Call me Deacon Blues

[oldbike54]

 RIP Walter Becker , gone at 67 . Thanks for providing so much wonderful music and humor 

 Dusty

[nyITguy]

Awful. Glad I went to see them last summer up in Woodstock.


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[Chuck in Indiana]

Crap. RIP Walter. There probably isn't any bigger Steely Dan fan than me.. I wondered why Fagen was doing a concert by himself this summer. I just played an interview by Marianne McPartland CD with them last night. Hadn't played it in years and years. Cue Twilight Zone..

[RinkRat II]

  RIP Walter.
    For me, one of those artists you really connect with musically and lyrically. Oh my misspent youth,you definetly had an influence on my musical tastes. Godspeed Mr. Becker


        Paul B

[twowings]

"My back to the wall, a victim of laughing chance.
This is for me, the essence of true romance.
Sharing the things we know and love
with those of my kind,
Libations, sensations
That stagger the mind..."

Thanks for getting me thru the seventies and to infinity and beyond, Walter!
You are surely destined to become stardust...

[ITSec]

Any Major Dude Will Tell You.... A guitarist that deserved more recognition than he received, even though he was praised. Dozens of great artists moved through Steely Dan, but at the core there was always Fagen and Becker - and their signature sound.

[Demar]

Crap. RIP Walter. There probably isn't any bigger Steely Dan fan than me.. I wondered why Fagen was doing a concert by himself this summer. I just played an interview by Marianne McPartland CD with them last night. Hadn't played it in years and years. Cue Twilight Zone..

 :1:  One of my top 3 for my entire life, well, since 8th grade. I wore the needle off the phonograph listening to The Royal Scam. Such interesting music paired with clever lyrics. I'm so glad I saw them about 3 years ago. One of the best concerts I've ever been to.

[Sheepdog]

I saw Steely Dan a couple of years back at the New Orleans JazzFest. Walter Becker was a guitar maestro, playing clean throughout the set. He created chops that were critical to Steely
Dan's sound. His artistry will be missed. Godspeed, Walter...

[pebra]

I do consider that a major loss, I've enjoyed so much of their music for so long.
Saw them last 10 years ago, still a fine act.

[Chuck in Indiana]

:1:  One of my top 3 for my entire life, well, since 8th grade. I wore the needle off the phonograph listening to The Royal Scam. Such interesting music paired with clever lyrics. I'm so glad I saw them about 3 years ago. One of the best concerts I've ever been to.

Yeah, I've worn out vinyl. At one time, I had everything they ever recorded..even before they were Steely Dan. Just this morning, Dorcia was organizing the basement and asked what I wanted to do with the virgin vinyl "Can't buy a thrill.."
We'll raise a glass and play it tonight.

[blackcat]

"Walter Carl Becker was born Feb. 20, 1950, in the New York City borough of Queens. At first a saxophonist, he switched to guitar in high school and began playing with Fagen while attending Bard College. (An early band of theirs, called Leather Canary, included future actor Chevy Chase on drums.)"

The two of them were also part of the touring band for Jay and the Americans in 70-71.

[nyITguy]

Posted by Fagen on Facebook:

Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.

We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.

Walter had a very rough childhood - I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people’s hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby’s singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter.

His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.
I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can, both with the Steely Dan band. We’ll miss him forever.

Donald Fagen
September 3 2017




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[beetle]

Another great musician gone. RIP.

[Swedemoto]

He will be missed. Still one of my favorite bands from the days of youth in the '70s. Actually had Countdown to Ecstasy loaded in the car. That Rick Derringer slide on Show Biz Kids is fab and still gets me today. Rikki Lee also penned a nice tribute. Such a great band!

[slowmover]

His solo album "11 Tracks of Whack" is like 11 new Steely Dan songs you've never heard.It's a phenomenal recording  I was so lucky to stumble upon and a deep insight into the man.Thank you for all the years of music.

[Chuck in Indiana]

That Rick Derringer slide on Show Biz Kids is fab

They had some of the best rock guitar solos ever recorded by various guys over the years. I could name a bunch of them.. all different styles. Skunk Baxter.. Larry Carlton on "Kid Charlemagne" and many others..

[Guzzistajohn]

Major Bummer, Glad I got to see him 1X. It was @ the Starlight in K.C. What a show. Probably my #1 concert ever.

[kingoffleece]

I had tickets for a show this fall.  Loved the band for so long............... ....