B-side "Green Earrings" Length 4:38 | Released May 1976 Label ABC | |
Genre Funk rock, pop rock, jazz fusion, jazz rock Writer(s) Walter Becker, Donald Fagen | ||
"Kid Charlemagne" is a song by the rock group Steely Dan, which was released as a single from their 1976 album The Royal Scam and reached number 82 in the Billboard charts. It is a fusion of a funk rhythm and jazz harmonies with rock and roll instrumentals and lyrical style. The guitar solo by jazz fusion guitarist Larry Carlton was ranked #80 in the list of the 100 greatest guitar songs by Rolling Stone, stating "In the late seventies, Steely Dan made records by pushing a revolving crew of monster session dudes through take after take, which yielded endless jaw-dropping guitar solos. Larry Carlton's multi-sectioned, cosmic-jazz lead in this cut may be the best of all: It's so complex it's a song in its own right."
Contents
Composition
The lyrics tell the story of the rise and fall of a drug dealer in the context of the psychedelic scene of the 1960s on the West Coast. Specifically, writers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have stated that the lyrics were loosely inspired by the exploits of the infamous San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley Stanley — although it conflates the core story with numerous other images of the Sixties:
On the hill the stuff was laced with kerosene
But yours was kitchen clean
Everyone stopped to stare at your Technicolor motor home
The first two lines draw on the fact that Owsley's acid was famed for its purity, and the third line is likely a reference to the famous psychedelic bus named Further, which was used by the Merry Pranksters, who were supplied their LSD by Owsley himself.
The song features a rather notable jazz-inflected electric guitar solo by guitarist Larry Carlton. Famed session guitarist Steve Lukather has stated it is among one of his most favorite guitar solos ever recorded. The drum track was played by Bernard "Pretty" Purdie whose long-time session partner, Chuck Rainey, plays the bass.