5/18/14, 1:22 AMIntro to the Song Book

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Intro to the Steely Dan Song Book

(a long time ago)

[For info on more recent SD Song Books go here]

Standing at the third sun-dappled crossroads of our career, having freshly glimpsed the thirty-fifth heaven, having kept our vow to put nails in our corporate ass, and, what is more, havingbeen up all night smoking packs and packs of Delicados Ovalados, hecho en Mexico, we saluteyou: the loyal fandom of the Steely Dan band (hopefully that includes you, Mr. Sy Feldman ofWarner Bros. Publications in New York City).

Because we are so rarely allowed to air our views on the printed page, we would like to take thisopportunity to get a few things off our chest. First, these replies to some fan mail: To C.K. of FairLawn, New Jersey: Certainly not. The rather novel type oaf interview you have repeatedlyrequested cannot possibly be arranged, even in the state of California. To J. "S" Baxter of LosAngeles: Sorry, Jeff, but our royalties haven't come in either. And finally, to Ruthie, age fourteen,R.D. 52, Eugene, Oregon: No; yes; no; about seven and a half inches; sure thing, you bet; MahaloHilton, October 25th and 26th, ask at the desk.

In the course of our back-breaking public appearance schedule all across this great nation, manyyoung musicians and composers have asked for guidance regarding some oaf the more technicalproblems, both musical and lyrical, encountered in the reproduction of our songs. Unfortunately,we are usually accosted in concert halls, while riding in station wagons, loitering in coffee shops,airports, etc., and these questions most often go unanswered. At this time, with a "Little helpfrom our friends", we are prepared to present not only the correct and complete lyrics for thesongs in this book, but also an invaluable interpretive aid to be used in conjunction with theseexclusive renderings for piano and/or guitar: The revelation and explanation of the dynamic µmajor chord!

The µ major (moo major) chord is the most frequently used stylistic device in the arsenal ofmusic effects responsible for defining and maintaining the distinctive Steely Dan sound. Withoutthe µ major chord it would be impossible to achieve the airy, modern, almost jazzy quality thatthe sensitive listener can detect in just about every Steely Dan recording. The µ major chord isconstructed as follows:

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Note the substitution of a major second in place of a conventional tonic in the chord structure (inthe case of a µ major, B natural for an A natural in the right hand). Of course, this chord can bebuilt on each of the twelve root pitches found in most western music. Some of our moreharmonically sophisticated readers may know this chord by one of several other names such as"deus de musica (1st expansion)", "major triad avec neoplastic distension", or "'M' LordsConsonance". Used only sporadically in most contemporary popular music, we have found thislittle honey to be a sine qua non in almost every song we have written to date. All the membersof Steely Dan, past and present, have come to believe, as we do, that the luminous, mystic qualityof the µ major chord is capable of greatly enriching the musical vocabulary of our otherwisediscordant era. Virtually any piano owner can experience this sonority in the privacy of his or herown home if she or he is willing to take the trouble, when confronted with a major triad, to comedown on the keyboard with his or her thumb just slightly to the right of where it would normallyland. Once you become accustomed to this wholesome harmonic mindbath, you'll soon findyourself sneaking seconds into minor seventh chords and stacking fourths like a Hindemith gonehaywire in Harlem. Inversions of the µ major may be formed in the usual manner with onecaveat: the voicing of the second and third scale tones, which is the essence oaf the chord'sappeal, should always occur as a whole tone dissonance.

We are painfully aware of the fact that even the most lucid explanations of simple musical ideasre by themselves meaningless to the rare guitar player who may be willing to expand hisconception and technique. Through years of bitter experience, working with our own rock androll orchestra, we have come to know that the noble savage armed with a screaming Stratocasteror a vintage les Paul, if he is to be made to understand, must be addressed in the peculiarlanguage associated with his chosen instrument. In many cases, even this is not enough; and a"brother" (another guitarist) must be brought in to translate and hopefully, to ease the sometimesnasty relationship that tends to develop between the well-meaning, earnest, highly trainedcomposer/musician and the pragmatic, possibly bisexual, guitar player. For these reasons, wenow pass the pen to a first line guitarist and colleague, , Mr. Denny Dias, who should be wellknown to you all, and who studied for many years with Downbeat and Metronome Poll Winnerof the Fifties, Mr. Billy Bauer. (non-guitarists may skip the following section.)

Hi! I'm really glad to be writing this part of the music book because it took me years and

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years to get the hang of these funny chords and I figure I can save a lot of people a lot oftime. The reason it took me so long is because I had to figure it out for myself. Walterknows some oaf these chords but always seems to have his hand on the wrong fret orsomething, and Donald is, as my girlfriend Debbie puts it, "the worst guitar player I everheard." So they wouldn't be much help. These µ major chords aren't easy to play on theguitar, believe me, but once I realized that my playing wouldn't really cook with the banduntil I could play them, without thinking, and all the keys and in any position, I got my stufftogether pretty fast. What I'm putting down here is a complete rundown of the µ majorchords I use in my playing. Even Billy Bauer probably didn't know some of these.

Here's the first µ major chord:

Strum this one a little and get used to the sound. Compare it to an E major chord

And see if you can hear the difference. Now by playing this same voicing on the fifth fret,

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you get an A µ major chord, and you can play the right µ major chord for any tonic note bystarting with that note on the low E string (6th string), barring across that entire fret, andmaking this voicing with whatever fingers you have left. This next chord has its tonic on the5th (A) string.

The same chord but as a bar chord.

Here's another one.

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Relax your left hand for three minutes, then try this one.

The same voicing barred (good luck).

Those of you with jazz chops may like this 4-string chord with a major third on the bottom.

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I guess that's all of them. What you have to do is practice these chords until you get so goodthat you can automatically substitute the right µ major chord voicing for any major triad inthe Steely Dan Songbook, or whatever they're going to call it, without thinking. How doyou know which voicing is the right now? Usually I use the one that's easiest to get to fromwhere I am on the neck so I don't have to move my hand back and forth a lot, especiallywhen it's humid like Hicksville, or hot and dry like Woodland Hills. Usually that's the way Ido it, even in some of the real jazz sessions I've been playing. But, in the studio or on theroad, Donald and Walter will make me play a µ major chord that's real high or realawkward or something and I'm never sure why they want that particular one--but they havethe final decision. I guess you can choose any one you want, because how are they going toknow about that?

Thank you, "Brother" Dias. I suppose it's only fair to warn you people that lately we have beenvisiting many of the excellent nightclubs and discotheques all around the country without priornotification and, if you're up on the bandstand playing an unaesthetic voicing of the µ majorchord in, say, Rikki or Reelin in the Years, we're going to notice the minute we walk in and so willanybody else with half an ear (nice try, Denny). So tighten up. *5/96*

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