Donald Fagen, Candid and Vulnerable

"My personality, my identity, was very vague to me." 1993.

The interview took place in Manhattan, May 19, 1993. Without his partner in crime Walter Becker to deflect questions, Fagen was more candid and vulnerable than I had ever heard him before, or since. Always meticulous musicians, the last Steely Dan album had been Gaucho, in 1980. Moving relatively quickly, Fagen released his first solo album, the acclaimed The Nightfly, in 1982. Here are excerpts from our conversation about Kamakiriad, his futuristic 1993 solo album about a journey in a Japanese automobile with a bioponic farm attached, which I wrote about in the previous July 27 Critical Conditions post. Fagen also delves into the 11 year period between albums, of what people used to call "finding oneself," post-Steely Dan. The previously unpublished interview, conducted for a Newsday/New York Newsday feature story, has been edited for conciseness and clarity.

WR: WHERE DID THE NAME KAMAKIRI COME FROM?

DONALD FAGEN: I figured a few years in the future the Japanese would still be involve…