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" The protagonist in 'Deacon Blues' is a triple-L loser - an L-L-L Loser. It's not so much about a guy who achieves his dream but about a broken dream of a broken man living a broken life. "

Walter Becker

Living

Man

Broken

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" We try to write things that work on a variety of levels at the same time: A sleek exterior with a turbulent lyric. "

" I'm glad we turned into a big-time touring band later in life. In fact, it's almost like we planned it out that way. "

" 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

" 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. "

" I can never believe how much time and energy and money and talent and everything else is being poured into horrible ideas. "

" I learned a lot from the various artists I produced. Either you see them doing something that you do want to do it, or you see them doing something the way you don't want to do it. "

" I don't particularly like L.A. "

Walter Becker

Particularly

" 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. "

" My primary influences were the best jazz players from the 50's and 60's and later some of the pop people from the same time period along with the better of the well known blues musicians. "

" Let's face it, us '60s folks had pretty high expectations. "

Walter Becker

High

Expectations

" We've been allowed to operate unmolested on the fringes of the music scene, really. That's where we enjoy it most. "

" In the '70s... there were rock players, and there were jazz players. "

" Originally, we had a band known as Steely Dan. As we moved away from the band, we got whoever was appropriate for specific tunes. In a lot of cases, we gravitated toward jazz players who had more sophisticated harmonic concepts. "

Walter Becker

Jazz

Band

" It wouldn't bother me at all not to play on my own album. "

" That's sort of what we wanted to do: conquer from the margins, sort of find our place in the middle based on the fact that we were creatures of the margin and of alienation. "

" 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

Important

" I think we're right up there with Herman's Hermits and the other greats. Maybe somewhere between Herman's Hermits and the Gershwins. "

Walter Becker

Somewhere

Think

" 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. "

" There was a time in my life when one aspect of my lifestyle called for watching a lot of television. "

" 'Gaucho' was a struggle for us for a lot of reasons, and in the end, we just sort of survived it. "

" It seemed like the more complex the music we were playing, the less able we were to guarantee its consistency. "

" We have been fortunate enough to do something that has always been out of the mainstream and yet have an audience for what we do. "

" 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

Music

" I'm not interested in a rock/jazz fusion. "

" 'Deacon Blues' was special for me. It's the only time I remember mixing a record all day and, when the mix was done, feeling like I wanted to hear it over and over again. It was the comprehensive sound of the thing: the song itself, its character, the way the instruments sounded, and the way Tom Scott's tight horn arrangement fit in. "

" It's a mystery to me why everybody doesn't love jazz. I've never been able to figure that out. "

" The more of what our music does violates the premise of its format that it's presented in, the better. So, hearing our music in the supermarket, a Muzak version, is great. "

Walter Becker

Music

Our

" I think the audience for Limp Bizkit is probably not going to be particularly interested in what we're doing. I don't think they'll find much that satisfies them in what we do. "

" 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. "

" I listen to a mixture of old jazz, contemporary, pop, some world beat stuff and various odds and ends. "