Now, on to what was one of my favorite 80′s songs. IGY. Do you know what those initials referred to? If you do, they’re a dead giveaway to what Steely Dan was up to in that song.

1959 was the International Geophysical Year. Scientific expeditions, publications, conferences, science on the march around the world, all sorts of stuff was going on that year. I remember reading about it a few years later.

Also, it was a hot time for very optimistic science fiction and futurism. Virtually everything mentioned in that song was pulled from very famous SF stories and futurist essays.

The Wheel in Space was Werner von Braun’s vision of a space station.

The Machines came straight from one of Asimov’s stories in his collection, “I, Robot.”

You can go through the rest of the lyrics and if you’re a knowledgeable enough fan, you’ll find the reference in the 50s.

So, partly the song is about the future that never was. Very much like the 1939 World’s Fair.

But partly…well, I agree with Phil that a number of those things will happen, just not quite the way the visionaries in the 50′s imagined.

I think I’ll pass on the spandex jacket.

30 years later…

It’s sex drugs and “classic” Rock and Roll.

I know. Alcohol is wrong. The third item that belongs in a list with Sex and Drugs is Rock and Roll!