Ranking the 5 Best Album-Closers by Steely Dan

Steely Dan only released nine albums during their fantastic run. Remember there was a 20-year break in there that slowed them down a bit. Nonetheless, their batting average was exceedingly high in terms of their success rate.

The Dan tended to go with finishing tracks that weren’t singles, meaning some of these album-closers might not be ones that you’ve heard unless you’re an avid fan. But they certainly capture the magic of this band at their best.

5. “Throw Back the Little Ones” from Katy Lied (1975)

In case you don’t know much about Steely Dan, it’s important to realize they spent the bulk of their career as what was essentially a two-man outfit (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker). Musicians to play the compositions of the two men were added and subtracted based on their qualifications for each specific song. For example, it’s Elliott Randall who tears through the solo on “Throw Back the Little Ones,” the only times he appears on Katy Lied. He kills it, and his arrival is even more impactful because of the quirky hitch-and-go rhythm that characterizes the rest of the track.

4. “King of the World” from Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)

Steely Dan’s early albums featured a more-or-less set lineup, meaning it was before the time Donald Fagen and Walter Becker tended to pick and choose among session players to bring their songs to life. Having a steady band can have its advantages, because it can develop chemistry that comes in handy on knotty composition like this one. Jim Hodder does an amazing job keeping things lively with his ever-changing drum approach, while the rest of the band locks into a slick funk-rock groove. Fagen sings of the apocalypse with cool defiance and more than a little gallows humor.

3. “The Royal Scam” from The Royal Scam (1976)

Lyrically, “The Royal Scam” doesn’t paint all that rosy a picture of America to those who are arriving here from other countries. See the glory / Of the royal scam, sings Donald Fagen, using the juxtaposition of the phrases to make his point in biting fashion. Musically, the song takes its sweet time, with a lot of open spaces within the nearly seven minutes of running time. Larry Carlton’s guitar jabs and stabs, but never struts. Muted horns squawk at the margins. You can hear every bit of the meticulousness in the arrangement of Fagen and Becker, and they make a great case on this track that it’s all worth it.

2. “Monkey in Your Soul” from Pretzel Logic (1974)

Pretzel Logic found Steely Dan reaching new levels of popularity thanks to the hit single “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.” They were also starting to transition away from the set band approach, adding ace players like drummer Jim Gordon (who plays on this track) much more freely to the mix. But their innate weirdness still shines through (if anything, they emphasized it more often as they progressed). “Monkey in Your Soul,” all fuzzed-out bass and insinuating horns, makes for a counterintuitively catchy closer, as Fagen warns off a toxic friend in musical terms: Honey don’t you think it was wrong / To interrupt my song?

1. “Josie” from Aja (1977)

The consensus says Aja is Steely Dan’s finest album top-to-bottom, which is interesting because it’s the one where the jazzy inclinations shone most brightly. Proving they hadn’t quite left rock completely behind, however, they reach back to locate a fiery groove on the closing track. Walter Becker took most of the solos on the album, and the one he delivers here is concise and stinging. Donald Fagen’s way with words is on point on this track (what the heck is a battle apple?), as he celebrates the return to town of the title character to liven everything up.

Photo by Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns