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" 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. "

Walter Becker

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

" It's interesting how some songs really lend themselves to performance in a big public venue and performance by a band and so on, and so they're even more successful in that context than they were on the record. "

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

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

" Some places you play in America, it's like 'On the Waterfront.' "

Walter Becker

Places

America

" 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. "

" 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

" 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. "

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

" 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

" 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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" '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. "

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

Walter Becker

Been

Able

" 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

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

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

" Most of our songs are about relationships. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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

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

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

Walter Becker

High

Expectations

" 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. "

" In the '70s, my playing was completely untutored, but it sounded good to me, and I tried to find ways to make those very simple things work in more ambitious contexts. "

Walter Becker

Good

Work

" 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. "

" Rock music is being systematically merged with fashion. "

" It's great fun to play with a really good band. "

" 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. "