Payne's Pretzels

They don’t get any more rare than this. I was amazed to find this on YouTube and how on earth it made it to the internets, I have no idea. The Second Arrangement, from Steely Dan was infamously erased during recording sessions due to a mistake of their engineer. The song was meant to be one of the highlights of the upcoming Gaucho album but it was not meant to be. After this disaster, a re-recording was attempted and this is what we have today. It’s not great quality but it gives you the idea of what the song would have sounded like.

The track is more upbeat than anything else on Gaucho, apart from possibly the title track. It has a slightly disco vibe to it and appears here in an almost-complete version with backing singers, guitars, electric piano and drums. To me, the song sounds great and a true lost gem. However, Fagen and Becker weren’t satisfied as it obviously never met their original vision for the song. Their visions and ideas were of very high standards so something had to be truly great to make the final cut.

Conclusion? If it was even released as it is here, it probably would have been a highlight of the album. Listen and enjoy to one of the few unreleased Dan tracks.