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" If it feels like we're re-creating something rather than creating something, we don't do it. "
Walter Becker
Something
Rather
Like
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" I think that there's the self-imposed pressure to come up with something that's good. For guys like us, that's much more important than any external pressure could really be. "
Walter Becker
Pressure
More
Important
" The perfect day for me is waking up and having a cup of tea with my kids before I drive them to school; Then, I go into the studio and try and write some music for three or four hours and give up about noon. "
Walter Becker
Tea
Drive
Day
" I spent a couple of years not doing any music or anything, just here in Hawaii trying to get healthy and adjust to the new regimen I was setting up for myself. "
Walter Becker
Healthy
Doing
Trying
" From a linguistic point of view, you can't really take much objection to the notion that a show is a show is a show. "
Walter Becker
Point
View
Show
" When the first album came out and I heard 'Do It Again' on the radio, that was the greatest thing that had ever happened. After that, it was all downhill. "
Walter Becker
Ever
Out
Radio
" Going out and looking for managers is like going out and looking for rattlesnakes. "
Walter Becker
Looking
Like
Going
" You have a kid, and it's like, 'He's gotta go to college! Gotta have some clothes!' "
Walter Becker
Clothes
You
Like
" I guess actually playing on the records and touring is a great forced practice regimen for me. And you learn a lot playing with people. "
Walter Becker
You
People
Great
" Some places you play in America, it's like 'On the Waterfront.' "
Walter Becker
Places
Like
America
" I always look for the weirdest note to land on. I felt that that was the least I could do for the great musical traditions which I've spawned. "
Walter Becker
Great
Always
Land
" I can never believe how much time and energy and money and talent and everything else is being poured into horrible ideas. "
Walter Becker
Time
Talent
Money
" Most of the time when people say something sounds like Steely Dan, and I listen to it, it doesn't. And I'm not even sure what they're talking about. "
Walter Becker
People
Listen
Say
" We are constantly competing with the monsters from the id. "
Walter Becker
ID
Constantly
Competing
" There are some things that I write that I know are personal in a way, or the gag is so obscure that it's just for me, and there's other things that could basically be for anybody or be anything, at least until the lyrics start to get written. "
Walter Becker
Personal
Obscure
Me
" I don't particularly like L.A. "
Walter Becker
Like
Particularly
" It seemed like the more complex the music we were playing, the less able we were to guarantee its consistency. "
Walter Becker
Music
Playing
Consistency
" Given a choice between Charlie Mingus and Eric Dolphy or Joe Strummer and Lou Reed, there was no choice. I like Reed and Strummer, but it's kiddie music. "
Walter Becker
Choice
Like
Music
" I learned music from a book on piano theory. I was only interested in knowing about chords. From that, and from the 'Harvard Dictionary of Music,' I learned everything I wanted to know. "
Walter Becker
Know
Music
Everything
" It was the 'Gaucho' album that finished us off. We had pursued an idea beyond the point where it was practical. That album took about two years, and we were working on it all of that time - all these endless tracking sessions involving different musicians. It took forever, and it was a very painful process. "
Walter Becker
Time
Process
Two
" I'm not interested in a rock/jazz fusion. "
Walter Becker
Interested
Fusion
Not Interested
" We opened for the Kinks, the Beach Boys, the Guess Who, Chuck Berry, Sha Na Na. We opened for Cheech and Chong - I opened for Cheech, and Don opened for Chong. "
Walter Becker
Beach
Guess
Who
" ABC had all these schlocky, bubblegum acts, and we had to come up with suitable material for them. In which we were amazingly unsuccessful. "
Walter Becker
Up
Unsuccessful
Material
" What about that Dave Brubeck live album, with a version of 'Like Someone in Love' on it, and long sax solos by Paul Desmond? That's what got me hooked on jazz. "
Walter Becker
Love
Someone
Me
" With any relationship that goes on and is productive over a long period, there have to be some sort of interlocking qualities in those personalities that make it possible to survive. "
Walter Becker
Survive
Relationship
Possible
" I have a feeling there were many, many successful rock duos that just didn't get attention. That's the fault of the rock press. They are always playing up controversy, scandal, aggravation, and irritation. "
Walter Becker
Feeling
Rock
Successful
" You can't always count on the devices, attitudes, and conceits that stood you in good stead in 1972 or 1973, or 1978-79, to still have the same impact all these years later. "
Walter Becker
You
Years
Same
" 'Gaucho' was a struggle for us for a lot of reasons, and in the end, we just sort of survived it. "
Walter Becker
End
Just
Struggle
" What gets people into trouble with records now is that they want to build something up without substantial musical ideas. Without that as a foundation, you can add all the layers of sound you want - it's still going to sound like a mess. "
Walter Becker
People
Ideas
Trouble
" There's a great freedom in writing by yourself. You can write anything you want. "
Walter Becker
Writing
Freedom
Yourself
" When you're collaborating with somebody, there has to be a spirit of cooperation. There are a lot of times when you just can't persuade someone to write a certain type of song, either musically or lyrically. "
Walter Becker
Song
Spirit
Cooperation