BABYLON SISTERS: A Songwriting Deep Dive On Steely Dan's Chordal Masterpiece

[@TimSmolens]

Learn more from Tim by joining his online conservatory on Patreon and becoming a student. www.patreon.com/hccmusic Explore Tim's KZbin channel and find the playlists of your liking. kzbin.info Listen to a video single of Tim's Beach Boys inspired music called I.S.S. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGLXZZRpm5l5idUsi=59clgNx1oohBiQZA Buy I.S.S. albums on Bandcamp timsmolens.bandcamp.com/album/shes-a-girl-deluxe-edition Check out Tim's website and buy his Beach Boys-inspired music called I.S.S. timsmolens.com/

[@beryllium9112]

I’m so happy this finally dropped, I thought i would never see a full babylon sisters analysis. Thanks so much Tim knocking it out of the park again!

[@arthurmee]

Me too.

[@JimManeri]

The algorithm brought me here. HALLELUJAH THANK YOU, IT’S F-FLAT. I hate it when people dumb it down and a chord loses its functional name. People understand music better after they use F♭ when it’s appropriate. I’ve been playing this song for decades, and it never gets old. I play it on solo piano gigs, I play it on wedding background piano gigs. I play it at a country club on Saturday night. If anybody else could play it, I would play it at a jam sessions. It’s a very underrated song, and I want it to become a standard. You get almost all 10s from the judges in your analysis, and I noted my objectoin in another comment when it appears in the vid) Your energy is great and it was fun to stay with you. Your presentation is so clear and well thought out (even if improvised) after watching this one time any master musician can know the song, and for an intermediate student at a certain place in their journey, this could be a revelation. Thanks for being a straight up Baller out there. And keep the fast talking delivery.

[@MrCoogiePenthouse]

if you think that notating the first chord as anything other than E/F# you deserve absolute madness of thinking in Fb.

[@grahamsmith9788]

@@MrCoogiePenthouse I presume he's talking about the flat VII chord, and acknowledging Tim for calling it F-flat rather than E.

[@winddealer1]

Thank you for breaking down and revealing these unique tonal relationships. Tim, thank you for your selfless contribution to decompose this hallmark work and taking us an incredibly instructive as well as insightful journery.

[@joshkatsikis9138]

My dad used to play this in the car for me when I was 4 or 5, it was my absolute favorite song during my early childhood hahaha

[@arthurmee]

I used to play it for my 3 year old son back in 1981. He used to sing along with the chorus line Babylon Sisters . . .shake it. 😊

[@joshkatsikis9138]

@@arthurmee haha that was also my favorite part to sing, still is

[@arthurmee]

@joshkatsikis9138 good thing you both didn't understand what the lyrics were about. 😄👍🏼

[@joshkatsikis9138]

@@arthurmee Haha I definitely didn't but my dad did

[@fiscaldisco5234]

what a dream come true to have someone do this kind of analysis. This so precious to me thank you. Any chance you could do Black Cow? I kind of understand most of it but there are some chords that I don't get how they fit or how I could apply those movements to my own music. They seem to come out of nowhere. Here you did a great job at demystifying some of those seemingly random chords in a way that I think I could take those concepts to something I'm making. Such a gift!

[@joeowensuk]

I love music with interesting chords and modulations. Donald Fagen is one of my absolute favourites. I have some basic music appreciation but never could have figured this out. Thank you for your hard work.

[@iTomAnks]

Brilliant! This is a really invaluable analysis. Loving the resources on your channel and these in-depth theory vids. Keep it up!

[@steved525]

Great reaction. I love the mocking trumpet section ..mwah, mwah, mwah .. just before the lyrics .."I should know by now that it's just a spasm .." making fun of a delusional protagonist past his prime. Among my top 5 SD songs.

[@vicomtedelomagne]

Love it. Enjoy your singing as well !

[@LarsonGuitarPlayer]

The most complicated song ever! Nothing for an acoustic guitar campfire troubadour... Great job! And interesting analysis of the lyrics. I like the thought of SF and LA as the Babylon Sisters. Anyway, I don´t think I have the capacity to ever learn to play this piece without notes...

[@amusicment4829]

Great, thank you for this analysis of a great song, such delicious chord writing, mysterious, intriguing

[@PaulLaginess]

As promised, you delivered, Tim. Thanks! I think Major Dudes have a fighting chance of wrapping this up now with your help. My plan is to pull a Clockwork Orange on my piano player to force the issue. I know you get the reference. Btw, I picked up The Egg That Never Opened. Deep diving into it starting next week.

[@PaulLaginess]

Not to nitpick, but what you play with the right hand in bar three (starting on beat 4 of bar 2, actually) isn't right. It's just 5 quarter notes: Eb | Gb Eb Db Eb |

[@telaim]

Beautiful song, great analysis!! Many Thanks. The way you sing this song makes me think to Robert Wyatt (sea song for instance) who I love☺

[@AndersTornqvistsvedbergh]

I am supposed to work tomorrow with a deadline on Friday. So you publish this score and I will spend the day tomorrow at the piano and will miss my deadline. Look what you made me do!

[@mysticmoose]

Loved this.

[@cpsedmonds]

I know this isn't the point of this video, but when you played the full intro, it really just sounded like Brian Wilson's take on the song akin to his 67' piano version of Surfs Up. Much love Tim xx

[@JamesJones-zt2yx]

Is that "Kirschwasser" (German for "cherry water")? It's a kind of brandy made with cherries.

[@yurikostyk745]

Oddly, the Hal Leonard book shows this as in the key of F but they use the same chords as this analysis, including Cb and Fb. Amazing!

[@TimSmolens]

@@yurikostyk745 if you look at the key I use for the last outro section it finally ends up in f to a degree I wonder if that's what they were referring to

[@MrCoogiePenthouse]

transfixed with rage, cannot stop watching, cannot stop the steam from shooting out of my ears. Fb is insanity

[@dhpbear2]

Speaking of OCD, I noticed that the image on the left is SQUEEZED! (0:47 - notice the High Castle Conservatory logo is OVAL!)

[@horowizard]

A7b9 does contain the notes of a BbmM7b5, so it is relatable to Ebm.

[@rawl747]

Thanks Tim. Steely Dan's principals were serious musicians. I miss this level of complexity in today's pop music. And, yes I am an old dog, LOL!

[@eliotmccann2589]

Have a look at Negative Girl next- it might give Babylon Sisters a run for its money in complexity.

[@blakktoose]

Every time I pick up a guitar the first chord I always play for some reason is an F flat. 😁

[@cakejune]

WAKE UP! New Tim Smolens analysis just dropped!!!! Can't wait to tell my jam buddies to hit the F flat like a "good harmonic boy".

[@TimSmolens]

@@cakejune thanks I think I said enharmonic boy since that's the word we use to describe the right spelling when there are multiple ways to name a chord letter

[@JoeCirillousa]

Dear lyric analyst - I always thought the verse that goes....."My friends say NO, Don't go for that cotton candy...Son you're playing with fire... The kid will live and learn as he watches his bridges burn, to the point of no return" is about using cocaine ( it's an alternative name for the drug, just as marijuana is called pot) it's had that alternative name 'cotton candy' for at least 40 years... no doubt, its the correct interpretation

[@Dwilsonmusic145]

This is definitely a more known song but I think “West of Hollywood” is an even crazier song chord wise

[@JeffShirleyGuitar]

Getting some Beach Boys vibes

[@patrickpowell5430]

Kirschwasser = more or less cherry brandy, similar to slivovitz except not from plums but cherries. PS And why the shades when discussing the lyrics?

[@rome8180]

Question: why not simply say the intro is in F#? That way your Cb is a B and your Fb is an E. Is the decision to call it Gb a function of the keys that come later in the song or something?

[@brucemcintyre6088]

Alternately, that mystery linking A chord could actually be a B double flat chord, to fit the rest of the flat key chord sequence better and conform to the enharmonic G-flat mode….

[@peterbriggs6375]

Jazzers tend to prefer flat keys to sharps as a matter of course, not sure if that’s the rationale here though

[@markpatterson8922]

Very nice appreciation of the harmonies. Only while you are playing your music page is jumping around in split seconds…very frustrating to watch.

[@sub-jec-tiv]

Steely Dan does what masters do. They use ‘rules’ only as ‘suggestions.’ Which is why musicians who are ‘rules referees’ tend to produce music with no surprises that doesn’t connect with wider audiences.

[@michaelyoutubestuff2434]

So I was curious and looked it up and it was Don Grolnick (a jazz guy) playing EP on this song. I am curious how much say he had about the voicings and arrangement there? He also did a bunch of stuff on The Royal Scam album. AND truly with Victor Feldman (another total jazzer) playing most all the keys on the Aja album, I wonder how much credit is due to these guys for taking Steely Dan music to a more sophisticated level? I almost feel like we should limit some of the credit Fagan and Becker get for that. Anyways.... Sure love your videos on this and Deacon Blues!! Thank you for doing this Tim!

[@bigdog38au]

I think if you use your ear as to what feels more ‘stable’ in the verse, the Bbm7 sounds like the tonic. Some of the harmony is really non-functional, it’s color and shapes like Debussy mixed in with some functional harmony towards the end of the verse.

[@TimSmolens]

Totally agree. Although the first three chords of the verse squarely fit in A flat major it doesn't necessarily sound like it is

[@YellowJello57]

Kirschwasser, literally "Cherry water", is a cherry brandy that originated in Europe. Fagen has a thing for cherry-based alcohol. He mentions cherry wine in Time Out Of Mind. It's innuendo - popping one's cherry, cherry pie etc

[@vtnatureboy]

Tim - this is an excellent video and your skills and instincts for pop music writing are admirable. I take issue with your assignment of “keys” to your harmonic analysis. Pop music it “tonal” but not “dominant/tonic” tonal (if you know what I mean). Babylon Sisters is not a “key,” but something else. Every time you say “this section is in ‘X’ key” there is maybe one dominant to tonic progression - maybe - often there is not establishing of the key. We who have been trained in western diatonic harmony naturally feel inclined to place everything in a key center as if every piece is either major or minor. Avoid this temptation. Pop music does not do that. Are the harmonies complex? Oh yes. Did you provide great insights into them? 100%. But a new analysis is needed to get closer to what Fagan was thinking. The music of Palestrina, Chopin, Wagner, Duke Ellington, Monk, is not harmonically the same as Bach, Beethoven or Brahms. This is your opportunity to revisit this song as if you were an explorer discovering something new. Give us a take on the harmonic language that is de-coupled from traditional harmony.

[@JimManeri]

Nah,it’s not B♭ ⁷ ⁽♯ ⁵ ⁾./E, it’s just E9, the tritone substitute. Perhaps you are hearing a B ♭ that’s not actually there. I think Donald Fagan left the fifth of that cord ambiguous on purpose. 28:05

[@TimSmolens]

@@JimManeri yeah I think I mentioned that those two cords are interchangeable and I like seeing the motion of the B flat seven going to e-flat

[@patrickpowell5430]

WHY do folk always insist on 'meaning' in songs? I prefer suggestive, interesting, engaging lyrics and most 'mean' very little. Dylan is a very good example: brilliant lyrics some times, but meaning? Pah! Who needs it?

[@Theprogressivemusician]

If you're interested in wild chord progressions and inversions, you need to check out this Genesis song - kzbin.info/www/bejne/i5y5imaif9h1d6M

[@TimSmolens]

Thx for the suggestion!!

[@danielsinger8177]

If bro thinks this is steely dans most complex song he should listen to Green Book. That is so Donald Fagen like - but so harmonically complex.

[@casparuskruger4807]

Great charts but please, please, please label a minor chord with an 'm' ..not an 'mi'

[@TimSmolens]

@@casparuskruger4807 I really don't like just m for minor chords, it has always bugged my eye. Why do you not like mi?

[@casparuskruger4807]

@@TimSmolens The 'i' is just an unnecessary inclusion. We know it's minor with just the 'm'

[@wietzejohanneskrikke1910]

I think the main character of the song has been living this lifestyle since being very young. "Son, you're playing with fire." is a reference to advice given to the young version of the protagonist, who obviously didn't listen and is still trying to get his kicks, but now being too old to pull the lifestyle off. Babylon sisters is definitely a reference to prostitutes. Tijuana is also a reference to his younger self looking for romance in brothels and bars,but ultimately unsuccessful in pursuing that strategy.

[@TimSmolens]

@@wietzejohanneskrikke1910 that is an interesting and very likely point. Thanks a lot for chiming in and watching.

[@fosbury68]

Cb, Fb?? Why not just call it key of F# instead of Gb?

[@MrCoogiePenthouse]

This has to be a troll.

[@ObjectorSnark]

babylon sisters, aka 'yacht girls'

[@HerrSint]

This song is just a sloppy rewritten, Steely Dan version of Frank Zappa's "Sy borg".

[@flaredrake8058]

No compositional similarity apart from reggae rhythm