Long-lost footage of Steely Dan playing a mesmerising Show Biz Kids in 1973 has surfaced

Earlier this month, rare footage of Steely Dan playing Reelin’ In The Years and Do It Again on The Midnight Special appeared on the show’s official YouTube channel. 

The footage came from a show broadcast in February 1973, but the band returned to the show in August the same year and played three more songs. They revisited Reelin’ in the Years and added My Old School, alongside a sensational Show Biz Kids, and the latter is the latest video to make its way online.

And it is sensational. Donald Fagen, famously nervous about singing live, shows absolutely no sign of being so. Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter plays Rick Derringer’s original slide guitar part with an exuberance bordering on maniacal. And the two backing singers, Gloria ‘Porky’ Granola and Jenny ‘Bucky’ Soule, have more fun with the famous “You go to Lost Wages, Lost Wages,” lines than you can possibly imagine. 

Impressively, it appears that the band refused to self-censor the “You know they don’t give a fuck about anybody else” line – later used as the basis for the song The Man Don’t Give a Fuck by Welsh psychedelia enthusiasts Super Furry Animals – forcing the show’s producers to punch in a brief moment of family-friendly silence during the edit.

Also appearing on the show – hosted by Billy Preston – were rock’n’roll star Bo Diddley, cult yacht rocker Ned Doheny, Texan rockers Gladstone, Broadway singer Maureen McGovern, and former Band Of Gypsys drummer Buddy Miles. 

More videos added to The Midnight Special‘s YouTube channel this week: Johnny Winter covering The Rolling Stones‘ Jumpin’ Jack Flash in July 1973, and Sparks performing Talent Is An Asset in November the following year. All three videos are below.  

Source: loudersound.com