Steely Dan - Album By Album - The Royal Scam

(from the Green Earrings department)

This was a fun intro.  The thread had derailed just a bit, so I pretended to derail it further.

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Okay - since I'm doing all this analysis - I should tackle Godwhacker.

Godwhacker is about...

(heh heh)

No - I'm kidding - it's The Royal Scam time.

This album starts out really strong with Kid Charlemagne - a thinly disguised take on the rise and fall of Owsley's adventures in the LSD underworld and the counter-culture of the 60's turning into the me-decade of the 70's. (There's a good sample analysis here: Kid Charlemagne - Wikipedia ). This song absolutely scorches in all the right ways - and I love the "Is there gas in the car? There's gas in the car!" line.

From here, the Dan dust off another old songwriting demo - the Caves Of Altamira. However - here - it sounds fully finished.

(Complete sidebar - they deleted a verse from the demo:

Many years had come and gone,
and many miles between.
Through it all, I found my way
by the light of what I'd seen.
On the road as I returned
was a green and yellow sign,
saying "See the way it used to be",
and I took my place in line.
​

Originally - this was inserted before the last verse.)

Don't Take Me Alive is next - and continues the string of powerful songs on side 1. (And - yes - this may be semi-autobiographical on Walt's part.) Then, comes the highlight of the album for me: Sign In Stranger. I love this song!!! Yeah - the lyrics are a touch more oblique - feels like sci-fi to me - and Walt & Don changed the bridge melody & lyrics by the time of Alive In America - but still. Great song!!!

(Sidebar - the lyrics in the Alive in America version of the bridge change from the "yellow fever" set to:

Find your fortune
On this lucky star
The chances are good
You will thrive
If you make it back alive
​

Kind of extends the sci-fi theme of the lyrics a bit more.)

But - then - we get to The Fez.

Ergh... musically tight - but the entire lyrics consist of:

No I'm never gonna do it without the fez on
Oh no
That's what I am
Please understand
I want to be your holy man​

Really? That's it? On a STEELY DAN album? Where's the deep lyrical play? Where's the melodic inventiveness? Instead - it's a deep locking groove - and a harbinger of things to come.

Side two kicks off with Green Earrings. More of the same - deep groove, great instrumental performances - but the lyrics:

Cold, daring
No flies on me
Sorry, angel
I must take what I see​

and

Greek medallion
Sparkles when you smile
Sorry, angel
I get hungry like a child
​

Otherwise, just this repeated chorus:

Green earrings
I remember
The rings of rare design
I remember
The look in your eyes
I don't mind
​

Again - what happened to the lyrics? They're better than The Fez, but still.

Haitian Divorce is a tour de force, and Everything You Did is... well I was gonna say fun... if a Steely Dan song can be said to be fun. (And kudos for the Eagles shout-out!)

And then - we're kind of back to a locked groove on the final song "The Royal Scam". However - the lyrics and subject matter redeem this one for me. The sense of dread and menace - and the continued lies generation to generation. Amazing.

So - overall? There's a lot to like here - but - wow - in some ways - a step back from its predecessors. It seems like some of the basic material was weaker - hence the need to dig back into the songwriting demos - but the "band" was tighter, hence the longer, virtuoso instrumental passages.

For me, this is the weakest of Steely Dan's albums so far - but not the weakest overall. That's coming up. And - it's still pretty close to the others. Any other band would be lucky to have this one - but the previous 4 Steely Dan albums set a very high bar for this band, and this one doesn't quite make it.

Cheers,
Paul