The infamous audio recording studio perfectionists are Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Steely Dan. They are music maestros.
Steely Dan plays with themes of self-deception, aging, and the fantasies we chase, especially in Babylon Sisters. The lyrics are subtle and invite you to read between the lines, and it takes some life experience to understand extraordinarily where the narrator's coming from.
Their "jungle music" is not just about the character’s self-loathing and discomfort with his desires, but it also critiques the cultural divide between him and the women he’s trying to impress. It’s also a little self-aware in that he knows he’s stepping into territory that doesn’t fit him, but he wants to be part of that world for a moment.
Babylon signifies indulgence, excess, and vice, but it’s also linked to decadence and the fall of a once-great empire—so it’s a perfect metaphor for what this man is chasing. He's trying to relive his youth, engage in a fantasy, but knows, deep down, that it can’t lead to anything lasting or meaningful. He wants it to be real, but he knows it's just a temporary escape.
The line “I should know by now / That it’s just a spasm” resonates deeply with the realization that what he’s chasing is fleeting, like an impulse or a quick fix that will only leave him feeling emptier. His reflections on Tijuana (a place synonymous with cheap thrills and temporary pleasure) drive home the idea of how the experience may be thrilling but lack real depth or substance.
Your take on the Santa Ana winds is especially poignant. The winds, signaling a shift in the seasons, metaphorically represent the end of his fantasy. There’s a sense of inevitability in the song—the narrator knows the fantasy won’t last, and the winds mark the time running out on that escape. There's a bittersweet resignation to the whole thing, a kind of awareness that this is just part of the cycle.
The chord progression you mentioned also enhances the emotional arc of the song. Steely Dan’s music often mirrors the mood and complexity of the lyrics, and the way they use their instrumental choices to convey that subtle tension makes this more than just a story of one man’s desires—it’s about the inevitable collision of dreams with reality and the disappointment that follows.
It takes living a bit of life to fully appreciate this song because it’s all about the subtle transitions between fantasy and reality, idealism and disillusionment, and youth and age. It’s such a timeless song because it resonates with anyone who’s come to terms with the gap between their youthful desires and the actualities of life. Their silky-smooth production and painstaking processes are a benchmark for producers. If you aim for that super-polished texture in a track, just about any Steely Dan recording will send you euphoric shivers.
According to published reports, Steely Dan once asked Mark Knopfler, the guitarist of Dire Straits to record some overdubs on ‘Time Out of Mind’ from their seventh studio album Gaucho. He reportedly said his entire experience was a living hell.
The dynamic duo’s perfectionism reached a high point on their 1980 LP Gaucho. So much so that the track ‘Babylon Sisters’ was mixed 274 times before Fagen was happy. This specific track was recorded at Village Recorders studio in Los Angeles, which, at that time, was equipped with a top-of-the-range Neve console.
This high-fidelity console gave the operator control over several additional sonic details that the typical desk didn’t have. Think of it as dropping the new World of Warcraft expansion for a player who plays 20 hours a day.
Fagen was reportedly given a platinum disc after the 250th mix (who the heck was counting?!) and proceeded to mix the track another 24 times before he was eventually happy with the way it sounded. To risk sounding crude, it was psychotic behaviour. I mean, what could you possibly change after the tenth mix, let alone the 100th or the 274th?