“Kid Charlemagne”

[kdog]

My wife has been listening to alot of Steely Dan while she works on her plants and I can not get this song out of my head, so I had to dig deep into it to understand.

The Psychedelic Origins of Steely Dan’s ‘Kid Charlemagne’
No, it wasn’t about the Emperor of the Romans
Steely Dan emerged in the 1970s with a fresh take on rock by adding a jazz feel. The lyrics of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were dense with literary and pop culture references, clever turns and in-jokes. The music behind the words was just as good, and the pair used the best session players in the country to create a string of memorable albums.
1976’s The Royal Scam was Steely Dan’s fifth album and has been called their most cynical. Tracks included “Haitian Divorce,” “The Fez” and the triumphant “Kid Charlemagne.”
“Kid Charlemagne” tells the story of the rise and fall of a San Francisco drug manufacturer. In a 2000 online chat with the BBC, Becker revealed that the lyrics were based on Owsley Stanley, a famous LSD chemist of the 1960s known professionally as Bear. “I would say it was very loosely inspired by a character named Owsley,” said Becker. “He was a well-known psychedelic chef of the day.”
With the lyric, “You’d go to LA on a dare and you’d go it alone,” Becker and Fagen reference a trip Owsley made as described in Ken Kesey’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Owsley moved to Los Angeles from Berkeley to mass-produce LSD in 1965.
The final verse of “Kid Charlemagne” describes Owsley’s eventual 1967 bust when he was arrested after his car reportedly ran out of gas.
Clean this mess up else we’ll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there’s gas in the car
I think the people down the hall know who you are
“Kid Charlemagne” features the guitar solo of legendary session player Larry Carlton, who also appeared on Steely Dan’s Gaucho and Aja albums. Carlton’s solo on “Kid Charlemagne” has been called one of the most memorable in rock.
“It’s my claim to fame,” Carlton told Guitar World in 1981. “I did maybe two hours worth of solos that we didn’t keep. Then I played the first half of the intro, which they loved, so they kept that. I punched in for the second half. So it was done in two parts and the solo that fades out in the end was done in one pass.”
Carlton called his “Kid Charlemagne” solo the high point of his career at the time. “I can’t think of anything else that I still like to listen to as strongly as that.”

“Kid Charlemagne” by Steely Dan
Check out my book, Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever, available on Amazon.




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https://medium.com/the-riff/the-psychede...222e04b13f

[GeauxHomeLittleD]

Steely Dan is my go-to "Zen" gardening music. It helps me get mellow and I'm pretty sure the plants love it too!

[Antisthenes]

Things you probably would get along fine without ever knowing....





"As fans of Beat Generation literature of Fagen and Becker named the band after “Steely Dan III from Yokohama”, a strap-on dildo referred to in the William S. Burroughs novel, Naked Lunch. "


The finest Yacht Rock ever recorded.♡

[guohua]

Things you probably would get along fine without ever knowing....





"As fans of Beat Generation literature of Fagen and Becker named the band after “Steely Dan III from Yokohama”, a strap-on dildo referred to in the William S. Burroughs novel,  Naked Lunch. "


The finest Yacht Rock ever recorded.♡

A Strap-On Dildo!!??   REALLY!!!!!!   Okay.

[BIAD]

Steely Dan is my go-to "Zen" gardening music. It helps me get mellow and I'm pretty sure the plants love it too!

And did Jack go back and do it again? Those wheels can get rusty.

[AmericanBuffalo]

My wife has been listening to alot of Steely Dan while she works on her plants and I can not get this song out of my head, so I had to dig deep into it to understand.

The Psychedelic Origins of Steely Dan’s ‘Kid Charlemagne’
No, it wasn’t about the Emperor of the Romans
Steely Dan emerged in the 1970s with a fresh take on rock by adding a jazz feel. The lyrics of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were dense with literary and pop culture references, clever turns and in-jokes. The music behind the words was just as good, and the pair used the best session players in the country to create a string of memorable albums.
1976’s The Royal Scam was Steely Dan’s fifth album and has been called their most cynical. Tracks included “Haitian Divorce,” “The Fez” and the triumphant “Kid Charlemagne.”
“Kid Charlemagne” tells the story of the rise and fall of a San Francisco drug manufacturer. In a 2000 online chat with the BBC, Becker revealed that the lyrics were based on Owsley Stanley, a famous LSD chemist of the 1960s known professionally as Bear. “I would say it was very loosely inspired by a character named Owsley,” said Becker. “He was a well-known psychedelic chef of the day.”
With the lyric, “You’d go to LA on a dare and you’d go it alone,” Becker and Fagen reference a trip Owsley made as described in Ken Kesey’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Owsley moved to Los Angeles from Berkeley to mass-produce LSD in 1965.
The final verse of “Kid Charlemagne” describes Owsley’s eventual 1967 bust when he was arrested after his car reportedly ran out of gas.
Clean this mess up else we’ll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there’s gas in the car
I think the people down the hall know who you are
“Kid Charlemagne” features the guitar solo of legendary session player Larry Carlton, who also appeared on Steely Dan’s Gaucho and Aja albums. Carlton’s solo on “Kid Charlemagne” has been called one of the most memorable in rock.
“It’s my claim to fame,” Carlton told Guitar World in 1981. “I did maybe two hours worth of solos that we didn’t keep. Then I played the first half of the intro, which they loved, so they kept that. I punched in for the second half. So it was done in two parts and the solo that fades out in the end was done in one pass.”
Carlton called his “Kid Charlemagne” solo the high point of his career at the time. “I can’t think of anything else that I still like to listen to as strongly as that.”

“Kid Charlemagne” by Steely Dan
Check out my book, Fillmore East: The Venue That Changed Rock Music Forever, available on Amazon.




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https://medium.com/the-riff/the-psychede...222e04b13f

Yeah Larry Carlton Mr. 335! Great song and guitar solo!

[hounddoghowlie]

A Strap-On Dildo!!??   REALLY!!!!!!   Okay.

It's not just a regular strap on it's steam powered.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Related is this book...



The definitive guide to the Counterculture/military industrial complex of MKULTRA Ops perched atop Laurel Canyon with a birds-eye view of the nascent hippie movement from top secret Lookout Mountain Laboratory. Many of the 60's band singers came from military intelligence families, mainly their parents including many who died young. John Phillips comes across as one who was a sheep-dipped Oswald and Stephen Stills was similiar.

This was way before my time so the book blew my mind clear to Saturn & beyond.

Excerpts:











I guess those were the acid dream days.

[kdog]

Related is this book...



The definitive guide to the Counterculture/military industrial complex of MKULTRA Ops perched atop Laurel Canyon with a birds-eye view of the nascent hippie movement from top secret Lookout Mountain Laboratory. Many of the 60's band singers came from military intelligence families, mainly their parents including many who died young. John Phillips comes across as one who was a sheep-dipped Oswald and Stephen Stills was similiar.

This was way before my time so the book blew my mind clear to Saturn & beyond.

Excerpts:











I guess those were the acid dream days.

Wow !

[Ninurta]

Steely Dan is my go-to "Zen" gardening music. It helps me get mellow and I'm pretty sure the plants love it too!

I've always had a soft spot for "Don't Take Me Alive".


.

[Ninurta]

Steely Dan is my go-to "Zen" gardening music. It helps me get mellow and I'm pretty sure the plants love it too!

And did Jack go back and do it again? Those wheels can get rusty.

I don't know about Jack, but I have it on good authority that Rikki did lose that number in a drunken spree.

.

[FlyingClayDisk]

IMO, Kid Charlemagne is one of Steely Dan's best songs, I love that song!!  It never gets old!  Despite the subject matter, a culture I wasn't really into, the song itself is just awesome.  I always loved the way Steely Dan arranged things.  I was really big into music back in the late 70's, and through the 80's.

A bit of music trivia:  Did you know that Steely Dan (to the best of my knowledge, unless it's been lately) has never put on a major concert show?  They've played many small venues, but anything over a couple thousand people is about the biggest they've ever done.  Fagen was very self conscious of his looks and body language, and this is a large part of the reason.

I can't even begin to imagine what the draw would have been if they would have shown up at venues such as the US Festival back in their heighdays!  (I was there, BTW). 

Fantastic band!  And most of their songs are very, how could I say it..."intelligent" (for lack of a better term).  They frequently used very complex arrangements, often played in weird time signatures changing up regularly, and Fagen was notorious for being a perfectionist (almost to fault) in the recording studio.  Very interesting history.

[kdog]

IMO, Kid Charlemagne is one of Steely Dan's best songs, I love that song!!  It never gets old!  Despite the subject matter, a culture I wasn't really into, the song itself is just awesome.  I always loved the way Steely Dan arranged things.  I was really big into music back in the late 70's, and through the 80's.

A bit of music trivia:  Did you know that Steely Dan (to the best of my knowledge, unless it's been lately) has never put on a major concert show?  They've played many small venues, but anything over a couple thousand people is about the biggest they've ever done.  Fagen was very self conscious of his looks and body language, and this is a large part of the reason.

I can't even begin to imagine what the draw would have been if they would have shown up at venues such as the US Festival back in their heighdays!  (I was there, BTW). 

Fantastic band!  And most of their songs are very, how could I say it..."intelligent" (for lack of a better term).  They frequently used very complex arrangements, often played in weird time signatures changing up regularly, and Fagen was notorious for being a perfectionist (almost to fault) in the recording studio.  Very interesting history.

Yes , very unigue and original. I have always been a fan. But, I love looking up the meanings of songs. I am usually surprised by the original meaning.

[GeauxHomeLittleD]

Steely Dan is my go-to "Zen" gardening music. It helps me get mellow and I'm pretty sure the plants love it too!

And did Jack go back and do it again? Those wheels can get rusty.

I don't know about Jack, but I have it on good authority that Rikki did lose that number in a drunken spree.

.

I have it on good authority that the water changed to cherry wine. Maybe that means Jesus is back?

[GeauxHomeLittleD]

Jamming with my morning coffee.
Anybody remember when Donald Fagen embarked on a solo career?