I used to work with a guy who ran the soundboard for the Stones and all kinds of BIG acts; he always used this song while Equalizing everything :) awesome; and yes...Jeff Porcoro is the Bomb! you are missed Jeff :(
@ swimmerB0B I could call you cleverclogs or nit-picker, but joking aside I'm sure you know what I mean - the really disquieting harmony on the FIRST and LAST 'mine'. It is a sad, discordant sound, and suggests to anyone with better than a tin ear that the singer's love is bound to be unrequited. OK?
I practiced this drum beat for hours yesterday and I could not get it to flow. Your wrist gets a bit tired from playing all those triplets, and it's very hard to get the light touch he has on the snare and then the quick cymbal wash. Also I am not entirely convinced I've got the bass drum right, it's very subtle and quietly miked to boot.
Of course, it's not THAT hard to play along with him. But laying down that groove originally? Whoa!!!! I assume a click track was used, but still!!!
@alexhirschmusic thanks but i can't seem to do triplets two-handed without getting seriously messed up! at any rate, i believe i once saw a vid of Porcaro doing this beat, and clearly he was doing the HH one-handed.
great song, what is amazing is I never knew this song was a cover version until many years later, I like this version much better than the original and Donald Fagen sure has made this song sound his own
I was 14 when this album was released...there was something about it then I couldn't quite put my finger on, but I knew I LIKED it. Years LATER, I figured it out.
"The Nightfly" is one of those extremely RARE albums that you can not only listen to from beginning to end, but one where every song IN it becomes more & more like a great friend every time.
Fagen hit his APEX with this 1982 classic, and it should go down as one of the finest albums of all time, in ANY category.
To my Sister-Outlaw Ms. Ruby in the Queen City, NC. Much love. From youyr Brother Outlaw in Brooklyn, NY. This guy was the keyboard player for Steely Dan. I'll send you some more stuff by him and his band Steely Dan. Look out for it. Later!krxn11
Correct MCGEHEE1. Great natural rhythm and a formal percussion musical education helps understand the significance in that simplistically complicated beat. Just keeping time by a single repeating percussion beat is one of the most difficult rudiments a trap set percussionist encounters. Feedback recorded replays is a great way to really know where you are at for drum percussionists. Not so with other percussionists such as pianists.
You can't find the original by the Drifters anywhere on You Tube (at least in the U.S.) - but this version has the same slow, rocking beat - the way they sang it originally.
RIP Leiber... Think of all those nuggets he co-wrote with Stoller... Poison Ivy... Little Egypt... Jailhouse Rock... damn... and this CRACKER... done to perfection by Donald Fagen... with the sunshine harmonies! Sheeeeit, makes me feel 5 again
I gotta a girl and Ruby is her name....she don't love me but I love her just the same...Ruby Ruby how I want you.....like a ghost I'm gonna haunt you...Ruby Ruby when will you be mine????
I'm from New Orleans,@3:33 the groove starts to remind me of an old juke joint,everyone is sweaty and dancing.It's a toe-tappin',finger snappin' and hand clappin' outro,it's one of the best songs you'll ever hear.DF is a bonafied genius.
Im not a drummer, Im a keyboardist, but I can tell you that in all of the music I have ever listened to, I have never heard anyone play a 16th note groove smoother, and with such precision as Jeff Porcaro did. The guy was absolutely brilliant. This song is a great example of it. Another really good example of how great Jeff Porcaro was with the 16th notes is Michael McDonald's "I Keep Forgettin".
@colbydobbsband you can hear/watch my practicing to Keep Forgettin and other tracks on here if you search for it.
Still, not nearly as difficult as Ruby Baby. Until you've actually tried to accurately reproduce Porcaro's grooves (along with him), you just can't fully appreciate what a groove monster he was. I'm just now realizing. I've found the signature of any Porcaro track is it sounds easy and is way more difficult to play than you ever thought.
A tip for all drummers. This beat sounds simple, but try to duplicate it. You'll realize (even if you're great) that this is some tough stuff. Record yourself doing it and you'll want to quit. Best drum practice you can do. You'll respect Jeff Porcaro more than you ever did if you try this, I promise!!!
@jmclen7 my experience exactly. One of my drum teachers used to point out how Pocaro was the Man when it came to this time of clean beat. Always tougher than flaying away like a noisy machine gun!
@yuritim Very true, but there is more to it than that. Something about Porcaro makes him different from all the other studio greats. Steve Jordan by contrast has a very laid back feel. Almost everything he plays is very comfortable and natural for a drummer. What makes Jeff Porcaro different is the crazy groove manipulation he's always doing throughout the track. Until I played along with him and recorded myself, I just didn't understand. Every track he does is very hard work. cheers!
@jmclen7 I've played this beat a thousand times. It's triplets on the high hat with the right hand , with and accent on the bass drum on the and of 4 and the downbeat on 1, with the standard 2 and 4 on the snare, withe other accents and fills that are not difficult to figure out. And yes, Porcarro was great.
@caveman735 Yeah, I've played it a bunch myself. It's one of those beats that is super easy to learn and almost impossible to master... especially if you record yourself playing along with the track and listen later. That's my basic point. Anyone can play this, but nobody can PLAY this.
@jmclen7 I think compentent drummer's can play this. but not with the groove that Porcarro did. Pocarro was the man with the golden groove, the groove master.
My favorite song from a terrific album. There's nobody like Donald, Walter, and the Dan. Unique. I tried a Pandora station for Steely Dan and it couldn't generate anything compatible, just generic '70s and '80s lite rock.
Thanks for posting the ol' vinyl. Was it really '82? Sheesh. Old guys.
1st to comment! A huge thanks for putting this up! Steely Dan, Donald Fagen and the rest have to be some of the best ever! I have this album on vinyl and haven't heard it in years due to broken and stored turntable. Inspired to fix it after finding this and other Steely Dan here on YouTube.
big larry carlton on guitars..the best on this music
massimo52185 1 week ago
I always liked that girl in the background at 0:28. Ahhh...
michaeltrctt465 1 week ago
Great stuff! thanks.
Unstupid1 2 weeks ago
Hey, today is the one year anniversary of this being uploaded. YAY! :D
dendroicazenaida 2 weeks ago in playlist Fav. Music
I think The Drifters recorded the original. HOWEVER, what a fablious cover version. The guitaring is v understated but oh so cool!!
me1onhead 1 month ago
I used to work with a guy who ran the soundboard for the Stones and all kinds of BIG acts; he always used this song while Equalizing everything :) awesome; and yes...Jeff Porcoro is the Bomb! you are missed Jeff :(
tonyinmiami99 1 month ago
GREAT ALBUM!!
RobinSandza 1 month ago
v vk: cleverclogs here! still love the third one. you are exactly right, cuz i am living it, still waiting for that ruby...
swimmerB0B 1 month ago
@ swimmerB0B I could call you cleverclogs or nit-picker, but joking aside I'm sure you know what I mean - the really disquieting harmony on the FIRST and LAST 'mine'. It is a sad, discordant sound, and suggests to anyone with better than a tin ear that the singer's love is bound to be unrequited. OK?
vonvoltairekyo 1 month ago
Incredible piano solo.
pianobanter 1 month ago 2
Just brilliant. Echoing the skills of one half of Steely Dan....my god they were superb.
truro007 1 month ago
...thick sour harmony on 'mine'....which one? there are four, and they are all different, esp the 3rd one. luv the 3rd one....
swimmerB0B 1 month ago
Look up 'cool', and there's the Fagenman...
irishmermaid4 1 month ago 32
FYI this is a cover song.
alexhirschmusic 2 months ago
There must be one idiot in every pack of people.
alexhirschmusic 2 months ago
Oh Yeah! Jazz comes to Rock and into Fusion here. Stock in trade by Donald. Awesome.
4Rachy 2 months ago
"Ruby Ruby, when will you be mine?" Well just listen to the thick sour harmony on "mine". Oh right, NEVER.
vonvoltairekyo 2 months ago
I practiced this drum beat for hours yesterday and I could not get it to flow. Your wrist gets a bit tired from playing all those triplets, and it's very hard to get the light touch he has on the snare and then the quick cymbal wash. Also I am not entirely convinced I've got the bass drum right, it's very subtle and quietly miked to boot.
Of course, it's not THAT hard to play along with him. But laying down that groove originally? Whoa!!!! I assume a click track was used, but still!!!
ciclisti666 2 months ago
@ciclisti666 try two handed hi hat. Its easy
alexhirschmusic 2 months ago
@alexhirschmusic thanks but i can't seem to do triplets two-handed without getting seriously messed up! at any rate, i believe i once saw a vid of Porcaro doing this beat, and clearly he was doing the HH one-handed.
ciclisti666 2 months ago
Donald Fagen is the man. His voice is perfection.
kiffenlover 2 months ago
CATHY, you are my ruby.....
swimmerB0B 2 months ago
I had this LP - fantastic
adamatova 2 months ago
donald fagen may have strayed off to a solo spin, but he came up with a masterpiece chock full of the stuff that Dan Fans crave.
swimmerB0B 3 months ago
Oh yea, Noboby, I mean NOBODY, groved like Jeff Porcarro
caveman735 3 months ago
Donald Fagen's solo music will never get old, the same goes for Steely Dan.
silvercrown57 3 months ago 3
Donald Fagen's solo music will never get old, the same goes for Steely Dan.
silvercrown57 3 months ago
great song, what is amazing is I never knew this song was a cover version until many years later, I like this version much better than the original and Donald Fagen sure has made this song sound his own
Doobie1975 4 months ago
I love how this song starts out!!
Toni7859 4 months ago
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That Piano Solo really makes the song. Mr. Phillinganes plays some tasty keys.
vasallizinni 4 months ago
I was 14 when this album was released...there was something about it then I couldn't quite put my finger on, but I knew I LIKED it. Years LATER, I figured it out.
"The Nightfly" is one of those extremely RARE albums that you can not only listen to from beginning to end, but one where every song IN it becomes more & more like a great friend every time.
Fagen hit his APEX with this 1982 classic, and it should go down as one of the finest albums of all time, in ANY category.
gravymann1 4 months ago
To my Sister-Outlaw Ms. Ruby in the Queen City, NC. Much love. From youyr Brother Outlaw in Brooklyn, NY. This guy was the keyboard player for Steely Dan. I'll send you some more stuff by him and his band Steely Dan. Look out for it. Later!krxn11
KRxN11 5 months ago
Correct MCGEHEE1. Great natural rhythm and a formal percussion musical education helps understand the significance in that simplistically complicated beat. Just keeping time by a single repeating percussion beat is one of the most difficult rudiments a trap set percussionist encounters. Feedback recorded replays is a great way to really know where you are at for drum percussionists. Not so with other percussionists such as pianists.
vasallizinni 5 months ago
this soing is dedicated to silvio berlusconi.
alpha520mec 6 months ago
You can't find the original by the Drifters anywhere on You Tube (at least in the U.S.) - but this version has the same slow, rocking beat - the way they sang it originally.
recovering16 6 months ago
RIP Leiber... Think of all those nuggets he co-wrote with Stoller... Poison Ivy... Little Egypt... Jailhouse Rock... damn... and this CRACKER... done to perfection by Donald Fagen... with the sunshine harmonies! Sheeeeit, makes me feel 5 again
bongoloid77 6 months ago
My dad used to play this all the time when I was really little(: It's still an amazing song <3
TheEpicfailure1 6 months ago
RIP Jerry Lieber
rotsa1 6 months ago
I gotta a girl and Ruby is her name....she don't love me but I love her just the same...Ruby Ruby how I want you.....like a ghost I'm gonna haunt you...Ruby Ruby when will you be mine????
mrusmcdoc53 6 months ago
This song = sonic joy. It's like sex for your ears.
PimpDragon108 6 months ago 2
Listen to that Album since 1988 now...it´s one of my alltime faves...a masterpiece! Timeless, elegant and genius. I LOVE IT!!!
MultiGemini666 6 months ago
gET HIHIGH MUSIC!!!!!!
develynn1 7 months ago
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This video was just added to a music playlist at JustPlay.fm
justplayfm 7 months ago
I'm from New Orleans,@3:33 the groove starts to remind me of an old juke joint,everyone is sweaty and dancing.It's a toe-tappin',finger snappin' and hand clappin' outro,it's one of the best songs you'll ever hear.DF is a bonafied genius.
TheDarryl76 7 months ago
Allow me to recommend the book 'A Concise Guide To Eighties' Music. The author speaks highly of this wondrous song.
karlvorderman 7 months ago
Basta spendere soldi per processi inutili!... Ma quale Emilio Fede! Ecco chi è che rimedia le prostitute allo psiconano!!
jackonfire85 8 months ago 3
Love the Anthony Jackson bass line.
hklinker 8 months ago 3
noy my kind of music at all....but total respect for such a classy and pro performance
pontello3 8 months ago
Comment removed
MCGEHEE1 8 months ago 9
Spent a whole afternoon working out the bass to this :D
It was time well spent.
ConnorFGuitar 9 months ago
Thank you very much for this posting! piano solo @ 1:50 is Greg Phillinganes.
MCGEHEE1 9 months ago 37
@MCGEHEE1 and its one of the greatest piano solos ever played ever!!!!!
alexhirschmusic 2 months ago
@MCGEHEE1
006denzel 3 weeks ago in playlist Favorite videos
beautiful piano solo - all instrumentalists should take note - an exemplary stylistic short solo for a commercial tune
w423350 9 months ago
Im not a drummer, Im a keyboardist, but I can tell you that in all of the music I have ever listened to, I have never heard anyone play a 16th note groove smoother, and with such precision as Jeff Porcaro did. The guy was absolutely brilliant. This song is a great example of it. Another really good example of how great Jeff Porcaro was with the 16th notes is Michael McDonald's "I Keep Forgettin".
colbydobbsband 10 months ago
@colbydobbsband you can hear/watch my practicing to Keep Forgettin and other tracks on here if you search for it.
Still, not nearly as difficult as Ruby Baby. Until you've actually tried to accurately reproduce Porcaro's grooves (along with him), you just can't fully appreciate what a groove monster he was. I'm just now realizing. I've found the signature of any Porcaro track is it sounds easy and is way more difficult to play than you ever thought.
jmclen7 10 months ago
@colbydobbsband Pocarro is playing a triplet's, not 16th's on the high hat, making it a triplet groove.
caveman735 3 months ago
A tip for all drummers. This beat sounds simple, but try to duplicate it. You'll realize (even if you're great) that this is some tough stuff. Record yourself doing it and you'll want to quit. Best drum practice you can do. You'll respect Jeff Porcaro more than you ever did if you try this, I promise!!!
jmclen7 10 months ago 20
@jmclen7 my experience exactly. One of my drum teachers used to point out how Pocaro was the Man when it came to this time of clean beat. Always tougher than flaying away like a noisy machine gun!
yuritim 10 months ago
@yuritim Very true, but there is more to it than that. Something about Porcaro makes him different from all the other studio greats. Steve Jordan by contrast has a very laid back feel. Almost everything he plays is very comfortable and natural for a drummer. What makes Jeff Porcaro different is the crazy groove manipulation he's always doing throughout the track. Until I played along with him and recorded myself, I just didn't understand. Every track he does is very hard work. cheers!
jmclen7 10 months ago
@jmclen7 I've played this beat a thousand times. It's triplets on the high hat with the right hand , with and accent on the bass drum on the and of 4 and the downbeat on 1, with the standard 2 and 4 on the snare, withe other accents and fills that are not difficult to figure out. And yes, Porcarro was great.
caveman735 3 months ago
@caveman735 Yeah, I've played it a bunch myself. It's one of those beats that is super easy to learn and almost impossible to master... especially if you record yourself playing along with the track and listen later. That's my basic point. Anyone can play this, but nobody can PLAY this.
jmclen7 3 months ago
@jmclen7 I think compentent drummer's can play this. but not with the groove that Porcarro did. Pocarro was the man with the golden groove, the groove master.
caveman735 3 months ago
love this ...love all the stuff they did individualy and together ...real pacific west coast great jazz.
denise blighe ...southamton ..u.k
deniseblighe1 10 months ago
My favorite song from a terrific album. There's nobody like Donald, Walter, and the Dan. Unique. I tried a Pandora station for Steely Dan and it couldn't generate anything compatible, just generic '70s and '80s lite rock.
Thanks for posting the ol' vinyl. Was it really '82? Sheesh. Old guys.
Talcupp 10 months ago
Great arrangement of the Leiber & Stoller classic!
mancmuso1 1 year ago 2
1st to comment! A huge thanks for putting this up! Steely Dan, Donald Fagen and the rest have to be some of the best ever! I have this album on vinyl and haven't heard it in years due to broken and stored turntable. Inspired to fix it after finding this and other Steely Dan here on YouTube.
IceRide 1 year ago
@IceRide I picked up a USB turntable a while back - transferring all my vinyls including 78s to audio files. It's a blast!
larrybndc 10 months ago