Weekend Creativity Series: Donald Fagan
We’re going to spend some time with this series looking at how other people create things. Last week we watched an animator work out a scene. This week we’ll look at how a musician thinks about a pop song.
Here, Donald Fagan of Steely Dan discusses and demonstrates aspects of his song “Peg” with Warren Bernhardt. He explains why the song is the way it is, and where he got ideas for creating it.
Music theory is one of those mystical subjects to me. I understand it when it is being explained, and can hear it, but the language and use of it escapes me personally. I find people who can do this sort of thing to be rather amazing, but I know it isn’t really that amazing — it’s what they do, and very possible if one applies oneself.