“Door Number Two”—first song on Circus Money (Walter Becker) (2008)

A great song to start a record, and a great way to start the song—the chorus sung by background singers before Walter Becker’s minimal vocals come in. The whole song is sparse, slow, quiet, and has a jazzy, slightly sleazy, dark cocktail lounge feeing. Not that you’d ever hear anything this excellent in a cocktail lounge—or if you did, you’d have hit the neighborhood jackpot. After about four minutes, it just kind of fades away more than fades out. The high point is the sax solo in the middle, nothing like a rock-song sax—it’s more like out-there jazz, nothing expected, disorienting and very pleasing—played by, Chris Potter, I guess. The title sounds like a reference to one of those game shows I spent thousands of hours watching in my youth—and am pleased to say I can remember nothing about. Besides game shows, there are nods to casino gambling, Las Vegas, The City, The Islands—no characters specifically, just the universal schmo, looking for the magic ticket to happiness, whether it be high or low. There’s even a reference to the guess your weight game. There’s a refence to the “college girl,” and he uses the word “assignation”—don’t hear that every day in a pop song. The drink of choice is “gin and tonic on the veranda.” Anyway, it got me thinking about the way I have cataloged my accomplishments, hoping for a dependable reserve of happiness that I can withdraw at will, as if from an ATM. I suppose most people do some version of that. But what if I was Walter Becker, a guy responsible for those nine Steely Dan records (not to mention whatever else in life)? I can’t even imagine it, not even close. Yet, somehow, I am able to imagine happiness.

—Randy Russell 9.3.23