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[av_heading heading=’JUST ANOTHER DAY ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” admin_preview_bg=”]
BY LUIS BUENAFLOR JR.
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That shape is my shade
there where I used to stand
it seems like only yesterday
I gazed through the glass
at ramblers, wild gamblers
that’s all in the past …
You call me a fool
You say it’s a crazy scheme
This one’s for real
I already bought the dream
So useless to ask me why
Throw a kiss and say goodbye
I’ll make it this time
I’m ready to cross that fine line …
Deacon Blues – Walter Becker and Donald Fagen aka “Steely Dan”
WHILE doing research for this column, information came in that Iloilo City congressman Jerry Treñas was handed down a 90-day preventive suspension for allegedly helping himself to a donation by Sen. Loren Legarda intended for the construction of the Iloilo Press Club building.
Of course, it is common knowledge among the natives of “I Am Iloilo City” and the members of the Iloilo Press Club that the construction of the said building was financed solely by businessman, erstwhile politician and now organic farmer Rommel Ynion.
But really, what else is new?
Methinks moi will just park this as it promises to be boring unless you happen to be Jerry Treñas, his supporter or enemy. There are far more interesting topics to talk about than a politician (ho-hum) in another corruption issue.
What can be more interesting to talk about than a rock band named after a dildo? Yup, a dildo. You know, the one used in you know what.
Let’s start with probably one of their most iconic hits. “Deacon Blues” is a song written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen in 1976 and recorded by their group Steely Dan on their 1977 album Aja.
And what is Steely Dan?
From that free online encyclopedia:
“Steely Dan is an American rock band founded by core members Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals) in 1972. Blending elements of jazz, traditional pop, R&B, and sophisticated studio production with cryptic and ironic lyrics, the band enjoyed critical and commercial success starting from the early 1970s until breaking up in 1981. Rolling Stone has called them “the perfect musical antiheroes for the Seventies.”
After the group disbanded in 1981, Becker and Fagen were less active throughout most of the next decade, though a cult following remained devoted to the group. They have sold more than 40 million albums worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2001. Becker died on Sept. 3, 2017, leaving Fagen as the only official member.
VH1 listed Steely Dan as one of the 100 greatest musical artists of all time.
Fagen and Becker named the band after “Steely Dan III from Yokohama”, an oversized, steam-powered strap-on dildo mentioned in the William S. Burroughs novel “Naked Lunch.”
There you go, the band is really named after a dildo. For the uninitiated, a dildo is an object resembling a penis used for sexual stimulation.
“Regarding the opening line, ‘This is the day of the expanding man’, Donald Fagen cites the 1953 sci-fi novel The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester as an influence. The book finds the main character “expanding” his mind and thinking of all the possibilities in his life.”
According to Walter Becker, when our hero is “ready to cross that fine line” in this song, that’s the line between being a loser and being a winner, a line which he tried to cross before but without success.
Here are the rest of the lyrics of Deacon Blues:
Learn to work the saxophone
I play just what I feel
Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
And die behind the wheel
They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose
They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
Call me Deacon Blues
My back to the wall
A victim of laughing chance
This is for me
The essence of true romance
Sharing the things we know and love
With those of my kind
Libations
Sensations
That stagger the mind
I crawl like a viper
Through these suburban streets
Make love to these women
Languid and bittersweet
I rise when the sun goes down
Cover every game in town
A world of my own
I’ll make it my home sweet home
This is the night of the expanding man
I take one last drag
As I approach the stand
I cried when I wrote this song
Sue me if I play too long
This brother is free
I’ll be what I want to be.
From songfacts.com:
“Steely Dan’s lyrical subjects are diverse, but in their basic approach they often create fictiona persona that participate in a narrative or situation. The duo has said that in retrospect, most of their albums have a ‘feel’ of either Los Angeles or New York City, the two main cities where Becker and Fagen lived and worked. Characters appear in their songs that evoke these cities. Steely Dan’s lyrics are often puzzling to the listener, with the true meaning of the song “uncoded” through repeated listening, and a richer understanding of the references within the lyrics.
“Thematically, Steely Dan creates a universe peopled by losers, creeps and failed dreamers, often victims of their own obsessions and delusions.”
Now isn’t that more interesting than your usual “corrupt politician?” (brotherlouie16@gmail.com)/PN
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