Donald Fagen celebrates his 72nd birthday today (January 10th). The first Steely Dan song they actually heard on the radio, which Donald Fagen says was “definitely a mindblower.” was Do It Again fro the album: Can’t Buy a Thrill It made it to number-six on the Billboard Hot 100
Technically, “Do It Again” wasn’t Steely Dan’s first single. Before their debut album, Can’t Buy a Thrill, came out they put out a 45 titled “Dallas,” which sunk without a trace. But “Do It Again” was the first one off the album and even more importantly, the band’s first major hit. Singer-keyboardist Donald Fagen recalls what it meant for him to hear it on the radio for the very first time.
“We were making albums more quickly then, so it was maybe four months after we had recorded it. We heard it on the radio in Los Angeles where we were living, driving down the freeway there. And it was definitely a mindblower to hear something that you’d actually created playing on the radio.”
