The following article appeared in the December 25, 1976 issue of Sounds, a British publication.
In the USA there's been three but it's the first one over here
and -- praise to Papa Doe and Dean Parks -- it's a classic all right.
"Do It Again," "Reelin' In The Years" and "Rikki Don't
Lose That Number" were the big three over the water, class commercial 45s
worthy of top placing in anyone's Top Ten. But in the U.K.: a big zero.
And now, it's Yuletide 1976 and the transatlantic tables are turned with "Haitian
Divorce," unreleased in the States and bombing up the charts over here.
All this has come as rather a surprise to one Mr. Donald Fagen of Becker/Fagen
songwriting fame. Fagen is currently working five days a week in the studios
putting together the new Steely Dan album (as yet untitled) and the success
of what was the obvious single from "The Royal Scam" bodes well for
the future.
Or was it the obvious single? ABC executives in America didn't seem to think
so. Fagen explains: "Over here we released two singles from `The Royal
Scam' -- `Kid Charlemagne' and `The Fez', neither of which did anything."
"`Haitian Divorce' does have slight reggae overtones and
reggae music hasn't got commercial appeal in the USA in the way it has in Britain.
It just didn't occur to anyone to release it over here."
"Its success in Britain surprised me all the same because it's quite an
exotic number."
Exotic, yes. Almost to the point of being incomprehensible in fact, from a lyrical
point of view. The excellent guitar work being the main sales angle coupled
with Fagen's unusual nasal vocalizing. But what does it all mean?
Well, the first few verses are plain enough. Babs and Clean Willy get married,
right? But things don't work out somehow, and off they go to Haiti to grab themselves
a quickie divorce. Then Babs heads off to some sleazy night club to drown her
sorrows.
Fagen takes up the story: "If you've been paying attention, you'll know
she's in a drugged stupor by now and probably doesn't know anything about it.
She is later... er... impregnated by this exotic gentleman. Later she is reunited
with Clean Willy and they have some rather bizarre offspring ("Who's this
kinky so-and-so")."
And then the chorus marks a second expedient divorce. Fascinating stuff, and
not the only interesting angle on the record. The guitar soloing was in fact
performed by "two" musicians.
"Yes, it was done in quite an unusual way. Dean Parks played the actual
notes but Walter (Becker) altered the sound by using a voice bag." (One
of those things Peter Frampton is always sticking in his mouth.)
"I think it's really great to see the single doing so well over there.
And I really like reggae -- Toots and The Maytals, Bob Marley."
No doubt about it, singles are sure handy things to have -- though not as lucrative
for Steely Dan as they might be.
"I don't make any money whatever becomes a success, I live in a sort of
financial limbo. When we were young and innocent we signed a contract which
was less than sensible in the sense that we could have a lot of success and
not make much money. And our studio costs have to be paid back through royalties.
All the same, the single will help us to sell more albums so more people will
hear the music, which is good."
Now we dolly back, now we fade to black and to an imaginary but not impossible
TV studio. Mr. Blackburn stands out in front of camera three smiling in his
customarily genuine manner. He joyfully introduces Steely Dan and the first
chords of "Haitian Divorce" show the teenage blank-faced crowd wobbling
from side to side in time to the rhythm. Blackburn talks over the last three
quarters of the record as stills of Becker and Fagen doing cute things in the
countryside flash up on a side wall.
Steely Dan as pop stars? In America unremarkable, in Britain bizarre. The most
intellectual and customarily inaccessible of musicians providing fodder for
the disco masses. Funny old world, ain't it?
The Becker/Fagen marriage is really most effective within album format. "Although
we began our American career with singles, we've never recorded an album with
a single specifically in mind," Fagen tells us .
"We're using session musicians (as usual) in the studio again -- Larry
Carlton, Joe Sample, Victor Feldman, Steve Gadd and Wayne Shorter to name a
few. We still aren't using a full-time band, but some of the musicians we're
getting to know intimately, er, in a musical sense, and you should see some
of them if we do a tour of the USA and Europe next year as we're hoping to.
But we have the album deadline to meet first."
"The new album should be quite interesting -- there are some slightly extended
pieces on it, numbers up to eight minutes long. We don't know when it will be
released yet."
"It's very gratifying to see `The Royal Scam' doing well in Britain. I
really enjoyed playing for English audiences -- in fact, I enjoyed everything
about Perfidious Albion I saw in my short visit this year."
Perfidious Albion?
Crushed ice
1 1/2 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. blood orange juice
3/4 oz. grenadine
3/4 oz. Cherry Heering
3/4 oz. white rum
2 oz. brown rum
3/4 oz. high-proof brown rum
Mix in a shaker with 1 scoop crushed ice. Strain into a highball glass filled with fresh crushed ice. Granish with an orange slice, maraschino cherry, and mint sprig. (Coconut shell optional)
Metal Leg contents | The Steely Dan Internet Resource