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.