Ten Favorite Steely Dan Songs: Dirty Work (#2)

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In essence, the countdown is complete today, because everyone knows what my favorite Steely Dan song is. But I will post it tomorrow anyway...any excuse to hear it! Meanwhile, here's the runner-up on my list of favorite Steely Dan songs. #2: Dirty Work ONLY Steely Dan could give us a song about a guy who doesn't like being a woman's, ahem, "sexual liaison." The chorus repeats, "I'm a fool to do your dirty work, oh yeah, I don't wanna do your dirty work no more." Yeah, right. "When you need a bit of lovin' 'cause your man is out of town, that's the time to get me runnin' and you know I'll be around." Translation: "Oh, darn, I have to have sex tonight." Yeah, right. To be fair, there is a little bit of danger in being caught with another man's wife, and they articulated that gorgeously with a chess reference in one of my favorite Steely Dan lines ever: "like a castle in its corner in a medieval game I foresee terrible trouble, and I stay here just the same." From their first album, this is another one of those songs that Donald Fagen did not sing lead on. David Palmer took the lead vocal chores here on this fabulous song. It also has some tasty saxophone work that we came to expect out of The Dan. Dirty Work Written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen From Can't Buy a Thrill, 1972 Like a thousand times before: