Reelin' In the Years



"Reelin' In the Years" (sometimes "Reeling In the Years") is a song by jazz rock band Steely Dan, released as the second single from their 1972 album, Can't Buy a Thrill. It reached No. 11 in the Billboard charts.

It was written by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and features Fagen on vocals. The song was also a No. 11 hit on the Pop singles chart in 1973. In March 2005, Q magazine placed the recording at No. 95 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has reportedly said that session player Elliott Randall's guitar solo on "Reeling In the Years" is his favorite solo of all time. That solo was also ranked the 40th best guitar solo of all time by the readers of Guitar World magazine. Fagen referred to the song as "dumb but effective" in Rolling Stone magazine. The four-channel quadraphonic mix of the recording has extra lead guitar fills not heard in the more common two-channel stereo version.

Popular culture

 * Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond covered "Reelin' In the Years" for their variety show on January 13, 1978. This rendition of the song was more ebullient than the original, and included the introduction of the shows guests, Ruth Buzzi, Buddy Hackett and Suzanne Somers. The performance also featured a chorus line of ice skating dancers.
 * In 1993, the song was featured in The Wonder Years episode "Unpacking".
 * The song was featured in the 1999 movie For Love of the Game.
 * The song is featured in Rob Zombie's 2005 movie, The Devil's Rejects.
 * It was also used as the theme music for the television series Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, which aired on BBC Three in the UK 11 July 2006 – 4 June 2007.
 * The song was also used as the theme for the RTÉ television show Reeling in the Years, which is a historical Irish documentary, covering one year per episode.
 * This song was featured in the 2014 documentary film Life Itself.

Personnel

 * Donald Fagen – piano, lead and backing vocals
 * Elliott Randall – lead guitar
 * Denny Dias – rhythm guitar
 * Jeff Baxter – rhythm guitar
 * Walter Becker – bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Jim Hodder – drums, backing vocals
 * Victor Feldman – percussion