Black Friday Steely Dan

Black Friday Album: Katy Lied (1975)
by Steely Dan

Katy Lied is the fourth studio album released in 1975 by ABC Records. It was certified gold and peaked at No. 13 on the US charts. The single "Black Friday" charted at No. 37.

The album was the first after the disbandment of the original Steely Dan quintet; most of the original members had departed during a rift over touring and recording schedules. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, who had been increasingly using session musicians in the studio on prior albums, continued on with numerous prominent Los Angeles–area studio musicians. This album marks the first appearance of singer Michael McDonald on a Steely Dan album. Jeff Porcaro, then only 20 years old, played drums on all the songs except "Any World (That I'm Welcome To)", which features session drummer Hal Blaine.

Long before the term came to denote the shopping frenzy on the day after Thanksgiving, Steely Dan released this song about the original "Black Friday," when on Friday, September 24, 1869 a failed ploy left many wealthy investors broke. The investors tried to corner the market on gold, buying as much of it as they could and driving up the price, but when the government found out, it released $4 million worth of gold into the market, driving down the price and clobbering the investors.

As for how it became a retail reference, sometime in the '60s, the term was bandied about to indicate the key day in the holiday shopping season when the stores would be "in the black," meaning making money (black ink indicates profit, red ink indicates loss).

While the song is about events in the US, it mentions a town in Australia: "Fly down to Muswellbrook."

Muswellbrook is a rural town two hours North of Sydney that is full of kangaroos (thus the line, "Nothing to do but feed all the kangaroos"). It's possible that Walter Becker and Donald Fagen selected the name of Muswellbrook from an atlas, mainly because it worked well with the next line, "I'm going to strike out all the big red words from my little black book." They also wanted a place far away from Los Angeles.

Steely Dan used various guitarists on the Katy Lied album, including Rick Derringer, Hugh McCracken and Larry Carlton. On this track, however, Walter Becker played the solo. He did it using the Fender Telecaster belonging to another guitarist who played on the album, Denny Dias. Becker used it because he liked how Dias had it set up.

This was the first of two singles released from the Katy Lied album ("Bad Sneakers," which reached #103 US was the second). Like many Steely Dan singles, it had just a modest placing on the US chart, reaching #37. This was of no concern to Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, who weren't concerned about how their singles fared. And like every Steely Dan album released before they disbanded in 1981, Katy Lied reached Gold status.

track one side one
Black Friday
Written by: Walter Becker, Donald Fagen
Album: Katy Lied
Released: 1975

When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the gray men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor

When Black Friday comes
I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out
I'll be on the road

When Black Friday falls
You know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me

When Black Friday comes
I'll fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book

Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos

When Black Friday comes
I'll be on that hill
You know I will

When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it
'Til I satisfy my soul

Gonna let the world pass by me
The Archbishop's gonna sanctify me
And if he don't come across
I'm gonna let it roll

When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna stake my claim
I'll guess I'll change my name