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Total ratings: 3163
Length: 6:23
Plays (last 30 days): 3
From the city of St. John
Without a dime
Wearing coats that shined
Both red and green colors
From their sunny island
From their boats of iron
They looked upon the promised land
Where surely life was sweet
On the rising tide
To New York City did they ride
Into the street
See the glory
(See the glory of)
Of the royal scam
They are hounded down
To the bottom of a bad town
Amid the ruins
Where they learn to fear
An angry race of fallen kings
Their dark companions
While the memory of
Their southern sky was clouded by
A savage winter
Every patron saint
Hung on the wall, shared the room
With twenty sinners
See the glory
(See the glory of)
Of the royal scam
By the blackened wall
He does it all
He thinks he's died and gone to heaven
Now the tale is told
By the old man back home
He reads the letter
How they are paid in gold
Just to babble in the back room
All night and waste their time
And they wandered in
From the city of St. John
Without a dime
See the glory
(See the glory of)
Of the royal scam
See the glory
(See the glory of)
Of the royal scam
See the glory
(See the glory of)
Of the royal scam
They are all their best album. The only band I can think of where there is precisely zero filler and 100% killer on Every. Single. Album. A completely unheard-of level of quality - even The Beatles had 'Octopussy's Garden' and "Ooblah Di"
I think you have a very good point. Other than Beatles, Joni, Van, and Dylan...their first 7 albums are all masterpieces.
For my money, the very best band of all time. Every Steely Dan song is an automatic 10. I have all their albums and there's not a dud song anywhere. I can think of no other band of which that is true.
Way too long. There's really not enough happening to justify such a length.
TMI... let's not talk about your sex life.
It's rare that I feel the need to leave Radio Paradise, but Steely Dan can do that. Just painful. Tell me when it's over.
Buh-bye! Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya!
It's rare that I feel the need to leave Radio Paradise, but Steely Dan can do that. Just painful. Tell me when it's over.
You can always hit skip.
They are all their best album. The only band I can think of where there is precisely zero filler and 100% killer on Every. Single. Album. A completely unheard-of level of quality - even The Beatles had 'Octopussy's Garden' and "Ooblah Di"
I still struggle with Two Against Nature.
like a see saw
is this their best album?
Just played this album in its entirety today for the first time in ages. Went through Can't Buy A Thrill and Countdown to Ecstasy a short while earlier. I can listen to this album all the way through and love all of it. The other two have their high points and not so high points, although nothing is bad. Aja is the other one that is for sure good all of the way through, but it is a different kind of SD from these. I still have to go through Aja, Pretzel Logic and Katy Lied to refresh my memory as to how they sound as an album played through all at once.
i go back and forth
like a see saw
is this their best album?
They are all their best album. The only band I can think of where there is precisely zero filler and 100% killer on Every. Single. Album. A completely unheard-of level of quality - even The Beatles had 'Octopussy's Garden' and "Ooblah Di"
Because no one from anywhere in Canada would show up off the boat in NY without a dime. And from what sunny island?
.......And the production was always a work of art especially for the times. With RP allowing FLAC streaming, it is possible to spot a Steely song in mere seconds by the clear recordings of the instruments...
Yes.. I remember back in the day, working in a stereo shop we would play the first SD album to demo our best systems. The really great systems would sound like they were right there across the soundstage. The great speaker systems of that time (that we had anyhow) were Ohm F's, Dahlquist DQ-10's and the like. Early 70's...
So many layers. Today I heard a tuba/bass-trombone buried down in the chorus (right when the girls echo: "see the glory of"). Who does that? ...hide something for people to find 45 years later...
And the production is so good which lets you pick out every instrument.
like a see saw
is this their best album?
bumping to 9
Same here, Steely Dan to me is like a sampling of a dozen different single malt Scotchs, all essentially the same and yet completely unique. And not suitable for downing or mixing. LLRP and all the +1s for these great tunes!!
I can always tell if it's 70's music... It's endless, tedious and boring, band trying to showcase everything they know in a single song.
That's one of the dumbest things I've read since Trump was kicked off social media.
also, i know the lyrics must mean something but to me it's just nice sounding words that go with the music.
What you need to do, is to try walking around...like how this song sounds.
Like a Frankenstein walk, but then run a little like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals.
It's fun...try it. That was the 1970s. Fun. Not like today today, with so much anger.
maboleth wrote:
I can always tell if it's 70's music... It's endless, tedious and boring, band trying to showcase everything they know in a single song.
So many layers. Today I heard a tuba/bass-trombone buried down in the chorus (right when the girls echo: "see the glory of"). Who does that? ...hide something for people to find 45 years later...
mighty Steely Dan....
I succumbed to the peer pressure and boosted my rating from 8 to 9.
Love me some Steely Dan.
mighty Steely Dan....
That is a fascinating opinion, however shallow and myopic it may be. Nevertheless you are entitled to it. I just had to add to the backlash from my fellow SD devotees.
Actually, I think that's one of the things that makes me enjoy RP. There is an endless chain of musical associations that the mix always brings to mind.
The arc of this song is devastating. It is an immigrant's song. It reminds me of my family leaving Europe when I was a small boy, my father arriving in the new world, scared and hopeful, but "without a dime", and into a north-east "savage winter". Mostly it was Walter Becker's words that always made SD edgy and inscrutable. Still don't know what the "royal scam" is, but maybe something to do with the British and their Caribbean departments, no idea. But it's not necessary to get the portent of disappointment and further struggle, the promises broken. An infinitely fascinating song.
Then you must hate Steely Dan as they do that in every. single. song.
Hear the glory... of the royally talented Dan.
Actually, I think that's one of the things that makes me enjoy RP. There is an endless chain of musical associations that the mix always brings to mind.
ha! Grow Down....! ha!
Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American drummer, and an influential R&B, soul and funk musician.[1] He is known for his precise musical time keeping[2] and his signature use of triplets against a half-time backbeat: the "Purdie Shuffle."[3] He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013.[4]
LOL... I'll suggest it's the good ones that listen to this!!! imho.
Both [Steely Dan, Alan Parson Project] 1976; go figger.
O_T_B and Proclivities are two among other fine and appreciated modern music historians on this website.
That has to be a draw. Congratulations to the Goldmans for turning the song comments into a tasty attraction.
I just came to the site to rate this song a 10, only to find that I had already done that.
Music at it's best
.......And the production was always a work of art especially for the times. With RP allowing FLAC streaming, it is possible to spot a Steely song in mere seconds by the clear recordings of the instruments...
Gravity is — or can be — your friend.
Hear, hear!!
You will be missed.
Some major dudes there. Nice photo, Beach.
for the Dan.
You will be missed.
We're going to miss him greatly.
I see this comment is from nearly four years ago. Hopefully you've changed your opinion or better yet, have been forgotten yourself.
Saw them last weekend. Not cheesy at all.
I see this comment is from nearly four years ago. Hopefully you've changed your opinion or better yet, have been forgotten yourself.
Saw them last weekend. Not cheesy at all.
I'd say if anything, Steely Dan has always been just about the opposite of a cheesy act. They're actually pretty classy and very particular about their sound and arrangements. Any major dude who's worked with Walter or Donald will tell ya.
By the way, always liked the drum work on this one.
I see this comment is from nearly four years ago. Hopefully you've changed your opinion or better yet, have been forgotten yourself.
Saw them last weekend. Not cheesy at all.
Great idea. That Pyramid album was terrific.
I second that motion. Pyramid was fantastic! I had the LP and wore out the grooves. Wore out most of my Dan LPs as well.
Both 1976; go figger.
I wish Bill would play some Alan Parsons Project, maybe off Pyramid or Turn of a Friendly Card, used to listen to them until the tape wore out and the heads. That dates the Project.
Great idea. That Pyramid album was terrific.
The fact that a family can literally put themselves over their fellow man and 'rule' them.
Disgusting.
In my particular case the rotten to the core house of WIndsor (they were called German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 100 years ago but changed their German names due to WW1) should be charged with treason and incarcerated for crimes against the country.
It makes my skin creep to see them breeding uncontrollably and creating new tiny lizards.
/rant.
Same era, though I believe this album's release preceded that of the APP's first album.
I wish Bill would play some Alan Parsons Project, maybe off Pyramid or Turn of a Friendly Card, used to listen to them until the tape wore out and the heads. That dates the Project.
agreed! Love APP!
10
I wish Bill would play some Alan Parsons Project, maybe off Pyramid or Turn of a Friendly Card, used to listen to them until the tape wore out and the heads. That dates the Project.
Jazbo wrote:
And don't forget the birth of Disco. It was definitely a wacky era for music.
If you ever defame The Shins again in this manner you will be hearing from our lawyers.
Jazbo wrote:
love this song... makes me want to be a whiskey smuggler again...
You need to bottle your musical taste and sell it like a drug.
Businessgypsy wrote:
Caught in deh damned act, Bill. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Learn to spell and maybe someone will take this comment seriously . . . but probably not.
NOT.
Will be looking for Reelin in the Years book this weekend.
You need to bottle your musical taste and sell it like a drug.
Yes indeed
Learn to spell and maybe someone will take your comment seriously . . . but probably not.
Bill has impeccable taste in music. Only 2nd to mine :)
zurcronium wrote:
You need to bottle your musical taste and sell it like a drug.
rdo wrote:
You need to bottle your musical taste and sell it like a drug.
and yet I find myself moving in the opposite direction and enjoy listening to Opera.
Maybe not all day long, but much more than I used to.
I 'm getting better about it, but still not in large doses. But, somewhere I now have Nessun Dorma in various versions (Aretha singing it in Pavarotti's key is one the most impressive bits of vocal singing there is...not that her version is most perfect, just it was a few octaves out of her normal range and she nailed it that well in almost no prep) and dealing with the garbage they force me to listen to at work makes even the worst Opera seem soothing to garbage pop-country and the limited Classic Rock the locals play (I swear they have 48 hours of music they play on shuffle).
Really? I thought it was St. John's, Newfoundland. I thought that was the "sunny island they were singing about....
The Royal Scam....!
Not only the beautiful, slightly dystopic , hipster/jazzy music. Check out the lyrics. This is very good stuff...
yep...
Is Steely Dan a man made of Steel and eats a meal of steel and reveal the peals of the deal
Hey...we can't have poetry with a SD song, can we?
And you could have used the word "repeal" in your line,