Kid Charlemagne
"Kid Charlemagne" is a song by the rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their 1976 album The Royal Scam as its opening track and reached number 82 in the Billboard charts.[2] 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 solos by Rolling Stone.[3]
| "Kid Charlemagne" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 | June 1976 [1] | |||
| Genre | Jazz rock | |||
| Length | 4:38 (album version) 3:56 (single version) | |||
| Label | ABC | |||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Gary Katz | |||
| Steely Dan singles chronology | ||||
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| Official audio | ||||
| "Kid Charlemagne" on YouTube | ||||
Lyrics edit
The song tells 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 San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley Stanley,[4] augmented with numerous other images of the Sixties:
On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your Technicolor motor home
Every A-frame had your number on the wall
The first two lines draw on the fact that Owsley's acid was famed for its purity, and the Technicolor motor home of the third line is likely a reference to the famous psychedelic bus named Furthur, which was used by the Merry Pranksters, who were supplied their LSD by Owsley.[5][6]
The final verse describes Owsley’s drug bust in 1967 when he was arrested after his car reportedly ran out of gas.[7]
Clean this mess up else we’ll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there’s gas in the car
I think the people down the hall know who you are
Larry Carlton's guitar solo edit
Carlton's guitar solo starts at 2'18" into the song and ends at 3'08". It was described, by Pete Prown and HP Newquist, as "twisted single-note phrases, bends, and vibrant melody lines"; they called this, and the solo in the fade-out, "breathtaking."[8] According to Rolling Stone, which ranked "Kid Charlemagne" at #80 in the list of the 100 greatest guitar songs, "In the late seventies, Steely Dan made records by using a revolving crew of great session musicians 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."[9] Far Out Magazine, in 2022, listed it as #4 in a list of the six greatest Steely Dan guitar solos, saying the "lead lines of 'Kid Charlemagne' are intense, fluid, and frequently on the brink of spinning out of control".[10] Nick Hornby, in Songbook, spoke of the solo's "extraordinary and dexterous exuberance", though he questioned the relationship between the solo and the "dry ironies of the song's lyrics".[11] Prown and Newquist described the solo during the fade-out as a "joyous, off-the-cuff break".[8]
“It’s my claim to fame,” Carlton told Guitar World in 1981. “I did maybe two hours worth of solos that we didn’t keep. Then I played the first half of the intro, which they loved, so they kept that. I punched in for the second half. So it was done in two parts and the solo that fades out in the end was done in one pass.”[12]
The tap on the fretboard, at the end of the solo, was cited by Adrian Belew as an early example of what he and fellow guitarist Rob Fetters were trying to accomplish, at the time when Eddie van Halen was experimenting with the technique.[13]
Carlton called his solo on "Kid Charlemagne" the high point of his career at the time, saying, "I can't think of anything else that I still like to listen to as strongly as that."[citation needed]
Reception edit
Cash Box said that "the melody and arrangement are complicated, but accessible" and "every note is necessary."[14]
Personnel edit
- Donald Fagen – lead vocals, organ
- Larry Carlton – lead guitar
- Walter Becker – rhythm guitar
- Don Grolnick – Fender Rhodes electric piano
- Paul Griffin – Hohner Clavinet
- Chuck Rainey – bass
- Bernard Purdie – drums
- Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, Venetta Fields, Clydie King, Sherlie Matthews – background vocals
Other appearances edit
- Kanye West sampled the song on "Champion", from his 2007 album Graduation. Becker and Fagen initially refused West's request to use the song. They changed their minds after receiving a personal letter from West explaining the song's importance.[15]
References edit
- ^ "Steely Dan singles".
- ^ Steely Dan USA chart history, Billboard.com. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
- ^ . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 30, 2008. Retrieved 2017-05-05.. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ^ Complete transcript of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker in a BBC-Online Chat 2009-04-13 at the Wayback Machine, March 4, 2000
- ^ Greenfield, Robert (2011-03-14). "Owsley Stanley: The King of LSD". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-05-08.
- ^ Pershan, Caleb (2015-07-20). . SFist. Archived from the original on 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2017-08-13.
- ^ Medium. "The Psychedelic Origins of Steely Dan’s ‘Kid Charlemagne" by Frank Mastropolo. January 15, 2021.
- ^ a b Prown, Pete; Newquist, HP (1997). Legends of Rock Guitar. Hal Leonard. p. 1917. ISBN 9781476850931.
- ^ . Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 30, 2008. Retrieved 2017-05-05.. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
- ^ Golson, Tyler (February 2, 2022). "The six greatest Steely Dan guitar solos". Far Out Magazine. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Hornby, Nick (2003). Songbook. Penguin. p. 55. ISBN 9781573223560.
- ^ Medium. "The Psychedelic Origins of Steely Dan’s ‘Kid Charlemagne" by Frank Mastropolo. January 15, 2021.
- ^ Owen, Matt (December 20, 2021). "Adrian Belew on how Eddie Van Halen advanced guitar playing 'to the next level'". Guitar World. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. June 12, 1976. p. 16. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
- ^ Scarano, Ross (16 October 2012). "Interview: Steely Dan's Donald Fagen Talks New Album, Reclaiming the Ghetto, and Getting a Letter From Kanye". complex.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.