Steely Dan Concert in NY

I caught a Steely Dan show last night at the Beacon Theatre. Tickets were very expensive but worth every cent.

The lyrics of their song, Hey Nineteen, released in 1980, include, "The Cuervo Gold, the fine Columbian, make tonight a wonderful thing." I've always wondered whether "the fine Columbian" was a reference to weed or something stronger. Walter Becker did a cryptic spoken intro to the song and described the drink (Cuervo), and "cigarettes that you roll yourself with something that you don't see very much of anymore." It's been 28 years since the song was released, on the album Gaucho (1980), I finally know that the "fine Columbian" in Hey Nineteen was a reference to weed. :jointsmile:

They were in great form, and if they're playing in your area this summer I highly recommend seeing them.

That sounds like fun, BA! Glad you were able to do that.

Ah, Steely Dan. Brings back good memories for the "older" generation like us!

I'm going to look and see if they're scheduled for Texas. I'd love to see them. This topic is going to make me put on some Steely Dan tunes right now, in fact.

I recommend that you get tickets immediatly before they are all gone. If the box office is sold out, you might want to try ticket agencies.

Quote:

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Houston â?? 6/9 â?? Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have announced that STEELY DAN will bring their THINK FAST, STEELY DAN SUMMER TOUR 2008, to The Verizon Wireless Theater in Houston on 8/20. Tickets will go on sale beginning 6/14 at 10am. Visit Steelydan.com for more information.

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well.. I'm not an old fart like you folks, but I love steely dan... favourites being; black cow, Ricky don't loose that number, but my absolute FAV is PEG!!! man, I've busted that in a kareoke afterhours that got raided... TOO FUNNY... but thats another story

YouTube - Steely Dan - Peg

YouTube - Steely Dan - Black Cow

I guess I am going to have to go and look through my old boxes of LP's ( for the younger generation LP same as CD only bigger and easier to break) and listen to the good old days.
You are right the tickets would be worth every penny.

Cheers

NCM

Thanks for the info, BA. I'll talk to my date about this. I'm hoping I may have a break sometime in late August from rotations, and I'd love to go do that. We could combine a trip to Houston and a visit to the in-laws. (That's where his parents live.) August is a deeply and abidingly nasty thing in Houston. But for Steely Dan, it'd be worth it.

You're welcome.

They're also playing in Dallas on Aug. 21.

The touring band lineup is excellent. There were twelve people on stage: Donald Fagan, Walter Becker, two female singers and eight musicians in the band, some of whom have been with Steely Dan on records and previous tours.

Damn, I am jealous. Steely Dan is my all time favorite band, hands down, no competetion, not even close. There is never a time when I don't have SOMETHING of theirs in my car CD changer.
I always assumed 'the fine Columbian' was a reference to something quite popular around the time of the album release. And that is just a VERY nice surprise to hear it's not. Although their entire discography is rife with double entendres and hidden meanings (listen to 'Everyone's Gone to the Movies' a few times... ), so I guess it's still not ruled out.

My favorite tracks have to be 'Kid Charlemagne', 'Don't Take me Alive', 'Western World', 'Dr. Wu', and 'Aja'. I also think 'Hey Nineteen' and 'FM' are GREAT party tunes.

As a Steely Dan fan, I'd guess that you know who the inspiration for Kid Charlemagne was.

Getting back to Hey Nineteen, there are some internet postings about the meaning of "fine Columbian". One person offered the opinion that there would have been no reason for it to be about marijuana from Columbia because it can be grown anywhere. It's ironic because, as many of us slightly older folks know, Columbian was one of the best types of marijuana available at the time of Hey Nineteen's release. Another example of life imitating art.

Indeed. And that line has been in my signature on every forum that I have been involved with.