There were a few tracks that didn’t make it into the Whack Eleven, and “Fall of ’92,” credited to both Becker and Donald Fagen, was one of them. Musically, it can hang with most any of the approved ones found on 11 Tracks Of Whack, a jazzy piano bar ballad not too unlike Fagen’s “Maxine.” Nah, the track didn’t make the cut because the lyrics are coarse and savage during an overlong discourse about a lecherous lifestyle relationship torn asunder by harsh economic times, i.e., the recession that would soon propel Bill Clinton into office. Not a bad idea for a narrative, but this one is peppered with lines like, “I slipped it to you sideways, right down on the beach at Malibu.” and “George Bush and those Nazis down in Washington DC.”
Day-um, Walter.
We’ve all heard much harder lyrics than that from others, but Becker (and Fagen) had always figured a more clever way to get their points across; that’s one of the wonderful things about Steely Dan, after all. Becker did play this song live on SD shows during the 90s, so just because it got left out of Whack doesn’t mean he didn’t take pride in the song. Good for him, I guess.
The plot of the bitter aftermath of an economic downturn on a Bush’s watch gets another play — see “Everything Must Go” — but with much better results. “Fall of ’92,” on the other hand, lacks the charm or flair that got Becker by on other songs where he didn’t bring his “A” game. Boorish prose is just not in Walter Becker’s playbook. Well, at least, not officially.
[amazon_enhanced asin=”B00122R5GC” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B000002L2L” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B00122NY5S” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B000002MIY” /] [amazon_enhanced asin=”B000002L42″ /]
- Jupiter – ‘Jupiter’ (2024) - September 26, 2024
- Satoko Fujii Quartet – ‘Dog Days of Summer’ (2024) - September 19, 2024
- Jason Stein – ‘Anchors’ (2024) - September 10, 2024
Definitely the most bitter non album b-side I think I’ve ever heard, Lies I can believe would have been a better one as its much less angry