My Old School

"My Old School," from Steely Dan's 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy, is a fan favorite rooted in a real-life incident from Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's college days at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The song’s lyrics recount a May 1969 drug bust, where Fagen, Becker, and Fagen’s girlfriend, Dorothy White, were among 44 students arrested, roughly 10% of the school’s enrollment. Fagen later shared in an Entertainment Weekly interview that the raid was part of a “war on longhairs,” with authorities targeting students based on false testimony. A 2014 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article noted Fagen’s long hair was cut off at the Poughkeepsie jail, adding to the ordeal’s indignity. The song’s reference to “Daddy Gee” points to G. Gordon Liddy, then a local assistant district attorney, later infamous for the Watergate scandal. A fan on Reddit’s r/SteelyDan community, who was also arrested in the raid, recalled the campus-wide chaos, with toilets flushing as students tried to dispose of contraband, and described the event as a defining 1960s experience.

The song’s upbeat, horn-heavy sound, featuring four saxophones arranged by Jimmie Haskell and a blistering guitar solo by Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, contrasts its bitter narrative, which vows never to return to Bard “until California tumbles into the sea.” In a 1985 interview with The Bard Observer, Fagen admitted the song blended personal experiences with “fantasy sequences,” revealing its layered storytelling. Despite its cynicism, fans on Reddit rate it highly, with posts calling it a “pop masterpiece” and giving it scores like “10/10” for its catchy, subversive vibe. Fagen eventually returned to Bard in 1985 to accept an honorary Doctor of Arts degree, breaking his lyrical promise, as noted in a Wikipedia entry. The song’s cultural impact endures, with Rolling Stone highlighting its unique place on the jazz-rock-heavy Countdown to Ecstasy, the only album Steely Dan wrote for a live band.

Steely Dan began when Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met in 1967 at Bard College. Fagen, passing by a café, heard Becker practicing electric guitar and was struck by his professional, soulful style, later recalling in an interview that it “sounded like a black person, really.” Bonding over shared tastes in jazz, blues, and Beat literature, they started writing songs together. After moving to New York City in 1969, they worked as backing musicians and staff songwriters for ABC Records in Los Angeles by 1971. With producer Gary Katz, they secretly formed Steely Dan, named after a steam-powered dildo from William S. Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, and recruited guitarists Denny Dias, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, drummer Jim Hodder, and vocalist David Palmer. Their 1972 debut, Can’t Buy a Thrill, spawned hits like “Do It Again” and “Reelin’ in the Years,” blending rock, jazz, and cryptic lyrics, as detailed in a Britannica profile.

By 1973, after Palmer’s departure, Fagen took over lead vocals for Countdown to Ecstasy, but the band’s distaste for touring—Becker called it a “money-losing proposition” in a 1995 MOJO interview—led them to focus on studio work. After their third album, Pretzel Logic, in 1974, they disbanded the original lineup, becoming a studio-only duo backed by session musicians. Their meticulous approach peaked with 1977’s Aja, a platinum-selling jazz-rock landmark. Steely Dan’s official website, steelydan.com, offers tour updates and merchandise, while Donald Fagen’s Facebook page shares concert news. No official Instagram or X accounts exist for the band, as confirmed by a 2023 Reddit thread, but Fagen’s personal X account occasionally posts updates. Fans connect on the r/SteelyDan subreddit, the Dandom fan site, and the Steely Dan Fans Facebook group, where they share trivia, vinyl giveaways, and song analyses.