Sunday, February 20, 2005

"Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan

I know, I know, another Steely Dan song...I have a lot of their songs on my playlist. So anyway, one of the important characteristics of this song (as well as in many of their songs) is a chromatically descending bass line with the presence of common tones between the chords. They also invert various patterns of the progression, with common tones always connecting those progressions. Another change typical of them is a change in meter. It starts off in common time, but really stretches out the cadence with a looong suspension by changing to 3/4 after 4 measures, immediately followed by a 6/4 and finally ending on a V chord in common time. It also has a pretty cool sax solo in the middle. Throughout the song, the horn section uses a style closer to jazz. It's a pretty chill song...

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