker Steely Dan -
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.
Walter Becker Steely Dan