Artists
Musicians featured in this piece are:
Donald Fagen – lead vocals, keyboards, horn and rhythm arrangements, backing vocals
Walter Becker – bass guitar, guitar
Paul Griffin – Hammond B3 organ
Georg Wadenius – guitar
Dennis McDermott – drums
Written by Walter Becker & Donald Fagen. Produced by Walter Becker, engineered/mixed at River Sound, New York, with additional recording at Hyperbolic Sound (Hawaii), Clinton Recording and The Hit Factory (New York).
“Snowbound” holds a special place in the Becker-Fagen catalog as the only song credited to both of them to appear on either man’s solo work, reportedly written as far back as 1985 but left unreleased until Kamakiriad. Reviewers have consistently singled it out as the album’s most classic-sounding Steely Dan moment, built around Paul Griffin‘s shimmering Hammond B3 organ, smooth guitar work, and warm background vocals.
Donald Fagen – Snowbound Lyrics
Snowbound
Let’s sleep in today
Wake me up
When the wolves come out to play
Heat up
These white nights
We’re gonna turn this town
Into a city of lights
At nervous time
We roll downtown
We’ve got scenes to crash
We’re gonna trick and trash
We’re gonna find some fun
We hit the street
With visors down
With our thermasuits
Sealed up tight
We can beat the freeze
And get saved tonight
Let’s stop off at the Metroplex
That little dancer’s got some style
Yes she’s the one I’ll be waiting for
At the stage door
Snowbound
Let’s sleep in today
Wake me up
When the wolves come out to play
Heat up
These white nights
We’re gonna turn this town
Into a city of lights
We take the tube
To Club Hi Ho
It’s about deadspace
It’s a marketplace
And a party house too
Something new
From Charlie Tokyo
It’s a kind of pyramid
With a human heart
Beating in an ion grid
A critic grabs us
And says without a smile
The work seduces us with light
Eviva laughs and we step out
Into the blue-white night
Snowbound
Let’s sleep in today
Wake me up
When the wolves come out to play
Heat up
These white nights
We’re gonna turn this town
Into a city of lights
We sail our icecats on the frozen river
Some loser fires off a flare, amen
For seven seconds it’s like Christmas day
And then it’s dark again
And then it’s dark again
Snowbound
Let’s sleep in today
Wake me up
When the wolves come out to play
Heat up
These white nights
We’re gonna turn this town
Into a city of lights
Snowbound
Let’s sleep in today
Wake me up
When the wolves come out to play
Heat up
These white nights
We’re gonna turn this town
Into a city of lights
To listen to other songs from the Teleskop 17 program and the full program, click here.