“Gaucho” piano demo, Donald Fagen solo

[@HandsomeCat-we2dq]

That’s the piano riff Fagen took from Keith Jarrett. He said he loved it so much. Everything comes from something else.

[@MrHopeTelevision]

Fagen and Becker will go down as two of the greatest and wittiest songwriters of all time

[@kitrichardson2165]

I love the purity and immediate quality of his voice in these demos. Surprisingly, I like it better than the version on the album with the exception of some of the high notes.

[@daviddubinsky868]

The final versions are amazing, but the demo's give me so much more insight into what's going on musically. They are outrageously close to the final version, just with less instrumentation.

[@totalrobot]

Musicians: marvel at how ALREADY DEVELOPED their "demos" are! The melodies and entire song structure is already there!

[@davebartholome2924]

Yeah, I was similarly amazed by the “Black Cow” demo that’s been floating about on KZbin. I wouldn’t have thought it would work as just a piano and vocal tune-but it does.

[@totalrobot]

@@davebartholome2924 Check out the "Katy Lied" demos and outtakes. pretty cool!

[@davebartholome2924]

@@totalrobot Thanks, will do.

[@nasapigstheiii7379]

Probably cause they self-admittedly ripped most of it from Keith Jarret lol

[@davebartholome2924]

@@nasapigstheiii7379 No, they didn't. The intro was the only bit nicked from Jarrett.

[@Tool46and2]

This is so fucking cool.

[@jerrymammoser9857]

Go, Donald! We’ve got heavy rollers!

[@jason_samosa]

I live steely dan and I shall die steely dan. Thank you Vishnu for the dan!

[@kevindigo22]

It's nice to hear this raw version before they polished it all up with the studio embellishments. It gives some insights into what DF was hearing and working with as the song was created.

[@caioraphaeloliveira980]

Obrigado Donald. Por existir

[@_jm0n3y8oo_]

Oh I absolutely love these demos I keep hearing. I have such an appreciation for Steely Dan and Donald Fagen solo work. These raw versions I could listen to over and over as well. I find my brain filling in the empty spaces with the parts anyways

[@keithdubois8579]

I hear those Jarrett chords. Without knowing the history of this song anyone familar with Keith Jarrett's music would immediately hear the resemblance.

[@EVEN-STEPHEN]

WISHING YOU AND THE WHOLE CREW ALL THE BEST @ - M S G - ! E.S.

[@daniellenaerts5750]

My understanding is that certain engineers attending the test sessions would secretly take copies of the rehearsals at the end of the day onto portable recorders.... Most of the engineers are now retired or moved to other jobs and start to release their tapes on you tube?

[@jerrymammoser9857]

Bounties on their heads

[@static6OOO]

Thank you!

[@mrvibe9957]

That must have taken a long time to write and perfect

[@smokeysunday]

Thank you 🙏

[@PhilUKNet]

Where did this come from? I've seen other SD track demos pop up on KZbin. Just wondered about the source.

[@ericdoce4974]

this is probably not the answer you're looking for, but these tracks have been available for years on P2P services such as Soulseek, and for longer on bootleg CDs.

[@PhilUKNet]

@@ericdoce4974 I wasn't looking for any particular answer, I was just curious. Thanks!

[@chrisk475]

His pronouncing of elevator shoooes is hilarious.

[@Peter-ih2tn]

Keith Jarret

[@davebartholome2924]

Yeah, Fagen used “Long As You Know You’re Living Yours” for the intro, and they should have gotten permission, of course, but really, some people make too much of this. The song IS Becker & Fagen’s-after the intro, the musical content of the song has no relation to the Jarrett piece (well, except for when the intro is repeated…) Anyway, all’s well that ends well-Jarrett’s now listed as a co-composer and gets his little slice of the royalties.

[@rogersat]

Fagen runs circles around Keith’s composition

[@BobSchusterMusiccom]

Actually more powerful than the slick polished final.

[@_LifeIsGood]

You either get SD, or you don't.

[@jotapecu]

It was probably not one of the best days of good DF ...

[@kathleenhutton1566]

If u don't respect that then you haven't grown up yet(musically)!

[@Jmorris4000]

I don't normaly say fuck in any comments but..fuck.

[@dmljones2550]

Geez no wonder Keith Jarrett was p….d off🤓

[@primtones]

This is hard core. The rest is fluff.

[@davebartholome2924]

The rest of what?

[@primtones]

@@davebartholome2924 All the instruments they added in the final version. I love this minimalist, spacious arrangement.