Steely Dan’s 20 greatest songs – ranked!
20. Any Major Dude Will Tell You (1974)
Charming is seldom an adjective applied to Steely Dan’s patent brand of sardonic pessimism, but it fits the relatively simplistic, acoustic guitar-driven Any Major Dude Will Tell You, on which a depressed friend is apparently unironically encouraged to see the bright side: it’s a genuinely sweet song.
19. Black Friday (1975)
Perhaps the Steely Dan that seems most apropos in 2022: financial collapse so severe that businessmen kill themselves leads to a desire to escape into the wilderness to “do just what I please”. In a classic Dan twist, there’s an implication that the protagonist isn’t an ordinary escaper from the rat race, but a disaster capitalist.
18. Show Biz Kids (1973)
Stinging slide
