When I’m In My Room And It’s Late At Night

Steely Dan “Through With Buzz”

Colin: Matthew, tell me why you liked “Through With Buzz.”

me: Well, there’s a lot of things I like about it. I like that it’s really concise, for one thing. I like how strings are the central part of the song, but the string arrangement implies a rock guitar sound instead of something self-conciously “classy.” But then again, there IS a sort of fake, put-on classiness in it, implying that the guy thinks he’s this big shot. I like the way it conveys this sort of oblivious macho insecurity.

Colin: It’s a pretty funny song. Do you like Pretzel Logic?

me: Yeah, that’s definitely my favorite Steely Dan album. I really love “Parker’s Band” too.

Colin: But the song “Pretzel Logic,” a couple of tracks later. I find it thematically similar, even though it’s kind of nonsense.

me: Are you in a big Dan phase? you should talk to my friend Eric, he’s a huge Steely Dan fan. I’m pretty casual about it, I just really like some of their songs here and there.

Colin: Naw, I was just listening to it last night, and I know every second of it by heart because my mom used to listen to them.

me: My friend Jody gave me a proper introduction to Steely Dan back in 2002, made me a cd but I only really liked “Through With Buzz” right away.

Colin: It’s easy to be put off by their jazz-dude rep.

me: Yeah, but now I think it’s one of their better aspects.

Colin: It’s a put-on! It’s part of the weird, humorless joke. They are so anti-jazz! Nothing is improvised.

me: Yeah, they are more about CHOPS. That’s what they take from jazz, not fluidity and intuition.

Colin : Donald Fagen and that other guy are the Shao Lin of jazz.

me: Their take on jazz is kinda postmodern maybe, because they are only interested in jazz recordings, the signifiers of jazz rather than jazz itself.

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Elsewhere: I’m going to be a guest writer on Idolator today. Check it out.