Wasn’t a big fan of Steely Dan when the group moved into an even jazzier phase, but early Dan makes me swoon. And “My Old School” is the swooniest for me. Here’s a very badly synced version of the song:
One of the reasons for my swoonery is Jeff “Skunk” Baxter’s guitar wizardry. He left the band after its third album, when Becker and Fagan decided to stop touring, which is another reason my interest declined.
Anyway, as a bonus, here’s a version of the song performed recently by Baxter.
Dude can still bring it.
By the way, speaking of Baxter, there’s this, too.
Get The Picture 
They eventually DID go back to their old school. I think it was Fagan who said, “Hey, I changed my mind.” No word on whether he saw classmate Chevy Chase there.
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I like the pips.
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As a William and Mary grad (along with that guy Thomas Jefferson, who started some school down the road…), I always wondered what the connection was – probably has something to do with Bard, but not sure. Nice guitar work in the second piece –
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Until today, I always thought the old school was Bill and Mary and that Annandale was in Virginia.
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Until today, I always thought the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition was a strip club on Navy Boulevard in Pensacola
https://www.ihmc.us/lectures/20170126/
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I like the early SD stuff, a little raw as expected from a young band still tinkering with their identity. But for me, the best product starts with ’76’s The Royal Scam, then to Aja, and finally Gaucho. Some of the new stuff is pretty good but I find myself listening to their earlier stuff more often.
Having stressed production perfection, their sound is extremely precise, almost to the point of sounding “too tight”, if that makes sense.
Fagan’s solo albums also have the same production qualities, a testament to the details.
To this day, one of my top 3 favorite bands. A sounds that never gets old, full of intelligence and thoughtful lyrics.
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Funny. Yesterday I was playing SD loudly as I drove and honestly thought “why no love from the senator?”. I actually thought about it for a while and wondered if anybody enjoys the laid back tones of possibly greatest studio bands ever as much as I do. Aja and gaucho are timeless for sure.
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Speaking of laid back studio bands, why no love for Atlanta Rythm Section?
“So into you” for the stingtalk PJ groupies, “Back against the wall” for Booch, “Not gonna let it bother me tonight” when we lost to FU again.
It could work
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I saw early Steely Dan with Baxter live in Atlanta Stadium performing with Chicago. I later saw him when moved on the Doobie Brothers although in the case of the Doobies I’m a bigger fan of the Tom Johnston era..
I’m a fan of SD’s later stuff but My Old School will always be my personal favorite Dan song.
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Did you get a look at the two girl back-up singers in the SD video above?
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My old school, Hey 19, Deacon blues, Black Friday, to name a few. Love some of their stuff old and new. Some not so much.
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Until today, I always thought That Smell was about Mandarin Road in Jacksonville and had no idea who Skunk Baxter was
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Bad sneakers.
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