The Second Arrangement

There are no songs more legendary then those that never were...

The Second Arrangement is a song that Steely Dan wrote and recorded for the Gaucho Album (which came out in 1980).

Brian Sweet's Reelin' In The Years makes mention of the problems with this song. Here's what he wrote.

"Misfortune struck early when an assistant engineer accidentally deleted "The Second Arrangement", a favorite track of Katz and Nichols". The song was gone, except for a small 19 second clip which has been around the web, for years and you can currently still listen to, HERE.

The duo tried to recreate the song, but it never sounded the same. They finally decided to call a stop to the recreation and consider it gone, since their hearts were not in it. So the bitter reality is, that it was never fully recovered.

They were now one song short. Since they needed a song for the album, they started putting something together. They used a guitar solo of Larry Carlton's from their sessions for an earlier album and reworked a song they wrote called, "Were You Blind That Day". The replacement song, became "Third World Man". In my humble opinion, a great song and I am glad it made it onto Gaucho.

In 2011, Steely Dan toured and they decided to do a rarities and unreleased night, which I wrote about HERE.

One of the songs that they played that night...was their best recreation of "The Second Arrangement". As with all my video, it is a crappy version, but hey, you can get the idea of what it was like that night at the Beacon.

Did I mention that I cried? :-)

Enjoy.

The Second Arrangement

Pour out the wine, little girl
I've got just two friends in this whole wide world
Here's to reckless lovers
We all need somebody
Stashed in the yellow Jag
I've got my life and laundry in a Gladstone bag
You should know the program
Just one red rose and a tender goodbye
[One last goodbye]

And I run to the second arrangement
It's only the natural thing
Who steps out with no regrets
A sparkling conscience
A new address
When I run to the second arrangement
The home of a mutual friend
Now's the time to redefine the first arrangement again

It's a sticky situation
A serious affair
I must explain it to you somehow
Right now I'll just move back one square

Here comes that noise again
Another scrambled message from my last best friend
Something I can dance to
A song with tears in it
Old friends abandon me
It's just the routine politics of jealousy
Someday we'll remember
That one red rose and one last goodbye
[One last goodbye]

Then I run to the second arrangement
It's only the natural thing
Who steps out with no regrets
A sparkling conscience
A new address
When I run to the second arrangement
The home of a mutual friend
Now's the time to redefine the first arrangement again