Is it hip to be a Steely Dan fan again yet? Whether it is or no I’ve always liked them and I’ve been relistening to Aja lately, which is why this odd little snippet of gossip in the Grauniad caught my eye:
Please, if anyone knows what Steely Dan duo Walter Becker and Donald Fagen are on or up to then let us know. As previously reported they recently wrote an open letter to actor Luke Wilson complaining that his actor brother Owen used their song Cousin Dupree as the basis for his character in You, Me and Dupree. Now they have posted an 1,800 word open letter to Wes Anderson, who directed the Wilsons in The Royal Tenenbaums and Bottle Rocket. “Surely,” they write, “we are not the first to tell you that your career is suffering from a malaise.” They then write suggested lyrics for Anderson’s next film and end up asking that a cheque for $400,000 (?210,000) be FedExed to them.
I sensed some backstory here, so I did a little google. Here’s the full text of the letter to Luke Wilson. nd here’s the letter to Wes Anderson. I love the language, very 1975.
It’s like a little window back in time. Pass the bowl man. The whole thing’d be kinda sweet, if it weren’t just so goddamned breadheaded.
The whole letter reads like a comedic screenplay. In my mind’s eye I see Donald Sutherland as Fagan and Kevin Spacey as Becker ( ymmv, obviously) but I’m really not quite sure about the director … the Coen brothers maybe, or the Farrelly’s or some other indy-type sibling duo. Perhaps that’s just a tad obvious. I know who – Kevin Smith! Dude! Whatever, it just has to have a crazed John Goodman in it somewhere. He’d be perfect as as the psychotic Russian hired muscle… 
I’m feeling the excitement here, this could be a real pitch. Major studios please note, I thought of it first.
See how it works? Little fleas have bigger fleas upon their backs to bite ’em and bigger fleas have bigger fleas and so ad infinitum. I await my royalty demand from Becker & Fagan with bated breath.
Read more: Music, Gossip, Steely Dan , Seventies Nostalgia
