In January 1983, amid the publicity tour for his debut solo album, The Nightfly, Donald Fagen made a super swell appearance on UK disc jockey Charlie Gillett’s Capital Radio program. The show’s “radio jukebox” format gave Fagen the chance to transform into the late-night DJ character he had invented for his new record’s title track.
From London, far beyond the broadcast range of Baton Rouge (or Belzoni, Mississippi, for that matter), Mr. Steely Dan spun nine songs and spoke briefly about why he keeps coming back to them. His playlist included cuts by Ray Charles, Shirley Bassey, Erma Franklin, the Lovin' Spoonful, as well as Frank Sinatra and Count Basie.
The Steely Dan fanzine Metal Leg published a transcript of the show in 1988. But the audio has remained frustratingly elusive—until now.
Midway through the 46-minute episode, Gillett turned his attention to The Nightfly. Before dropping the needle on “New Frontier,” he noted that while much has been made of the influence of jazz on Steely Dan, perhaps “people hadn’t appreciated how much R&B might have been hidden in there.”
“We always liked R&B and blues, Chicago blues, and that kind of thing as well,” Fagen said—and it shows in many of the selections he made on the program.
Now, if you’ve got plenty of java and Chesterfield Kings, it’s on with the show.
This piece is part of the series “From the Archives of Brian Sweet,” in which Expanding Dan joins forces with the author of the definitive Steely Dan biography, Reelin' in the Years, to explore his extensive trove of unpublished interviews.
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Transcript
Donald Fagen: Yes, that’s right, The Nightfly.
Charlie Gillett: That’s a current expression in America meaning a nighttime DJ or what?
Fagen: No, actually I made it up all by myself. It’s kind of a combination of a lot of disc jockeys that I used to listen to when I was a kid.
Gillett: And did you ever try it yourself? Have you ever been a DJ?
Fagen: Uh, well, I’ve been in a few interviews on radio shows and so on. And actually once a jazz station invited Walter and myself to play some jazz sides, and we did that. But that was the only time, really.
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Gillett: And did you always have the idea that it was a musician you were going to be, in fact, or?
Fagen: Well, not actually. I guess it was just kind of a hobby with me for a long time, and then come the ’60s, I decided it was definitely an option that I should pick up on.
Gillett: OK, well, this is your turn as DJ. The first artist is Ray Charles. What about him?
Fagen: Well, he’s always been one of my favorites. I guess he’s kind of legendary, and the track I selected is basically a blues with a big band arrangement. It’s always been one of my favorites.
[Plays “I’ve Got News For You” by Ray Charles]
