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  • Nightfly

  • The Life of Steely Dan's Donald Fagen
  • By: Peter Jones
  • Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
  • Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (5 ratings)

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Nightfly cover art

Nightfly

By: Peter Jones
Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
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Summary

Donald Fagen will forever be associated with Steely Dan, the band he formed with Walter Becker and four other musicians in 1972.

The smooth radio-friendly veneer of the duo's songs made Steely Dan internationally popular and famous in the 1970s, but the polish glossed over the underlying layers of anger, disappointment, sleaze, and often downright weirdness lurking just beneath the surface. The elliptical lyrics—were—and continue to be-an endless source of fascination. What kind of person was capable of writing such songs?

Fagen has always kept his true self hidden behind walls of irony, confounding most journalistic enquiries with a mixture of obscurity and sarcasm. Nightfly cracks open the door to reveal the life behind the lyrics and traces Fagen's story from early family life in suburban New Jersey, to his first encounter with Walter Becker at Bard College, their long struggle for recognition as songwriters, and the formation of Steely Dan. The band's break-up in 1981, reformation in 1993, and Fagen's parallel solo career are covered in detail.
©2022 Peter Jones (P)2022 Tantor
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Profile Image for Tim Armishaw

Interesting story made dull by poor writing

This book should be so good; interesting band with a story that's worth reading (or hearing), and yet this comes across as fan-boy stuff narrated by Yogi Bear. Avoid

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