Steely Dan's 12 greatest songs

4. “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” from Pretzel Logic (1974)

The first track from Pretzel Logic was Steely Dan’s highest-charting single ever. It made it up to number four in the USA and to number three in Canada. The song opens with a flapamba, not a typical instrument in a hit American single. Then the shuffle begins. Jim Gordon’s relaxed drum groove provides a reassuring bottom to a song about reassurance. As with “Any Major Dude,” this is a song about recovery. About the return to peace after a period of turbulence.

This is one of the final hurrahs for Skunk Baxter, and he delivers an excellent solo just before the bridge. Fagen cedes the piano to Michael Omartian and he serves up a sad/hopeful tone that is ideal for this sad/hopeful song. It is one of the rare songs that has been covered in a variety of different styles, from both instrumental and vocal jazz arrangements to classical guitar to a killer bluegrass rendition by Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen a few years ago.

3. “Show Biz Kids” from Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)

Countdown to Ecstasy was the follow-up to the debut album and some people considered it a letdown. They were wrong. It just wasn’t as radio-friendly, with the exception of “My Old School.” “Show Biz Kids” was really the first indication of how special this band could be.

It has a rhythm and instrumentation that you can never quite place. It has a chorus singing a phrase that to this day remains indecipherable. It is complex and mysterious, and they even name-check themselves and drop in a word you weren’t allowed to say on the radio in the middle of it all.

Rick Derringer’s slide guitar infiltrates the entire song from the opening chords to the final fadeout, and the absence of Baxter and Dias from the recording is a hint of things to come. But, just to balance out how much I love this song, I will note that last year, there was a Reddit thread entitled “Why does everyone seem to hate Show Biz Kids.” I didn’t read the whole thing. Most of the people who responded did so in order to say how much they actually love the song. Sometimes, Reddit nails it.