Steely Dan-Josie

[Ardent15]

Man, one of my favorite songs lately that I keep going back to is Josie by Steely Dan.

The WHOLE song is such a hip, funky, downright interesting piece of work. But a big part of that is Jim Keltner's drumming. Those grooves and fills-what possessed him to play like that? Performances like that are few and far between. The FEEL that Keltner oozes with every ghost note, snare drag, hi-hat flourish...everything lives and breathes groove. It literally makes me want to dance, since Keltner is dancing on the drums in this performance.

So anyone else feel this way about Josie? Which songs or performances ooze feel and musicality to you, at this point in time? Which songs, like Josie for me, do you listen to many times and pick something out new each time?

[Clint Hopkins]

Man, one of my favorite songs lately that I keep going back to is Josie by Steely Dan.

The WHOLE song is such a hip, funky, downright interesting piece of work. But a big part of that is Jim Keltner's drumming. Those grooves and fills-what possessed him to play like that? Performances like that are few and far between. The FEEL that Keltner oozes with every ghost note, snare drag, hi-hat flourish...everything lives and breathes groove. It literally makes me want to dance, since Keltner is dancing on the drums in this performance.

So anyone else feel this way about Josie? Which songs or performances ooze feel and musicality to you, at this point in time? Which songs, like Josie for me, do you listen to many times and pick something out new each time?

Definitely a favorite of mine. It's recorded and mixed so well you can hear just about every nuance. Keltner plays his ghost notes extremely light and you can hear a lot of that stuff. He said in an interview that every bar was written out and that the snare fill toward the end was in 7/8. The whole 'Aja' album is a masterpiece of great music and an encyclopedia of groove. Have you seen the DVD where Becker and Fagen talk about most of the tunes and feature different parts at the board? I think it's posted on YT but I'm not sure.
There are tons of songs that I examine and re-examine over and over. Lately it's been Mark Craney's playing on 'Brother to Brother'. Just trying to hear everything in a not-so-great mix and eventually (hopefully) transcribe some of that stuff is a challenge.

[Rodge]

Funny or not, I don't like Jim's take on "Josie", my favorite take is DC's one, the song sounds closer to the Rythm'n Blues, his groove is fat and I like that.
Keith does a great job on it too, Ricky too.

I think that I'm disturbed by Jim's hi-hat playing on the "and", it makes the song "jumping", not well "seated", you know what I mean...

[bigbone]

I think that I'm disturbed by Jim's hi-hat playing on the "and", it makes the song "jumping", not well "seated", you know what I mean...

No, i don't know what you mean, it's very ',seated''

[DSOP]

The records Aja and Gaucho are two masterpieces for ANY instrument.

[Henry II]

Man, one of my favorite songs lately that I keep going back to is Josie by Steely Dan.

The WHOLE song is such a hip, funky, downright interesting piece of work. But a big part of that is Jim Keltner's drumming. Those grooves and fills-what possessed him to play like that? Performances like that are few and far between. The FEEL that Keltner oozes with every ghost note, snare drag, hi-hat flourish...everything lives and breathes groove. It literally makes me want to dance, since Keltner is dancing on the drums in this performance.

So anyone else feel this way about Josie? Which songs or performances ooze feel and musicality to you, at this point in time? Which songs, like Josie for me, do you listen to many times and pick something out new each time?

Hey Ardent,

Back in the late 70's/early 80's my drum professor subscribed to a publication called "Drum Charts Magazine." One of the drum charts he gave me from that magazine was the chart to "Josie." I still have it.

[Henry II]

The records Aja and Gaucho are two masterpieces for ANY instrument.

Absolutely! The Dan is my all time favorite band. I would put Royal Scam and Katy Lied in that catagory too!

"Throw out your gold teeth,
And see how they roll,
The answer they reveal,
Life is unreal."

[Clint Hopkins]

The records Aja and Gaucho are two masterpieces for ANY instrument.

Absolutely! The Dan is my all time favorite band. I would put Royal Scam and Katy Lied in that catagory too!

"Throw out your gold teeth,
And see how they roll,
The answer they reveal,
Life is unreal."

Aja and Katy Lied are my two favorites. I listened to 'Bad Sneakers' and realized the big influence Keltner had on Jeff.

[Clint Hopkins]

Classic Albums- 'Aja' Part 1:

[Gaddabout]

Funny or not, I don't like Jim's take on "Josie", my favorite take is DC's one, the song sounds closer to the Rythm'n Blues, his groove is fat and I like that.
Keith does a great job on it too, Ricky too.

I think that I'm disturbed by Jim's hi-hat playing on the "and", it makes the song "jumping", not well "seated", you know what I mean...

I get what you're saying, and I sort of agree. The bass line is what holds that song together, IMO. But I have to disagree with you on Carlock. He played some half-Keltner thing interspersed with his manic sixteenth-note stuff. I wanted the engineer to pull him to the back of the mix during that song.