Quotes by Walter Becker - Page 2

I learned a lot from the various artists I produced. Either you see them doing something that you do want to do it, or you see them doing something the way you don't want to do it.
Walter Becker / Musician
Way Doing See
Produced
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With any relationship that goes on and is productive over a long period, there have to be some sort of interlocking qualities in those personalities that make it possible to survive.
Walter Becker / Musician
Long Period
Personalities
Qualities
Survive
To Survive
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I learned music from a book on piano theory. I was only interested in knowing about chords. From that, and from the 'Harvard Dictionary of Music,' I learned everything I wanted to know.
Walter Becker / Musician
Chords
Dictionary
Harvard
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The protagonist in 'Deacon Blues' is a triple-L loser - an L-L-L Loser. It's not so much about a guy who achieves his dream but about a broken dream of a broken man living a broken life.
Walter Becker / Musician
Dream
Broken
Guy
Living
Achieves
Blues
Deacon
Protagonist
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My primary influences were the best jazz players from the 50's and 60's and later some of the pop people from the same time period along with the better of the well-known blues musicians.
Walter Becker / Musician
People
Player
Rock N Roll
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My primary influences were the best jazz players from the 50's and 60's and later some of the pop people from the same time period along with the better of the well known blues musicians.
Walter Becker / Musician
Jazz
Well Known
Time Best Better
Blues
Best Time Better
Period
Influences
Musicians
Primary
Same Time
Time Period
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It's good - it's great when somebody who is 20 years younger than you comes up and says, 'Wow, we just got turned on to you guys, and you're really great,' or something like that. I like that.
Walter Becker / Musician
Wow
Good Great Something
You Guys
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I have a feeling there were many, many successful rock duos that just didn't get attention. That's the fault of the rock press. They are always playing up controversy, scandal, aggravation, and irritation.
Walter Becker / Musician
Aggravation
Controversy
Irritation
Scandal
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The perfect day for me is waking up and having a cup of tea with my kids before I drive them to school; Then, I go into the studio and try and write some music for three or four hours and give up about noon.
Walter Becker / Musician
Noon
Waking
Music Me Day
Cup
Waking Up
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When you're collaborating with somebody, there has to be a spirit of cooperation. There are a lot of times when you just can't persuade someone to write a certain type of song, either musically or lyrically.
Walter Becker / Musician
Collaborating
Cooperation
Lyrically
Musically
Persuade
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It's interesting how some songs really lend themselves to performance in a big public venue and performance by a band and so on, and so they're even more successful in that context than they were on the record.
Walter Becker / Musician
Context
Lend
Venue
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There was a film called 'FM,' and we were asked to do the title song. And I said, 'Does it have to have any specific words?' And they said, 'No, it just has to be about FM radio.' It took a day or two to write.
Walter Becker / Musician
Title
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We fly to the town in the little private airplane, and then we have to get in cars and drive to the hotel and then drive to the gig. So, I want to do a tour where the performances will actually be at the small airports.
Walter Becker / Musician
Airplane
Hotel
Airport
Gig
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Originally, we had a band known as Steely Dan. As we moved away from the band, we got whoever was appropriate for specific tunes. In a lot of cases, we gravitated toward jazz players who had more sophisticated harmonic concepts.
Walter Becker / Musician
Appropriate
Cases
Concepts
Sophisticated
Tunes
Dan
Harmonic
Originally
Steely
Whoever
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What gets people into trouble with records now is that they want to build something up without substantial musical ideas. Without that as a foundation, you can add all the layers of sound you want - it's still going to sound like a mess.
Walter Becker / Musician
Add
Layers
Mess
Musical Ideas
Substantial
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There are some things that I write that I know are personal in a way, or the gag is so obscure that it's just for me, and there's other things that could basically be for anybody or be anything, at least until the lyrics start to get written.
Walter Becker / Musician
Obscure
Me Start Way
Gag
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When you start to work with someone, there's a negotiation that takes place involving what's going to happen when you have a difference of opinion. Most attempts at collaboration never survive the negotiation. Merely being agreeable is not enough.
Walter Becker / Musician
Collaboration
Involving
Negotiation
Work Start Enough
Agreeable
Attempts
Merely
Survive
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It was the 'Gaucho' album that finished us off. We had pursued an idea beyond the point where it was practical. That album took about two years, and we were working on it all of that time - all these endless tracking sessions involving different musicians. It took forever, and it was a very painful process.
Walter Becker / Musician
Endless
Finished
Involving
Painful
Pursued
Tracking
Practical
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'Deacon Blues' was special for me. It's the only time I remember mixing a record all day and, when the mix was done, feeling like I wanted to hear it over and over again. It was the comprehensive sound of the thing: the song itself, its character, the way the instruments sounded, and the way Tom Scott's tight horn arrangement fit in.
Walter Becker / Musician
Instruments
Only Time
Time Character Me
Time Done Character
All Day
Arrangement
Blues
Time Character Done
Deacon
Horn
Mix
Scott
Tight
Tom
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Walter Becker Quotes - Page 2

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