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W RNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS
The copyright law
o
the United States (Title 17, United States
Code) governs the making
o
photocopies or other reproduction
o
copyrighted material.
Under certain conditions specified
n
the law, libraries and archives
are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One
o
these specified conditions s that the photocopy or reproduction
s
not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship,
or research.
If
electronic transmission o reserve material s used
for purposes in excess
o
what constitutes fair use , that user may
be liable for copyright infringement.
2001 University
o
South Carolina
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Music Theory Jpectrum
THE
JOURN L
OF THE SOCIETY FOR
MUSIC
THEORY
Brian Alegant
EDITOR
Brian
HyerJ
REVIEWS EDITOR
EDITORI L
BO RD
Richard ass
Michael halin
ioseph
Dubiel
ynthia
olio
Nadine Hubbs
Harald Krebs
Justin London
iay
Rahn
Frank Samarotto
Janna Saslaw
David Smyth
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c oyal Scam
The
Abstr
use
and Ironic B
op
ock Harmony
ofSteely
Dan
W LTER EV
E
RETT
Stee
ly
Dan
is
nominally a rock band, but their melodic idiosyncracies, rhythmic surfaces, and har
monic and voice-leading techniques are d irect descendants of early modern jazz, making theirs ar
guably the most tonally comp
lex
of any rock music with broad popularity. T his
ar
ticle illustrates
how the group's soph is ticated and enigmatic chord constructions, along wi th a mix of feigned,
obliqu
e,
and incongruous rurns
of
harmony, intensity the linear aspect of vo
ic
e-leading connections
in the experimental manner of the great bop musicians, and c
on
vey the band's penchant for the
re
condite and the ironic.
S
TE E
LY
D AN, led by co-composing keyboardist
Donal
d
Fagen and bassist/guitarist Walte r Becker, produced
eig
ht
gold or platinum albums and six to
p-tw
enty sin
gles during the years 1972- 80, dissolved for more than a
decade, rhen reunited for a 1993 tour and new top-ten col
lections in 2000 and 2003.
It
is
nominally a rock band, as its
fo
rm
s,
instrumentations, vocal production, rhythmic under
pinn
in
gs, and many of its harmonic pa
tt
erns emerged from
that world, and its records have typically bee n marketed f
or
a
rock audienc
e.
But the group's melodic idiosyncracies, busy
rhythm ic surface, and harmonic and voi ce-leading tech
niques are direct descendants
of
early modern
ja
zz, making
this corpus arguably the mOSt tonally complex
of
any
ro
ck
music with such broad popularity.
H aving m
et
as college stude
nt
s in 1967, Becker and
Fagen discovere
d a muruallove not of contemporaneous ac id
rock but of
Th
elonious M onk, M iles D avis,
Ch
arlie Parker,
John Coltran
e,
and Dave Brubeck,
all
of whose names are
dropped into the ly
rics
of various Steely D an songs. T heir
1974 album,
Pretzel Logic
includes performances of
Duk
e
2 01
Ellington's "Eas t St.
Lo
uis Toodle-oo" (the group s only cover
of
another's
co
mpo
si ti
on) and their own "Parker's Band"
(a
n
homage
to
the saxophonist's 1940s sides
fo
r Savoy), and a ref
erence
to
bebop in "
Monk
ey in Your So u ."
See
mingly mired
in the 1940s and early '50s, Becker and Fagen h
av
e expressed
neither interest in nor de
bt
to the jazz of O mette
Co
lema
n,
the modulating cycles
of
late Col tran
e,
the modal
scales
of
late Davis, the jazz-rock fus ion
of
John
Mc
Laughlin,
Weather Report or Frank Zappa, rhe emerging funk of
Ma
ynard Ferguson and H erbie
Han
cock, or light adult
contemporary artists such as D oc Severinse n. In the spirit of
Ellington, their session p
la
yers (
su
ch
as Mi
les D a
vi
s alumni
Wayne Shorter an d Vi ctor Feldma n) work from written par ts
composed spec
ifi
cally for them, b
ut
they would
als
o be given
free and sometimes expansive improvised solos those in
"H ome at Last" and "I
Got
the News" redolent
of
bop but
those in "T ime Out of M ind" and
"My
Rival" more reminis
cent of
Cou nt Bas
ie).
So whereas pop-rock musicians Carole
King, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles were st
ro
ng influences
upon their music , Steely D an formed itself around a jazz core.
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2
MUSIC
THEO
RYSPECTRUM 26
(200
4)
02
The present essay dr
aws
from theo
ri
es of harmony and
vo ice leading for both rock mu s
ic
and jazz.
The
primary
purpose isto illustrate
how,
inmuch ofSteely Dan's music,
sophisticated,e
so
teric, enigmatic, andambiguouschordco n
structions ,along
with
amix ofde4beratc,feigned, oblique,
unexpected,and incongruous turns of harmony,
all
wo rk O
intensify and experimentwith the linear aspect of voice
leading connections, sometimes in the mannerof thegreat
bop musicians. Examples are selected from the 85 original
compositions released under the Steely Dan name.
2
After
outlini ngtherelevanceoftheliteraryno
ti
ons
of
abstruseness
and iro ny, I shall examine four ha
rm
onic topics: extended
and inflected chords; jazz-based and rock-based chordsub
stitu tions; transient modulations; and chords as agents of
voice
le
ad ing rather than harmonic function.Following this
overviewofSteely D
an's
harmonicstyle,I
exa
mi
ne
asingle
composition, "Babylon Sisters," in order to illustrate how
these fac torsarecombined forpoeticeffect .
POETIC GOALS OF STE ELY
DAN
Thestraig
ht-f
ac
ed BeckerandFagenare devoteesofthe
r
ec
ondit
e,
theinscrutable, andallmanneroftwistsinthecon
ve
ya
nce of meaning.
Their
obscure,
so
metimes witty, and
rhetoric
all
ymultileveled lyrics reflect
th
eir
sc
hoolboyreadings
Primary sourcts in jazz theory include
Co
ker1964and1975,Dean
Lewis 1996, Kurzdorfer 1996,La rson 1996 and 1998,Martin 1996a
and 1996b, Owens 1995, and Strunk 1979 and 1996. References in
rocktheoryinclude Burns 1999,and Everett 1997,1999a, 1999band
2001.
The coregroupdiscography is listedunderSteelyD an in References,
below. Keysolo albums produced by Becker andFagen during the
band's 1981-1993 hiatus are also given there.The twoentries for Hal
Leonardrepresentfairlyaccurate"complete"transcriptions
of
tenbest
known Steely D an tracks (1990) and fairly accurate reductions
of
63 songs
(1
995).
The
transcriptions accompanying this article were
basedontherecordings, withconsultationofthesetwosourcesplus
ex
amplesfoundinPear12002.
of
Allen Ginsberg,
K
urt Vonn
egu t, Terry So
uthern
,Josep
Heller,andWilliamBurroughs,whose surreal,violent ,an
depressing
Naked
Lunch
is
thesourceofthegroup'smonike
Th
edu
o's
"popnair"songt ~ t havebeencalled"cold,""mis
anthropic,"and "a
rc
h
;
sentiment is rarely apparent on th
surface ofanybuttheirearliestsongs.)The noir textual sty
aptlyportraysthesongs'darkthem
es
andcha
ra
cters.Perhap
thinking about his th en
-new
O dyssey
-in
spired "H ome
Last,"Fagenexpl
ai
nsina1977interviewthat:
it's more interesting towriteaboutsomebodywho 's in a
li f
e-or-dea
situation or having trouble in a relationship; it goes back to Gre
dram
theyd idn't writeabout people who are having a lot of fu
You've probablyneverread The Tragedy ofOzz.ie and Harriet by
Oed
d
R
ex
or whateverhisnamewas . 4
FollowingDylan,thetwolearnedtowrite
so
nglyricsaroun
the
fl
eet
in
g, disembodied images andemotions related to
topic, ratherthan inaccordancewith orthodoxlinearnarr
tives.
Of
theambiguityoftheirlyr
ics,
Fagensa
ys, W
edon
nece
ss
arily try to communicateanyspecific thing t the
li
tener. It 's moreor l
ess
us tryingt communicate animpre
sion, and the l
is
tener has the freedom to in terpret
as
h
wants."5Of cour
se
,hiswords are n
ot
al
ways to be take
quite at face value; in 1993 , he announced, "I'm into m
post-ironicphase
whichofcourse'wouldincludeirony
well. AndI'mnot talkingaboutthenewsincerity,ofcours
3 Critical
re
ceptionto themusicofSteeJyDan is bestdocumentedin th
albumrevie
ws
andoccasionalfeaturestoriesappearinginsuchperiod
calsas Down Beat Musician Guitar Playe r Rolling Stone M elody Make
Crawdaddy Village Voice j az z imes andjazz Magazine several
whichpublicationshave also run interviewswith theprincipals.A \'e
good bibliography can be found at <http:// two-wugs.netlsdlste
el
y
dan_bib.html>;seealso the"M etal Leg"topic-indexedbibliography
<http://ww
w.g
ranatino.
co
ml
sdresource/mldex.htm>.N umerous aud
interviews havebeenarchivedoninternetservers; one usefulindexwi
links is <http://www.broberg.pp. se.sd_interviews.htm>.
4 EarthNews1:21-1:40.
5 Sweet1994,82.
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20
3
6
THE
ABSTRUSE AND
IRO
N
IC
BOP - ROCK HARMONY OF
STEELY
DA N
but rath er . the pseudo-new si
nc
ericy.,,6
Th
e notion of
irony
is
often key, fo r Becker and Fagen frequen tly employ
such devices as sarcasm (a characterization standing in direct
contradiction
to
what
is
meant), hyperbole (exaggeration to
the point of rendering the underlying facts impotent), and
liro tes (understateme
nt
through the negation of the oppo
site, as in the li
ne
, "You know she's no high climber"
to
sug
gest a woman headed
to
her end in "Do
It
Again"). At times,
subt
ex
ts are brought to the su rfa
ce
through sarcastic humor,
as in a line from "Reelin' in the
Years :
"You been tellin'
me
you're a genius since you were seventeen; in all the time I'
ve
known you I still don't know what you mean
,
At
other
s,
layers
of
text
see
m broken and disjointed , with important in
formation disguised or omitted entirely, rendering underly
ing meaning impressio nistic, obscure, or downright impene
trable. I hope to show how the superficial obfuscation
of
structure, and the contrast between the apparent and the
intended, are singularly approp
ri
ate musical vehicles for the
poetic aims of Becker and Fagen in Steely Dan.
"Brooklyn
O
wes the
Char
mer Under M e)," an ea rly
Dylan-i nfluenced Becker-Fagen composition from Steely
Dan
's
first album, illustrates the duo's approach
to
the musi
cal setting
of
th ei r central poetic interests. Th e first
of
its
three stanzas is shown in Example 1.
The
intent of this verse
se
ems indecipherable at
first-what
is the meaning of the re
frain (the repeated final line, ambiguously parenthesized for
the song's title
),
and what connects the four images that lead
up to it?
The
entire notion
is
abstruse, and
re
mains opaque
until one considers the first th ree li nes as a ser
ie
s of treasures,
and the "charmer" as a bellyaching Brooklyn apartment ten
ant living directly benea th the singer. Then , thin
gs
begin to
fall into place: "Brooklyn" is the subject of one long sentencej
the downstairs tenant, the "charmer,
is
the indirect objectj
and the ser ies in the first th r
ee
lines- a list of what Brooklyn
"ow
es
the tenan
t -mak
es up the direct object and th
us
ul
This quo te ap pears on
p.
17 of a booklet accompanying Steely Dan
1993.
A race
of
angels bound with one another,
A dish
of
dollars laid out for all to see,
A tower room at Eden Rock, his golf at noon
fo
r free
Brooklyn owes the charmer under me,
Brooklyn owes [he charmer under me.
EXAMPLE
I Brooklyn (Owes the Charmer Under
Mer
(Bec
ker -Fagen; composed c 1969, Can t Buy a Thrill [1972]),
verse 1 © 1970 by M C Music Publishing, A Division o
MC Inc. and Red Giant, Inc.
fills the transitive verb in a grammatically correct but oblique
way. Of cours
e,
one would likely come to this r
ea
ding only
after hearing t
he
composers' explanation: according to Wal ter
Becker, D onald Fagen on
ce
lived in a Brooklyn apartment
above an obnoxious neighbor who would regularly sit on his
stoop and shout about the indignities he was fo rced to suffer.
7
The singer's portrayal is multiply ironic: by using the word
"charmer," Fagen sarcastically presents the obnoxious behav
ior as an ingratiating manner or
as
one of casting a successful
spell, and he feigns sy
mp
athy wit h the complainer
by
sug
gesting what recompense is due in the mo
st
hyperbolic exag
gerations imaginable. Later verses suggest further desirable
amends, in
cl
uding "an evening with a movie queen," "a case
of a
ces
done up loose fo r dealing," and "a piece
of
island
cooling in the sea." And not only are the images the mselves
of
ridiculously high val u
e,
they are all described in an ironi
cally velveteen versification.
In "Brooklyn, musical irony has the charmer portrayed
with shrewd sweetness, in
th
e syrupy portamentos and
gradual swells of the pedal steel guitar, and in the slick pass
ing and neighbor chords of the refrain (see the "P " and "N"
designations between the staves of Example 2, s
ec
ond sys
tem), wh
ic
h resolve gently t
hr
ough the avoidance
of
any
7 Sweet 1994,50.
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2 0
4
MUSIC T HEORY SPEC
TRUM
26 20 04)
V(fsr
overbearing dominant har mony. Y ~ t there is both an under
cutting tension from
th
e late-arriving tonic support for the
impatient primary tone and a strength of conviction in the
obstinate parallel fifths that descend to what should be V of
II
(s
upporting the vocal Cis at 0:4
1-4
3; see the 5-5-5 fig
ures between the staves of the second system), and in the
steadfast tonic pedals that underlie the inner-voice neighbor
motions
of
the
refrain's central message.
And
after the clearly
directed harmonic morion
of
the initial eight bars
(0: 18 -
36),
musical ambiguity threatens in the apparent interruptions
from the expected paths of wou
ld
-be applied dominant
sevenths on A (0:43) and on D (0:52), each insread followed
on
the surface by the announceme
nt of
the refrain's chord
over the C pedaLs
In both
cases, the promised resolutions
are dismissed
as
if insignifica
nt
, adding to the senses
of
im
propriety and incongruity suggested by the charmer's bold
alleged declarations. So in even this simple, early composi
tion, both the ab struse and ironic qualities of the poem are
given musical expression.
9
ST
EELY DAN'S A
PPRO
ACH
TO
HAR MON Y
Extended and nj lected Chords. Wherea
s a
number
of their
early efforts (such
as
"Brooklyn") are built up
on
basic inter
rupted 3-lines that are supported
by normal or just-about
normal half and authent
ic
cadences, a jazz-derived ambiva
lence to harmonic goals-especially when accompanied by
8
The
m
chord moving to F, which then resolves to the tonic C, illus
trates what 1 have called the
<;d
ouble-plagal" cadence (Everett 1999b,
32
3-26
), a voice-leading phenomenon involving a ser
ie
s of stepwise
descending neighbors that does not advance any harmon ic function.
This status is amplified by the tonic pedal underlying the entire chord
succession in th is refrain and is given
an
idiosyncratic
n.vist
through
its
role in the overall passing function governed by the chromatic descent
in the alto register, indicated by the S-shaped slur
in
Example 2.
9 Ever
ett
2001, 323, suggests how directedness of voice leading
is
used by
John Lennon to portray an ironic stance in "Nowhere Man."
0,18
0:27
j
;
l
A
L
I
s--
:
•
e
N
N
r
ace
N dish N
N
..--
-{
N
-..
:-
?--
.
•
<
7 7
7 7
I -------
P P
C
JV
JJ
V
II
Rtfrain
0:36 0;41
0:52
j
;
~
F
=
1
r
I
..
-
'(2:::::f ' -= '
P
p p N
tower
Brooklyn Broo
klyn
I ~ ;
5
: -
.
't
f "
P
N
:&
\ ; Ti J
d
~
- - - - I
:; r y
1
7 P 7 . - 7
\ , i
EXAMPLE 2. Voice- leading sketrh of "Brookl
yn
(Owes the
Charmer Under Mer (Becker-Fagen, composed c. 1969; Can 't
Buy a Thrill
[1
972])'
unexpected as
ymm
etries of phrase
rhythm-is
more typical
of
Steely Dan. 1O The verse
of
"Dirty Work [1972], for in
stance, concludes on 2over an unyielding supertonic, at best
IO
Such an effect
is
rare in the rock world, although John Lennon con
cludes rambling phrases with harmonically ambiguous
ca
dences in the
Beades' "A Day in the Li
fe"
(1967) and "Across the Universe" (1969).
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T H E
ABSTRUSE
AND
IRO
N1 C BOP- ROCK
HARM
O NY
OF
ST EELY DAN
5
a vague substitute fo r an interrupted dominant function;
3:15
the smbbornness
of
II is matched thcre by a change from
212
to a measure
of
3/2, stammering with four "extra" repeated
;:
ighth
no
tes (0:49-51). T he verse consists thereby
of
phrases
of nine plus eight- and-a-half measures (0:23- 37 + 0:38-51),
"concluding" on : over II. T his musical standstill symbolizes
the singer 's paralyzing intern al conflict ( 1 foresee terr ib le
trouble and] st
ay
he
re
just the same") through paralJel musi
cal and poetic ambivalences.
But instead
of
focusing on the structural value of the
chordal roots
of
such cadential
pi
llars as V (or II ), ]
wi
sh to
examine the nature and treatment
of
that which is found
atop and in between them.
The
vertical aspect of the group's
harmony is of interest for its extended, modally inflected, ap
plied, and o
th
erwi
se
altered chord
s.
T hrough the course of
their
firs
t eight
al
bums,
co
lor
ful
and den
se
seventh,
ni
nth ,
eleventh , and thirteenth chords are progressively the rul
e,
with unadorned, unambiguous and n
aive
triads seldom
voiced in the last ve collection
s.
(T his o
th
erwise straight
line
of
progressive complexity
cu
rves to a degree with the
2003 album,
Everything
Must Go, which is frequently more
conventional than the albums that preceded it.) Th is quality
betrays a jazz heritage,
as
their
fin al
n
on-tr
iadic sonorities
tend to
avo
id the to
ni
c major-mi nor seve
nt
h chord common
t
rock. Jazz exampl
es
range from the simple major-seventh
chord end ing D
iz
zy Gi
ll
espie's "
Di
zzy's Busine
ss
[1956],
shown in
Example 3(a),
to
the tritone-heavy activity tha t
se
ttles into the final tonic thirteenth chord in
Le
nnie
Tristano's 1946 recording of ] Found a New Baby, tran
scribed as Examp
le
3(b).
Such den
se
extensions to the triad often provide motivic
material. T he chord with added sixth, for insta
nc e, is
hardly
innocent in "Black
Co
w" [1977],
al
though its initial appear
an
ce
is the only
fully
consonant simultaneity prese
nt
in the
song. H ere, the sixth scale degree, A
in
C major, is introduced
in a number of non-reso lving contexts involving
th
e open ing
tonic harmony,
th
en becomes the root of a surprising and
finge r-pointing
V,9 of
II (accen t
ed at
0:30 by the entrance
""
(
aJ
Dizzy Gillespie's recording o Dizzy's Business ( Wilkins,
Birks Works f ree. June
6,
1956j ,jinal sonority.
© 1956
by
Silhouette Musi
c
c/o
Qui
ncy
Jones Music Pub/.
2:40
r':'>
I
"
'-J.,...J
1
I\i
_ .ti,.. ,.
:
F, I
""
(b) Lennie Tristan os recording
of
J Found a
New
Baby
(Williams- Palm
er;
Volum e 1 [ree. probably Spring-Summer
1946}),
co
nclusion.
©
1925
Universal
MeA
Music Publishin
g,
a Division afUniversalStudios Inc.
EXAMPLE 3
of the long-sustaining b
acki
ng singers).
Th
e six
th
scale de
gree ultimately becom
es
the tonal ce
nt
er of the chorus at
1:03, where the
si
nger hits the lig
ht
of da
y,
breaking away
from both the narrative past and from the barroom lush for
whom he can care no longer. Such a gradual development
of
a non-tonic scale degree, in this case the sixth, is a common
"character-developing" gambi t in classical inst rum ental
styles (one mig
ht
trace the mamration of H through the
second movement of Mozart's piano sonata K. 576, for
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2 6 MUSIC
THEORY
SPECTRUM 26
(2004)
instance), and is often linked to the growth of an idea in rhe
J
: JJ
ly
rics in
various popu la
r styles
trlYt; J
As a jab
at those
wh o ponder
rhe
nature of music
al
struc
tures, Becker and Fagen even christened one of their
fav
orite
constructions (the major-ninth chord whose ninth and tenth
were always to be voiced
as
major-second adjacencies) vari
ously as the
j.l
major, the Deus de M usica/' and M'Lords
Consonance, a sonority whose varied guitar voicings are
treated
to
several pages
of
tongue-in-cheek
ex
egesis
y
three
members
of
Steely
Dan
in an introduction to a late-1970s
song folio .
Ther
ein, the composers say, once you become
accustomed to this wholesome harmonic mindbath, you'll
soon find yourself sneaking seconds into minor seventh
chords and stacki ng fourths like a H indemith gone haywire
in Harlem .
12
Example 4(a) shows a guitar voicing of the
chord, from a C-major expansion within Aja ; Example 4(b)
shows the fl
vo
icing in the piano's opening sonority in the
same song . A favori te of pianist Fagen's, the fl chord domi
nates the keyboard part from Reelin' in the Years. As for
the stacked fo urths, they may have had in mind such a model
as O sc ar Peterson's performance of Milt Jackson's Bag's
Groove
,
excerpted in Example
S.
When ninth and eleventh chords are voiced with their
thi rds and fifths deemphasized, a bop
-r
elated polychord ef
fect takes place. Consider, for instance, the bridge
of
Pretzel
Logic, shown in Example
6,
where the bass roots support
se
emingly unrelated const
ru
ctions above. Sometimes stacked
fourths playa role, as in the appearances of A4 and Ds above
£2 at 0: 41 in the opening of the Pretzel Logic bridge. n
fact, slash-chord constructions (so named because jazz
shorthand notation has each upper-
vo
ice triad designation
I I Everett 2001, 226-29 discusses an interes tingly similar progressive
va
l
uation of the sixth scale degree from non-chord tone through chord
me
mber to to nic
lze
d area
in
the Bea tle s' I Should Have Known
Better.
l2
Warner Bros. Publications,
c. 1977.
(a) ' ija" (
Beck
er-Fagen; Aja
[1977]),
rhy thm guitar und
lead guitar solo
© 1977, 1978
by MeA Music Publis
Division ofMC l Inc .
Bo I,
(b) ' ill, (Becker-Fagen;
Aj
a
[1977}),
openi
ng
piano ch
1977, 1978 by MeA Music Publishing, A Division o
In c
EXAMPLE 4
followed by a slash separati
ng
it from th e unrelate
note) are a common pian
s
tic effe
ct of
Donald Fagen.
ample
6,
a pair
of
two separate tiers follows the
do
ub
the bass line, E-A-D-G , seems a separate entity fro
closely spaced apparent treble-register triads above,
progress by
roots
D E C DD
13 Significant strings of slash chords mark structural points in
F,id,y
[1975], ar (050-52), Jo'ie
[1
977],
046-1001)
and
World Man [1980], 1 : 4 6 ~ 2 : 0 0 ) . Such chords were the topic
o
published talk, Assessing 'Slash Chord'
Har
mony in Jazz-Rock
Toward a T heoretical Approach to the M
us ic
of Steely Dan, p
by
Paul S. Cart
er
at the
Mu
sic Theory Midwest meeting
a
University in 1999. Carter focus ed mostly on this effect in Jos
1t Again,» Gau cho, and Dr. \1..1u. It
may be
prudent to h
the facts that whereas slash-chord designations may well ref
co mposer-performer's notion of the identity of the simul
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•
•
THE ABSTRUSE
AND IRONIC BOP-ROCK HARMOl'\T)' OF
STEELY DAN
20
7
J
l<
i
EXAMPL E
5.
Oscar Peterson's recording of Bag's Groove (}ac
kson Jazz
'
Ro
und Midnight free. December 15 01'
16,
1962J). © Rude j
\ J
usic.
0:41
,
.
,
wing eighth s
A ,
>i ( \
(\
i'K '(\
l
'
,
I I
y y
,
1 •
V
V
y y
Y
es
I'm
dy n (0
be a st
ar and make
them
laugh
; sound just like a rec - ord
on the
:
-
-
DIE
E/A
CID
DIG
, , , ,
•
Y Y Y Y
o·
vee
a
long time
a·
go
.
oh yeah.
,
,
'
V
. V
,
I
y Y
pho- 00 -
graph,
Tho
se
days are gone for- ev - e,.
:
EXAMPLE 6. "Pr
etzel Logic
(Becker
-F
agen
, P
re
tzel
Logic (1
974J), beginning ofbridg
e © 1974 by MCA
M
usic Publishing,
A Division
o
MCAlnc
Steely D an also mak
es
expressive use of altered chords,
jazz-flavo red.
14
V#9
is perhaps their favorite altered chor
d;
which are often forms of dominant harmony and are quite
one su ch so nority is given a mys terious texture in Rikki
Don't Lose
That
Number, given
as
Example 7(a) . But other
co
mpo nent parts, and that they conveniently symbolize the bifurcated
nature of the
se
sono
ri
ties, they do not always sugge st the shortest route
14
A brief surv
ey
of
ex
tended and altered dominants includes ma ny form
to an unders tanding of the chords ' function
s.
The funct
io ns
will
typi
defining ex
am
ples, such as: V·
3
in
The Royal Scam (1:40) and Third
cally be bound to the bass, or perhaps to a transcendental bass that is World Man (0:30); V·
9
in
Do
n
t Take Me Ali
ve
(0:00-07
);
V
l9n
in
not sounding at the moment, with th e to
ne
s abo
ve be
st evaluated for Rikki Don't Lose That N u m b e r ~ (L06-07), Night
By
i g h t ~ (2:49
(1 :1 6
-1
7); V
19115
their voice-leading and
col
or-creating roles. 52 ), Kid Charlemagne (0:00--10), and Josie in
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15
8
MUSIC THEORY
SPECTRUM
26 2004)
L02
But if you had a of hearl,
Rik -
ki
don't
lose
that num
E,
II
,
II
,
?
;
7
(a) Rikki Don 't Lo
se
Thai Number (Becker-Fagen; Pre
tz
el L
ogic [1
974j), lTansilion into
chorus.
©
9
74 by
MC
A Music Publishing, A
Division ofM CA
In
c
~
' Ia I: ' r
n
I
I
3: 1
. > ; ::
L;
v
(b) Throw Back the Little Ones (Becker-Fagen-Omartian; Katy Lied [1975j),
coda
. © 974 by MCA Music Publishing, A Division o
MCAlnc
EXAMPLE
7
scale degrees
are
alter
ed as
well; in fact,
th
e last
bar
of
extended root-po sition major triad s moving by step in paral
Example
7(
b) displa
ys
a polychord-like B-major triad atop lel motion migh t rec
all
such bop voicings as he
ard
in th
an
A
major tri ad of indetermina
te
function concluding the
opening
of
each cho
ru
s in Mo
nk's Iv
rood, excerpted in
co
da of
"
Thr
ow Back the Little Ones
.
In 'Throw Back," the Example 8(a
).
Donald Fagen
ha
s often talked
of
a fascina
chorus
e
nds clearly
in B, just
before this
example begins; pre
tion with H e
nr
y
Man
cini
s eter nn
and o
th
er jazz
viously, this cadence had fu nctioned as retransitional prepa derived commercial TV and movie th emes; this polychorda
ration fo r the succeeding
verse
that begins in E minor.
I5
he
ending reminds me
of
this literarure.
16
Consider,
for
exa
m
ple, the juicy
DM /
m
fin
al chord of Fred Steiner's Perry
Mason
Them
e
(a
piece quoted
in
another rock compos iti on
D
add
y Don't
Live in
Th
at
New York C
ity
No
Mo re
(0:47-4
8), FM
(103
6),
and "
My
Rival"
(2,11
); and
V
in "Any Majo< D ud, Will
Tell
Yo
u
(2,O -(l2).
between th e thi
rd
and raised fourth scale deg
ree
s for a particu1arl
David
Pearl
(2002, 33)
hears
a 13/'
11 chord
at
1:51 in Negative Girl.
Lydian quality, a sonority also fe atured in the chorus , 1:41-46.
H
is
voicing takes the major second of the chord and displays it
16
See Sweet 1994, 9 for a summary
of
Fagen's interest in Mancini.
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TH
E ABS
TR U
SE AN D I RON
IC
BOP-ROC K HAR M ONY OF ST
EEL
Y DAN
20
Frank Z appa's "Jezebel Boy," Broadway the H ard Way
[1988
))
, g
iv
en in Example 8( b). T he conclu
di
ng tritone over
the bas> (as heard in "
Thr
ow Back") is ano
th
er
favo
rite jazz
sonority. Lennie Tristano's wo
tk
in the 1940s has already
':
~
~
: 0
een noted in th
is
regard; see also the tritones above the b
as
s
0
in his re ndering of "Tea for Two ," excerpted in Exa mple 8(c),
and
th
e right-hand planing of whole-tone fo rmations that
descend to members of the expanded V
7
(or
to
their neigh
bori ng IV' c
hor
d) in his coda to
W
hat Is T hi s Th ing
Ca
ll
ed Lov
e/'
the begin
ni
ng
of
which
is
transcribed as
E
xa
mple 8(d) . 7
Jazz- and R ock-Based Chord Substitu tions. According to
Steven Strunk, substitute fu nctions
pr
eserve "the essential
lines of any progre
ss
ion in which the chord is involve d" but
alter other lines and provide substi t
ut
e roots f
or
novel col
oration
s.
18
T he
se
sub stitutions are rampant in Steely
Dan
,
and th
ey
often suggest iro ny by implying hypocritica
ll
y one
dir
ec
tion
but
effecting another; they may also carry an enig
mat ic quali ty
by
simply reduc
in
g the communicative power
of domina
nt
fu nction . One s
ub
stitution (that of ll fo r V) has
already been mentioned in co nnection
wi
th the vague
cadence in "Dirty Work."
Tr
itonc substitutions fo r the domi
na
nt
, thus domina
nt
s b
ui
lt on were pio neered in the
1940s by Dizzy G illespie. (T hey a
re
so-named becau
se
each
of the pair of major-minor
se
ve
nt
h chords whose roots
li
e a
rri tone apart share an enhar mon
ic
diminished fifth fo r the
other chord
's augmented fourth , with differing other chord
I7
Ste
ely
Dan
kn
ew Tris ta
no 's
work w
ell
. As an
ho
mage, Becker an d
Fagen took the pe n name Tristan Fabriani fo r
th
e
li
ner notes they wro te
for the
fir
st Ste
ely
Dan LP (See Sw
ee
t 1994, 47). Tristano's highly
di ssonan t tech
ni
que is disc
usse
d in Owe ns 1995 , 14 and 22. Trista
no
mentored tenor saxopho
ni
st
'<\Tayne
Mar
sh
,
wh
o,
with tenor saxophon
ist and
Aja
side man Pe
te
Christlie b, recorded the alb um
Apogee
co
produ
ced
by Becker and Fagen in 1978. T his
alb
um includes the tr
ac
k
"Rapunzel," a straight bop number co-written
by
Becker a
nd
Fag
en
.
Alto saxophonist P
hi
l Woods, a student of T ristano and a one-time
Monk colla
bo
rator,
pla
ys on Steely Dan
's
"
Dr
. Wu" [
1975
].
18 Strunk 1979,
15.
(a) The
o
nio
us
Mo nkS recording o "M onks M ood" (M onk; Th
Thelonious M onk Orchestra A t Town Hall [rec. February 2
19
59
}).
©
EmbaJJY M usic Corporatio
n.
~
(b) "Park Avenue Beat" (The Perry Mason Theme) Fre
Stei
ner, 1957
; © Polygram Internationa Publishing, ASCAP
jina
chords.
©
1957
A
spe
nfair Music
In
c
pecial A
cco
unt, cl
CBS Music Ope
ra
tions.
EXA MPLE 8
members substituting fo r each other.) Example 9 transcribe
the conclusion of "These
Fo
olish
Thing
s" as performed i
1945 by the Emmett Carls S
ex
tet, with Lennie Tristano o
piano and Earl Swope
so
loing on trombone; note the large
scale use here
of
the tritone (T
6)
application on the cadentia
V
7
as
we
ll
as the
Se
xtet's coming to
re
st on a maj or thirteent
chord. Tritone sub
stitutions for V
7
ar
e quite common in th
work of Steely
Da
n. As outlined in Example 10, the typica
major-minor sonority on (but jazzed up a bit wi th a
added six th) appears at the end of the A-minor verse of "
Ki
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210 MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM
26
(2004 )
2:48
Ak V
(c)
Lennie Tristano's recording
o
Tea
for
Two (Youmans-Caesar;
Volume
1
[rec.
wi
th the
Emm
e
tt
Car
ls
Sextet, probably in
May
1945}),
portion o fifth (Tristanos) chorus. © 1924 Irving Caesar Music Corp. ,
c/o
Warner Bros. Inc.
(d) Lennie Tristanos recording o What is This Thing Calhd Love (Porter; Volume
1 [re
c probably Spring-Summer
1946}),
beginn
coda. © 1929 Harms Inc
clo
Warn er Bros. Inc.
EXAMPLE 8 [continued]
Charlemagne, the result of a substitution of for the E7
that is
clearly the goal of the verse's passacaglia descent
pattern.
The
same
I r ?
with added sath
is
the cadential
dominant
as
A13 resolves to the tonic 7 (0:40-42) in
the verse
of
Home at Last [1977);
it
also forms the turn
around from the chorus G
91J5
moving
to
the tonicized
F tm7
at 1:00-01, illustrating the
s
lide on down ) in
Hey
Nine
teen [1980). Jazz pianist Armen Donelian finds that a
major-seventh chord built on
bII
often expresses do
minant
seventh function in bebop, even though the sonorities have
only one tone in common (rather than both members of the
major-minor's tritone), and Steely
Dan
uses this more arcane
voice-leading chord in a dramatic way
fo
r the retransition
from bridge to verse in «Barrytown.
19 Example 11(a)
sents the chords for the A-major refrain and the
bridge of that song, which returns to the tonic A fr
tonicization oHVI, F, through the major-nin th chord o
Example 11(b) illustrates the voice leading through the
and bass parts; the bright sweetne
ss
of the half-step re
tions, one involving a chromatic inflection, seems an
accompaniment
to
the cynical put-doW'll in the lyrics
process
of
common
-tone
modulation to F for the brid
also of inter
es t. As
shown in Example
11
(a
),
F
is
appro
by
an
A7
chord, which substitutes
fo
r V7
ofF
by recont
19
Donelian 1
996
,
23
5.
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1
•
Tl
~ '0
r
~
THE AB S
TRU
SE
AND IRONI
CBOP
-ROC
K
HA
RMONYOF
ST
EELYDAN
t
EXAMPLE
9.
L
en
ni
e Tristan
o
recording
of
Th
ese Fo
olish Things (Straehey-Link-Marvell;
Vol
ume
1
free.
probably
Mayor
June
19
45
w ith
220
Trombone
A
~
I
f t
<>
n, II
VT6
the
Em
mett Carls Sextet)), beginning ofcod
a.
INTRO
Am
G
VERSE Whilethemusicplayedyouworkedbycandlelight;
m
3n
F
ThoseSanFran
ci sc
onights,youwere thebes tin town.
EXAMP LE
10
. K
id
Charlemagn
e"
(Becker-Fagen, The Royal
Scam
[1976)),
open ing
of
verse. ©
1976
by MCA Music
Publishing, A
Div ision ofMCA Inc.
alizing thethird(E) and fifth (G)of thatchord.Th esame
"III
7
;3"-I
relationship makes for a substitution-colored
au
thenticcadence in "NegativeGirl"[2003], asshowninEx
ample12, where
C 9 7
soundslikeV
of
{at 0:55-58).20
Substitution functions may be posited on
sc
ale degrees
ot
her than
V.
Con
si
der,for instance, Example
13
,apassage
from"Blues
Be
ach"
[2003].
Here, in atransition
al ap
proach
20
The
re
are "legitimate," pre-jazz precedents for justsuch conti
nu
ity
ch
all
enged tran
si
tio
n;
Brahm
s,
for instance- well kn own for his
u p f t ~ h
n i k
m p l o y s
amajor-minor seventh chord on III for
an
obliqu ecadential V-substituteinhis G-minorCapriccio,op.
116,
no. 3,
followingtheTrio'sseco
nd
ending.
to the dominant
of
C major (which
is
tonicized for a brie
instrument al interlude that preparesa return co the tonic
G major), a local VI7appears in a diaton ic form (Am ')
which is thenalteredthroughmixture fromtheminormode
(Ab
M7
), beforeanunusualchromaticchord(EM7) leads toan
unambiguous V{at 1:54)21 The E chord, nominallyamajo
triad,canbeheardas asu bstirutionfo rii
o7
(representing
a continuation of
the
modal mixture from the previous
chord),two
of
whosepitchclasses
=
andB
=
0
itconta ins.Thisharmonicreading
is
supportedbyachaino
descending
fi
fths (the enrire bridge, from
1:39
onwards)
whi ch mov
es
through (nearly) diaton
ic
forms
of
VIl
m7
_
IIIm7
_VIm7 before turning unabashedly chromatic.
Th i
s
fifth-progression that begins normally and becomesquite
exotic seems to exemplify a verse from another song from
Everything Must
Go,
"GreenBook"(2:42-3:01):
Ilike theneon, Ilovethemusic,anachronisticbutnice;
The
seam
less
segu
efrom fun tofever, it'sasweetdevice.
Naturally, the further one stra
ys
backwards along the
circle of fifths from V-I, themore the notion
of
harmonic
21 T his recalls
Bri
anWi lson's purpler patches (as in the Beach Boys
"Warmth of the Sun").See Harrison 1997fo ran
exp
erttr
ea
tment of
BrianWilson'schromaticharmony.
TNmptt
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212 MUSIC HEORY SPECTRUM 26 2004)
REFR
n m
E D
~ r n
Bm'
E ll A
I
can sec by
what you ca
rry th
o
t you
co
me from Barrytown.
A'
BR
F Am ' m
o
'
In
the
beginning we re
call
tha t
the
world
was hur led
;
F Am
'
m
o
'
Barrytown people got
to
be from
an
other world .
A
a
) Barrytown (B
ec
ker- hagen;
composed
c.
1969,
Pretzel Logic [1974j), refrain and bridge. ©
1973
by
Me
Music Publish in
Division
ofMC
Inc.
and Red
Giant, Inc.
2:00 Vocal PartS
e : ~ : c
H
A9
A:
(b) Barrytown {Becker-Fagen, composed
c
1969; Pretzel L
ogic
{1974}),
voca
l and bass parts at retransiti
on.
© 1973 by MC M
Publishing, A D iv ision
ofMC Inc.
a
nd
Red Gia
nt
,
Inc.
EXAMPLE
n
substitution is subject
to
laws of diminishing returns. Pa s
mediant
for
tonic.
A
basic character
is ti
c
of
much roc
sages wit similar attributes might be less convincing har
the 1960s, the Mixolydian
b
VII was pio
ne
ered in
th
e
monically, especially when dealing with substitutions for
1950s
by
Bo Diddley, The Champs, Buddy H olly, and
heavily altered Of borrowed cho
rd s. It
is usually mo
re
to
th
e
Coasters.) Both of these substirutions
are
combined in
point to hear the submerged lin
es
that hold such progr
es
Steely Dan songs that feature subtonic-to-submediant
sions together, as with the chromatic descent to the foot of
dences. The chorus of Re elin' in the Yea rs illus
tra
tes. H
th
e dominant,
A Ab
= G -G,
in Blu
es
Beach
.
the subtonic G majo r
is
understood first (at 0:45)
as
Other Steely
Dan
chord substitutions come more from
Mixolydian dominant-substitute lower neighbor to
rock syntax than
fro
m jazz. Perhaps most common
are
the
to
ni
c, A, but then (1:07-12) passes down to the submed
Mixolydian VII
as
a stand-in for V7 and the use of the sub-
a deceptive sort
of
tonic
su
bstitute.
Th
e same pa
ir of
ne
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THE
ABSTRUSE AND IRONIC BOP-ROCK HARMO
NY
OF STEELY DAN
. 13
el
F
C B ~
r
~
F
I r
g
F
9
If
W f
if=
wai
t,
smoke. stare in-
to
my Coke. It
's
hap· pen- ing
a
B ~ m 9
Gmll
C ~ 9
A,6
m
'
S m? ,
i-
t
I y-
g
~ ~ ~
g
e
f
I E
J
..
":I
-gain. I tell
my-
self that
it' s
o-
ver and done,
A-
men.
EX M
PLE
12. Negative Girl (Becker-Fagen; Two Against Nature [2000}), verse. © 2003
FREEJUNKET MUSI
C (ASCAP) I
ZEON
MUSI (ASCAP). Used by permission.
1:39 Bm7
Em'
*111
PgF
H I fd
ff'p
,
t
r
f f
@
We could rent a par- - a- nym-phic gJi- der.
my
hy-
po- thet- i- cal friend
1:47
A ~ M 7
1:54
.J.
Am'
G7#9
\ \
AJ
~
I I I
; 1; 1
J
~
1 f
I,; 4 ~
i
an
d we could sail
t
il
{he
bend-ing end.
(Sail, sail a-
way
til
the bend-ing end.}
~
EX MPLE 13. Blues Beach (Becker-Fagen;
Ev
erything Must
Go
[2003}), bridge. © 2003 FREE
JUNKET MUSI
(ASCAP) /
ZEON
MUSI (ASCAP). Used bypermission_
boring and
pa ss
ing
VIJ
functions is found in
Pearl of
the
areas in standards like Tea for Two and Star Eyes, bop
Qtarter [1973], Any Major Dude Will Tell You [1974],
pers laid the foundation for more progressive relationships
and Your Gold Teeth II [1975].
(such as those heard in Theloniolls Monk's Ruby
My
Dear ),
Transimt M odulations.
Strunk reports that Bop harmony which perhaps served
as
models for John Coltrane's Giant
. .
has at the foreground level a strong sense
of
forward mo
Steps in their
to
nal peregrination s.
23
Such
su
perficially aim
tion: ser
ies of
unstable chords seem to push forward toward
less
yet propulsive transient modulations, and even exercises
rela
ti
vely stable harmonic goals which often initiate further in progressive tonality, dominate certain Steely Dan songs.
progressive movement toward new goaIs. 22 Cutting their T hus, they represent our third topic, o
ne
fraught with ab
teeth on the ephemeral tonicizations of distantly-related
struse, feigned, and oblique implication
s.
Example 14 suggests
22 Strunk 19
79
,
7.
23 Hear Star Eyes on Parker
1991
and Ruby
My
Dear on Monk
1991.
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MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 26 2004)
0,15 0,22
214
,:
t m. 5
-
- I'--r-....../'--
F#m
:
I
VI7 V 1 ~
VI
7 V
4
- ;J?
D: V I,
EXA
MPLE '4. Voice-le
ading sketch of
The
Caves ofAltamira (Beck
er-Fagen;
The Royal Scam
[1976}),
verse.
a punning modulation that accompanies a deparrure in The
Caves of Altamira." At first (m. 6), the bass D 3 is a neighbor
to C#3
i
this fuct ional relationship is reversed in measure 8
at the tonicization
of
D, the submediant, the
re
sult of a
chromatic twist on a 4-3
re
solution.
The
arrival on D is very
brie
f,
however,
as
the phrase goes on to cadence in F# major.
A nd one won ders
what
knowledge of
Cathy
Berberian
inspired
th
e bridge
of
"You r Gold Teeth," sketched in Ex
ample
15,
which seems
to
begin in a
so
lid n but then hints
at weak transient tonicizations of
Db,
and F before the
home key
of
C minor
is
regained with the ensuing verse.
Th is seems a very deliberate
attempt
to celebrate incon
gruity, and perhaps results from the composers' hearing of
Berio or some other Berberian performance.
The instrumental bridge and coda of "King of the
World," reduced in Example 16, is tonally more secure, but
still its Aeolian,
V1-
,V1I-1 progress ions land once on E and
then on F, a demonstration
of
progressive tonality.
This
ca
dence tak
es
a pivotal role in an uplifting
so
ng-ending "truck,
driver's" modulati
on
from C major to D major in "
Any
World (That I'm Welcome To
)
[1975) (at 3:07- 08), where
the
of
t-heard , V1-1 V11
of
C major pivots as the latter chord
moves
as
,
V1
to ,
V1I-1 in
D , not unlike the way the Beatles'
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" jumps from circus ring
to
circus ring in moving from C minor to D minor and then
A
£0
£0 . '
Tobacco they grow in Peking;
A.
A'
B,
In the year of the locust you'll see a sad thing.
G
7
b
Even Cathy Berberian knows the re's one roulade she can' t sing
E,
A
,
F
Dumb luck, my friend, won't suck me in this time.
EXAMPLE IS- Your Gold Teeth (Becker-Fagen; Countdow
Ecstacy
[19
73}), bridge. ©
1973
by MCA M
usic
Pub lishin
Division
ofMCA
Inc .
to E minor.
24
Tonal centricity is also heavily challenge
much of
th
e highly experimental album Two Against Nat
The backing for Chris Potter's four -minute tenor sax
that conclud
es
the album-ending "West
of
H ollywood,"
The "truck-driver's modulation," which shifts the tonal center up a
'4
in countless pop
and
rock songs, is discussed in Everett 1997, 151,
18. Regarding "Mr. Kite ," see Everett 1999a, 110-11. The modul
is
referred to
as
the "pump-up
in
Ricci 2000, 130-32.
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THE
ABSTRUSE N IRONIC
BOP
- ROCK
HA
RMONY
OF
STEELY
DAN
215
1:$9 DF: monophonic b c . i : o c
3:48 OJ D
add6
E C o,j
oadd6
C
G
add6
dd6
F I
F
D
&
I
2
I
•
J
Ie
r
r
Ip
r
IJ
F
j
I;
r
•
U
r
,
Ir
G
J r
l
L I
F
...
;
II
EXAM
PLE r
6
King ofthe Wodd (Becker-Fagen; Countdow n to Ecs tacy (1973J), interlude / coda © 973 by M CA M
usic
Pu
bl
ishing, A
D iv
is
ion ofMC
In
c
ex
am ple, wanders be
rvve
en
Gm
, Em, Bm, Dm, Par
ke r's
1951 r
ec
ording of L
ov
er Man as introdu
ce
d by
Fm, Am, Em , G, m, H m, and Gm chords without settling pianist John Lewis and bass ist Ray Brown, approache s the
in to any particular scale-degree functions. T he group's previ su pe rtonic harmony that opens the verse
wi
th two LIPs: a
ou
s effort,
Gaucho,
u
su
ally makes its tonal centers clear, but
5-8
alternation over a des
cent by fi
fth
s,
and a
7- 6
pattern
many
of
its son
gs
abandon tonal identities one afte r another ove r a chromatic stepwise descent . Four different linear in
with decadent impude
nc
e, after o
nly
the brief
es
t whiff of tervalli c patterns from the music of The1onious Monk ap
familiari
ty;
Glamour Pr
ofess
ion is a fine examp
le
.
pe ar in Example 18. E
ac
h feature s a chromatic descent
Chords aJ g
en
tJ
Voice Leadin
g
Before turning to an
ex
against some other sc
al
e: thr
ee
cas es h
ave
a diatonic descent
te
nded look at a
si
n
gle
Steely Dan song, Babylon Sister
s,
whe
rea
s the fourth, from
S
weet and Lo
vely,
is based on a
I shall summarize St
eel
y Dan's approach
to
both diatonic whole-tone descent. Steely Dan's many 'Ypes of LIPs are
and chroma
ti
c contrapuntal patterns and the func
ti
ons that
represented in
Ex
ample 19, which reduces the verse of
ar ise from highly idiosyncratic chromatic alterations
to
Rcelin' in the Years , the
firs
t phrase of the bridge of Pearl
voice -
le
ading chords. Linear intervallic patterns (or LIPs)
of the Quarter, and [he second verse
of
Monkey in Your
are heard frequently
in
Steely Dan compositions and
in
their Soul. In Reelin', the learned quality of the counterpoint
bop forbears
2 5
Exam
ple
17, the beginning
of
Charlie se
rves
as a poetic foil to the singer's reference s to academic
life ( The weekend at the co llege didn't turn out like you
planned; the things that pa
ss
for knowledge I can't under
25 The te rm Jjnear intervall ic pattern was coined by Allen Forte and is
stand ). Pearl is an ode to a New Orleans hooker with
discussed in Forte 197
9,363
- 76, and Forte and G
il
bert 1982, 83-102.
whom the singer is in love; its sequence based on parallel
LI
Ps are common in bop-one good example would be the bridge of
minor
te
nths and outer-voice parall
el six
ths seems to sugges t
Diz
zy
Gillespie's June 6, 1956, recording of Tour de Force (see
0:35-49 there. on Birks Works). LIPs common to bop and other
j
azz
a goal-directedne
ss
appropriate to the message it sends to
sty les, and the substitutions that make them highly unusuaJ , are d
is
Louise
by
way of a friend, Please make it clear when her day
cussed in
Cok
er 1975, 44, Strunk 1996 (especially useful are pp.
is done she got a place to go. Further illustrating the text, it
63
-68
), and Larson 1996, 152.
By
contrast, LIPs are far less common in
even cadences restfully with a stylized plag
al re
s
ol
ution of
most
fo
rms of rock and pop music o f the 1960
s,
whe
re
they a re largely
neighbor and p
ass
ing ton
es
. Its ch
ro
matic bas
is
involving
confined to bridge sections, as in Brenda Lee's Emotions (1960), T he
tritones
is
reminiscent
of
Mon
k's 'Round Midnight, shown
Chiffons's O ne Fine D
ay
(1 963), and Bob Dyla
n's
Nashville Sky line
in Example 18(c). Towards the end of the Monkey exam
Rag (1969). A rare rock composition featur
i n
g a LIP in its verse would
be the Rolling Stones's Lady Jan e
(1
966; see 0:45--0:5 1) , which is an
ple (at 1:25 ), a bebop-based LIP, which prepares di
ss
onant
attemp t to suggest an antique style. minor sevenths with consonant common-tone thirteenth s,
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I
216
MUS
I C THEORY SPECTRUM 6 2 4
r
r
r
6 D b: V
7
of V
0 V1
V of
opening
VI
1
Piano I '-t' '
-
I
I
d
I
,,J
I
- -
<>
:
-
pi
7 . 6 7
J
I
....;. I
I
I
, J
r
I r
I I
I I
\,J
__
A
O
Sax
J
d
~ ~ r T
-
SE
QUENCE OF SEVEi \TH CHORDS IN DESCENDING FIFTH MOTIONS
EXA.MPLE 17. Charlie Parker s recording oJ Lover Ma
n
Davis- Ramirez-Sherman; Swedish Schnap
ps
+
free . Augwt 8
1951
} , int
tion.© 1941 UniversalMe Mus ic Pu
blishing
, a Division
of
Universal
Studios,
111c.
6
5
6
(a)
The/onious MonkS recording o skMe
Now
(Monk; G
enius o
Modern Music, Volum eTwo [ree.July 23, 1951]).
0:21
:ll
:l
-
E
:1 1: ,,: 'R J ~ d i r
"'I
:)); ::; X
5
6
5
6
5
6
(b) The/onious Monks recording o Bye
-
Ya
(Monk;The/onio sM onk Trio [rec. October 15, 1952J).
EXAMPLE 18
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THE ABSTRUSE AND IRONIC
BOP
-ROCK HARMONY
OF ST EELY
DAN
21
7
03
4
~ : :
; :
~
o
\ o
c)
The/onious
Monk
s recording
of
'''Round
Midnight
(M onk-Williams-Hanighen;
Mi
sterioso
[ree.
August
7,
1958j).
,
~ ~
to
~
l
~
... ,+ ... ~ ... ...
[of
J
,
,
=
- -=
I.
'
I
I
,
-
,
:
-
I I
I
I
:
P4 IT
P4
IT
P4
IT
P4
n
(d) The/onious Monks recording Sweet
and
Lovely (Lemare-Arnheim-Tobia
s;
The/onious
Monk
Trio free. October 15, 1952j). ©Anne
Ra
chel Music
Corporation,
clo
Warner/Chappel
M
usic, Inc
EXAM PLE 18. [cont inued ]
appears among sustaining
sax
ophone lines over the stcpwise
matic sequence that
al
ternates minor-minor seventh chords
descending roots, F ~ - F and
E arr
iving on the
A-maj
or
with m
ajor
triads. T he trirone deg
rad
ations underline the
song's dominant.
nair contempt
in
the lyri
c's
characterization.
Th
e chord
end
A morc s
ophi
sticated bop-based sequence appears in ing the bridge prepar
es
the
V
9M
chord with which the verse
Example 20, which illustrates the btidge between the final
a
nd the ve rse -based solo) begins.'6
cadence
of
the chorus and Paul Griffin
's
piano solo in Sign
26 In
a
priva te conversation of
No
vember 1999, Steve Lar son pointed me
In S
tr
an
ge
The
LIP
is
heard
in
the retransitionallast two
to D izzy Gillespie's January 9, 1945, performance of
Ger
shw
in's
I
bars (beginning at 2:46), where a des
ce
nding-fifths sequence
Can't Get Started for
i
ts line
ar
intervallic pattern alternating rritones
is exploded by the bass- line alternation of rising pe
rf
ect
with perfect fifths (see
0:40-0:49 on
Gillespie 1997,
tr
ack 1), the basis
fourths with descending diminished fifths, producing a chro-
of t
he
sequence
in
S ign In Stranger.
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2 18
MUSIC T HEORY
SPF:
CT RUl\'l 26 (Z
00
4 )
0:30
OJ7
,
I"
I
,
,
,
:
:
~
. - - ~
<>
-1<>
T7
~
<> <>
#
10 10 10
10
10
10
10 M6
M6 M6 m6
10 10
10 10
m3
m3
m3
m3
, -
- -
(a
)
R
eelin'in the Yean (B
ecker
-Fage
n;
Can 't Buy a Thrill [1972]), L P
model
fo r verse (
rh
ythm and register normali
zed),
0:59
, ,
I
I
:
,
OJ
:
:
CV l
\3
I,
4
.
,
I
"
I
,
"
<
- < > ~ , <>
I
I
:
...
4
-
(b)
Pearl of
the
Quarter (Becker-Fagen; Countdown to Ecstacy
[1973}),
bridge (rhythm normalized).
1:01
--- ,B
0
F ~ m
---,B
...?""'.....
f i l i i
I
UP
r
Ji J J i J
fP
,
r
In
fn
F
•
nr
Or
Won' t you tum (hat be- bop down : I
can t
hear
my
hean
-
be
a
t. Where
s
that fal - - ba
ck
chord
I
found
, 7
0
7
A7
--- ,
-------,---.....,
, i l l ~
I -=j I
49
j\
J F
g IJ' J
r
IOti
J
)
r
'1
1
-
hon-ey.
don't
you
think it was wrong
to
in- ler-
rup,
my song?
I ' l
1:25
0
7
..-:::--J_ . ~ F ~ 7
r
l3
E7
Am G C
F7
(to
- :S .
~ l l i
d
~ ~
rrlr rUr
l£I f+Ff
r
r IV
f
r'
I(d.
pack my things and run so far from here:
good-bye dear. I f
ea
r lhe mon-key in your soul .
(c) Mon k
ey
in Your Soul (Becker-Fagen; Pretzel Logic [1974]), second
ve
rse with refrain,
©
1974 by MeA Music Publishing, A Division
MCA lnc
EXAMPLE
19
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THE ABSTRUSE AN D
IRONIC
BOP - ROCK H ARMO NY OF
STEE
LY DAN
2t9
t
m/F
F
t l
0
7
B,7
Dm7
0 7ms G7
e
m'
:j(,
,
,
"
S\
1\
,
l T
I
T
V
-,
I
1 I 1
1 1
1
Love or leave
her,
yel- low fev
e"
sure,
it's all
in
the game.
And
who
ace you?
n
C IV V
P I
VI II V
A
2:46
em'
F
8
m'
I
E
EI
Am7
D
I
JUSt a
n- ath-
"
scur vy broth
eL
I ,
V V,l
EXAMPLE 20 Sign I n
Strang (Be
cker-
Fagen;
T
he
Royal
Scam
[1976j), bridge,
©
1976
by
MCA Music Publishing, A Division
rj'MCA
Inc.
In other cases, planing root-position triads or seventh
chords acquire passing function
s,
a common technique
in all
sorts of popular music, especially rock,27 A glance back at
Example 2 sugges
ts
that Brooklyn opens with root-position
passing seventh
h o r
filling
in
the bass-
li
ne gap stretching
from the neighboring IV' down to I (this particular passage
27 Jazz planing is discussed
in
Larson 1998,236, and Ru
ss
o 1968,282.
Cone (1974, 58), Westergaard (1 975 , 77), and Lewin (1987) describe
the
flow of
parallel roor·posi
ti
on tri
ad
s as doublings of a single part,
rather than
as
parallel-moving part
s,
in e
xa
mples from various
COntexts
throughout Western music. The same idea applies
in
much rock mus ic;
examples include the refrain of Jan and Dean's Dead Man 's Curve
(1964), the verse of Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone (1965 ), the final
ve
rse of
Otis Redding
's
Try a Little Tenderness (196
6;
see 2:41-2:59
there), and many later pentatonic-minor·
bas
ed rock songs.
is remini
sc
ent of the same descent in the retransition of Bob
D yl
an
's If Not for You," New
Morning
[1970]), As shown in
the first line
of Ex
ample 11(a) , the refr
ai
n
of
Barrytown
contains a similar stepwise mo tion from F#m down to Bm,
fi
lling in an
ex
pansion
of
II with pa
ss
ing root-position
chords. As shown
in
Example 21, an unusual non-diatonic
planing appears in an otherwise
G-
Mixolydian framework in
the chorus of the folk-styled With a Gun, whose parallel
major triads allow two su
cc
e
ssi
ve hearings of mi-contra-fa,
indicated by the diagonal lines in the reduction, their harsh
ness certainly appropriate given the text. A striking example
occurs
in
the
gu
it
ar
so
lo
of Rikki Don't L
os
e
That
Numbe
r
This song
's
verses are based upon a D-A
-E
double-plagal
progre
ss
ion, normally heard twice in a r
ow.
In
the solo,
the fi rst appearance is followed by
an
expanded version
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220
MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 26 (2004)
0:31
Ipay the oth·er Iman with the Ipiece
him ly ' n'
in
the
id you
EXAMPLE
21.
With a Gun (Becker-Fagen; Pretzel L
ogi [1974]),
se ond halfofchorus.
© 1974
y MC Music Publishing, A Divis
MC ln
c
(3:05-22) that
fills
in the I
V-I
m
ot
ion with passing root
posi tion chords taken from the Phrygian scale: WlI
-IV
I I I -
M 7 - I ' . Passages such
as
these, and the
c
m7
_
Dm
7_
D m 7 vamp making up the well-known chorus
to
Do
It
Again [1972] (1:37+), pale
in
comparison with the
53
major triads presented in parallel motion in the coda of
Throw Back the Little Ones, the
en
ding
of
which was pre
sent
ed in Example 7(b), and with
Time Out
of
Mind
[1980], which consists ent irely
of
parallel root-position
chords. We saw earlier that linear intervallic patterns can
occur above chromatically descending bass linesj planing can
work the same
way,
as in the introduction
to
Peg, shown
in
Example 22. Here, as in Monkey in Your Soul, the chro
matic descent moves to the fifth scale degree.
Scale degrees characteristic
of
Mixolydian, Aeolian, and
Lydian modes are often attributes
of
chords useful for contra
puntal but not harmonic functions. More common to rock
than to jazz, such sonorities as the Mixolydian VII and the
Lydian
I I ~
are basic to Steely Dan.
28
As mentioned above, the
modally inflected
~ V I I
works
as
neighbor to I or
as
a passing
chord from to I, especially in the earlier albums.
The
coda
28
Strunk 1999, 9, no
tes
that the Mixolydian or Aeolian neighbor morion,
I-Wll-I, is rare in jazz, but this is a rock commonplace, and is
d i s ~
cusse
d
in
Bums 1999,217-18.
to King
of
the World/' given in Example 16, illustrate
application.
Her
e, E, which had been the tonal cent
the pr ior verse, is tonicized with the Aeolian progre
\f1I-I, a commonplace cadence in 1960s rock.
29
A
have already seen, the same cadence allows a modulati
F before the repeat. The same Aeolian cadence
is
co
with extended chords, { 7 - F 6 _ G in Bodisattva [1
(1 :09-
12).
The
Lydian inflection, a raised fourth scale
gree
in
a major supertonic chord that does not lead up
bur descends chromatically through in the subdomi
had been a hallmark
of
the BeatIes' early style. Conside
instance, the refrain
of
Yesterday,
in
Example 23(a), w
e v o ~ e s sort
of
a music-hall, barbershop-like chromaric
This effect lingers in Brooklyn/' shown in Example 2, w
the F 4
of
the refrain's D-major supertonic chord (at
melts i nto an F ~ 4 over the tonic pedal (follow the
register S-shaped slur). The descending Lydian fourth
degree has other, more complex , manifestations in the m
of
Steely Dan. Th e reduction in Example 23(b) shows
Z9 Earlier rock examples of t
he
~ A e o l i a n cadence are heard
in
Crystals's Uptown (1962); the Beatl
es's
P
S.
I Love You (1
\Vith
a Little Help From My
Friends (1967) and Lady
Mad
(1968); Stevie Wonder's "J Was Made to
Love
Hern (1967); an
Stones's Gimme Shelter (1969).
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THE
ABSTRUSE
AN D IRONIC BOP- RO CK HARMONY OF ST EELY DAN
221
}
I I
r
,
,
. - ..
7 . ~
-
I
.
;Ut
#1
~ ~ :
#
r LM'
r
U f
:
v
(
N)
EXAMPLE 22
.
P
eg (Beclm-Fag
en
;
ja
{1
977J), introduction.
©
1977
by
MC
A Mus
ic
Publishin
g,
A
Di
v ision
of
M CA
In
c
the chorus
of
the
cy
nical Steely Dan song, Only a Fool
Would Say
Th
at, transfers the chromatic descent
of
this
progression into the bass , where the unexpected move from
wo uld-be
ap
pli
ed
leading rone FI,
to
F\, has an appropri
ately deRating effect. Note that, as in the wistful Yesterday,
bec
au
se the dominant is not achieved here, the third scale
degree is prolonged in the upper voice, perhaps an indication
that the fool 's dreams for world unity and freedom, ideals
elaborated upon in the verses, will of course never come to
fruition. O nly a Fool is from the group's first alb u
m;
the
same Lydian progression (charac
te ri
stic of many su
cc
ess ions
based on chromatic descents) appears
in
F majo r in the
title c
ut
of their last album before dissolving the group,
Gau
cho,
excerpted in Example 23(c) . H ere, however, the
JV chord into which the Lydian chord melts appears ov er
the fifth scale degree, and is thus co nsumed by it, forming
a Hindemith-in-Harlem Vll sonority charac teristic of the
group's late -seventies work. The poetic effect here is one of
imposed disappointment, related to the deRation noticed in
Only a Fo ol.
Perhaps Steely Dan's m
os
t original contribution
lies in
their
chromatica lly al
te
red passing and applied chord s. For exam
ple , the diminished- th ird chord (which behave s normally
in
some songs) is given a new fun ctional Mist in a transition in
Fire
in
the H ole/' where it c
an
be de
sc
ribed as the chord
of
the doubly augmented oct
av
e. It s occ urrence in Fire
ap
pears right after the do uble bar line in Example 24 (at 0 :42).
This sort
of
hearing adds a new color
to
the retransition of
Barrytown (shown previo
us
ly in Example l1(b)), where the
m
M9
chord can be heard as base d on a doub
ly
-augme nted
octave,
- B ~ 4
which resolves through chromatic inRection
to A
2
,.'o
The refrain of Steely D an's title song of the film,
ends on a V
i5
preceded by a normally resolving German
sixth (entering at 1:34).31
One al
so encounters augmented
sixt h sonoriti
es
that
reso
lve
to functions other than the
governing domin
an
t. Note the application of a French chord
(functionally considered to be an alte
re
d dominant
se
venth)
as neighboring sonority to an expanded tonic in Gillespie
's
performance of Yesterdays, as reduc ed in Example 25 (a).
In the re transition of
My
Rival [1980], the goal V of E is
locally tonicized with the progression
II
(dressed up as
CI - E'-G
-B
-D
I)-Ger
6 5 (with a major 9th
ab
ove the
ba
ss
substiruting for the third, spelled
G
F ~ - A at 2: 06)
30 Jazz scholar Jim Dapogny noted
in
a
Mar
ch, 199 9, communication th
at
the doubly-augmented octave is
co
mmon in expansions ofV7; think of
the
doned
-rhythm l
in
es
G-Gj-A-A -B o
ve
r
A
A G
in
the
introduction of a C-major Sousa march.
3I T h
is is
a common bop fu nction. Con side r, fo r instance,
Du
ke Jorda
n's
J ordu, as recorded by Dizzy Gillespie on April
7, 1957,
at 0:10 on
track 18 of Bir
ks
W
orks.
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.
:
We got
I
I
heav-y
I
ro ll -ers, I
t1.
f i
think you
,..
,..
r
should know.
:
,
Try
a
, ,
gain
, ~
,
to mor
h
-
row.
~
7
222
MUSIC TH EORY SPECTRUM 26
(2004)
o
~ ~ r ~
4')
,
=-=
'h
p:
r 3&
'
F:
VI7
IW
IV
(a) Yesterday (McCartney; Help' [1965j), refrain.
0:48 0:52
0:56
... --_ ...._------ _...-.. .._--.. _-
-.
--- -.._---._---. -
-.
--.-- ---._-..
,
.......
. : : : : : : : :: : :: :
- -----
'bout
a
wor ld where all
is free. It juSt could- n' t be, and on- ly
a fool would say
-
~
tatk- ;n
.-- --- ----_.--._-_._- -.
-
- -
"
f-
--
t
e II , (Vl IV)
I
(b) Voice- leading sketch of Only a Fool Would Say That Becker-
Fagen;
Can't Buy a Thrill [1972}), chorus . © 1972 by MC
Publishing, A Division of
MCA
Inc. and Red Giant,
Inc.
B ~ C
Ba
ss
:15
.--.----,
,
,
~
0
" "
,
'--3 : '
III,
lIB
IV
1
5usol
,
c) Gaucho (Becker-Fagen -Jarrett; Gaucho [1980}), verse cadence © 1980,1981 Zeon Music (ASCAP), Freejunket Mu
sic
(ASC
Cavelight Mus ic (BMI).
EXAM
PL
E
23
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THE
A
BS
T RUSE AND IRONIC BOP-ROCK HARMONY OF STEELY
D N
J
0:42
0,]5 1
A
__
____
____ ____ _
L--- ---
--
-------. •
- ,
.
--
-·
-
--
-
·
--
.
,-
:
~
.
8
-T____..
7 ---
N N
W
Il
(a)
Cm? A .A7
A'.6
AI
A ~ m
B ~ / A ~
Gil
G
e m7
A,
l
:
I"
r
,
I I
I
7
r
Am
I
m
y-
se
lf or
j
ust
a
n-
oth- er
fr
e
ak?
You
know
there
's fi
re
in the
:
, ,
~
"
I
I
r
r
hole and n
oth
-ing left
to u
rn
it
(b)
EX MPLE 4 . Fire in t he Hole (Becker-Fagen; Can't Buy a Thri
ll
[1972]), end ofverse into
choru
s. © 1972 by MC Music Publishing,
A D ivision
ofMC In
c. a
nd Red
Gia
nt
, Inc.
- v" (F#-E\-Gi-AI-Ci ) to a tonicized V II; (B-A-Ci sixth (m_ 6) moves to a V that is decorated in a way that sug
Dx-G-B). Even stranger is a passage from the title rrack
of
gests
an
enharmonic resolution on the surface that is soon
j
a, excerpted in Example 25(b). Here, at the end of the proved false. This German sixth, an A,' chord, acts as if its
chorus, a French-like
V4
/ 3 wirh a typically lowered fifth H, which sneaks into a false bass line as H is really a Di,
and an unusual major seventh is applied
to
the Neapolitan
with the resolution suggested in Example 25(d)32 Ex
instead of to the dominant. This abstruse event creates an ample 25(e
),
however, argues that the E-minor sonority may
appropriately exotic quality, and the offhand giving way
of
be an
ironic surface illusion:
it
stands in
for
a G-major domi
the tOnicized C to the true tornc, B, has an ironic quality nant harmony whose root is delaye d for nearly
four
bars ,
owing to the nested double use
of
lowered second scale de
gree to C
s
' then C
s
to
B,
). In the C-major ve
rse
of
32
Note
al
so the bop-
fa
vored tritone above the roo
t in
the
re
pe
ated
last
"Through
With
Buzz, shown as Example 25(c), a German
cho
rd
of Example 25(c).
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MUSIC THEORY
SPE
CT RUM 26 (200 4)
4
0:15 0:17
o
# #
~
I
. a
u-
.g -0
D: J4
7
Fr.6 1< 7
a) R
educ
tion
of
Dizzy Gillespies
recordin
g
of
Yest
erd
ays
Kern-Harbach, Bir
ks
Wo
rks
[rec.]une
6,
1956J), opening.
I
G
7
E9
c '
~
i
sea
.
.
!
IT
A
+
ja,
~
when all my
dime
dan
-cin is
through
+ + +
Neapolitan to
nici
z ed
for
6 m
rn
.
\ U
.,
Fb
7
G9
G-
5
1
c·,
5
O
,
[ -
t
qqt
q4
ru
n to
"
~
you
~ ~
-r
IT
v
4
3
(b)
Aja (Becker-Fagen;
Aja
[1977J),
end
ofchorus. © 1977, 1978 by MeA Music Publishing
,A Division ofMCA
Inc.
E X M P L ~ 5
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.
Buzz.
,II
right, oh
yea
h uh
,
huh
:
J
:
:
THE
ABSTRUSE
ND
IRONIC BOP ROCK HARMONY OF STEELY
D N
225
:07
o
r
Em
Dm
m
~
.
c
,
I
I
,
---
•
: I
.
~
He
take
s a
ll
my
mon- ey;
you
know, I m
through
with
Bu
zz.
Ye
s,
I m
through
with
-
:
:
p.., . .
,
+
,.
+
C+
11
0
c
"
or ,
-,
,
-
=
I
l i _ .7_ . .7
-
!
(c) Through With Buzz (Becker-Fagen; Pretzel
Logic
[1974J),
reduction
ofverse. © 1974
by
MC Music Publishing, A Division ofMC
Inc.
6
,
....-
>
lr
-
I
"
q..
1 0
Em
(d)
Through
With
Buzz,
suggeste
d
surface
resolution
German sixth.
EXAMPLE
25 .
[continued]
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226 MUSIC TH EO RY SPECTRUM 26 (2004)
11 12
13 14
--===
f - - - - - - - - - - - - - I
,
Q ~ ~ m
<
.:,
... .. ...
i _ _ I
Y i
\1
C:
Gerf V . t .
~ V I I 1.
e) Through Wi th Buzz,
j
expansion cadentia l dominant in verse.
EXAM PLE 25.
finally appearing whole in the second
half
of measure 11.
33
The
harmonic expansion is particularly noteworthy in that
the phrase rhythm reflects an odd combination of a three
measure verse (mm.
5-7),
answered
by
an eig
ht
-measure re
frain (mm. 8- 15) that fearures a subtle shift from common
time to cut time (m.
12
). Also interesting
is
the insistence on
F#,
a strong
coloring
of
both the song's introduc
ti
on
(n
ot
shown here) and the Lydian-inflected turnaround (
m.
15)
for the repeat, and which is perhaps the motivation
for
the
ironic interpolation of E minor and B minor, which grows
out of the G erman sixth's
F#.
(The
ambiguity is rectified
later in Buzz, in the retransition from the bridge, where the
German sixth moves (at 1:00) directly to a Vll chord.)
e interval
of
the augmented sixth can also be obscured
by additional
vo
ices and rhythmic shifts that detract from
33 This SO ft of omission
of
a root (in this cas
e,
a bass G
2
su pplanted by an
inner-voi
ce
E
)
happens to be a techniq
ue
attributed to Red Garland, a
3
bop pianist to whom Fagen had listened since his boyhood . See Coker
1975,4
0-41, for
Red Garland's pioneering of rootless voicings. Sweet
1994, 8,
states about
Fagen's knowledge of Garland tha t Fagen claims
to have bought a copy of
Gar
land's Jazz Junction at age eleven,
~ a n d
ever since I've tried to imitate his style.
[continu
ed]
the interval's natural intense clarity. We have already see
instance
of
this in ''Aja''; another example can
be
found in
re transition in Black
Cow/
' reduced in Example 26 . H
the A-major chorus-which , as you might recall, repres
the culmination of
blooming
of
the added sixth from a t
C-majo r
chord-return
s to C for the ensuing verse, with
bass moving from to C
3
(at 1:23) as an inner voice
B
4
-C;, thus resolving the augme nted sixth. However,
rich,
five
-note sonority
on
coupled with the suspen
of the B4 acro
ss
the arrival of the new root, C, nearly c
up the resolution of the dissonance. The abrupt unprep
modulation in Black Cow" depicts the command that
drinker get out
of
here and the ambiguity
of
the augmen
sixth resolution fits the illustration of the singer's enligh
ment in the bridge giving way to his lover's haze depi
once again
in
the ensuing verse.
BABYLON
SI
ST ERS >
In
the
5th
century B.C.,
Herod
otus
WTote
of Babylon
center of widely sanctioned prostirution. Ever since, the
has been a mythical
sy
mbol
fo
r corruption, excess luxury
empty pleasures, and a final destination for the exiled. Su
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THE
ABSTRUSE AND IRONIC
BOP- ROC K
HAR
MONY
OF
ST
EEL
Y DAN
227
Chcrm
RU TOnJ ll'rm
VuJt
U9 1:23 1:33
.
.
..
-
.... ........ .
~ - ~ '
;.
: ; ; : : : :
.
t
rink yo ur big black cow and get
Olll of
here
,
T
T
A,
I
III13
.8
.6 CI N
.3
EXAMPLE 26 Voice
-leading sketch
of B lack
Cow (Becker-
Fagen;
Aja
[19
77}), transition to verse.
©
19
77,
975 y
MC
A Music
Publishing, A Division of
MCA
Inc.
decadent se tting is right in line with Steely
Da
n
's
preferred
imagery. \'Valter Becker said once in i
nt
erv
iew,
"I don't know
how many songs we've wr itten about whores-it must be
every other on
e. 34
Even through the veiled narrat.i
ve
ele
ments in "Babylon Sis te rs we find som
et
hing along the
lines of post-Herodotus myth.
The
song is presented as
Example 27, in a reliab le
if
incomplete piano/vocal reduc
tion.
On
e supportable reading of the song's lyrics declares it
to
be "the story [of] a man who has lost his sexual potency,
and who seeks
to
try to regain it by hiring a couple
of
exotic
prost itutes for a threesome." 5 Sexual matters
as
ide,
ex
cess
34
Sweet 1994, 144-45. This
is
somewhat
of an exa
ggeration, bur
we've
noted the topic of prostirution
in
"Pearl of the (hlarter ; "Here at the
\N
es
tern World" [1976] is anothe r obvious example.
Th
e
co
ver for
Can 't Buy a Thrill
fearur
es
a photograph
of six
so liciting streetwalkers.
In a larger sense, dehumanized sex, often with an element of danger
fa ntasy, is of interest
to
Steely Dan. Beyond the line, "Gettin' in bed
and curling up
wi
th a girlie magazine" ("Things I M iss the Most"
[2003]), Everything Must Go
featur
es
the
so ng,
"Pixeiee
n,
" which dehu
manizes the so-named spy-thriller starlet by fixa ting on her digitized
pixel make-up.
5 Sweet 1998, 64.
and corruption are palpab l
e,
with referen
ces
to the indulgent
drinking
of
"Kirschwa
sse
r from a shell" (mm.
26b-27b),
the
empty zing
of co
tton cand
y
(mm. 33c- 34c), and the singer
's
burni ng
of
bridges as he reaches "the poi
nt of
no return"
(mm.
36c
-42c).
Example
28
presents an outline of the song's form.
W hereas
Gaucho
was a no toriously difficult album to write,
record and mix (the entire process took over two
ye
ars), the
rhythm section
fo
r "Babylon Sisters," its lead track, was
recorded in only two takes.
36
All instruments were played by
hired session people. The rhythm team of Bernard Purdie
(drums) , Chuck Rain
ey
(electric bass), and
Don
Grolnick
(Fender Rhodes electr ic piano) was the same group that had
put down the fi rst s
ucce
ssful track, Kid Charlemagne," fol
lowing many aborted sessions for the Royal Scam album in
1975. Note the ominous quality of Rainey's double-stopped ,
open
fi
fths in the
so
ng's
in t
rod uction .
Th
ese are
not
the
36 See 1
99 4 9
9, 134, 141, 142,
145
for production det
ails.
Sweet
1998, 6
4,
notes that Fagen, Producer Gary
Ka
tz and Chief Engineer
Roger Nichols spent three weeks mixing th is recording, despite the
relative
sp ars
eness
of
its understat
ed final
texture.
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MUSIC TH EOR Y SPE CTRUM 26 (2004)
28
BABYL
ON
SISTERS
Words and Mu
sic
by WALTER B
and DONA
LD
ModeratdY'low
(n =J J)
nm(add
F) E ~ m a d d
(no
3rd) 0
(flO
3Id)
(no
3Id) F1 (no 3rd)
A ~ m 7
--
m
..
sus4
-
"
•
I\ * -* <>.
,
'0
"
nif
,
:
V V '
,
... 7 ...
~
4
~
nm(add
F)
nm(add
F)
9
G ~ n o 3 r d )
C1(no 3rd)
. \ ~ ( n o
3rd) C ~ « 1 0 3Id) fI.(no 3Id)
~ m 7 - 5
Hmsus4
E ~ m
I
, 1 . .' £
...... .
,
ij
(add F) E ~ m (add F)
.
~ ~
~
.- , 47
,
~
~
'0
.
'-
"IT
Drive west on Suo- set
to
We'll jog with show folk on
Instrumental
J
h
~
~
7
.
Ib 7
...
*
-0-=
'
~ , ,J.
0=
.
-
~
*
EXAMPLE 27. Babylon Sis ters (Becker-Fagen; Gaucho [1980]), piano/vocal reduct ion.
©
1980 FREEJUN
KET
M USIC (AS
ZE ON
MU
SIC (ASCAP).
U d
by permission.
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THE
ABST RUSE AND IRONIC BOP- RO CK HARMONY OF STEELY DAN
22
9
"
E ~ 9
~
mmap m·..
7
c·
.
7
l
"
~
or
~
'
~
~
'
or
Tum that jun- gle
mu-sic
down,
just un
til
we re
o
ut of
tOWIl.
This is
no
one- night
dri
nk
ki rsch-was-ser from a shell, San Fran- cis- co show and
te ll
. Well, I
should know
by
My friends say
no.
don t
~
,-,-.,
j j
0
v
~
~
~
~
r.B:
l
J
:
u
B ~ m 7
em'
~ m a p
u
I L
Om
WW
l L I.
stand. It s a real oc ca
no
w that it s jus t a spa
go for th
at
cot-ton can
sian.
SOl,
dy.
Close your eyes and you lt be there.
like II Sun-day in
T.
L
Son. you re play-j
ng wi
th fire.
~ J
It
s
ev- - ·ry- thing th ey say, the end
that it s c
he
a
p. bu
t it s
no
t
fr
cc, that m
Th
e kid
wi
ll
live and learn
as he
3ed)
39
E
7
-
5
B
maj
9
A 7 : ~
Dm
(no 3rd)
Dm
9
l
~ ~
~ ~
~
~
V ~
iI ...
... ~ # ' ~
... ~
of a pe
r- feet day.
di
s- tant lights
f om a cross the bay. (
not what I used to
be.
and that lov e·s
not a game
fo
r three. Bab
-y
-Ion sis-
ters,
shake it.
watch-es
his bridg-es burn
from the poin t
of
no re- tu
rn.
n I
r-- l _ 3---
~ ~
,
~
I
:
v
-
or
1 >
-
y
I
-
-
-
~
"
~
.,. .,.
E
XA
M PLE 27.
[
co
ntinued ]
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MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 26 ( 20 04)
23°
'
m moj
\l
Dm(no Jrd)
Dm
ed)
c
9
m
A
.
~
I
Bab-y-lon sis- ters, shake ie So fine, so young,
tell
me
I'm the on - ly
one
~
I
•
.
,
F I
-
I
I I I
-
..e
...
J -_
't1c
,
.
..,
- .
~
n .
<>
I
Dm(no
ed )
c'
E1 no 3rdl
Cod
a
fF\. F\
m/m
~ / G ~
v
Here come t
ho
se San-ta An
-a
winds a
,
<>
II.
D
.S
a
l cd
6
m a j 7
F\g
Hm7
B m
9
mm
6
Bm(maj7) B m
7
-
5
H
ms,
us4 F' +
,
:
-gain.
ga in.
A .
,. b
.,
Wv
,
... ...
,y
r r
' -I' I'
-W
-
I'
'f'
V
Wv
\
,
:
EXAMPLE
27.
[continued]
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THE AB
ST
RU
SE AN
D IR
ON IC BOP
-
ROCK
H A RMONY
OF STEELY
D
AN
23
1
C }da
Rrp<af
and alk
Jrd)
{1}
Dm{no 3rd)
Dm7
r{no 3rd)
Je
d
DIlI(no 3r
d
Dm
7
A
r r
I A
Ii.)
I
~
# :
I
I
:
u
:
4
I ' #':
-Jj
, I
C
ou
-
Dm(no 3r
Dm( no 3rd)
k
A ~ 9 + 1 1
Dm
..7
r( no 3rd)
E ~ n o
J rd)
, ,
..
_
A
A
,
got to shake
it,
ba-by, you got to shake it ,ba -b
y,
you got to
sh
ake
r-T
:
:
I
~ 1 t
.
' #':
I
:
:
E
XAM
PLE 2].
empty fifths of rock's power chords , but a synco pated jazzer's
foundation, such as t
he
chromatically related
fi
fths charac
terizing Henry Mancini's Pink Panther
Th
eme (1963), In
the intra,
th
e bass supports Grolnick's alternata tion of a
single-line melody wi th H indemith-gone-haywire-in-Harlem
fourths (
m.
6). The track's
ma
ny overdubs include three
more rhythm parts: Gro lnick
's
offbeat stac
ca
to Cla
vi
net
chords for verses (heard in the right channel), Crusher
Bennett's percuss ion (such
as
the bell tree that marks the
introduction's repeat at
m.
9
,0 :
17), and Steve Khan
's
unob
trus
ive
elect
ri
c
rh
ythm guitar (in the left channel), wh
ic
h at
fir
st doubles the bass and then the Rhodes chord
s, voi
cing
minor
u
9th chords with ninths and te
nth
s a step apart
[contin fd]
(mm , 7- 8, 14-1
6). Othe
r than vocals (Fagen's lead and a
chorus
of
s
ix),
the remainder
of th
e
ove
rdubs consists
of
reed-he
avy
winds (alto
sax
, tenor
sax,
clarinet, two bass
cl
ar
inets and fhigelhorn, scored by
Fa
gen and Rob Mounsey)
that enter at 0:31 in preparation for the
sa
ssy shake it
motto in measure 17, and Ran
dy
Brecker's
so lo
muted trum
pet (not tra
nsc
ribed) that enters behind the second ver
se
and has its own statement as a brief interlud
e.
Textur
es
are
te
lling: the dark opening
fi
fths predict the cho
ru
s's
vocal
octaves (mm. 42-43, at 1:23), aggressive yet empty like
th
e
hookers t
hey
would describe,
all
in cont
ras
t with the syrupy
siren-like thirds enticing, tell me I'm the only one (mm. 52
54, at 1:41
).
(Fagen is apparently taken in,
as
he's not tied
to
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2)2
MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM
26
(20 04 )
Mm.
Timings Formal function
1 - 22 0:00 - 0:44
Introduction
23a - 42
a/I
0:45 1:22 Firs(
Verse
4212 57 1:23 - 1:53
Choru
s
58a - 68a 1:53 - 2:14 Retra nsition
23b -
42b
l
2:15 - 2:52
Se
cond Verse
42
12
57 2:53 - 3:22 Chorus
58a - 63b
3:23 - 3:34
Abbreviated Retransition
23c - 31d l 3:35 - 3:50 Winds
Interlude
31d2
42c/l 3:51
- 4:12
Third Verse
42/2
57 4:13 - 4:42
Ch
o
ru
s
58b - 6
7e
4:43 - 5
:4
6
Coda
EXAMPLE 28. Formal sections
0/
Babylon S iste
rs
th e mast" for protection as he was in "
Home
at L as t"
[1977].)
"S isters" does not give up its tonal secrets easily, with am
biguity
on
various levels. A quick glance th rough the
sc
ore
finds a large number
of
heavily inflected and extended
chords full of non-resolving dissonances. T he favored
major" voicing is heard thrice in succession in measures
25
28, with conflicting scale-degree spellings such as G in one
chord and in another.
One
chromatic chord in the coda
(m. 65c) is a German diminished- third chord (w ith m over
G ~ , , with an added minor seventh above the bass. Both this
(a Me
sopotamian sixth?) and the gaudy French augmented
sixth chord
of
measu
re
14 act
as
common-tone embellish
ments of the roots of the triads that follow (rather than
providing any expected resolutions
).
Numerous sorts
ofN
ea
politan relationships include: a m chord of Hm in mm. 5
and 13 , the latter begging the French chord to take rhe liber
tine role o f ~ V suggested again in m. 63a; one tritone substi
tute for V' ofHwith a lowered fifth in m. 39, and another
tritone substitute
fo
r V
of
D in
m.
53; and various realiza
tions of serving as an upper neighbor to the ultimate
tonic, D minor, especially in the superficial man
if
estation in
the chorus, mm.
43-46. While
neither "slash" chord
LIPs play significant roles, there are, however, a fe
stances of planing,
as
in mm. 60-62a and in the bare
characterizing most
of
the coda. Related to this p
marion are the sassy "shake itl" escape cho rds in tro
in m. 13 and given more precise poetic meaning wi
lyric
in
m. 44.
T he
se
mysterious, orgiastic surface sounds blend in
appropriately ambiguous, seemingly unhealthy tonal
ture. There appears to be n.o conventional pivot or sm
transition between the co mpeting tonal centers of
and D minor; only the most abstruse transient modul
appear.
It
seems as i poetically corrupt non-harmonic
tionships are to guide the way, obfuscating the str ucr
well as the surface . Aside from opening away from the
the in troduction is not toO taxing on the ear;
bII
is a
giated in measures 3-5 , leading
to
the IV that
re
solve
gaily
to
the tonic in measure 7. Varied repetition helps
ify the pattern, and the introduction closes on the op
with suspended fourth
of
mm. 21- 22.
Fun
ctional inde
nacy characterize s much
of
the verse.
An
almost-di
chain
of
fifths in H minor descends G ~ , (m. 29)-C3 (mm
36 -F3 (m. 37, gaining momentum
as
a d
ominan
chord)-B>, (38)-m, (40), bur ir takes a while before
tones emerge from the imbricated passing motions be
them. The G. triad m
ay
be heard
to be
compose
d-o
the B>,-C -D' of mm. 23-27 and from the ve rse 's
3 3
B>, through A., (m. 28),
to
G . , (m. 29). ) It is difficul
to
identifY the function
of
cho rds, given the stubborn
nances above the bass notes, the upper-voice motion
can easily posit various imaginary continuo se ttings
many implied voices) and the imperceptible rhythmic
(b
oth
the rhyme sc hem e and the metric
patt
ernin
highly irregular) .
7
Ju
st
when the listener is given a
fo
37 T he imaginary continuo, a framework .) positing hcavLly i
voice-leading continu
ity,
was proposed in Rothste
in
199
1. Th
e c
has particular relevance for much of rock's instrumental techniqu
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THE
A BSTRUSE AND IRONIC BOP ROCK
HARMONY OF
ST EELY
DAN
by the tritone substitution-to-the
-t
onic in mm. 39- 40, the
rug is
pulled
aw
ay
: the
n
chord must
be
(ironically) reinter
preted as a root position Neapolitan that cadences firmly in
D
minor in m.
4 ~ a n o t h e r "seam less segue from
fun
to
fever. ,,38 The passage is also somewhat organized by rhyme
scheme
( say
day bay, fo llowed in all three verses) and
by a melodic sequence, although the latter degrades from a
step descent (mm.
37-38
and
39-40)
to a third descen t
(m m. 40/ 1 and 4211).
Dra
wn in by the "d istant lights
acr
oss the b
ay"
(m m.
40-42, first ve
rse ),
the singe r is pulled from the p
oi
nt
of no rehun
(s
am e
bars, third
verse) into rhe
exile
of
the
D
mino
r c
ho
rus, where the Sisters shake their wares. H ere
(as in mm 44-45 ), H is not a goal but only
an
enticing
neighbor, perhaps heard as a
(c
itone-s
ub
stitute for V
7
bu
t
more
likely
just a Phrygian coloration, or tonal warp,
The
rerransition at m. 68a brings the listener through the most
decadent chromatic slides to
v
m7 of (the ve r
se's
opening
cho rd); it also provides a hazard warnin
g:
herecome those
San
ta Ana
winds again. Such warm , dry nighttime winds,
with speeds
of
at least
25
knots and perhaps two-to-fo ur
times that, bring a high danger of fire and property damage,
a pertinent metaphor for the singer's moral meltdown. Such
conditions are, rightly or wrongly, associated with highly
aberrant behavior.
39
Despite several returns to minor, the
Sisters always manage to pull the singer back
to
D minor, in
which realm he fades hopelessly
away.
Feigned, oblique, incongruous; cold, misandu opic,
arc
h;
disembodied . the images and events of Babylon Sisters"
exemplify ll of these adjecti
ves
introduced in
th
is essay's
ope ning pages.
De
spite
all
of its nega
ti
ve attr
ib
utes, the art
38 The readermight
recall
a similar ronicizationonn ,which
thencont
in
ued to
the
l
arge
r-
scale
tonic,
in
Aja,
in E
xa
mpl
e
2S(b
).
39
A
ccording to theUn
i
versityof California
at L
osAngel es's Department
of Atmospher
ic
Sciences, "local legends
associate
the hot,
dry
(
Santa
Ana] winds
with homicides and
e
arthquakes." See http://vtVlw.atmos
.ucla .edul-fovelllASotherlmm5/SantaAnai
wind s.htmL
of
Stee
ly
D
an
is one that constantly
re
wa
rd
s t
he
attentive li
tener with new and sophisticated relationships and aids th
musician in developing a multi -leveled appreciation for th
art
of song in general. Becker and Fagen issued an invitatio
in
King
of
the World [1973]:
Ali l'vegot
to
say,
I'm
al
iv
e
and
feeling
fine.
Shouldyou come
myway,
you
can
sharemy
poisonwine.
T he drink, deliciously toxic, may sometimes seem to hav
been pressed of forbidden fruit, but it carries all the
tages, for without it
one
cou
ld
never see the glory of th
royal scam.
REFERENCES
Becker, Walte
r.
1994.
11 Tracks
of
Whack
Giant 24579.
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T
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wi s, Tim
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MUSIC THEORY SPECTRUM 6
34
2001. The Beatles as Musicians: The Quarry Men
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THE
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23
- - _ . 1995. Alive
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63
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Tw
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VoL26 Issue 2 pp .201-236 ISSN 0195-616
7
electronic ISSN 1533-8339.
©
2004 by The Society
for
Music Theory.
ll
rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photo
copy or reproduce article content through the University of C alifornia
Press's
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jounalsiri ghts htm .