Do you remember that time the rock/jazz fusion band Steely Dan defended Holy Week
from John Lennon’s overly optimistic idealism? Well, maybe it didn’t happen exactly that
way, but we’ll certainly take allies when they present themselves.

     The scene was 1971 and John Lennon’s “Imagine”  was all the rage- with good reason, I might add. The musical arrangement was great. It was catchy, singable, and just well put together. In other words, it’s what you would have expected from a former Beatle. The problem was the lyrics the self-proclaimed “smart Beatle” (and, perhaps, his wife, Yoko Ono) penned. They were idealistic balderdash that imagined a world of peace with no material interest, international borders, or religion.

     It's easy to look back upon these lyrics in 2025 and guffaw but maybe it wasn’t so easy in 1971 as the idealism of the 1960s was fading out. The full blow to the idealism of the period the Rolling Stones’ free concert at Altamont as well as the Manson murders had not yet been fully internalized.

     One band that was paying attention was Steely Dan. What a great band. I’ve always
been a little mad at them for subtly mocking my beloved Alabama Crimson Tide in the
song “Deacon Blues” but, when I heard they took on the great John Lennon, all was
forgiven. The song I am referencing is called “Only A Fool Would Say That” and it was on their debut album Can’t Buy A Thrill from 1972. Read some of the lyrics. They are
devastating.

The man in the street dragging his feet
Don't wanna hear the bad news
Imagine your face there in his place
Standing inside his brown shoes

You do his nine to five
Drag yourself home half alive
And there on the screen
A man with a dream

I heard it was you
Talking 'bout a world where all is free
It just couldn't be
And only a fool would say that

Holy Week sees that tired man walking home from work full of disappointment, hurt, and bondage. Instead of offering him a half-baked, privileged utopia, the message of Holy Week embraces the reality of the human condition. It embraces all the pain and
suffering life can embody. Holy Week ends on a cross, and we come to understand that
the glory of God is manifested when Christ is nailed to that cross. The human condition
is redeemed through the suffering and death of the Son of God.

Steely Dan, as a brash upstart who saw the times, was almost there in 1972. It would
be interesting to me to see if cynicism just calcified for them or if, perhaps in their later
years, one or two of them might have caught a glimpse of the surprising hope that
presented itself after Good Friday. Regardless, I must thank them for writing such a
clear-eyed, prophetic rebuke.