WCSX Classic Cuts : Do It Again

WCSX Classic Cuts

Steely Dan: "Do It Again"

The Hook: The first Steely Dan song they actually heard on the radio, which Donald Fagen says was "definitely a mindblower."

Album: Can't Buy a Thrill

Year: 1972

Writers: Walter Becker and Donald Fagen

Stats: Peaked at number-six on the Billboard Hot 100

Background: Technically, "Do It Again" wasn't Steely Dan's first single. Before their debut album, Can't Buy a Thrill, came out they put out a 45 titled "Dallas," which sunk without a trace. "Do It Again," though, was the first single off the album and even more importantly, the band's first major hit. Singer-keyboardist Donald Fagen recalls what it meant for him to hear it on the radio for the very first time.

Steely Dan singer-keyboardist Donald Fagen on hearing their debut single, “Do It Again,” on the radio for the first time. OC:…the radio. :16

“We were making albums more quickly then, so it was maybe four months after we had recorded it. We heard it on the radio in Los Angeles where we were living, driving down the freeway there. And it was definitely a mindblower to hear something that you’d actually created playing on the radio.”