“Trans-Island Skyway”—first song on Kamakiriad (Donald Fagen) (1993)

It’s interesting that this album came out the year after I made a point of going back to some old Steely Dan records with a new appreciation—but I didn’t hear this at the time—nor would I for a couple more decades. I don’t know what I would have thought about this song back then—maybe too jaunty, too breezy, for me—but if I would have heard the lyrics, I think I might have been into it. Now, of course, this extended funky jazz pop is exactly what I want to hear—and when I finally heard this record, I loved it. It took me awhile to isolate the lyrics on this opening number, though, besides the words in the title—which simply evoked driving on an overcrowded elevated highway with large body of water visible out the window. I’m a bit lazy about focusing on lyrics, anyway, generally, but with this song, you’d never be able to make them out without reading along. They are too much a mixture of science fiction, made-up slang, nonsense, and blues slang—all melded together.

It starts out describing his car (a “Kamakiri”) which sounds like an internationally engineered steampunk marvel—complete with onboard hydroponic garden! Of course, there’s a beautiful, young woman involved, who he picks up after a highway wreck—the verse ending in: “Strap in tight ’cause it’s a long, sweet ride.” Could this, of all things, be a reference to The Sweet Ride (1968), the surfer, biker exploitation movie where Jacqueline Bisset hooks up with some beach bums? (I am overly excited by the possibility because it’s my all-time favorite movie—which I even named a zine after!)

The song has unambiguous climate change references, for sure, as well as a dig (“Let’s talk about the good times, honey”) on “MAGA”—that would be Reagan’s version—racist and disgusting enough, long before Trump zombized it. And maybe the only time I’ve heard, in a song: “I’ll brew up some decaf.” It’s classic Donald Fagen/Steely Dan humor—dry, droll, a little off, and funnier because of it. At one point, there’s the line: “Come on Daddy, get in let’s go”—repeated several times, with backup singers—but the line that comes just before that is: “Is that my father mowin’ the lawn?” Some subtly hilarious shit. And there’s probably a lot I’m not even picking up on, this go-round. My favorite line is at the end of the chorus—a perfect blend of science fiction, pop slang, and metaphor—“We’ll be deep in the Zone by cryin’ time.

—Randy Russell 10.29.23