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Steely Dan/the name Steely Dan

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Expert: Mike McGibney - 11/29/2004


Question
Where did the name Steely Dan come from.  A friend of mine told me he thinks that a "steely dan" is a dildo made out of silver or some kind of metal.  I'm not making this up.  I "googled" the name but only came up with hits about the band. I couldn't find anything about the origin of the name.

Thanks,
Kim

Answer
Hi Kim!

I'm so sorry you've been waiting so long! I've had some trouble in my life, and I just havent been online for weeks! My apologies.

Your friend is right! The name comes from a metal strap on dildo in the William Burroughs book "The Naked Lunch" where a prostitute uses "Steely Dan III" on a customer!


Hope that answers your question! Fagen and Becker were both huge beat literature fans.


Kind regards


Mike

Steely Dan

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Volunteer

Mike McGibney

Expertise

I can answer questions about individual members of the band or their vast array of session musicians, or about ANY song, even the extremely rare/unpublished. I can help with musical aspects such as chords/instruments used or with style of playing or about the history behind the band and in particular, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the bands writers/arrangers.

Experience

I am a huge Steely Dan fan, and have my own website on them. I also have a Steely Dan tribute band, and saw the real Steely Dan play at Wembley in 2000. I play all their music on bass and piano, and specialise in hard to get songs, mostly on mp3 format.

Organizations
I play keyboards and do the arranging and transcriptions for a Steely Dan tribute band, and am a regular member on forums on the band throughout the internet.

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