Analyzing Steely Dan's Song, "Kid Charlemange"
- Ella Schnoor
- Nov 20, 2020
- 5 min read
Steely Dan isn't a band. Sure, they started as a band, they recorded with a band, and they tour with a band, yet they are not a band. Steely Dan is also not a person, as most who are not avid fans like myself tend to believe. “Oh, Steely Dan is the man! ‘Reelin’ in the Years’ rocks!” they gleefully exclaim. Without sounding pretentious, yet after my habitual cringe, their naivety begins to excite me as I realize it is I who gets to open them up to the wide world of what, not whom, Steely Dan really is- I get to change their lives. Steely Dan is a musical and cultural collaboration between two guys from the New York Metropolitan area who met in college- Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. They were musicians, with Fagen playing keys and Becker playing both guitar and bass guitar.¹ They were science fiction nerds and jazz radio enthusiasts. They were influenced by the Beatnik generation, too hip for the placidity of the suburbs and the tree-hugging hippies- the not-so-typical teenager of the 1960s.²
Together, Becker and Fagen wrote some of the most prolific jazz-rock fusion tunes of the 1970s, experimenting with witty yet dark lyrics, the jazziest of jazz chords, grueling studio perfectionism, and a lot of very good (and very patient) session musicians. “Kid Charlemagne” is the quintessential Steely Dan song that not only highlights Becker and Fagen’s songwriting abilities but also showcases their audiophile tendencies. It is the first song on their 5th album, The Royal Scam.³ Released in 1976, “Kid Charlemagne” is about a 1960s psychedelic drug dealer, as it tells the story about his rise to success and subsequent fall.⁴
Form of the song
As a song, “Kid Charlemagne” is complex and difficult to describe musically, as it does not follow a simple form nor meter unlike many of the songs that were studied this semester. The meter of the song is quadruple simple, meaning there are four beats per measure with emphasis on both the second and the fourth beat. What makes it complex, however, is drummer Bernard Perdie’s disco-like backbeat, quite appropriate for the time period.⁵ The form of the song begins with a four-measure intro that establishes its rhythm and feel. It then goes into the first verse that leads into a very short pre-chorus. The pre-chorus is simply a drum fill and a short lyrical phrase, ending with a small rhythm section “solo” of drums and bass. It then goes into another verse and pre-chorus, all with different lyrics than the first section, and the second pre-chorus is slightly different than the first. Then comes the chorus that is brief yet powerful.
Throughout all of the sections of the song, the driving pulse of Purdie’s drums stays the same, give or take the drum fills that separate each section. The other instruments, especially the bass, vary slightly, giving the song its funk groove. The series of verse, pre-chorus, verse, pre-chorus variation, and chorus repeats once more, and then, like most rock music, there is a guitar solo. This famous solo is played by studio musician Larry Carlton.³ The same pattern repeats itself once more, ending on yet another famous Larry Carlton solo that fades into the outro. Steely Dan has a habit of ending their songs on a solo, something that isn't super typical in most music.
Brief lyrical analysis
The lyrics of “Kid Charlemagne” are important for the time period, as they are written like a story, giving the listener a greater ability to understand the magnitude of LSD as part of 1960s culture. Its lines are metaphorical and descriptive with examples including, “Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl, you turned it on the world, that’s when you turned the world around,” describing the creation of LSD and its introduction to the world. “Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail, Those test tubes and the scale, Just get them all out of here. ‘Is there gas in the car?’ ‘Yes, there's gas in the car.’ I think the people down the hall, Know who you are,” is the fourth verse of the song that distinctly describes the dangers and risks of selling drugs, creating a sense of panic.⁶ In literary terms, it can be considered the climax of the “story” as the main character begins his downfall. Both Becker and Fagen wrote the lyrics and music to “Kid Charlemagne” and it was produced by Gary Katz who is worth mentioning as he produced Steely Dan’s first seven albums.⁷
Long-lasting significance
Steely Dan as a collaboration follows the “Hippie Aesthetic” in all of their albums and songs- “Kid Charlemagne” being just one of many. The music is sophisticated, from its complex song structures to its engineering perfection, allowing it to stand up to repeated listening. The lyrics deal with the important issues of the time, as seen in the LSD story of “Kid Charlemagne”. The musicians on all of the Steely Dan albums are considered artists who have perfected their craft while upholding instrumental virtuosity.⁸ These artists appear on many other songs by other artists from the same time period. To cover only the artists discussed in this class, Bernard Purdie’s drumming style is included in a Led Zeppelin song while Larry Carlton’s guitar playing is on Joni Mitchell and Michael Jackson tunes, spanning a large period of R&R history.⁹ Both musicians combined are included in hundreds of recording sessions, and that is only two of the musicians that were at the “Kid Charlemagne” sessions- their influence proliferating Rock & Roll.¹⁰
Becker and Fagen were also members of the writing staff at the famous Brill Building. The Brill Building was historical for songwriting in Rock & Roll.¹ The influence of Steely Dan and “Kid Charlemagne” still carries on into later styles of music and can be included in the discussion of artists sampling rock music for rap and hip-hop records, as Kanye West samples the song in his popular song “Champion.” It is clear that “Kid Charlemagne” is an example of a song that is both prolific enough to be influential across time, yet, is influenced enough by the time it was released to be worth studying in time as well. These are simply a few of the significant credentials in this song, however, I am sure there were more that I missed, proving just how influential Steely Dan is to Rock & Roll and beyond.
¹Bio. Steely Dan. https://www.steelydan.com/#!/bio.
²Fagen, D. (2013). Eminent Hipsters. Viking, pp. 23-38, 53-58.
³The Royal Scam. Broberg. 21 April 2019, http://www.broberg.pp.se/royalscm.htm.
⁴Moss, J. The Story of the Lyrics of Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne". Yacht Rock.
charlemagne
⁵Micaleff, K. The Drummers of Steely Dan. The Steely Dan Reader. 1 Nov 1992,
⁶Kid Charlemagne Lyrics. Genius. https://genius.com/Steely-dan-kid-charlemagne-lyrics
⁷Gary Katz. Wikipedia. 24 Dec 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Katz
⁸Covach, J. (2011). "The Hippie Aesthetic: Cultural Positioning and Musical Ambition in Early Progressive Rock".
Rock Music. Routledge.
⁹Bernard Purdie. Wikipedia. 9 April 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Purdie
¹⁰Larry Carlton. Wikipedia. 15 April 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Carlton
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