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" 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. "

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" Cynicism, I contend, is the wailing of someone who believes that things are, or should be, or could be, much, much better than they are. "

Walter Becker

Cynicism

Better

Things

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Rock music is being systematically merged with fashion. "

" 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

" 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

" There was a film called 'FM,' and we were asked to do the title song. And I said, 'Does it have to have any specific words?' And they said, 'No, it just has to be about FM radio.' It took a day or two to write. "

" 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. "

" There's a great freedom in writing by yourself. You can write anything you want. "

" Most of our songs are about relationships. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" We are constantly competing with the monsters from the id. "

Walter Becker

Constantly

Competing

" 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. "

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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

" '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. "

" 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 love guys like Charlie Parker. "

Walter Becker

Charlie

Love

" I thought Twitter was a joke. I really thought it was a gag. I thought it was like National Lampoon or the Onion. "

Walter Becker

Gag

Onion

" You have a kid, and it's like, 'He's gotta go to college! Gotta have some clothes!' "

Walter Becker

Clothes

You

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

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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

Unsuccessful

Material