Welcome to life, post hearing Peg. The air will now smell sweeter, food will taste better, the sun will be brighter. I've heard this song thousands of times, and it always leaves me breathless.
Imagine doing a background song check before every song we heard on the radio back then? All we needed to hear was 'and here's the new one from Steely Dan called "Peg", and we were all ears. And it's a testament to how good the music was back then that this only reached #11.
When I was in university in the late 70s, stereo stores used this album as their speaker test music for customers. Steely Dan was also usually your favourite band's favourite band! The 'Making of Peg' video is pretty cool too. Steely Dan, especially Aja, is definitely headphone music, sit back, relax and enjoy... BTW, I still have the red vinyl edition of Aja!
Every song on this album is amazing. I look forward to your reaction to the title track Aja!!!! This album is in my top 5 albums of all time with Deacon Blues being my favorite Steely Dan song.
Jay Graydon's guitar solo is amazing. At first, it sounds like Hawaiian guitar; then, a blues riff; then a chromatic jazz line; then a screaming rock riff; ending with almost a country twang. An amazing genre-bending performance in 26 seconds.
Saw an interview that Rick Beato did within the last few days with Michael McDonald and they discussed how this song was created and Michael McDonald's singing in it. Cool interview. Also might want to check out Steely Dan, "Pretzel Logic"...
I know you that YES is one of my all-time favorite Rock bands....well so is Steely Dan and in the 70's this song made me my friends fall in love with them. Love LOVE LOVE Steely Dan!!! ❤❤❤❤
Perfect pop song; it's up there with Good Vibrations - impossible to be jaded with it. Aja is an important album. I'd like to see what you make of the whole firework display, particularly the title track. I enjoyed your well considered reaction to this beauty.
There is so much to love about Steely Dan. His music is the sound track of post high school years in the 1970's. Michael McDonald makes his voice known in the smooth back up singing here.
No idea how I miss this. I love this group. Can't find a bad song... I subscribe to Patreon because I couldn't wait and you are such a great content provider. Thanks for all you do!
Thanks Sal - def in my top 3 SD tracks, it's such a bop, love me some SD... btw Michael McDonald (doing layered backup vocals in the hook) was interviewed about his process in getting it perfect for SD, it's kinda hilarious. 💜
One of my all-time favorites. Michael McDonald's backing vocals are so precise, there are videos out here featuring JUST his vocals and how they were layered. It's amazing to listen to.
I was in Jr High when this song came out and remember it being everywhere. I remember hearing it on my clock radio (yes, the one that everyone had) in the evenings when I did homework in my room. I liked it. I think everybody did.
Steely Dan was always in my Tuesday afternoon play list when I was a summer session DJ on the university's radio station, and Aja was usually the album which was played.
This is on the list of albums that one takes to the proverbial “desert island.” Graydon’s solo is one of the legendary solos among pro’s who are the most educated within the industry of recorded music.
This one, God Only Knows and Dancing Queen are three masterpieces - unequalled in beauty and joy. Some of the most awesome contributions by mere mortals.
I once read that the inspiration for 'Peg' was a real-life young starlet. Steely Dan added a fan who watches her fascinated as she poses for some spicy photos, and the result is this beautiful song.
Becker and Fagen are the masters of lyrical cynicism, double entendres, hidden meanings, and in your face figured out, but probably wrong. Peg is about a girl who has “blue”, “dirty” pics/movie taken of her, from the point of view of a former, jilted boyfriend, by another man. If you don’t react to the albums title song Aja, then you are denying yourself greatness, and deserve to be treated like Pegs old BF 😜 A couple of double entendres in SD catalogue, that are downright hilariously in your face are, Everyone’s Gone to the Movies, and Here At The Western World.. weirdly they are not on any album, only compilations. As with all SD songs, you know the music will be superb, and the lyrics too, when you find out, you figured them out wrongly. 😉
Please consider doing Back Seat of My Car, or Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five, or Let Me Roll it, Maybe I'm Amazed, by McCartney (Wings). If you can do Find the River or Nightswimming by REM you will love them. McCartney's suggestions are exceptional.
This song is about a porn actress. Steely Dan had a talent of getting taboo subjects on the radio, including their band name. I shouldn’t say it in the comments. The hint is reference the William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.
Not quite. From Wiki Although there was speculation that the name was a reference to Broadway star and one-time Hollywood actress Peg Entwistle, in 2000 the band said the song was written about a real person but not Entwistle. In 2020, Donald Fagen said "There's no hidden meaning. We just wanted a dotted half note for that spot, and 'Peg' was short enough to fit with the music." Fagen added that the song "takes place at a seedy photo shoot in L.A...from the perspective of [a] jilted boyfriend."
I had a "debate" with a music major (I'm not) about whether AJA was a jazz album with rock influences or rock with jazz influences. We agreed to disagree about the format, but it is one of the best albums ever released regardless of format.
Steely Dan were known for being perfectionists about their musical vision. "Peg" is a nickname for Margarete, an ancient German name derived from the Greek word for 'pearl'. My grandmother's name was Margarete and some people called her 'Peg' and 'Peggie'. Listening to this song, I am sure they had a specific person in mind, although the origins are a bit murky.
So, your gig is reading the Wikipedia page from top to bottom and then bopping your head to the song, eh? Do all you "reaction" guys go to the same barber and shop at the same cap store?
What song next on UA-cam from this album?
Josie!
Aja is the best song on the album. Period.
Black Cow!!!!!
Any song is great.
Home at Last
Welcome to life, post hearing Peg. The air will now smell sweeter, food will taste better, the sun will be brighter. I've heard this song thousands of times, and it always leaves me breathless.
Imagine doing a background song check before every song we heard on the radio back then? All we needed to hear was 'and here's the new one from Steely Dan called "Peg", and we were all ears. And it's a testament to how good the music was back then that this only reached #11.
Hahahaha this is awesome! And 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲! ♡
Such a fantastic tune. Michael McDonald on backing vocals. Sampled too.
There is an interview with Michael on Rick Beato's Channel where he talks about singing the backup vocals for this song.
When I was in university in the late 70s, stereo stores used this album as their speaker test music for customers. Steely Dan was also usually your favourite band's favourite band! The 'Making of Peg' video is pretty cool too. Steely Dan, especially Aja, is definitely headphone music, sit back, relax and enjoy... BTW, I still have the red vinyl edition of Aja!
I worked at a record store next to a stereo store when this came out. Each shop went through multiple copies.
Thanks for the memories.
Every song on this album is amazing. I look forward to your reaction to the title track Aja!!!! This album is in my top 5 albums of all time with Deacon Blues being my favorite Steely Dan song.
Me too. So antithetical to the great American message; most of us are losers, just own it.
Jay Graydon's guitar solo is amazing. At first, it sounds like Hawaiian guitar; then, a blues riff; then a chromatic jazz line; then a screaming rock riff; ending with almost a country twang. An amazing genre-bending performance in 26 seconds.
There's a terrific documentary on the making of Aja on UA-cam- it's worth checking out.
Yes that’s a great watch
Of course this whole song is perfect, but my goodness, that bass!
I never noticed til this review! Filthy😅
Going to see Eagles and Steely Dan this week in Toronto.
Saw them in STL a few weeks ago, it was fantastic.
Cool !
Damn, I missed that! Two great bands
@@terrygelinas4593 Steely Dan cancelled and was replaced by Tom Cochrane.
Huge disappointment.
Saw an interview that Rick Beato did within the last few days with Michael McDonald and they discussed how this song was created and Michael McDonald's singing in it. Cool interview. Also might want to check out Steely Dan, "Pretzel Logic"...
That’s a great interview
I saw that too. I've been following Rick for years. It is great he is getting these incredible interviews.
wonderful interview. Michael McDonald is so down to earth
I know you that YES is one of my all-time favorite Rock bands....well so is Steely Dan and in the 70's this song made me my friends fall in love with them. Love LOVE LOVE Steely Dan!!! ❤❤❤❤
My Father rocked this shit back in the days. This metalhead fell in love with this song. Always reminds me of my Dad.
Perfect pop song; it's up there with Good Vibrations - impossible to be jaded with it. Aja is an important album. I'd like to see what you make of the whole firework display, particularly the title track. I enjoyed your well considered reaction to this beauty.
There is so much to love about Steely Dan. His music is the sound track of post high school years in the 1970's. Michael McDonald makes his voice known in the smooth back up singing here.
No idea how I miss this. I love this group. Can't find a bad song...
I subscribe to Patreon because I couldn't wait and you are such a great content provider. Thanks for all you do!
"Aja" is the album with which you test your sound system.
Jay Graydon guitar solo is awesome...as is everyone else!
Steely Dan is great, so unique in their sound! Love them!!❤❤
Yessss. Steely Dan is great. I was in my first year of college when this song came out, and I became a fan real quick! Still am! Looove Steely Dan!
Peg is such a fun song!
You hit the jack pot with this sweet Steely Dan song.
I was in junior high when this came out, my much older cousin came to visit and left this album on my pillow when he left. I wore it out for sure ❤
I was also in junior high when this song came out. Loved this song then and now. Brings back memories.
Thanks Sal - def in my top 3 SD tracks, it's such a bop, love me some SD... btw Michael McDonald (doing layered backup vocals in the hook) was interviewed about his process in getting it perfect for SD, it's kinda hilarious. 💜
Love Michael McDonald! Salvo needs to hear more Doobie Brothers with Michael.
"aja" is without any doubt my desert-island album.
Oh Yes....I had the album in 77 when I was 14 yrs old....Played the hell out of it....Amazing times and Amazing music😁😍
One of my all-time favorites. Michael McDonald's backing vocals are so precise, there are videos out here featuring JUST his vocals and how they were layered. It's amazing to listen to.
Michael McDonald established himself as the best backing vocalist ever on this track.
Every song on this album is 🔥you gotta check out the song Josie
I was there in '77. To me this was an instant classic.
You should try Josie, and FM
The great Chuck Rainey on bass!
I was in Jr High when this song came out and remember it being everywhere. I remember hearing it on my clock radio (yes, the one that everyone had) in the evenings when I did homework in my room. I liked it. I think everybody did.
Steely Dan was always in my Tuesday afternoon play list when I was a summer session DJ on the university's radio station, and Aja was usually the album which was played.
I’m enjoying this so much. Thanks. 🇺🇸
Michael McDonald isn't hidden on this one!
One of my favorites ever. Bought this in high school ❤
Nice. This is quintessential Yacht Rock. The entire Aja album is a must listen. Check out Josie and Black Cow next. 🔥🏆⛵🎶
Yep one of my favorite Steely Dan songs.
Love this album❣️
Steely Dan came out with these songs when I was in highschool!! Best time of my life!! Thanks for playing some great music!❤
Artistically the best pop song released in 1978
Don't Take Me Alive next!
This song lives forever in my top 3 greatest songs of all time. Steely Dan is timeless and so damn good.
THERE ARE NO bad songs on this Album. AJA is top tier. Do AJA!!!! 2 drummers.
Peg, Home at Last, Josie, Deacon Blues, Black Cow, AJA
one drummer. steve gadd. he just sounds like two.
Steely Dan, man. Great, great stuff. I feel bad for people who don't feel it. Just fantastic.
Dude with the Beard is Rick Rubin a record producer. He was also in the Video Fight For Your Right(To Party).
This is one of my top 10 songs of all time! 🥰
Yeah I’m seeing a lot of comments about the video of the making of the Aja album. It’s 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯💪🤯
Peg has always been my favorite Steely Dan song. Every since I was a kid. Glad the kid version of myself had such good taste. lol
Great reaction❤
Black Cow should be next.
It's true. The progression is consistent with a very common blues format called "12 bar blues." Add a maxed out funk rhythm to it and voila! Peg!
Our high school jazz band played this in 1979.
It lends itself well to that format. Must have been a very interesting rendition
@@larryk731 our band was actually pretty good (except for me). About 6 of them went on to pretty lucrative professional music careers.
This is on the list of albums that one takes to the proverbial “desert island.” Graydon’s solo is one of the legendary solos among pro’s who are the most educated within the industry of recorded music.
Imagine the early seventies. This is the story of a guy trying to talk a model into doing nude shots. He's pretty persuasive.
Home at Last is my favourite from this amazing album.
Quite literally the greatest song ever recorded imho
This one, God Only Knows and Dancing Queen are three masterpieces - unequalled in beauty and joy. Some of the most awesome contributions by mere mortals.
I once read that the inspiration for 'Peg' was a real-life young starlet. Steely Dan added a fan who watches her fascinated as she poses for some spicy photos, and the result is this beautiful song.
Michael McDonald on backup vocals!! Insanely great!!!
Gorgeous, huh? You either "get" Steely Dan or you really don't. You are one of us now, buddy. The world is spinning just great.
The good Ole 70s. ❤
A wedding classic
Aja for sure.
My Old School is worth a review.
Is Michael McDonald one of the back up singers?
Absolutely!
Michael McDonald is the backup singers! He is singing with himself at different octaves on multi-track! Peace!!!
Yes he is.
@@ericstaton6896Wow! I was actually hearing multiple McDonalds!
@@brianorzel1873 Yes indeed you were! Just hit replay and enjoy! I know I will!!!
Best upbeat rock/jazz song about a (probably) p@rn star. I always thought that "foreign" was a euphemism for p@rn within the song.
Yep, Michael McDonald vocals really stand out on this even if it is background, his voice is such a stamp print
My favorite guitar solo ever.
Hello SalvoG, give me the next song Aja
One of the great short guitar solos of all time.
Josie
Becker and Fagen are the masters of lyrical cynicism, double entendres, hidden meanings, and in your face figured out, but probably wrong. Peg is about a girl who has “blue”, “dirty” pics/movie taken of her, from the point of view of a former, jilted boyfriend, by another man.
If you don’t react to the albums title song Aja, then you are denying yourself greatness, and deserve to be treated like Pegs old BF 😜
A couple of double entendres in SD catalogue, that are downright hilariously in your face are, Everyone’s Gone to the Movies, and Here At The Western World.. weirdly they are not on any album, only compilations.
As with all SD songs, you know the music will be superb, and the lyrics too, when you find out, you figured them out wrongly. 😉
To add to what you're saying, FM (No Static At All) isn't on a SD album, either. (It's on the soundtrack to the movie FM but few of us have that.)
I can safely say that no human will dislike this song...
Steely is still CRISP!!!
Please consider doing Back Seat of My Car, or Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five, or Let Me Roll it, Maybe I'm Amazed, by McCartney (Wings). If you can do Find the River or Nightswimming by REM you will love them. McCartney's suggestions are exceptional.
MICHEAL MCDONALD ON KEYS & BACKIN VOCALS
McDonald doesn't play any keys on the Aja LP.
@@Coowallsky HE EITHER DOES BACKIN VOCALS OR KEYS OR BOTH ON AJA SOUNDS......
U CLEARLY HEAR HIM ON PEG
@@ronmoody3001 Which is why I CLEARLY said he didn’t play keys on the Aja LP.
Check out "Josie".
Those who love SD are all the best people.
added a Peg in '74 at I.U.
At the end of a Steely Dan song, turn the volume up to get every last note
I'd like to heavily request "King of the world" a post apocalyptic masterpiece.
❤
steely dan had some of the best trained professional musicians of any band in that era.
Love Steely Dan, but Peg rises above 'em all.
Deacon Blues.
Do you hear Doo Bee Michael MacDonald in the background?
I wish I had ten percent of the money they spent in the studio during their careers...I'd have a private jet on stand-by.
De La Soul sampled this track. They are equally awesome jams. Maybe one goes a little bit harder, I'll let you guess.
The only thing wrong with Peg is it's short duration.
tight ??
This song is about a porn actress. Steely Dan had a talent of getting taboo subjects on the radio, including their band name. I shouldn’t say it in the comments. The hint is reference the William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch.
Not quite. From Wiki
Although there was speculation that the name was a reference to Broadway star and one-time Hollywood actress Peg Entwistle, in 2000 the band said the song was written about a real person but not Entwistle. In 2020, Donald Fagen said "There's no hidden meaning. We just wanted a dotted half note for that spot, and 'Peg' was short enough to fit with the music." Fagen added that the song "takes place at a seedy photo shoot in L.A...from the perspective of [a] jilted boyfriend."
I always thought that- evidence - "foreign being a euphemism for porn.
Gonna fornigate U ???
For some reason this song reminds me of the music from N64 games like Pilot Wings, Wave Race, Mario Kart!
Aja is a jazz album
I had a "debate" with a music major (I'm not) about whether AJA was a jazz album with rock influences or rock with jazz influences. We agreed to disagree about the format, but it is one of the best albums ever released regardless of format.
Steely Dan were known for being perfectionists about their musical vision. "Peg" is a nickname for Margarete, an ancient German name derived from the Greek word for 'pearl'. My grandmother's name was Margarete and some people called her 'Peg' and 'Peggie'. Listening to this song, I am sure they had a specific person in mind, although the origins are a bit murky.
See this for the song structure, "Donald Fagen talks about PEG pt 1": ua-cam.com/video/DP_2r9zbaIY/v-deo.html
So, your gig is reading the Wikipedia page from top to bottom and then bopping your head to the song, eh?
Do all you "reaction" guys go to the same barber and shop at the same cap store?
Rude bastard aren't you.
So, your gig is complaining on UA-cam about videos you don't like, eh?
Do all you "negging" guys forget you can just not click the video?
@@mayabairey😂
So your gig is pissing and moaning on UA-cam when you're not prowling young children at the playground. Duly noted.