"Won't you pour me a Cuban Breeze, Gretchen?" Love, love LOVE this song! Greg Phillinganes' synth is the vibraphone (or steel drum) sound on this song. Can't wait for you to finish this album so you can listen to it in all its splendiferous-ness! Thanks to JK for this great one, an obvious pleasure for our friends to react to!

This song, according to Donald, is a story told from the point of view of an American expat in Cuba at the moment of the Cuban Revolution in 1958 when all the American colonial influences were thrown out of the country. The lyrics make a lot more sense when you listen to them from that perspective. Another one of Donald's wonderfully cryptic short stories. Such a great record.

Larry Carlton deserves a shout out for his incredible and very tasty guitar work on this song and the whole album for that matter. He is outstanding. Let's call DF 'Donald the Great' lol..

synthesizers from Donald and Greg Phillinganes, the Great Jeff Porcaro on drums. Can't wait for "Morph the Cat" LP

Mel Tormé, the "Velvet Fog," covered "Walk Between The Raindrops" and "The Goodbye Look," backed by Marty Paich's Dektette, and would often claim Donald Fagen as "one of America's greatest living composers." For your own enjoyment, you should check Mel's versions out.

Greenflower St and Walk Between Raindrops are excellent. Still got some goodies from that record.

‘Won’t you pour me a Cuban Breeze, Gretchen’

Greg Phiilinganes' marimba-sounding synthesiser creates that 'steel-drum' sound and together with Jeff Porcaro's drum rhythm a very latin beat is created. Larry Carlton's guitar work is as always spot on and then you have what you called, Donald's sinister-sounding lyrics. Fagen loves writing these little epithets about life, be it a revolution, communist threats, a lost love or death. A similar song, 'Mary Shut the Garden Door' off 'Morph the Cat' , has lyrics that also talk about a revolution and paints a picture of desperation and fear. Thanks for playing.

I heard the "NightFly" when it came out in 82. It is an amazing record, every single track is golden! The video for New Frontier was popular on MTV (starring Rick Moranis). It is a perfect record in every way in production, engineering and it's songs. It is considered a "Concept" album centering on the world of the 1950's (starting with the space race, civil rights, American Cutlure, Multi Cultural relationships, late night Jazz, Cuban missle crisis/cold war etc.) and you can hear these themes in every track in the lyrics. The Sinister mood they are mentioning are the Fagan lyrics - the social commentary about the exodus from Cuba as the tensions start to rise. So well written, so many levels of meanings, the cadence and rhythm are a master class in songwriting. This is one of my Desert Island Albums <3

The Goodbye Look"

Fagen's album Morph The Cat has a tribute to Ray Charles called 'THAT'S WHAT I Do' that you really should hear. Fagen is a big fan of Ray's music, and it's such a cool song, with chill lyrics, and vocals.

I always forget how good this record is. 👍

"Would you pour me a Cuban breeze, Gretchen?" and "the embassys' been hard to reach"..... Absolutely brilliant and the key lines to this simple two verse tune.

The first time I heard this song I had to do a double take. The steel drums threw me off. So creative! This album is probably responsible for my love for Bossa Nova music, and my love for the chill music of Michael Franks.

Hi NicknLex, one of my favourite tracks from a great Donald Fagen album. Think i need a Cuban Breeze after every listen!

Terrific reaction by Nick and Lex 🥰 Great pick JK another Dantastic 😉 song by Donald is Snowbound 👌🏽

I think this whole album sounds very much like Steely Dan. Just super mellow. It was produced by Gary Katz, who produced all their albums. It's also chock full of amazing musicians who played on various SD albums over the years. Larry Carlton, Jeff Porcaro, Brecker Brothers and the list goes on and on. This was solid gold for me. Thanks for revisiting it! Enjoy!

Two Dan/Don videos within 3 days?!!!! Fuck yeah!!! Enjoying your ELP and Spanish music reactions too :) You are my favorite reactors 😀

Donald Fagen is so talented. You need to try the other cuts on that album.

I absolutely LOVE this track. I love the entire "Nightfly" album but this song is simply " DANTASTIC ". Who writes lyrics like... "Won't You Pour Me a Cuban Breeze, Gretchen" ? BTW....Greg Phillinganes’ synth simulates a marimba nearly perfectly. Larry Carlton performed some great guitar work on this track as well.