Kid Charlemagne

"Kid Charlemagne" is a song by the rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their 1976 album The Royal Scam and reached number 82 in the Billboard charts.[1]  It is a fusion of a funk rhythm and jazz harmonies with rock and roll instrumentals and lyrical style. The guitar solo by jazz-fusion guitarist Larry Carlton was ranked #80 in the list of the 100 greatest guitar songs by Rolling Stone.[2]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Composition  ==Composition[ edit] == Writers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have stated that the lyrics were loosely inspired by the exploits of the infamous 1960s San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley Stanley[3]  — although it conflates the core story with numerous other images of the Sixties: On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene But yours was kitchen clean Everyone stopped to stare at your Technicolor motor home
 * 2 Personnel
 * 3 Covers
 * 4 Cultural References
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

Every A-frame had your number on the wallThe first two lines draw on the fact that Owsley's acid was famed for its purity, and the third line is likely a reference to the famous psychedelic bus named Further, which was used by the Merry Pranksters, who were supplied their LSD by Owsley himself.[citation needed]

The lyric "You'd go to LA on a dare and you'd go it alone" alludes to a story in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test about a trip taken by chief Prankster Ken Kesey.

The final verse foreshadows Owsley's eventual bust: Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail Those test tubes and the scale Just get it all out of here Is there gas in the car? Yes, there's gas in the car

I think the people down the hall know who you are<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Owsley and another person were arrested after their car ran out of gas.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;font-size:11.1999998092651px;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The song features a jazz-inflected electric guitar solo by guitarist Larry Carlton. The drum track was played by Bernard "Pretty" Purdie whose long-time session partner,Chuck Rainey, plays the bass. ==Personnel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Covers<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In 2007, Kanye West released the song "Champion" on his double-platinum album Graduation that samples Kid Charlemagne extensively. ==Cultural References<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In the Malcolm in the Middle episode "Garage Sale", Hal (Bryan Cranston) finds his old pirate radio transmitter and restarts the station he ran in college under the pseudonym Kid Charlemagne. In Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston's character Walter White mentions Steely Dan as a "match against any current bands" based on "pure musicianship". The mention of Steely Dan proves to be significant, as Walter White's alter-ego Heisenberg produces a drug of extremely high quality, just like Owsley Stanley.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[4]
 * Lead Vocals: Donald Fagen
 * Drums: Bernard Purdie
 * Bass: Chuck Rainey
 * Guitar: Larry Carlton
 * Fender Rhodes: Don Grolnick
 * Clavinet: Paul Griffin
 * Backup Vocals: Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald, Vanetta Fields, Clydie King, Sherlie Matthews