Kid Charlemagne
| "Kid Charlemagne" | ||||||||||
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 The cover of the "Kid Charlemagne" single features Fagen (top) and Becker (bottom) | ||||||||||
| Single by Steely Dan | ||||||||||
| from the album The Royal Scam | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Green Earrings" | |||||||||
| Released | May 1976 | |||||||||
| Genre | Funk rock, pop rock, jazz fusion, jazz rock | |||||||||
| Length | 4:38 | |||||||||
| Label | ABC | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Walter Becker, Donald Fagen | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Gary Katz | |||||||||
| Steely Dan singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Kid Charlemagne" is a song by the rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their 1976 album The Royal Scam and reached number 82 in the Billboard charts.[1] It is a fusion of a funk rhythm and jazz harmonies with rock and roll instrumentals and lyrical style. The guitar solo by jazz fusion guitarist Larry Carlton was ranked #80 in the list of the 100 greatest guitar songs by Rolling Stone, stating "In the late seventies, Steely Dan made records by pushing a revolving crew of monster session dudes through take after take, which yielded endless jaw-dropping guitar solos. Larry Carlton's multi-sectioned, cosmic-jazz lead in this cut may be the best of all: It's so complex it's a song in its own right."[2]
Composition
The lyrics tell the story of the rise and fall of a drug dealer in the context of the psychedelic scene of the 1960s on the West Coast. Specifically, writers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have stated that the lyrics were loosely inspired by the exploits of the infamous San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley Stanley[3] — although it conflates the core story with numerous other images of the Sixties:
On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
Every A-frame had your number on the wall
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your Technicolor motor home
The first two lines draw on the fact that Owsley's acid was famed for its purity, and the third line is likely a reference to the famous psychedelic bus named Further, which was used by the Merry Pranksters, who were supplied their LSD by Owsley himself.
The lyric "You'd go to LA on a dare and you'd go it alone" alludes to a story in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test about a trip taken by chief Prankster Ken Kesey.
The song features a jazz-inflected electric guitar solo by guitarist Larry Carlton. The drum track was played by Bernard "Pretty" Purdie whose long-time session partner, Chuck Rainey, plays the bass.
Personnel
- Donald Fagen – lead vocals
- Larry Carlton – guitar
- Walter Becker – guitar
- Don Grolnick – Fender Rhodes electric piano
- Paul Griffin – Hohner Clavinet
- Chuck Rainey – bass
- Bernard Purdie – drums
- Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, Vanetta Fields, Clydie King, Sherlie Matthews – backup vocals
Samples
The 2007 Kanye West song "Champion", from his album Graduation samples "Kid Charlemagne" extensively.
Cultural references
In the Malcolm in the Middle episode "Garage Sale", Hal (Bryan Cranston) finds his old pirate radio transmitter and restarts the station he ran in college under the pseudonym Kid Charlemagne.
References
- ↑ Steely Dan USA chart history, Billboard.com. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
- ↑ "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs" at the Wayback Machine (archived May 30, 2008). Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ↑ Complete transcript of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker in a BBC-Online Chat, March 4, 2000
External links
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