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" 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. "

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" 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

" If there's a strange way to do something, I would certainly like to know about it. I feel that I owe that to my public. "

Walter Becker

Strange

Way

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" I'm a self-taught musician aside from what I've been able to pick up from other players. "

Walter Becker

Been

Able

" 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. "

" 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 love guys like Charlie Parker. "

Walter Becker

Charlie

Love

" People are really exercised about one particular thing, and that is themselves. They will bore you endlessly with their broken hearts. "

" We play rock & roll, but we swing when we play. We want that ongoing flow, that lightness, that forward rush of jazz. "

" I don't think that the Grammys are in any way a just way of grading music. "

" It's good - it's great when somebody who is 20 years younger than you comes up and says, 'Wow, we just got turned on to you guys, and you're really great,' or something like that. I like that. "

" Our career had a sort of funny shape. "

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

" I think what television and video games do is reminiscent of drug addiction. There's a measure of reinforcement and a behavioural loop. "

" 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. "

" 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

" If any artist abuses his audience as a means to any end, noble or ignoble, he better have a damn good reason for it. "

Walter Becker

Good

Artist

" 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. "

" When you start to work with someone, there's a negotiation that takes place involving what's going to happen when you have a difference of opinion. Most attempts at collaboration never survive the negotiation. Merely being agreeable is not enough. "

" Going out and looking for managers is like going out and looking for rattlesnakes. "

Walter Becker

Looking

Going

" We fly to the town in the little private airplane, and then we have to get in cars and drive to the hotel and then drive to the gig. So, I want to do a tour where the performances will actually be at the small airports. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" If you're playing in a room that holds 15,000 people, it's just a question of how bad the room acoustics are and in what way they're bad. "

" I think every time, before we do an album, we have a discussion where we sort of consider the idea of doing something radically different. "

" 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. "