“We’ll Build a World Together”: Intimacy, Alienation, and Donald Fagen’s Voice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Donald Fagen’s voice is Steely Dan’s unifying thread, yet its distinctive sound has persistently eluded scholarly inquiry. In this article, I examine some defining features of Fagen’s voice while unpacking its role in Steely Dan’s enticing soundscapes. These soundscapes have a unique capacity to draw listeners in while simultaneously blinding them to the routinely unsavory goings-on of Steely Dan’s narrative worlds – a paradoxical esthetic ideology I call intimate alienation. I examine how “intimacy” and “alienation” might interact in Fagen’s voice and Steely Dan’s music more generally, particularly as regards their history of controversial engagement with issues of gender and race.