The one Steely Dan song where Walter Becker and Donald Fagen shared songwriting credits with somebody else, that being keyboardist Paul Griffin. It’s a pure groove song and not much else, which, along with the additional songwriting credit to one of the session players, makes me think that “The Fez” was made up in the studio.
Just a couple of lines of background lyrics repeated over and over (“I’m never gonna do it without the fez on Oh no/That’s what I am please understand/I want to be your holy man”, etc.) Toss in some of Becker’s blues noodling on guitar and poof, an instant Steely Dan song. “Instant Steely Dan song” sounds like a contradictory term, doesn’t it?
And just what the heck is “The Fez” about? Let’s just say it works pretty well to prevent parenthood …
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