Music / Aja (Album)

Aja
When all my dime dancing is through
I run to you

"Well the danger on the rocks is surely past
Still I remain tied to the mast
Could it be that I have found my home at last
Home at last"

Aja is the sixth album by American Jazz Fusion group Steely Dan, released in 1977 through ABC Records.

Tracklist:

Side One

1. "Black Cow" (5:10)
2. "Aja" (8:00)
3. "Deacon Blues" (7:37)

Side Two

1. "Peg" (3:57)
2. "Home At Last" (5:36)
3. "I Got The News" (5:07)
4. "Josie" (4:31)

Personnel:

• Donald Fagen, keyboards/vocals
• Walter Becker, guitar

"I Got The Tropes":

• Book Ends: "Black Cow" and "Josie" both mention a place called "Rudy's".
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: The narrator of "Deacon Blues" feels alienated from the rest of society and tries to find meaning in this romanticized bohemian lifestyle that he acknowledges is probably going to kill him eventually.
• Drunk Driver: "Deacon Blues"
  "Drink scotch whiskey all night long
  And die behind the wheel"
• Epic Rocking: "Aja" runs 8:00, "Deacon Blues" runs 7:37, and most of the songs are over five minutes, with only "Peg" (3:57) and "Josie" (4:31) running shorter.
• Foil: "Deacon Blues" uses Collegiate American Football to juxtapose the narrator's sensbilities.
  "They got a name for the winners in the world
  I, I want a name when I lose
  They call Alabama the Crimson Tide
  Call me Deacon Blues"
• Loser Protagonist: A Steely Dan standard, every song features one. "Deacon Blues" has probably the most self-conscious example, with the narrator having given up on trying to lead a successful, fulfilling life and instead throwing himself into the fantasy of being a romantic loser, fully aware that he's going to die young.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: "Josie"
• Minimalistic Cover Art: Almost totally black, with model Sayoko Yamaguchi shown in profile; her dark hair and clothing cover nearly everything except a small part of her face and a striped scarf.
• Mythical Motifs: "Home at Last" is a riff on The Odyssey, with the narrator being a vagabond who compares himself to Odysseus in the chorus.
• New Sound Album: Much jazzier, longer songs, much less pop.
• Ode to Intoxication: "Black Cow" is addressed to a friend or lover of the narrator's who is an incorrigible alcoholic.
• One-Woman Song: "Aja," "Peg," "Josie"
• Record Producer: Gary Katz, as usual.
• Something Blues: "Deacon Blues"
• Take That!: "Deacon Blues," to everyone who doesn't like their music.
  "I'll learn to work the saxophone
  I'll play just what I feel"
• Uncommon Time: The title track, as described by The Other Wiki:
  The first part goes on for 17 bars, one in 2/4, as the other musicians vamp on staccato chords beneath. The interlude chords briefly return, and Gadd resumes keep the beat, with a few more flourishes, while Shorter's solo continues. Then the vamp and drum solo resume for another 17-bar section, this one including one bar in 3/4, that ends with a descending chord progression that takes us back into the intro.

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