Katy Lied Album

Format	Label	Number
LP	ABC	ABC 846
LP	Mobile Fidelity	MFSL-1-007
LP	MCA	MCA-1594
LP	Analogue Productions	AUHQR 0012-45
CS	MCA	MCAC-1594
CD	MCA	MCAD-31194
*CD	MCA	MCAD-11916
SACD	Analogue Productions	CAPP 137 SA

* The Classic Original Album
New digital remastering
supervised by the Artists
with all original graphics &
lyrics, plus new liner notes by
Walter Becker & Donald Fagen
MCAD-11916

PERSONNEL
Guitars: Denny Dias, Walter Becker, Rick Derringer,
Dean Parks, Elliot Randall, Hugh McCracken,
Larry Carlton; Piano and Various Keyboards:
Michael Omartian, Donald Fagen, David Paich; Bass:
Walter Becker, Chuck Rainey, Wilton Felder; Drums and Dorophone: Jeff Porcaro; Drums on "Any World (That I'm
Welcome To)": Hal Blaine; Percussion and vibes:
Victor Feldman; Vocals: Donald Fagen; Backup Vocals:
Mike McDonald; Backup vocals on "Everyone's Gone To
The Movies": Sherlie Mathews, Carolyn Willis,
Myrna Mathews; Horns on "Throw Back The Little Ones"
arranged by Jimmie Haskel; Alto solo on "Doctor Wu":
Phil Woods

Rick Derringer courtesy of Blue Sky Records
Mike McDonald courtesy of Rick Jarrard Production, Inc.

Engineered by Roger "The Immortal" Nichols
Sound Consultant: Stuart "Dinky" Dawson
Real Time Analysis: Bob DeAvila
Recorded at ABC Recording Studios Inc., Los Angeles
Cover photo: Dorothy White
Personnel Photos: Roger Nichols and Walter Becker
Reissue art direction: Vartan
Reissue design: Michael Diehl

PRODUCED BY GARY KATZ

This is a high fidelity recording. Steely Dan uses a specially constructed 24-channel tape recorder, a "State-of-the-Art" 36-input computerized mixdown console, and some very expensive German microphones. Individual microphone equalization is frowned upon. The sound created by musicians and singers is reproduced as faithfully as possible, and special care is taken to preserve the band-width and transient response of each performance. Transfer from master tapes to master lacquers is done on a Neumann VMS 70 computerized lathe equipped with a variable pitch, variable depth helium cooled cutting head. The computerized logic circuits of the VMS 70 widen and narrow the grooves on the disc in accordance with its own bizarre electronic mentation for reasons known only to its designers; this accounts for the lovely light and dark patterns that can be seen on the surface of the pressing. Vinylite compound is used. For best results observe the R.I.A.A. curve.

All songs ©1974 MCA Music Publishing, a division of Universal Studios, Inc. (ASCAP), except "Everyone's Gone To The Movies" ©1972 MCA Music Publishing, a division of Universal Studios Inc./Red Giant Inc. (ASCAP). All rights for Red Giant Inc. controlled and administered by MCA Publishing, a division of Universal Studios Inc., "Your Gold Teeth II" ©1975 MCA Music Publishing, a division of Universal Studios, Inc. (ASCAP), and "Any World (That I'm Welcome Too)" ©1973 MCA Music Publishing, a division of Universal Studios Inc./Red Giant Inc. (ASCAP). All rights for Red Giant Inc. controlled and administered by MCA Publishing, a division of Universal Studios Inc.

"Peachy went south for the week."
- Michael Caine , in a movie

What to call this latest installment in the saga? "Too Little, Too Late"? "Almost Good"? "And Then There Were Three"? "The Rape of the Domini"? (Forget it, we're saving that one for later.) In any case, by the end of 1974 we had learned a number of important life lessons, to wit:

1. There is indeed no business like show
    business.
2. Background singers, when on the road and
    deciding whom to fuck first, will start with
    the roadies and move up from there, with-
    out necessarily ever getting to the stewards
    of the actual intellectual property upon
    which the success of the enterprise
    depends.
3. Valium - one blue equals two yellows
    equals five whites. The purple ones are for
    veterinary use only.
4. When in London, don't neglect to visit a
    certain Dr. Bell.
5. Powerful antibiotics should be avoided
    unless absolutely necessary.
6. Against all odds, an inebriated teamster
    (with or without underage girl in tow) may
    be the most excellent and inspiring of
    M.C.'s.
7. Two drummers are much better than one,
    sometimes
8. Men are beasts.

   Which is why, by summer of that self-same year, we found ourselves back in Los Angeles with no band, no manager, no plans to tour, no money, some minor albeit possibly irreversible brain damage, and, thanks to Gary Katz, the keys to a certain unused office on the ground floor of the ABC/Dunhill Records complex. It was there that we repaired on an autumn evening to lick our wounds and hopefully, begin work on a new suite of songs which would someday adorn the greatest Steely Dan album ever.
   Even a cursory perusal of the previous paragraph convinces the authors that they have raised more questions than they have answered. To wit:

1. What happened to the band?
When we came off the road after the long grueling "Pretzel Logic" tour - penniless, infirm, disillusioned - we had long since come to the conclusion that certain individuals were not suited by temperament or constitution to the

rigors of long road trips in the company of superannuated prep school hooligans, especially if the goal of said trips - crisp and stirring recitals of the latest cutting-edge jazz-pop ditties for appreciative audiences in near-ideal acoustical environments - were impossible to achieve, or very nearly so. whereas certain of our bandmates had come to a very different and completely incompatible conclusion, namely, that we should get back out on the road as soon as possible and stay there until our very dicks turned green and fell off. So it was with som regret that we concluded that a parting of the ways was inevitable, and that there was no time like the present to clean house and say our goodbyes, and, in the words of Robert Heinlein, "no time like the future to get things done."
2. What happened to the manager?
    A band with no plans to tour, now or ever, has no need of a manager. 'Nuff said.
3. What happened to the money?
    Don't ask.
    But three things we still had - Gary Katz, guitarist Denny Dias, and the benediction of the great Jay Lasker, president and absolute ruler of ABC/Dunhill Records. Although somewhat skeptical about our contention that our careers would survive and in fact rhrive now that we were no longer a touring band, Jay was still in the marketplace from which to hawk their wares, that is, we still had a record deal and a budget, at least for the time being.
    By now well-acclimated to the bland vagaries of the L.A. scene, for a time that fall we drove each evening from Studio City across Laurel Canyon to Beverly Boulevard, where we had the empty ABC/Dunhill offices all to ourselves. In our little room, equipped with a leather couch, a piano, a lamp, and nothing else, we worked away on our sad little tunes. When we needed a break, we could always go upstairs and make trunk calls on Dennis Lavinthal's WATS line, or sit for a spell in Marv Helfer's big leather chair. If we were inclined to investigate in any way the workstations of the beautiful and nubile secretaries whom we perhaps worshipped from afar, we wouldn't tell you about it anyway, especially now. Even the incredible discovery we made one night while rifling Judy's bottom drawer - even that, we are saving for another occasion.
   In the last days of our final '70s touring band, which on one or two magical evenings may have sounded almost good, we had stumbled onto a configuration of players which featured the considerable talents of drummer Jeff Porcaro and keyboardist/vocalist Mike McDonald. Porcaro, at the tender age of 21, was already a veteran of the "Sonny And Cher Show" studio band; in fact, on the very first tracking date for the new album, he arrived hours late and somewhat the worse for wear after having spent the night partying at Cher's Malibu digs. This was in sharp contrast to New York studio ace Hugh McCracken, who had arrived in town a day early, although without a guitar.

The first order of business was to go and pick up a Stratocaster that had been left off at a repair shop on a previous visit some months or years earlier.
What can we say about those long-ago sessions that has not been previously said or else rejected as unworthy of mention? Here is what we know for sure:

1. Because Jeff Porcaro was late and because
    he had slightly injured his hand the night
    before, no recording was done on the first
    scheduled tracking day.
2. On the evening of that day, Chuck Rainey
    and Hugh McCracken went bowling.
3. The little studio at ABC/Dunhill was very
    nicely tricked out with a brand new Bosen-
    dorfer piano, our splendid double Magn-
    eplanar monitor system, and a newly
    acquired and fabulously expensive set of
    Audio Research D-76 tube power amps to
    go with the Maggies. You should have
    been there.
4. Denny arrived at the tracking session and
    made the announcement that "Dolores was
    back in town."
    Having said that, we turn to the trusty studio library with the aim of consulting Mr. Brian Sweet's controversial critical biography of your unworthy narrators - only to discover that they only have the Japanese edition in stock at this time. A replaying of the Katy Lied album proper, for the purposes of refreshing our failing memories, is out of the question.
5. The shiny new rack of DBX noise reduc-
    tion units - did we mention those?
6. What about maintenance man Bob "Love
    Machine" DeAvila, he of the splendid Real
    Time Analysis unit, which we used to sweep
    the control room clean of real or imagined
    sonic cooties, on a thrice-monthly basis -
    did that guy think we were nuts, or what?
    O, the things we've seen and heard! - an Arp synthesizer burning in the courtyard of a West Hollywood sound stage - the thunder of a DeTomaso Pantera parked beneath the echo chambers of Studio C - the mighty room-service bill from the Beverly Wilshire hotel, reflecting the cost of the joyful reunion of Mr. Phil Woods and 200 of his closest L.A. studio/jazz-musician pallies - the world's first and last DBX noise reduction unit with factory installed wings, and a Bosendorfer piano that actually got louder after being struck - all things considered, the Katy Lied experience poses, we think, nothing so much as the musical analog of Richard Burton's famous query, in the sword and sandal epic "The Robe" - "were you...out there?" Yes, we were.
   To be continued....

- Donald Fagen & Walter Becker, 1999

Black Friday

When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch all the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor.
When Black Friday comes
I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out
I'll be on the road.
When Black Friday falls you know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me

When Black Friday comes
I'll fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes,
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
When Black Friday comes I'll be on that hill
You know I will

[solo]

When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it till
I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me
The Archbishop gonna sanctify me
And if he don't come across
I' m gonna let it roll
When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna stake my claim
I'll guess I'll change my name

Drums: Jeff Porcaro
Bass: Walter Becker
Guitar: Walter Becker
Keyboards: David Paich, Michael Omartian
Backup Vocals: Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald

Bad Sneakers

Five names that I can hardly
Stand to hear
Including yours and mine
And one more chimp who isn't here
I can see the ladies talking
How the times are getting hard
And that fearsome excavation
On Magnolia Boulevard

[Chorus:]
And I'm going insane
And I'm laughing at the frozen rain
And I'm so alone
Honey when they gonna send me home

Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada
My friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large
Sum of money to spend

You fellah, you tearin' up the street
You wear that white tuxedo
How you gonna beat the heat
Do you take me for a fool
Do you think that I don't see
That ditch out in the valley
That they're digging just for me

[Chorus]

[solo]

Drums: Jeff Porcaro
Bass: Chuck Rainey
Guitar: Hugh McCracken,
Walter Becker (solo)
Piano: Michael Omartian
Percussion: Victor Feldman
Backup Vocals: Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald

Rose Darling

Rose darling come to me
Snake Mary's gone to bed
All our steaming sounds of love
Cannot disturb her in her night
Or raise her sleeping head
All I ask of you
Is make my wildest dreams come true
No one sees and no one knows

Rose darling come to me
Snake Mary dreams along
I would guess she's in Detroit
With lots of money in the bank
Although I could be wrong
You must know it's right
The spore is on the wind tonight
You won't feel it till it grows

[Chorus:]
Rose darling my friend
With only you and what I've found
We'll wear the weary hours down

[solo]

Rose darling come to me
The clock is close at hand
All my empty words of love
Can never screen the flash I feel
Or make you understand
Honey, can't you see
I know it's real it's got to be
Why not chase it where it goes

[Chorus]

Daddy Don't Live In That New York City No More

Daddy don't live in that New York City
No more
He don't celebrate Sunday on Saturday night
No more
Daddy don't need no lock and key
For the piece he stowed
Out on Avenue D.
Daddy don't live in that New York City
No more

Daddy don't drive in that Eldorado
No more
He don't travel on down to the neighborhood
Liquor store
Lucy still loves her coke and rum
But she sits alone
'Cause her daddy can't come
Daddy don't drive in that Eldorado
No more

Driving like a fool down to Hackensack
Drinking his dinner from a paper sack
He says I gotta see a joker
And I'll be right back

[solo]

Daddy don't live in that New York City
No more
He can't get tight ev'ry night
Pass out on the barroom floor
Daddy can't get no fine cigar
But we know you're smoking
Wherever you are
Daddy don't live in that New York City
No more

Doctor Wu

Katy tried
I was half-way crucified
I was on the other side
Of no tomorrow
You walked in
And my life began again
Just when I'd spent the last piaster
I could borrow
All night long
We would sing that stupid song
And every word we sang
I knew was true

Are you with me Doctor Wu
Are you really just a shadow
Of the man that I once knew
Are you crazy are you high
Or just an ordinary guy
Have you done all you can do
Are you with me Doctor...

[solo]

Don't seem right
I've been strung out here all night
I've been waiting for the taste
You said you'd bring to me
Biscayne Bay
Where the Cuban gentleman sleep all day
I went searching for the song
You used to sing to me
Katy lies
You could see it in her eyes
But imagine my surprise
When I saw you

Are you with me Doctor Wu
Are you really just a shadow
Of the man that I once knew
She is lovely yes she's sly
And you're an ordinary guy
Has she finally got to you
Can you hear me, Doctor...
Are you with me, Doctor...

Everyone's Gone To The Movies

Kids if you want some fun
Mr. LaPage is your man
He's always laughing, having fun
Showing his films in the den
Come on, come on
Soon you will be eighteen
I think you know what I mean
Don't tell your mama
Your daddy or mama
They'll never know where you've been

[Chorus:]
Everyone's gone to the movies
Now we're alone at last
Everyone's gone to the movies
Now we're alone at last

Listen to what I say
He wants to show you the way
Right down the hallway with open arms
To teach you a new game to play
Come on, come on.
Soon it will be too late
Bobbing for apples can wait
We know you're used to sixteen or more
Sorry we only have eight

[Chorus]
[solo]

Kids if you want some fun
See what you never have seen
Take off your cheaters sit right down
Start the projection machine

[Chorus]

Your Gold Teeth II

Who are these children
Who scheme and run wild
Who speak with their wings
And the way that they smile
What are the secrets
They trace in the sky
And why do you tremble
Each time they ride by

[Chorus:]
Throw out your gold teeth
And see how they roll
The answer they reveal
life is unreal

Who are these strangers
Who pass through the door
Who cover your action
And go you one more
If you're feeling lucky
You best not refuse
It's your game the rules
Are your own win or lose

[Chorus]

[Solo]

[Chorus]

Chain Lightning

Some turnout - a hundred grand
Get with it we'll shake his hand
Don't bother to understand
Don't question the little man.
Be part of the brotherhood
Yes it's chain lightning
It feels so good

Hush brother - we cross the square
Act natural like you don't care
Turn slowly and comb your hair
Don't trouble the midnight air
We're standing just where he stood
It was chain lightning
It feels so good

Drums: Jeff Porcaro
Bass: Wilton Felder
Guitar: Rick Derringer
Rhodes piano: Michael Omartian

Any World (That I'm Welcome To)

If I had my way
I would move to another lifetime
I'd quit my job
Ride the train through the misty nighttime.
I'll be ready when my feet touch the ground
Wherever I come down
And if the folks will have me
Then they'll have me

[Chorus:]
Any world that I'm welcome to (any kind of world)
Any world that I'm welcome to
Any world that I'm welcome to
Is better than the one I come from

I can hear your words
When you speak of what you are and have seen
I can see your hand
Reaching out through a shining daydream
Where the days and nights are not the same
Captured happy in a picture frame
Honey I will be there
Yes I'll be there

[Chorus]

I got this thing inside me
That's got to find a place to hide me
I only know I must obey
This feeling I can't explain away

I think I'll go to the park
Watch the children playing
Perhaps I'll find in my head
What my heart is saying
A vision of a returning
A kingdom where the sky is burning
Honey I will be there
Yes I'll be there.

[Chorus]

Is better than the one I come from.
Is better than the one I come from.

[Chorus to fade]

Throw Back The Little Ones

Lost in the Barrio I walk like an Injun
So Carlo won't suspect something's wrong here.
I dance in place
And paint my face
And act like I belong here.

[Chorus:]

Throw back the little ones
And pan-fry the big ones
Use tact, poise and reason
And gently squeeze them

Hot licks and rhetoric
Don't count much for for nothing
Be glad if you can use what you borrow
So I pawn my crown
For a ride uptown
And buy it back tomorrow

[Chorus]

Done like a matador I pray for the weekend
And hope the little girls still throw roses
Else I change my bait
And move upstate
Before the season closes

[Chorus]