Chain Lightning by Steely Dan

[cherylw1958]

the best steely dan song ever play really really loud !

[tooslowforthisplanet]

I must say, however, that the lyrics are def interesting.

[tooslowforthisplanet]

I hardly ever listened to lyrics on records during the 70s. Yes, I was an air-head then, which of course was fashionable. lol Consequently, I always thought the title referred to a musical chain reaction. The Wurly bouncing into the power guitar bouncing into.. whatever. It's something that we players do when we are improvising jazz and jazz fusion, or any music where the players are good enough improvisors to listen & play off each other, as opposed to playing the same part every time.

[dezertfox4323]

Rick Derringer on lead guitar.

[rulerwithcounsel]

Dont tell me Steely Dan are jews - oh no!

[SupernalOne]

Rick Derringer on guitar!

[jplew138]

@SupernalOne That would be Denny Dias on lead guitar.

[SupernalOne]

@jplew138

ah, was it - my info was wrong - thanks, I don't even know Dias, I'll check out his work

[tooslowforthisplanet]

@jplew138 Fairly certain it's Derringer. Someone told me this, and it might be credited on the original vinyl cover (?) The someone who told me, was Steve Porcaro, Jeff's brother. That's Jeff on drums. Derringer was working a lot of sessions in LA at the time. It's obvious, anyway. Denny never played any of the more power solos in that band, as he was an extraordinary bluegrass/jazz musician. Hear him on My Gold Teeth, classic Denny Dias. The question is if it was Becker: slow blues soloist.

[jplew138]

@SupernalOne He's also the one who plays the electric sitar solo on "Do It Again".

[SupernalOne]

Only Fagan & Becker, with their blithe scathing lyrical predilection could come up with such a song - what a groove

[wikieditspam]

Oh, and if I remember correctly, Fascism, Communism, and Nazism don't creep they explode at the worst possible times available, Only my favorite systems: Capitalism and any form of Democracy (especially libertarianism) are capable of creeping, they will eventually show themselves in any culture given enough time, problems tend to only present themselves when a state suppresses them instead of upholding them. Foster the hipster will call Snyder's policy "creeping fascism" as you call Clinton's.

[wikieditspam]

... men who were apart of worst political fad ever, one were if you didn't participate the way they wanted you to, you'd end up laying in a smoking ditch with everyone else, people gave in, and to them they probably just tried to feel good in order to trick themselves about how awful it was, these two men came back, somewhere (Nuremberg rally location?) and remember what it was all like.

[wikieditspam]

@wikieditspam You can keep fooling you're self about Fascist-Communist-Nazi world state schemes and the like, but its much more productive to come back to reality and try to actually deal with what's going wrong. As for the camera bullshit you posted; the cameras aren't put in the places they are because of conspiracy, but because of state stupidity. If we really were seeing totalitarian evil, the cameras would be staring down the poor, in their homes. please stop using Steely for your smears.

[haastaboozia]

Bruce Dalen, you and The Big Deal covered this perfectly every single time. Rest in Peace my Dear One.

[GuiitarBilly]

Was looking for this tune - which has been described as 'the best 3 minute pop-jazz shuffle about attending a facist rally ever written':)- to post to FB as a comment about Rupert Murdoch's current troubles, and my sincere hope that they extend to pulling the plug/bigchanges at Fox News.

Was just hoping for the tune and getting ready to explain it's message- and it's all been done here in the vid. Thanks much for posting.

[absolutelyfree1963]

Smooth track, whatever the meaning of the lyrics...

Steely Dan songs often have cryptic lyrics...

Great music they made though. Thoughtfully arranged by Larry Carlton.

[doulos58]

Not sure if this the application that the artists intended, but after the "great youtube shake-up" it's still here for us to enjoy: that should say something. Great video, great images, great truth. Long live the free internet. Long live Steely Dan!

[mojavej]

yeah derringer

great f-ing solo

[ExtremePeppers]

If you listen real close to the "Manamanah" song from Sesame Street you can hear religious,political,and social undertones. I heard it when I was a kid in the early 70s and now as an adult I listen to Steely Dan.....You Fucking Morons!

[pedrolapaca]

Lets also not forget that keeping an amphibious rodent for...y'know...personal......t­hat aint legal either....

[spookyben]

Song = gold. Political drivel = nothing

[bobilly1492]

What do my fellow guitar players think of Walter Beckers Style . Comments please positive or negative.

[avclubman]

Donald himself has said this song is about a Hitler rally. Denny Dias's solo really is great. As is everything else.

[hklinker]

@avclubman

Pretty sure that is not Denny Dias on that guitar solo. I think it is Rick Derringer.

[taildragger53]

@hklinker

It is Rick Derringer on guitar.

[trentk268]

Why do far lefties always see fascism in everyone but themselves? Truly, it is hypocrisy untainted by any sense of irony whatsoever.

[SupernalOne]

@trentk268

forcing people to be tolerant is the worst form of fascism - in the US we have the freedom to act out our hatred towards anyone we want to, that's in the Constitution

[cdh88]

Classic tune, but surprised only one shot of Obama, certainly the electricity he shot through the huge crowds of his mesmerized followers applies here perfectly also. Nicely edited - a cool touch adding the noise to the poster at @1:49. l agree though, the licks here are too nice to be distracted by politics, volume up, video off.

[Lovetogolf2005]

You should be in Poland in 1939....dumbshits

[jp0531801]

Chain Lightning is da SHIT!!!

[videotater]

I love the image in the video which shows George W. Bush aka Dubya, and the words underneath the picture: "I bet you'll vote NEXT TIME, hippie!"

Amen brother!

[MrTylermclean1]

Everybody knows Hitler was a control freak. He got just what he deserved

[pfoc03]

this video was bs enjoy a groove for christs sake, i just started a religious debate im sure

[DRD1821]

one of the choicest guitar riffs in the history of the world!

[concretehall]

are all those leaders really belive in that? XXI century and they belive in crap... dont searrch for extra meaning - it is first step to paranoia. :P imho USA isnt similar to nazi reich.. conquest of world dont even have any sense, (same as many other things nazis belived). thats why propaganda is so dangerous, it makes people very very dumb. imho politicans only wish is to make you belive in them. stupid trick

[tuxguys]

Steely Dan expands the blues... and, if the guitar solo is Rick Derringer, as I believe it is, then this, along, with "Rock'n'Roll Hoochie Koo" and "Hang On Sloopy," is his masterpiece.

[xTjPx]

actually the "brotherhood" is about blacks

"hush brother we crossed the square" refers to a speech by malcolm x and malcom y

now shut the fuck up and listen to the ditty:)

[thesquonkstear]

@xTjPx

That's not true. In an interview, Fagan and Becker told a journalist that the square is a square in Germany where Hitler stood.

Nonetheless, for you, the "brotherhood" about blacks and Malcolm X. You have a right to your point of view, however racially charged, bitter or paranoid; but you're a nasty fucking jackass, so I'm blocking you for general purposes.

[mindyspark]

@xTjPx why don't you go to Barrytown - your haircut is funny.

[Boddissatva]

@xTjPx you got it...

[videotater]

@xTjPx Brotherhood == Aryan Brotherhood, aka

Nazional Socializtiche Deutsche Arbeiter Partei, aka NAZI.

[absolutelyfree1963]

@xTjPx See? The universe does not revolve around special people nor their skin colour...

That will teach you to do your research.

Now shut the fuck up and LISTEN to the music...

;-P

[buoybuhund]

@xTjPx There is no malcolm y......

[Visionary0001]

The PowerPoint slide at 1:35 seems to be REALLY accurate...

[DRD1821]

How tight is the guitar work in this song, eh?

[Johngtr13]

@DRD1821 Yes, great guitar work. Talented players with unusual chord progressions, but great progressions.

[danielnordeen]

I love this blues tune! Great stuff

[btinsley1]

man, forcible opinions sure do stink up the joint...why don't you both shut up as it is EVERYONE'S wish. thank you

[thesquonkstear]

@btinsley1 You are not EVERYONE...  and anyone (you) who thinks they speak for EVERYONE should just watch and not talk about this mash up because you are in it, just as sure as Hitler is the subject of the song (which you can find by Googling what Steely Dan had to say about it).

Thank you.

[tooslowforthisplanet]

@thesquonkstear yeah & another key to it being about Hitler and his big show at the square is the line "Some turnout, a hundred grand" - I played that joint with Foreigner in 1981. what made it eerie, at least to me, was how audiences at rock concerts are like a lot of tattooed peeps who get violent and raise their fists up n shit.. whatever.. I can leave German atrocities in the past & new generations shouldn't be plagued with misbehavior of their dead elders.. still a weird memory though

[jabnhook2]

@thesquonkstear thequonkstearTube

[NYerintransit]

I don't need any pictorial montage to give meaning to a song that's been with me since my infancy. Without this song, I would have had much less piece of mind growing up.

[thesquonkstear]

@NYerintransit see, now that's ironic, because we don't need your opinion about it, at all. But I'm glad you have piece of mind from "Chain Lightening".

[SupernalOne]

Please, no pissing contests over who can or cannot best illustrate the delicate ironic allusions to fascism that Steely Dan composed 30 years ago -

also, to the world at large, "lightening" means a process of getting lighter, "lightning" is the atmospheric discharge of electricity

[thesquonkstear]

@SupernalOne-- quite right about that errant "e".

(now I can sleep)

[SMart7751]

Beautiful tune, but the absurd sequence of graphics fails very badly to make its point.

[thesquonkstear]

@SMart7751 what "fails badly" (and by badly I mean perfectly, or very much, or a great deal), is you, in your use of the English language, and your dismissive review of our "point".

I have little to no faith that you can even guess "its point", as you put it. You review badly, with the absurd idea that it matters at all what you find "absurd", with your mouse, listening, in the dark, trying to make sense of it all, badly.

In point of fact, you're just a pompous ass, for all to see.

[kaliyarivet]

Keep up the good fight, squonkstear. And keep posting first rate videos.

[OlymPigs2010]

Excellent Video and Graphics! Is this the end for the USA.....YES IT IS....and theres no way I can say....unfortunately!!!

[pooslinger10]

the maker of the video obviously has cranial rectal insertion syndrome,and assburger syndrome yea retarded police man rules!!!!!!

[thesquonkstear]

@pooslinger10 Keep the homosexual slang references between you and your brother; what the hell are you really trying to say?

Never mind, we don't care.

[wreckerpecker]

I think the part where the stick figures are standing on each other aught to have the middle class on the bottom, then the poor, then the rich. The middle is always put to the lowest denominator by way of poor

[thesquonkstear]

Interesting, but debatable.

In spite of Ronnie Reagan's brain washing about free loading welfare mothers riding in limos, there are plenty of poor who don't have free cars, food stamps, cheese, health care and great schools to send their kids at the expense of the middle class.

The true numbers are staggering.

You see, the rich and their toadies (Fox "reporters") get the whole cake. The rest of America argues over what's left on the knife for the poor AND middle class.

Television lies!

[jamesabruzzi]

How can your political opinions suck so much dick yet you still have the good sense to admire Steely Dan? Quite the conundrum.

[thesquonkstear]

@jamesabruzzi; putting aside your latent homosexual characterization, can you describe what you believe are my opinions, and why you don't agree with what you see as my opinions.

We're glad to explain why you're rude, wrong and ignorant, but without the gay banter.

[snoobeagle]

Heh, a lot of anti-Bush messages there, but the them applies more aptly to the Obama regime now more than ever.

[thesquonkstear]

Heh, thanks but we don't really subscribe to the reactionary, corporatist radio/TV point of view on these things, so I think you'll get a better reception in your brown shirt with Rush telling you what to think in 20 words or less.

In spite of your lazy, knit wit thumb nail summary, the fall guy janitor did not derail the Bush Clinton Bush Express train that ran for 30 years on false promises, tax cuts, deregulation to help big players, fake free markets, profiteering, and treason.

[nsra1933]

Funny thing is...there is not a human alive that would please the people. All politicians want power/money/sex. That's why they run. So you can sit there and bash the right or the left all you want....but it will never do any good.

[thesquonkstear]

Sorry nsra1933, fatalism, hopelessness and resignation are not any of your multiple choices here.

[nsra1933]

I have all the chocies I want...and need. And judging by your video here, my choice is to disagree with you.

[thesquonkstear]

That's fine, but you are on my front lawn, so kindly leave, and get your Steely Dan fix somewhere else.

[jamesabruzzi]

100% correct snoobeagle. Obama's leftist regime is far worse than any of its predecessors.

[rukussert]

I know a new three-man poster you should put on this: "New Atheism steps on Fundamentalist Religion steps on Truth."

[thesquonkstear]

Interesting. Say more on that.

[btinsley1]

we the sheeple......

[levanyzzuf]

Donald Fagen claimed this was his favorite guitar solo featured in any of their songs.

[tuxguys]

@levanyzzuf  Rick Derringer, I believe?

[n2motocross]

Great video combo with the song!

[wacollier]

I was dead wrong on this one. My apologies.

Still unsure about "Chain Lightning" not being the chain-effect, but instead being the SS Symbol. I don't know their symbolism beyond white sheets type of stuff -- I tend to avoid neo-nazis and Klanners since they don't like my kind.

[YOOTUBEDOTCOM]

nerd is trying to play rock and roll, he can but refuses to

[Zepster77]

Agreed!!! Now can anyone tell me what this song is about.... or at least their opinion as to what it's about?

[YOOTUBEDOTCOM]

turn slowly and comb your hair, dont trouble the little man,act natural like you dont care,.. e are standing just where george bush stood , chain lightening ......

[wacollier]

You mean Obama -- he's The One with the cult of personality going.

[n2motocross]

you nailed it about the lefts messiah Obama

[SaxyDan54]

YAAFM

[kitsune9t]

it's about a nazi rally, chain lightning is the SS blazon.

'don't question the little man'

'be part of the brotherhood'

hippest nazi's ever.

[YOOTUBEDOTCOM]

steely is not no nazihood,, they is soul blues people hoods

[kitsune9t]

you don't have to be a nazi to write a song about nazis,

[Bullets4butter]

Acutally, Squonkstear is right about this song!

SD fans know this because interviews with Fagan and Becker prove that much. You can find them online, where they discuss going to Germany and standing where Hitler stood.

But it's funny and entertaining and odd to see wacollier you go on and on like some expert defending your personal view of lyrics that are open to interpretation. But so foolish at the same time.

Did your white sheet get soiled last November? Hahahhaha.

[wacollier]

Just going on what I got from the SD website.

As for white sheets, a black guy would look pretty odd in them, you fucking idiot.

[kitsune9t]

hey man, songs are open to multiple interpretations, Becker and Fagen have said, as Bullets4butter says, that a nazi rally was the original seed for the lyrics. i'd be happy to admit if i'm wrong if you could demonstrate a glaring inconsistency in my interpretation.

[wacollier]

Thanks for a reasonable correction. I remembered asking about these about lyrics 2 decades ago when I was still active duty Army and a buddy was playing the record (yes vinyl, that long ago), and that "Guru" story is what I was given, and I could swear I heard that or read that on the web. I guess too many years in the Army can do things to your memory after you pass the half century mark.

As for the bigots and idiots below, well, they add nothing.

[kitsune9t]

kudos man, politeness is in short supply on you tube.

[clarknk553]

After reading the back-and-forth between wacollier and the others, it seems that wacollier is the biggest, if not only, bigot and idiot trading comments on this video.  His manners are on short supply, too.

[wacollier]

Bigot? Show me one place where I was bigoted. Bad manners? Yes. I have little patience at my age for fuckwits like you.

[deadpan227]

That left/right wing hooey, sure stunk up the joint.

Can we keep politics out of this groove?

[Keegah]

Amen.

[thesquonkstear]

@deadpan227 If you think this has nothing to do with politics, you don't know what you're listening to... (see Steely Dan interviews about the song).

[deadpan227]

The song is about the electric effect of being in a large crowd and being caught up in the mood of the group. It's well known at rock concerts, fireworks displays, parades, not just at political rallies and not just as a tool of totalitarians. MLK gave his "I Have a Dream" speech at a huge rally.

But my point was, why make it all about Hitler, The Klan or Stalin or any politicians? They apply just as well to any Steely Dan show.

[thesquonkstear]

@deadpan227

Yes! You're half way there. You'll find Fagan/Becker said it's about fascism. "The Brotherhood"... "the little man".. and "standing just where he stood" are references to Hitler. So as much as anyone wants to ignore politics in the song (which is your right), it's hard for us to ignore it, hearing several references to one of the most hated leader in history, who orchestrated one of most massive acts of evil via human sacrifices (which is our right).

And it's just one view...

[howst3]

@deadpan227 dude how in the can these phukwits read ALL THAT RACIST BS into a FEEL GOOD SONG...dude ur interpetation IS WHAT DA DAN MEANT!!!!!

[howst3]

@deadpan227 actually i just saw thee SS/stutz staffalen sign at the beginning of the video accompaning da song...soooo of coarse sum rasist IDIOT will rad into it...i buried my father in ARLINGTON NAT'L CEMETARY...sooo phuk'm my father died to prevent such BS!!!!

[prtzlgc]

I fell in love with this song in 77 driving my honda civic. in the San Fernando valley. Couldn't figure out what was making me feel so good when it played. Then it hit me .. the blues, jazz rock, slick grooves still love it...

[ezwages]

you definitely caught the theme of the song.

[tonus391]

What an awesome tune thank you! One of my favorite SD tunes, the songs of youth...

My understanding is that they'd (Fagen, Becker) just gone to a gathering, some outdoor festival, of some sort of eastern mystic, guru, like the guy the Beatles embraced for a while from India (and hey no disrespect to those folks) ...and wrote this after watching the spacey crowd get into the guru guy, and they were like just, 'whatever man'...and then wrote this...

[WHEREtheFUNK]

blues jazz fusion in a seamless delivery. It never gets old.

[WHEREtheFUNK]

a daily dose of the dan makes it all better

[obamasucksballs]

Listening to Steely Dan makes me glad to be alive.

[loopyman76]

I agree. That, and Obama being elected President! ;-)

[obamasucksballs]

Hoping for the best in that regard my friend. Hope I'm wrong about him.

[STIRKDAWG]

That's a pretty fucking obnoxious username. Not very fitting for a Dan fan.

[obamasucksballs]

Nobody's perfect bro. Besides, I didn't realize all Dan fans were supposed to be in lockstep with the Imposter in Chief.

[STIRKDAWG]

Easy there Rush. (and I can tell you're an E I B guy because you use terms like "lockstep") I'm not saying that all Steely Dan fans voted Obama in last fall's LANDSLIDE election. I'm only saying that having, "sucksballs" in your username is weak; really classless. Why don't you just go ahead and say what you really want to say Operation Chaos guy: "NOBAMA!" You're a Right-wing retard who stumbled onto a Steely Dan post while you were searching for Toby Keith.

[obamasucksballs]

Hey dickhead, I was listening to Steely Dan before you were born. Take your political commentary and insults and shove them up your ass.

[STIRKDAWG]

I was born in 1978 so you have UNDOUBTEDLY been listening to Steely Dan for much longer than me. It's funny that the music inspires such rage in you. It's also curious that a 47 yr old lawyer specializes in the use of words like:

-suck balls

-dickhead

-fuck &

-up your ass ... especially in reference to YOUR President! (and make no mistake. He is YOUR President) That must really sting.

In closing, you're a joke and so is any law firm that would employ a "lawyer" like you.

[STIRKDAWG]

NOW GET OFF OF YOUTUBE AND GET BACK TO THE INJURY CASE THAT YOU'RE PREPARING FOR THAT CLIENT WHO SLIPPED ON A WET FLOOR AT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD 7-Eleven! Get off of YouTube and back to LAW ... NOW!

[cimmeriantower]

You just got POWNED!

[billjhyt]

I'm with you on this one. What burr got up his ass. If you expect to agree with almost anyone on politics you're a fool or playing a fools game. Agree to disagree, that's what I way. Tricky Dicky got the shaft, what do you say to that. (See, that's how easy it is to get into it. It's not worth it.)

[sugahface]

((fortunetly)) this is still a free country "stirkdawg" and he can have any name he chooses,you like obama and some of us dont now get over it and lets get back to ,,the great music....hugs

[videotater]

@obamasucksballs Steely Dan would not agree that Obama sucks balls. They're "libertards," don't you know?

[7beers]

The setting up and then manipulating of expectations is the heart of music, and it is accomplished in countless ways. Steely Dan do it by playing songs that are essentially the blues (with blues structure and chord progressions) but by adding unusual harmonies to the chords that make them sound very unblues -- for example on their song "Chain Lightning." ~Daniel Levitin

[Teflon65]

Very good. They may all belong in the Fletcher Memorial Home, ala Roger Waters.

[fogggygyrl]

You can also see chain lightning by looking at the legs of the people stomping on the next person down that are drawn on the posters throughout this video.

[fogggygyrl]

The world's leaders might look like they're all separate, but they're really all connected, like chain lightning. A lot of them are connected through secret societies.

[Exilemainstreet]

To better understand this song, say "ten years later" to yourself at 1:56.

That was the original idea for the song, but it was left off the released version.

[shockingtruths]

10 years later?-- are you saying 10 years after Hitler stood "where he stood"?

[Sectrefocal]

nice!!

[zygmont68]

This may be the greatest song ever recorded in my opinion, signed a unwashed right wing non-tax paying pot smoking America loving American.

[obamasucksballs]

Great song, loved Dan since early 70's. Ominous images. I'm detecting a theme here. Scaaaary stuff kids!

[Silberdachs]

Classic Dan

[dreadmorayeel]

Class song and nice vid...

"Don't bother to understand-don't question the little man.." he he he...dontcha just luv The Dan and how they skewer little fascist droids...crypto homo-erotic blues...ha ha ha...All Hail The Dan!

[appazvf]

chain lightning . a

drink, isn't it?

[speedman102]

if i could vote, like one year, i would vote for obama, not hilary clinton.

[cinnaplid]

I think this is a naughty song, that's why I love it.

[humboldtmyche]

I still did not vote . Good song...