"My Old School" is a song by American rock band

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band formed in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in 1971 by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Originally having a traditional band lineup, Becker and Fagen cho ...

. It was released in October 1973, as the second single from their album '' Countdown to Ecstasy'', and reached number 63 on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

Content

The song's lyrics tell the story of a May 1969 drug bust at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

Dutchess County, New York Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later o ...

, referred to in the lyrics by its location, Annandale. The singer vows he will never go back to the college until "California tumbles into the sea". The song also makes a reference to the ''

Wolverine The wolverine ( , ; ''Gulo gulo''), also called the carcajou or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species, member of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscular carnivore and a solitary animal. The w ...

'' rail service, which stopped at Rhinecliff, New York, near to Bard College, the alma mater of

Donald Fagen Donald Jay Fagen (born January 10, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and musician who is the co-founder, lead singer, co-songwriter, and keyboardist of the rock band Steely Dan, formed in the early 1970s with musical partner Walter Becker ...

and Walter Becker. The incident happened while both Fagen and Becker were students there, and the song recounts how a female acquaintance betrayed them to "Daddy Gee" (

G. Gordon Liddy George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 – March 30, 2021) was an American lawyer and FBI agent who was convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration. Work ...

), then a local assistant

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

. Contemporary news reports noted that 44 people were arrested, approximately 10% of the school's enrollment. According to a 2014 ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...

'' article, among those arrested was Fagen, whose long hair was cut off at the Poughkeepsie jail. A contemporary newspaper article mentioned the arrest of Donald Fagan for "the sale of a dangerous drug" with bail set at $5,000. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described the song as a "departure from the group’s usual fare, but definitely a track that’s going to have programmers and listeners buzzing."

Key signature and composition

The song was written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and is in the key of

G major G major is a major scale based on G (musical note), G, with the pitches G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D (musical note), D, E (musical note), E, and F♯ (musical note), F. Its key signature has one sharp (music ...

. The original studio track features a guitar solo by Jeff Baxter.

Legacy

Fagen reneged on his promise of never going back, when he returned to Bard College to receive an honorary

Doctor of Arts The Doctor of Arts (D.A.; occasionally D.Arts or Art.D. from the Latin language, Latin ''artium doctor'') is a List of academic disciplines, discipline-based terminal degree, terminal doctorate, doctoral academic degree, degree that was originall ...

degree in 1985.

Personnel

– piano, lead vocals, backup vocals * Walter Becker – bass * Denny Dias – rhythm guitar * Jeff Baxter – lead guitar * Jim Hodder – drums, percussion * Sherlie Matthews, Myrna Matthews, Patricia Hall, Royce Jones – backup vocals *

Ernie Watts Ernest James Watts (born October 23, 1945) is an American jazz and R&B saxophonist who plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone. He has worked with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and toured with the Rolling Stones. On Frank Zappa's album '' ...

– saxophone * Johnny Rotella – saxophone * Lanny Morgan – saxophone * Bill Perkins – saxophone *

Jimmie Haskell Jimmie Haskell (born Sheridan Pearlman; November 7, 1926 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer and arranger for motion pictures and a wide variety of popular artists, including Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steely D ...

– horn arrangement

References

1973 songs Steely Dan songs ABC Records singles 1973 singles Songs written by Walter Becker Songs written by Donald Fagen Song recordings produced by Gary Katz Songs about school {{1970s-rock-song-stub