Continuing our look at some of my favorite classic rock tracks from the mid-70s, today’s classic song of the day is “Deacon Blues” by Steely Dan. It’s one of the, if not the most popular Dan tunes of all time, a staple of classic rock radio and yacht rock playlists. Everybody knows it, even those that don’t know the Dan. You stop and listen every single time it plays on the radio. There’s good reason for that.
“Deacon Blues” closes out the first side of the Dan’s epic and legendary 1977 album, Aja. This album is arguably Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s masterpiece. On Aja, everything came together; there’s not a bad tune on either side and they’re all expertly recorded, mixed, and mastered. It’s still an album I still use to test whatever audio system or playback device I need to test, the sound is audiophile-quality pristine. (If you’ve only heard it on the radio, get yourself a good set of headphones—not earbuds, but real honest-to-goodness headphones—and listen to everything you haven’t heard before.)
Aja came out about a month into my sophomore year at Indiana University. I played it and played it and played it until I wore out the grooves. I transcribed the arrangements. I taught myself Rick Marotta’s groove on “Peg” and simply sat awestruck through Steve Gadd’s tour de force on the title track. Even though I thought at the time that sides one and two should have been flipped (“Deacon Blues” is a better album closer than “Josie,” and ‘Peg” would have been a killer side one opener), there’s nothing else I’d change about this one, from the starkly beautiful front cover to the usual obtuse Dan-like liner notes. It’s as close to perfect as an album can get.
Aja peaked at #3 on the Billboard albums chart. It’s the Dan’s best-selling album, and one of the first albums, period, to be certified platinum. Virtually every song on the album is still played on classic rock and yacht rock radio today, and for good reason—they’re all superb. Three cuts were released as singles: “Peg” peaked at #11, “Deacon Blues” at #19, and “Josie” at #26.
Unlike most Dan tunes, “Deacon Blues” has actual heart and soul. It’s one of the few Dan tunes (“Charlie Freak” and “Doctor Wu” also come to mind) that is truly touching and not simply sarcastic and snarky. It’s about a middle aged suburban guy who wishes for more in life—in his instance, learning to “work the saxophone” and playing in smoke-filled jazz clubs. Becker described the song as “a broken dream of a broken man living a broken life.” Yeah, that pretty much nails it; it’s the ultimate midlife crisis song.
What’s important here is that it’s not just the lyrics that paint the film noirish picture, but also the melody and chords and the entire arrangement. It’s a melancholy little tune, just loping along in something that’s kind of G major and kind of E minor and maybe something else, too—it’s definitely a jazz-inspired progression with lots of fancy extended chords and substitutions and such. The song feels like late-night FM jazz radio, the kind of thing the protagonist might listen to all by himself in his basement with the lights out. Yeah, the song feels like the story.
Sonically, this track (and the entire album) is an audiophile’s dream. The music glistens and sparkles under the watchful eyes and ears of producer Gary Katz and engineer Roger Nichols. It’s stellar rock, pop, and jazz, all rolled into a seductive sound that is as intimate as a Blue Note trio and as glossy as the most commercial Los Angeles radio pop—pure Steely Dan.
With everything going on in this track, what makes it stand out to me are the horns—collectively and individually. Tom Scott arranged the horn chart, which is tight and sinewy and never draws attention to itself, in spite of how essential it is in coloring the background of the song. Here’s how Scott described it:
“Donald said he wanted to add four reeds, two trombones and a trumpet—but not a high-note trumpet. I heard right away how I’d arrange the horns—adding 9ths and 11ths and other jazz dissonances that were implied but not there… For ‘Deacon Blues,’ I used a sound that mirrored Oliver Nelson’s orchestral style. I wrote in these ‘rubs’—two notes close together in the middle register played by the tenor and baritone saxophones. This produces a really thick, reedy sound.”
Remember that, jazz and horn arrangers. That’s how you make that sound.
And then there’s the sax solo. That sax solo. The mournful, soulful solo makes the track, reflecting the narrator’s sad, pensive emotions. At this stage of the Dan’s recording career you might have expected them to call in the inimitable Phil Woods to lay down what undoubtedly would have been a memorable solo, but Becker and Fagen threw a change-up and recruited Pete Christlieb, tenor saxman from the Tonight Show Orchestra. Pete stopped by one evening after work and knocked off a solo that still sends chills down your spine 40 years later.
Here’s what Mr. Christlieb recalls:
“I went over to the studio one night after the Tonight Show finished taping at 6:30 p.m. When I listened on headphones to the track Tom had arranged, there was just enough space for me to play a solo. As I listened, I realized Donald and Walter were using jazz chord changes, not the block chords of rock. This gave me a solid base for improvisation. They just told me to play what I felt. Hey, I’m a jazz musician, that’s what I do. So I listened again and recorded my first solo. We listened back and they said it was great. I recorded a second take and that’s the one they used. I was gone in a half-hour. The next thing I know I’m hearing myself in every airport bathroom in the world.”
Hey, he’s a jazz musician. That’s what he does.
It might be overstating things to call “Deacon Blues” a masterpiece, but it is the ultimate Steely Dan song, in terms of lyrics, music, and arrangement; it’s the pinnacle of everything Becker and Fagen were trying to achieve in the ’70s. Is it their best song? There’s stiff competition for that honor, but “Deacon Blues” is one that sticks with you long after the needle reaches the end of the groove, and merits its presence on so many “best of” lists. This is my favorite Steely Dan track, and it has been since the very first time I heard it back in college. It means something.
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.
Yeah.
