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Topic ClosedSteely Dan or Sparks
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Poll Question: Who is your favourite progressive pop/jazz/rock act
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
30 [69.77%]
8 [18.60%]
5 [11.63%]
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rogerthat View Drop Down
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Points: 9869 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 18 2018 at 10:04
^^ By no means is Steely Dan a dead serious type of band and certainly songs like Everything You Did are very funny. But it's more subtle/wry kind of humour while Sparks is outrageous. Different approaches and both work for me.
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socrates17 View Drop Down
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Points: 436 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 19 2018 at 14:48
Originally posted by rogerthat rogerthat wrote:

^^ By no means is Steely Dan a dead serious type of band and certainly songs like Everything You Did are very funny. But it's more subtle/wry kind of humour while Sparks is outrageous. Different approaches and both work for me.

I freely admit that I respond more absurdist, Dadaesque humor, but Ron Mael's songs could be quite subtle.  All You Ever Think About is Sex starts with a funny catalog of places the narrator and his lover got caught "doing it" but then it shifts to a minor key and the lyric is:  "In a world of lovers, we don't love each other much;  Fact is we're too busy to love each other much."  Which is a rather melancholy way to conclude a funny song.  Ron often makes you think.
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Icarium View Drop Down
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Points: 34076 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 19 2018 at 14:51
I find that Steely Dans biting irony and lyrics def have humor in it. Like satire, its tickling, observant and the way Fagen phraces and accents certain sylables def goes in the comedic category. In Seinfeld type of observational comedy.

Edited by Icarium - February 19 2018 at 14:52
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rogerthat View Drop Down
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Points: 9869 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: February 19 2018 at 18:16
Originally posted by socrates17 socrates17 wrote:

Originally posted by rogerthat rogerthat wrote:

^^ By no means is Steely Dan a dead serious type of band and certainly songs like Everything You Did are very funny. But it's more subtle/wry kind of humour while Sparks is outrageous. Different approaches and both work for me.
<font style=": rgb255, 255, 255;">
<font style=": rgb255, 255, 255;">I freely admit that I respond more absurdist, Dadaesque humor, but Ron Mael's songs could be quite subtle.  All You Ever Think About is Sex starts with a funny catalog of places the narrator and his lover got caught "doing it" but then it shifts to a minor key and the lyric is:  "In a world of lovers, we don't love each other much;  Fact is we're too busy to love each other much."  Which is a rather melancholy way to conclude a funny song.  Ron often makes you think.


Didn't mean to say that Sparks are NEVER subtle. But the outrageousness is right on the surface, both in the lyrics as well as the music. So it's a hook which Steely Dan don't have. I got into Sparks right away but with Steely Dan I had to persist. Both the beauty of their arrangements as well as their humour took some time to reveal their full splendour.
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