Today’s classic song of the day just happens to be Steely Dan’s biggest Top Forty hit, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” This single was released in April of 1974 and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Cash Box Top 100.
“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was written, like almost all Steely Dan songs, by group founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. It was the opening track (side one, track one) of the group’s third album, Pretzel Logic. By this point in time Steely Dan had more or less devolved as a group into just Becker and Fagen and a bunch of studio musicians. That’s reflected in who played on this tune; the musicians included Fagen on lead vocals, Becker on bass, former and still sort of group member Jeff “Skunk” Baxter on electric guitar, Dean Parks on acoustic guitar, Michael Omartian on piano, Victor Feldman on percussion and flapamba, Jim Gordon on drums, and Timothy B. Schmit on background vocals. With the exception of Becker, Fagen, and Baxter, they were all hired guns from the session musician world.
The recording starts with an out-of-tempo solo on something that sounds kind of sort of like a marimba. The instrument, played by studio ace Victor Feldman, is actually a flapamba, a mallet percussion instrument kind of like a marimba but with tunable bars. It sounds less melodic and more percussive than a marimba, closer to what tuned log drums sound like.
After that brief flapamba intro the tune shifts into a distinctive E to B bass pattern played in unison between piano and bass. This intro is straight out of jazz pianist Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father.” Given Becker and Fagen’s love for jazz, this shouldn’t be surprising. What is surprising is that Silver didn’t sue them for it, but I guess the bass line is part of the arrangement, not part of the song itself. Still, it’s either a giant rip off or loving homage, depending on how you look at it.
After that, the song moves along in with a jazzy semi-Latin feel. Skunk Baxter does a caffeinated country-flavored guitar solo after the second chorus, then the song settles back into the familiar opening groove for the bridge and everything after.
Lyrically, the song is about the singer longing for or lusting after a woman he obviously can’t have. The protagonist still has hope, however; “you could have a change of heart,” he opines:
I have a friend in town, he’s heard your name
We can go out driving on Slow Hand Row
We could stay inside and play games, I don’t know
And you could have a change of heartRikki don’t lose that number
You don’t want to call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki don’t lose that number
It’s the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home
The lyrics are purportedly based on a real-life incident. While a student at Bard College in the late 1960s, Donald Fagen was at a party and found himself talking to Rikki Ducornet, the wife of one of his professors. Despite knowing that she was married (and pregnant!) at the time, Fagen chatted her up anyway and gave her his number. Not surprisingly, she never called.
Pretzel Logic was a turning point album for Steely Dan. Their first two albums, Can’t Buy a Thrill and Countdown to Ecstasy were both primarily band-based and, while they included some great songs, were a little less polished and a little more rock and roll than their later output. Pretzel Logic bridged that gap, comprised of songs that were deliberately short and radio friendly. (At 4:33, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” was the longest song on the record; just about everything else timed out at three and a half minutes or less.) The result was a highly listenable collection of tunes that rank among the Dan’s best, including “Barrytown,” “Parker’s Band,” “Charlie Freak,” and, one of my all-time favorites, “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.”
The band’s new approach worked. In addition to the success of “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” Pretzel Logic hit #8 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, sold more than a million copies (certified Platinum), and was named album of the year by both NME magazine and influential music critic Robert Christgau.
Steely Dan found even greater success after Pretzel Logic with a string of acclaimed albums that included Katy Lied (1975), The Royal Scam (1976), Aja (1977), and Gaucho (1980). The duo broke up after than, eventually reuniting two decades later for a few more albums and a series of well-attended tours. Walter Becker passed away in 2017 but Donald Fagen is still touring as Steely Dan today.
