FlinterFile: Donald Fagen- Ruby Baby

The famous songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote a song, Ruby Baby, in 1956.In that year, the Drifters released the first version of the song. In 1963, Dion released a remake of the song, which hit the charts in the US: it became a number 2 hit. Quite some other versions were made before Donald Fagen (from Steely Dan) decided to record his version for his first solo album, The Nightfly. The recording of the song was difficult, as Donald Fagen had certain ideas about the song: there had to be a little difference in timing between the right and left hand playing the piano, which could be achieved by two people playing the piano at the same time. The party noises in the song come from the famous Studio 54, where a ‘business party’ from Jerry Rubin was recorded. All that was needed to catch the atmosphere of the fifties. It’s a great track, which, unfortunately, didn’t reach the charts… Enjoy

Donald Fagen- Ruby Baby

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