The same thing that made it fun in the first place makes it fun now says Walter Becker.

The bassist-vocalist is talking of the joys of being, with partner Donald Fagen (keyboardist/vocalist), Steely Dan.
The legendary group that brings a sometimes rare commodity to rock — intelligence — also is enjoying what many believe is long overdue recognition.

After a long streak of being passed over for Grammys, they received, in what some consider an upset, not one, but four of the awards in February, the first of their career:
• Album of the Year for "Two Against Nature."
• Best performance by a duo or group with vocals for "Cousin Dupree."

• Best pop vocal album ("Two Against Nature").
• Best engineered album/non classical (Burnett, Nichols, Russell and Scheiner) for "Two Against Nature."

And – "Finally!" long-campaigning ardent fans exclaim – they will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame March 19.

They join a class that includes Aerosmith, Michael Jackson, Paul Simon and others.

Fagen and Becker also have been presented with ASCAP’s Founders Award - the organization’s most prestigious award given to songwriters who have made pioneering contributions to music.

Previous recipients include Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Stephen Sondheim, Smokey Robinson, Leiber and Stoller, David and Bacharach, Julie Style and Tito Puente.

The duo has been cited as "musical innovators whose unique, diverse, and distinctive contributions to music will enrich generations to come."

Fagen and Becker’s music remains a tasty synthesis of rock, jazz and rhythm and blues complemented by intriguing and often witty lyrics.

Their trek began in 1972 with "Can’t Buy A Thrill," their album debut.

The "Pretzel Logic," "Katy Lied," "The Royal Scam," "Aja" and "Gaucho" albums followed as the duo scored hit singles with "Do It Again," "Reelin’ In The Years," "Rikki Don’t Lose That Number," "Hey Nineteen," "Peg," "Deacon Blues," "FM (No Static At All)," and "Time Out of Mind," among others.

Last summer, in their first tour since 1996, they played songs from "Two Against Nature" as well as a retrospective of material from their stellar career.

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen provide an update in this interview with Rex Rutkoski.

Q. You’ve joked about the Hall of Fame induction in your website, with the reference to the award that you received from the school in Illinois. But what does the Hall recognition really mean to you?

(On June 24, 2000, Donald and Walter were presented with Lincolnwood Illinois Schools "Songwriters Of The Century" Award by Music Director Steven Kikoen and Heidi Kikoen. Students in the school district’s Popular Music Composition class had identified the music of Steely Dan as "the most fulfilling and significant of all the music that was examined."

On their website, Becker and Fagen display a photo of their receiving the plaque backstage at a concert in Illinois, and they offer "Thanks to these students for honoring us with this handsome award." And the duo, in a satirical open letter to the Rock Hall of Fame on the website, suggested they already had been duly recognized with the school award.)

Fagen: "We were having fun with the powerful rock’n’roll authorities (in highlighting the school award). The Hall of Fame, when they first started having induction ceremonies in the ’80s, I used to go. Some people I know used to invite me. They were a lot of fun. It was a very peculiar ceremony for a lot of different reasons. I noticed that a lot of weird things that would happen stopped happening after it was televised, which is not that hard to realize. When people know they are on TV it completely changes the event."

Becker: "On the other hand, you can never tell when things will change back again and start to get weird."
Fagen: We’re hoping that will happen this year when we start going.

Q. Certainly a hall of fame in any profession indicates that person is at the pinnacle of their career. You do view this as an honor, don’t you?

Becker: "Any reasonable extrapolation from the career we’ve had so far puts us at a point where we are now somewhat past the middle, unless we live to be 112. I’m not sure the exact point where the pinnacle was. But there is every reason to suspect we are heading for the downward slope. The downhill part is the fun part."

Q. Yes, I’ve run 10 marathons and they’re always telling us "It’s all downhill for here" when actually there are 10 miles of hills ahead.

Fagen: "(Laughs). Right. We’ll know we are at the peak of our career when we have one of those ‘Behind The Music’ exposés."

Becker: "They asked us to do one but we declined."

Fagen: "They asked if we would cooperate and we declined. Sometimes they do those whether you want them to or not."

Becker: "Oh, no…"

Fagen: "But what could they possibly dig up about us?"

Q: Back to the Hall of Fame, have you decided who will give your induction speech?

Fagen: "A lot of people are clamoring for the honor right now as you can imagine (he laughs)."

Becker: "We’re in the preliminary selection process. We’ll make a decision somewhere around happy hour that night."

Q. Any thoughts as to what you will be saying when you are inducted?

Becker "We don’t really plan those things."

Fagen: "Maybe we should. In this case, certainly."

Becker: "There were a number of cases in recent memory where we should. (He laughs)." "We’re still working on our position paper. That will pretty much spell it out. As for the actual speech, we’re still not prepared."

Fagen: "We’d like to play behind Michael Jackson. We are hoping he shows up and we get to play in the band. It will be great to play around a really good frontman for a change. (Laughter). Since Jay and the Americans (with whom Fagen and Becker played early in their career) we haven’t had that happen. (Laughter)."

Becker: "It’s not smart not to induct Jay."

Q. What are your thoughts on this years Hall of Fame class?

Becker: "Who are the other people?"

Fagen: "Michael Jackson. Aerosmith. That’s a good band. Solomon Burke. One of my favorites. The Flamingos. They’re a great vocal group."

Q. That’s true…Some have suggested that rock doesn’t need a Hall of Fame, perhaps shouldn’t have one. Others say that it further legitimizes this form of expression. Where do you stand on it?

Fagen: "It seems like "Hall of Infame" might be more appropriate."

Becker: "Rock’n’roll is probably legitimized enough that it can withstand even the Hall of Fame. This is just for background isn’t it?"

Q. Sure (Laughs).

Fagen: "Luckily these recent awards, with the Grammys and the Hall of Fame, our self-esteem is still low enough that none of this inflates our egos."

Q. But back to my original question. You do view this as an honor?

Fagen: "Sure, why not."

Becker: "Yes. I’m still thinking about that. When I think about these things I think about in terms of some of the people (fans). Because we have been touring the last few years and because of our website (www.steelydan.com), I have a much better idea of who they are. I have sort of a vivid picture of the lives and thinking of some of the people who have been fans of our music all these years. I think about these people, how they feel when they hear something like this (the Hall of Fame induction). In that sense I feel good."

Q.: Do you have a feel for who your audience is now?

Becker: "Not having been out for a few years, and doing so now on the heels of a new record, it is interesting to see who the audience is. It’s a lot of people listening to us through the years and hopefully people just becoming aware of us."

Fagen: "You seemed genuinely surprised at the Grammy wins."

Fagen: "I didn’t think that we would win. I thought if an old person would win it would be Paul Simon. I didn’t think he would win though. Turns out the oldest didn’t win."

Becker: "No, the second oldest."

Fagen: "That’s right."

Q. Do you also view the Grammy victories as a validation for fans?

Fagen: "I think it’s fun for them to see us in humiliating situations and to see if we can get out of it gracefully."
Becker: "A novel humiliating situation. We’ve been in many humiliating situations."

Fagen: "Both the Hall of Fame and Grammys obviously have to be seen in the context of commerce, to which they are both connected."

Q. It’s also a recognition by your peers, which really is an honor…

Fagen: "If we had peers they’d probably be performers and musicians."

Becker: "And some of them would be dead probably."

Fagen: "Nevertheless I think it is a sign somewhere that there has been penetration (by veteran acts such as Steely Dan) into the culture somehow of what we do, which is nice if we have that much power."

Becker: "We are always looking for opportunities to penetrate."

Fagen: "(Laughs). That’s right."

Becker: "(Speaking seriously) In addition to the Hall of Fame, Donald and I will be honored by the Berklee School of Music at their commencement this year, which I think is very flattering, and we are looking forward to it."

Q. Did you find that receiving the Grammys meant more to you than you thought it might?

Fagen: "I haven’t received mine yet."

Becker: "They take them right away."

Fagen: "They put them in your hand for just a second then take them away (to have names inscribed). So our impressions about their meaning were more or less confirmed."

Q. Walter, in the post-Grammy press conference you were quoted as saying that this might be an award for Steely Dan’s body of work, rather than just one album...
Becker: "No, we said they were for our bodies that still work."

Q. "Was the Santana factor at work here?"

Becker: "What’s the Santana Factor? A Robert Ludlum novel?"

Q. "It was suggested by one music industry observer that the Grammy wins for Steely Dan might be a classic Grammy catch-up, trying to make up for years of ignoring quality work such as Santana’s Grammys last year."

Becker: "I don’t really know."

Fagen: "There was probably some good reason not to vote for the other people than reasons not to vote for us."

Q. "But, has the new acceptance of a veteran artist like Santana, including the recognition he received at last year’s Grammy Awards, been a benefit for Steely Dan?"

Becker: "I think it is hard to be sure if it opened up the eyes of people in the music business to the possibility that we might be relevant and worth listening to, worth talking to."

Q. "Was the Eminem controversy at the Grammys the proverbial much ado about nothing, or was there something to it?"

Fagen: "I really wasn’t following it until the night of the Grammys. I had never heard anything by him until I saw him perform."

Becker: "The whole thing had a very fictitious quality to it, sort of pumped up tabloid."

Fagen: "Are people really shocked by that stuff any more? I guess parents are when their kids see it. He did take a lot of the heat off us."

Becker: "He made us look good. He got all the condemnation and we got the victory."

Q. Had your "Uncle Dupree" and some of your other material been Eminem songs, do you think he would he have been criticized?

Becker: "Donald and I are thinking we will offer him a course in our technique of writing in delivering off-colored lyrics without criticism. We call it ‘Stealth Trash.’ ’’
Q. What is your response to (Recording Academy president) Michael Green’s observation that "We can’t edit out the art that makes us uncomfortable. Remember, that’s what our parents tried to do with Elvis, the Stones and the Beatles."?

Fagen: "Who’s Michael Greene? Is he that guy who gave that long speech at the Grammys?"

Becker "I drifted off during that. That salad I had for lunch was sort of heavy."

Q. Was there some good that came out of this so-called controversy though – the fact that more people seemed to be debating artistic freedom and separating the message from the messenger?

Becker: "(Laughs). I guess, if I was really, really optimistic, if I had the talent you apparently have for finding the silver lining in the dark cloud, I suppose I’d think that too."

Fagen: "Elton’s coat had a silver lining. Did you notice that?" Elton had that defiant expression on his face when he was performing. Did that have to do with the whole issue or something else?"

Q. What is the game plan now for Steely Dan?

Becker: "God only knows whatever honors or glory will be heaped upon us. We invite the collective brass and the industry to consider us for more honors. (Laughter). When the hoopla dies down we’ll probably just go back to work."

Fagen: "We’ve been writing songs. We probably have over half an album’s worth of songs. We have maybe 50 songs."

Becker: "That means there will be just one that stands the test of time."

Fagen: "(Laughs). Right."

Q. You’ve described the arc of your career as being somewhat unusual…

Becker: "Actually it’s been very fortunate for me, I think. After taking a big chunk of time off and not using this Steely Dan identity for many years, to be able to resume that and have it sort of work out and have it pick up where it left off is rewarding."

Q. How would you characterize Steely Dan’s relationship with radio?

Becker: "I don’t listen to radio that much any more living in New York, and I get poor reception. I’m out of touch with what’s going on in radio. We’re played on a lot of various stations with various acronyms and I don’t know whether that’s good or bad."

Q. Has the way you relate to music changed?

Becker: "I found early in my life that I was attracted to music and it had a very powerful attraction. It spoke to me in a very powerful way. That’s as true now as it was then. It’s still about the way the music makes you feel. The greatest satisfaction for me is being a writer and creating something."