Description
1st track from "Two Against Nature" (2000). From my favorite era of unbridled repression—not to mention the world's tightest band—comes this musical psychological thriller!
"Two Against Nature is Dan defined. The album mixes world-class chops and jazzy, postgraduate soul sound with some wonderful, vague storytelling... As always in Steely Dan's marvelously impressionistic world, we often don't know what the hell the people in the songs are actually doing, but we're pretty damn certain that they shouldn't be doing it at all."
Haha, I just love that description! It's an excerpt from Rolling Stone's review of the album and it particularly applies to this song, which is kinda mysterious, kinda spooky, kinda naughty, kinda funny, and is great for Halloween although the lyrics reference early summer. And the timeline is a bit screwy too but let no one complain that my video is anachronistic. That's half the fun. I mean, like, we don't really know if the story is unfolding in 1944 when the American movie Gaslight was released, or if it's set in the earlier Victorian era as the original play and both movies depict, or even if it's just the first half of a cautionary tale in some Steampunk alternate reality. So just go with it. It's a space-time mashup. And watch your step, mister. Because regardless of the era, remember: Hell hath no fury... no fury... no fury...
~thatMimosaGrove
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And speaking of what the people in the song are doing...
This song is about an affair between a married man and his mistress, who are plotting a way to drive his wife insane. The term "Gaslighting" means to drive someone insane, and according to Walter Fagen and Donald Becker, it comes from the 1944 movie Gaslight, where a Victorian schizophrenic tries to drive his wife crazy using, among other methods, the gaslight.
~ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=17602
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Drums: Ricky Lawson
Bass: Tom Barney
Guitars: Walter Becker
Rhodes/clavinet: Donald Fagen
Tenor sax solo: Chris Potter
Backup vocals: Carolyn Leonhart, Cynthia Calhoun, Michael Harvey
Trumpet: Michael Leonhart
Clarinet: Lawrence Feldman
Tenor sax: Dave Tofani
Bass clarinet: Roger Rosenberg
Trombone: Jim Pugh
Horns arranged by Michael Leonhart, Donald Fagen, and Walter Becker
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Image Credits (other than album art, in order of appearance): jimmy brown / jimmy brown / PIX fave / IMDb.com / WordPress.com / jimmy brown / Steely Dan video / Sarah Zizza / JEAN JACQUES HILTPOLD / Vintagedancer.com / ADiamondFellFromTheSky / Kah Wai Sin / Steely Dan video / Chris Tazewell / lookbook.nu / IMDb.com / dvdflm / Blondinrikard Fröberg / Mary T Moore / IMDb.com / Nan Palmero / IMDb.com / Steely Dan video / Shain Erin / Shain Erin / Anguskirk / Steampunk Fashion Guide / Steely Dan video / Vintagedancer.com / victorian-goth.tumblr.com / Des D. Mona / Steely Dan video / Darcy / Chris Murray / Stephen Grebinski / Mary T Moore / Anne / Steely Dan video / misspandora.fr / IMDb.com / Hernan Irastorza / Steely Dan video / IMDb.com / Alicia J. Rose / timechaser / Bullitt D. Bourbon aka Elle Ko / .sarahwynne. / Tripp [all clock video clips] / Alyson Hurt / Michael Pujals / Mary T Moore / mendhak / Mary T Moore / Alyson Hurt / Alyson Hurt / Alyson Hurt / Patrick Q / Martin Gommel / IMDb.com / Orin Zebest / pinterest.com / abare13 / Steely Dan video / IMDb.com / Laurel Guido / Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, UofT / Luz Adriana Villa / Steely Dan video / blackmart.deviantart.com / ADiamondFellFromTheSky / lee-avision.artistwebsites.com / ADiamondFellFromTheSky / sabrinava.tumblr.com / pinterest / steampunko.com / IMDb.com / J Chou / IMDb.com / IMDb.com / JEAN JACQUES HILTPOLD / Vogue Australia / steampunkit.net / steampunko.com / Thomas Roche / J Chou / Sandrine-Isabelle / IMDb.com / steampunko.com / IMDb.com / Steely Dan video / buzzjp.com / steampunko.com / pinterest.com / JEAN JACQUES HILTPOLD / Osie Turner / IMDb.com / Marco van der Haar / Max Ross
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