When we think of Steely Dan, we tend to think of ornate, jazz-tinged arrangements and twisting narratives that can be difficult to decipher. Now and again, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker threw us a curveball and gave us something of a more straightforward pleasure.
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“Pearl of the Quarter,” a country-tinged weeper set in New Orleans the band delivered in 1973, is one of those direct hits, so to speak. Of course, this being Steely Dan, there’s still the twist of it being a love song to a prostitute.
In “Quarter” Time
Steely Dan was still very much a confined unit in 1973 when they released the album Countdown to Ecstasy. They hadn’t yet transformed into a loose collective of studio players assembled and put through the paces by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, the group’s founders who would eventually become the only two constant members.
One change that was made for that record: David Palmer, who had sung lead on a few songs from the band’s debut album (Can’t Buy a Thrill), was nowhere to be found. Fagen decided he’d be doing all the lead vocals on the record.
The unique nature of Steely Dan truly started to stand out on this record. No other band was releasing singles as musically complex or as lyrically caustic as “My Old School” or “Show Biz Kids.” (Which also might explain why, for as adventurous as they were, those songs didn’t make much of a dent on radio.)
“Pearl of the Quarter,” by contrast, might just have done some damage had it been chosen as a single. Skunk Baxter’s steel guitar provides a lilting instrumental touch. And the lyrics Fagen and Becker concocted coax some pathos from a story about a guy who’s in over his head with the girl he’s chosen to love.
Exploring the Lyrics of “Pearl of the Quarter”
The Quarter in question here is the French Quarter in Louisiana, which is evidenced by the opening lines of the song: On the water down in New Orleans / My baby is a pearl of the Quarter. Fagen subtly slips in the girl’s profession right off the bat, doing so via her refrain: Singing, “voulez-voulez-vous.”
The translation is “Do you want?” That’s what she’s asking all the male passers-by. Our hero is undaunted by this: She’s a charmer like you ain’t never seen. She hangs out in the areas where her services are most in demand: Where the sailor spends his hard-earned pay / Red beans and rice for a quarter.
The narrator sets up a rendezvous with his beguiling woman: I met my baby by the Shrine of the Martyr / She stole my heart with her Cajun smile. He believes she feels the same way: She loved the million dollar words I say / She loved the candy and the flowers that I bought her. But it doesn’t stop her from making her rounds: She said she loved me and was on her way.
In the chorus, the narrator demonstrates his affection is genuine, and also she’s slipped through his grasp: And if you hear from my Louise / Won’t you tell her I love her so? Still, his final words are of support: Please, make it clear / When her day is done, she got a place to go.
It’s all kind of touching, albeit in a skewed way. “Pearl of the Quarter” is a great song to play for those who might believe Steely Dan is too fussy or unfeeling for them. There’s genuine warmth here, even if it comes via a character with no chance of fulfilling his romantic dreams.
Photo by Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
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