After ‘Never Let Her Slip Away’ and ‘War Baby’, the song I’m now playing on loop is… this one:

It’s taken me until now - literally now: this week - to discover Steely Dan. One of those bands whose name I knew so well, but when growing up suspected they were some sort of folk outfit, like Lindisfarne. (Little did I know where they did get their name from).

But I’ve been hearing their name an awful lot in recent months; partly because they’re well-loved by jazzers.

So now I’m listening to their music for the first time - although of course it turns out I did know ‘Ricki Don’t Lose That Number’ and ‘Reelin’ In The Years’. I just didn’t know they were by Steely Dan.

‘Peg’ is just wonderful. And not just because it’s Michael McDonald on backing vocals.

Here’s a video of Steely Dan performing it live.

PS. You’ll also see on Lastfm/YouTube a link to a girl doing an acoustic version. Which is pretty cool. Not sure any acoustic version can equal or surpass the recording (no Michael McDonald harmonies, for a start), but it still sounds good, and she has a lovely voice.

PPS. Steely Dan are also clearly a huge influence on this duo, who are probably the best unknown band out there right now. Certainly one of the silliest. Make sure you listen to the lyrics as well as their music if you don’t believe me (I especially recommend ‘Modern Sleepover’, ‘All At Sea’ and ‘Please Please Me’). They’re a couple of friends of a jazz bassist I know; and a sort of Doobie Brothers-meets-Half Man Half Biscuit.

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