"Reelin' In the Years" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Steely Dan | ||||
from the album Can't Buy a Thrill | ||||
B-side | "Only a Fool Would Say That" | |||
Released | March 1973 [1] | |||
Recorded | August 1972 | |||
Studio | The Village Recorder, Santa Monica, California | |||
Genre | Pop rock [ citation needed ] | |||
Length | 4:37 | |||
Label | ABC | |||
Songwriter(s) | Walter Becker, Donald Fagen | |||
Producer(s) | Gary Katz | |||
Steely Dan singles chronology | ||||
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Audio | ||||
"Reelin' In the Years" on YouTube |
"Reelin' In the Years" (sometimes entitled "Reeling In the Years") is a song by American rock band Steely Dan, released as the second single from their 1972 debut album, Can't Buy a Thrill . It peaked at No. 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and at No. 15 in Canada.
The song was written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and features Fagen on vocals. In 2009, Rolling Stone described the track as "a prime early example of what would become the Dan's trademark vibe, marrying a sardonic kiss-off to an ex to a bouncy shuffle groove, and adding on some white-hot guitar dazzlement courtesy of Elliott Randall to bring the whole thing home." In the same interview, Fagen said "It's dumb but effective", and Becker said "It's no fun." [2]
The guitar solo on the original recorded version, by session player Elliott Randall, was recorded in one take. [3] It has reportedly been rated by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page as his favorite solo of all time, [4] [5] and he scored it 12/10. [6] In 2016 the solo was ranked the 40th best guitar solo of all time by the readers of Guitar World magazine. [7] [8]
The four-channel quadraphonic mix of the recording has extra lead guitar fills not heard in the more common two-channel stereo version.[ citation needed ]
On its release in 1973, Billboard said: "Easy sounding guitar solos lead into an easy sounding piano break which supports the voices extolling about culling life's experiences from tears to time." [9] Cash Box called it a "winner highlighted by some expert guitar playing." [10] Record World said that "Another winner from their Can't Buy A Thrill LP should reel in whopping sales." [11]
The song was a No. 11 hit on the Billboard Singles Chart in May 1973. In March 2005, Q magazine placed the recording at No. 95 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [19] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Initially the band had a stable lineup but in 1974 Becker and Fagen retired from live performances to become a studio-only band, opting to record with a revolving cast of session musicians. Rolling Stone has called them "the perfect musical antiheroes for the seventies".
Pretzel Logic is the third studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released by ABC Records on February 20, 1974. It was recorded at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California, with producer Gary Katz. The album was Steely Dan's last to be made and released while the group was still an active touring band, as well as the final album to feature the band's full quintet-lineup of Becker, Fagen, Denny Dias, Jim Hodder, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, though it also features significant contributions from many prominent Los Angeles-based studio musicians.
Donald Jay Fagen is an American musician best known as the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker. In addition to his work with Steely Dan, Fagen has released four solo albums, beginning with The Nightfly in 1982, which was nominated for seven Grammys.
Can't Buy a Thrill is the debut studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released by ABC Records in November 1972. It was written by band members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and recorded in August 1972 at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles with producer Gary Katz. The album is one of Steely Dan's most stylistically eclectic, encompassing the sounds of soft rock, folk rock, jazz-rock and pop, alongside philosophical, elliptical lyrics.
Countdown to Ecstasy is the second studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released by ABC Records in July 1973. It was recorded at the Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, California, except for Rick Derringer's slide guitar part for "Show Biz Kids", which was recorded at Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado. After the departure of vocalist David Palmer from Steely Dan, the group recorded the album with Donald Fagen singing lead on every track.
Katy Lied is the fourth studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released by ABC Records in March 1975; reissues have been released by MCA Records since ABC Records was acquired by MCA in 1979. It was the first album the group made after they stopped touring, as well as their first to feature backing vocals by Michael McDonald.
The Royal Scam is the fifth studio album by American rock band Steely Dan, released by ABC Records in 1976; reissues have been released by MCA Records since ABC Records was acquired by MCA in 1979. It was produced by Gary Katz. In the United States, the album peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, and it has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"Kid Charlemagne" is a song by the rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their 1976 album The Royal Scam and reached number 82 in the Billboard charts. It is a fusion of a funk rhythm and jazz harmonies with rock and roll instrumentals and lyrical style. The guitar solo by jazz fusion guitarist Larry Carlton was ranked #80 in the list of the 100 greatest guitar solos by Rolling Stone.
"Deacon Blues" is a song written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen in 1976 and recorded by their group Steely Dan on their 1977 album Aja. It peaked at number 19 on the Billboard charts and number 17 on the U.S. Cash Box Top 100 in June 1978. It also reached #40 on the Easy Listening chart. In Canada, it peaked at #14, a position it occupied for two weeks, and #20 Adult Contemporary. In 2021, it was listed at No. 214 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Elliott Randall is an American guitarist, best known for being a session musician and performing with popular music artists. Randall played the well-known guitar solos on Steely Dan's song "Reelin' in the Years" and Irene Cara's song "Fame". The former solo was ranked as the 40th best guitar solo of all time by the readers of Guitar World magazine and the eighth best guitar solo by Q4 Music.
"Peg" is a song by the American rock group Steely Dan, first released on the band's 1977 album Aja. The track was released as a single in 1977 and reached number 11 on the US Billboard chart in 1978 and number eight on the Cash Box chart. With a chart run of 19 weeks, "Peg" is tied with "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and "Hey Nineteen" for being Steely Dan's longest-running chart hit. In Canada, "Peg" spent three weeks at number seven in March 1978.
"Hey Nineteen" is a song by the band Steely Dan from their album Gaucho (1980).
"Show Biz Kids" is a song composed by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and performed by Steely Dan with Rick Derringer on slide guitar. It was the first single from Steely Dan's 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy, and reached number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Do It Again" is a 1972 song composed and performed by American rock group Steely Dan, who released it as a single from their debut album Can't Buy a Thrill. The single version differed from the album version, shortening the intro and outro and omitting the organ solo.
"Pretzel Logic" is a song written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, released as a single by Steely Dan from their album Pretzel Logic, originally in 1974 by ABC Records. It reached number 57 in the Billboard charts.
"My Old School" is a single drawn from Steely Dan's 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy. It reached number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is a single released in 1974 by rock/jazz rock group Steely Dan and the opening track of their third album Pretzel Logic. It was the most successful single of the group's career, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1974.
"FM (No Static at All)" is a song by American jazz-rock band Steely Dan, the title theme for the 1978 film FM. It made the US Top 40 that year when released as a single, a success relative to the film. Musically, it is a complex jazz-rock composition driven by its bass, guitar and piano parts, typical of the band's sound from this period; its lyrics look askance at the album-oriented rock format of many FM radio stations at that time, in contrast to the film's celebration of that medium.
"Josie" is a song written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and first released by Steely Dan on their 1977 album Aja. It was also released as the third single from the album and performed modestly well, reaching #26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #44 on the Easy Listening chart that year. It has appeared on several Steely Dan live and compilation albums.
"Time Out of Mind" is a song by the American rock group Steely Dan that was first released on their 1980 album Gaucho. It was also released as the album's second single in 1981, peaking at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remaining on the chart for 11 weeks. It was Steely Dan's final hit before disbanding in the summer of that year.
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