Monday Music: Steely Dan

Walter Becker died last week at the age of 67. The jazz rock group that he and fellow musician Donald Fagan formed, Steely Dan, provided us with an easy groove soundtrack for our lives during the 1970s. When I went off to college, “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number” was all over the airwaves. You didn’t even have to buy a record to hear their music – it was usually in the background somewhere on someone’s radio or turntable.

Here are two selections: one from a live appearance in 1995 on The Late Show with David Letterman. They play their 1977 hit, “Josie.” You can tell Letterman was excited to have them on his program. When he greeted them afterwards, he said, “Look kids! It’s me and Steely Dan!”

The second is their 1974 hit, “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number.”

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