You, Me and Cousin Dupree
In the thrity-five years since Donald Fagen and Walter Becker met and formed Steely Dan, they have written some really whacky words and phrases.
In 2001, Steely Dan picked up four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for their first studio album in twenty years, Two Against Nature, and a Grammy for best pop performance by a duo or group for their hit song Cousin Dupree. [listen]
Now I’ve come back home to plan my next move
From the comfort of my Aunt Faye’s couch
When I see my little cousin Janine walk in
Well all I could say was ouchHoney how you’ve grown
Like a rose
Well we used to play
When we were three
How about a kiss for your cousin Dupree
Donald Fagen and Walter Becker posted a cleverly-worded letter on the Steely Dan website claiming that Owen Wilson’s character in You, Me and Dupree was based on their Grammy-winning song about a couch-hopping houseguest, Cousin Dupree.
Owen Wilson played dumb, explaining in a written statement, “I have never heard the song ‘Cousin Dupree’ and I don’t even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is. I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, ‘HEY 19.’”
Hey Nineteen is one of the songs on Steely Dan’s 1980 album, Gaucho. Sounds like a publicity stunt for the movie and the band, which has been on tour since July 7 with Michael McDonald. On the day between their gigs in San Antonio TX and Phoenix AZ, they surely weren’t “stuck in this dump in Corpus Christi” they call The Residential Suites at Longworth, an apparently fictitious name on the fake hotel stationery.
A seminal rock band, Steely Dan is named after a dildo in the book Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs.
Few people know that before Steely Dan became Steely Dan, the boys performed and toured under 7,566 other names as part of a test marketing research investigation. In 1973, aided by the Windsor Unimax 5000 computer system, a test market research investigation was initiated by Jack Tafoya, a prominent record company executive with a penthouse apartment in the Brill building. As a result, the computer came up with 9,087 of the best names for the burgeoning group.
Here’s a list of the top fifty suggestions leading to the final selection of the band’s name, Steely Dan.
[ More posts about naming | More blogs about naming ] [ More posts about product names | More blogs about product names ]
Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 |
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