Storytellers: Aja’s Effect on Teenagers, Pt. 2
Yesterday we posted the first part of Wade Ellis Wilby’s latest installment of our Storytellers series about the effect Steely Dan’s Aja had on him growing up. Today, we bring you his anecdotes on Side Two of the LP…
Peg
So girls were obviously a huge part of any 17 year old’s life. No scientific breakthrough there. The great groove to this song was really what drove me to it as well as the fantastic harmonies and slick guitar work. But Peg…something was up with this broad. She was the starlet that hung in poster form on some guys wall in the 60′s. She was from a time far away from ’97 but I smelled what they were stepping in. She loved the limelight, and this guy loved seeing her in the limelight. Did she exist without it? Did he think about her when she wasn’t in a movie?
I had all kinds of crazy emotions and feelings about woman at this time. I had a girlfriend of three years at this point whom I loved VERY much and love to this day. This song made me think about why you love someone and if there are any situational ethics involved with love and attraction. I mean, we were meeting TONS of broads out on the road and this song made me realize those girls probably thought we ceased to exist once the lights go out and we pack up the gear. We go from star to student in a matter of hours and what did we matter to these girls whom hours ago wanted to sleep with all of us…even the light guy? Oh well…if Peg had any consolation advice to offer I heard it: “It Will Come Back To You.”
Home At Last
12/29/95. Not the summer or even ’97, but needs to be addressed for this anecdote. I was one of the lucky ones who was there for the life-changing Bathtub>Real Me>Bathtub segue from the Phish NYE run in ’95, hallowed as one of the best segues the band has done to date. However, the counter culture was still being explored by this up and comer and I decided to take more LSD than I was accustomed to at this point in time.
READ ON for more from Wade on the songs of Aja…
In hindsight…PURE VICTORY. At the time…a battle for control of the universe. I am so happy my “trip” never got ugly inside the show; heavy hallucinations such as the band being in a rainbow tinted “bubble” or “phish tank” and Kuroda’s light work being the only thing that could permeate the bubble. Trey’s guitar howling off The Centrum walls was pure heaven and really got me though the night smiling.
HOWEVER.
The music has to stop sometime despite anything Bob Weir may tell you. It was at this time, on the walk to the car that I realized I could NOT go home in this state. No other options presented themselves; the kids I was with were leaving for family vacation in the AM and my other counter culture constituents were elsewhere for the Holidays. I was faced with the terrifying notion of going home THIS raged up. The whole ride home was a cavalcade of thoughts and visions I wouldn’t wish on anybody. Then we pulled in the driveway. The lights were off. My family, of course, was nestled in their beds. THE DANGER ON THE ROCKS HAD SURELY PASSED. I was going to be ok.
Fast forward to Summer ’97. We were getting solid “L” from these kids down the street. These Pink Dragons were out of sight and are still some of the best hits I’ve ever had. Having stock piled some for “The Great Went” we decided on a random Wednesday we would eat some and go to a house that was considered haunted. BAD IDEA JEANS. The house itself wasn’t too scary, but the buzz sure was. Never leaving home without a Walkman meant always having Steely Dan around this summer.
Once we fled the house we needed to find refuge and drink a hundred beers or so somewhere. Wally, my trip friend for the evening was TERRIFIED to go home. I threw in Home at Last, explained my debacle from 12/29/95 and laid out a plan where we would slip downstairs with some beers and not wake anyone up. The mixture of the soothing melody and my steady stream of bullshit got him to his happy place and the plan went perfectly.
Still we remained tied to the mast. (till 7AM!)
I Got The News
In early June we were still trucking away at Enfield High School. Many snow days had extended the school year making this beginning of June a bummer fo sho. One day, my friend Jake and I decided to cut school. Jake had to score some weed and I had to kill some time in the woods by his house before he got back. I strolled around the woods rocking Aja when I finally got to a song I hadn’t heard yet called I Got The News. Very groovy. Very sexy.
What lesson did I learn from this song? MICHAEL MCDONALD IS A FUCKING PIMP. This is a lesson I would learn over and over again as my music collection expanded but this was my first true taste of “White Lighting”. That breakdown is GOLD, Jerry. I have since aquired a House remix of this song that gets lots of play in my set. Steely Dan revived this one two summers ago on the “Sugar Tooth McDan” Tour with Michael McDonald. Long live “the kid down the street”.
Josie
One final song. One final lesson: THIS BROAD EXISTS. I had always hung around with the older kids in high school as I had been playing Premier League soccer for many seasons, putting me on teams with kids much older than I. They would go off to college for the year and return some time in late May with great drugs, hilarious stories and a car to get us all around in. WELL, the girls would also return from college with their own drugs, stories, and most of all new found sexual attitude.
Most of my guy friends in college were doing just fine in the hook up world, but the girls OWNED that shit. After all, wasn’t it up to them what went down? The raw flame…The live wire…HA. That’s putting it mildly. I mean when our “Josies” would come home all hell would break loose in the best way possible. There were these certain types of women that commanded this raw sexual energy that controlled a room. It was palpable. It was delicious.
Break out the hats and hooters.
Yes, Aja taught this 17 year old many things. Some insight. Some life lessons. A peek into a part of the subculture only so many people were part of. Buy your kids this album even if you think its going to sit on the shelf for years. One day it will be put to use. These lessons, like the record, stand the test of time.
