Surprisingly for such a lengthy and musically downbeat song, "Deacon Blues" was a big radio hit in 1977/78 the '80s British pop-folk band Deacon Blue took their name from it. The great opening line of the chorus, "Learn to work the saxophone," suggests that he doesn't even have his verbs straight yet! And yet, even though there's certainly a level of mockery to the lyrics, Fagen's performance is so achingly sincere that one assumes that the middle-class kid in the song might be some combination of his and Becker's teenage selves. Fagen has said that the narrator is a middle class suburban kid newly besotted by jazz and Beat culture, and indeed, listening carefully suggests just the sort of over-romantic naiveté and general cluelessness that one would expect from someone attracted to a lifestyle he does not yet understand. Although the tune is possibly the loveliest Donald Fagen and Walter Becker ever concocted, and the arrangement (based on electric piano and strings) is entirely typical of the extremely lush, almost clinical sound of the album, the lyric is one of the most cutting of the duo's career.
Saxophonist Tom Scott wrote the horn arrangements for not only “Deacon Blues” but for all of the songs on Aja, a task that he completed in less than two weeks. Jazz guitarist Larry Carlton used Fagen’s demos to transcribe the chords into a rhythm section which featured Carlton’s guitar on the song’s opening. “Deacon Blues” was recorded at Village Recorders in West Los Angeles.
The next thing I know I’m hearing myself in every airport bathroom in the world.” – Pete Christlieb Walter would come over to my place and we’d sit at the piano. Excerpted from the interview: Fagen: Walter and I wrote ‘Deacon Blues’ in Malibu, Calif., when we lived out there. Recorded for the album Aja in 1977, the song details the bored existence of a ground-down suburbanite and his romantic fantasy of life as a jazz saxophonist.
As midlife-crisis songs go, Steely Dan’s Deacon Blues ranks among the most melodic and existential. Deacon Blues appeared on Steely Dan’s 1977 Aja album. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Steely Dan explain the 1977 hit ‘Deacon Blues’. I recorded a second take and that’s the one they used. It included an interview with the song’s writers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Hey, I’m a jazz musician, that’s what I do … so I recorded my first solo … we listened back and they said it was great.
#STEELY DAN DEACON BLUES PROFESSIONAL#
Characterized as a “loser” by Fagen, the song’s subject was meant to reflect “… a broken dream of a broken man living a broken life.” The name “Deacon” was influenced by Deacon Jones, a professional football player who played for the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams. The song was largely written at Fagen’s house in Malibu and was prompted by his observation that “… if a college football team like the University of Alabama could have a grandiose name like the “Crimson Tide” the nerds and losers should be entitled to a grandiose name as well.” The song’s protagonist has been described by Fagen as “autobiographical’ in that it reflected the dreams of both Fagen and Becker about becoming jazz musicians while they were living in the suburbs.
It peaked at No.19 in the Billboard charts. We have an official Deacon Blues tab made by UG professional guitarists. “Deacon Blues” is a song written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen in 1976 and recorded by their group Steely Dan on their 1977 album Aja. 28,428 views, added to favorites 518 times.
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