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Steely Dan: What's With The Name?

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Steve D.

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Feb 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/20/97
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I have heard some very curious rumours concerning the meaning of the
band's name. Can anyone *definitely* tell me the significance of the
name,

" Steely Dan " ?

email replies most welcome.

Thanks!!

/Steve

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Scott Andrew Borton

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Feb 20, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/20/97
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s...@iname.com (Steve D.) writes:

> I have heard some very curious rumours concerning the meaning of the
> band's name. Can anyone *definitely* tell me the significance of the
> name,

It's *definitely* from the William S. Burroughs book "Naked Lunch" (or
"The Naked Lunch" for the Commonwealthers among us). There's a passage
in the book in which a woman presents her dildo as "Steely Dan III,"
then proceeds to describe what happened to Steely Dan I and II. If I
were at home with the book, I would post the relevant paragraph.

Incidentally, the book also makes several references to "East
St. Louis Toodle-oo," although Becker claims that the Steely Dan cover
of that tune was mere coincidence.


--scott

--
scott andrew borton-- grammatically transformational.
http://sooshi.scs.uiuc.edu/~scott/steely-dan/

Cassandra Payne

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Feb 21, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/21/97
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Steve D. wrote:
>
> I have heard some very curious rumours concerning the meaning of the
> band's name. Can anyone *definitely* tell me the significance of the
> name,
>
> " Steely Dan " ?
>
> email replies most welcome.
>
> Thanks!!
>
> /Steve
>
> -------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet

Refers to a character's favourite Dildo in 'The Naked Lunch"
--
********************************************


Len Kornblau

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Feb 24, 1997, 3:00:00 AM2/24/97
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they are probably not rumors!!!!...try reading William Burrough's "The
Naked Lunch"...the answer is within!...as to "significance" well, that's
up to the individual, eh?...although you might want to write to
Burroughs himself to see where he got the idea for the name!...it is
rather unique, wouldn't you say?...not likely to be confused there days
as it might have been with Steeleye Span or Stealer's Wheel when the
three were just starting in late 1972. And not coincidentally, the only
survivor!

> I have heard some very curious rumours concerning the meaning of the
> band's name. Can anyone *definitely* tell me the significance of the
> name,>
> " Steely Dan " ?>

> /Steve

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