Non-Hit Hits Top Ten: Kid Charlemagne (#6)

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Mmm mmm mmm mmmmm! Nah, just kidding. It was just a cleaning, so no mumbling. And, as I sit here dirtying the newly-cleaned teeth up with a chicken taco salad I’ll give you another classic rock tune that you hear so frequently you’d swear it was a hit…but it wasn’t. For your dining and dancing pleasure, here’s today’s song. #6: Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan Let’s see. Fleetwood Mac? Check. Rush? Check. Steely Dan? Check. Yep, got all of NJ Chic’s favorites here. For the rest of us, this is one of the Steely Dan tunes that gets frequent FM rock airplay. Must have been a hit, right? HUH? A song about a drug dealer?? A hit? Wouldn’t you love to have been a fly on the wall when they pitched THIS as a single? “Hey, we wrote this song about the Grateful Dead’s sound guy. Oh, he happened to be the best LSD maker in San Francisco, too. Can we release it as a single?” Ah, but FM rock played, and still plays, it. A lot of the reason could be Larry Carlton’s astonishing guitar work in the song. Or, it could be that it’s one of Steely Dan’s best songs. Kid Charlemagne Written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen Recorded by Steely Dan From The Royal Scam, 1976 Billboard chart peak position: #82 Every A-frame had your number on the wall: