In Steely Dan’s song “Show Biz Kids,” the backing singers keep repeating a refrain of “Go to lost wages” over every part of the song. I heard it the other day when the guy driving for our carpool played a tape of Countdown to Ecstasy.
It occurred to me that this was well before Pro Tools and digital cut-and-paste methods, so the singers likely had to keep singing this over and over again. That would probably be expected in any normal studio session, but given the well-documented perfectionist tendencies of Becker and Fagen…well, dang. Those ladies are probably still hearing the song in their sleep over 30 years later.
“OK girls…take 80. Can you give it a little more life this time?”