Director Garret Price clearly didn’t get the answer he was looking for after calling to see if Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen would take part in Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary.
The new HBO Films production premiered Wednesday at the DOC NYC festival and will air on HBO on Nov. 29. Fagen only appears briefly on the other end of a phone conversation with Price.
The director asked Fagen, singer of such soft-rock classics as “Rikki Don’t Lose My Number” and “Peg,” if he’d be willing to discuss “this genre.”
READ MORE: Ranking Every Steely Dan Album
Fagen asks, “And what genre is that?” Price responds: “Um, yacht rock.”
It doesn’t go well. Before abruptly ending the call, Fagen shoots back: “Oh, yacht rock. Well, I tell you what: Why don’t you go f— yourself?”
Price has now confirmed to People magazine that the conversation – and getting hung up on by Fagen – were both “100% real.”
Watch the Trailer for ‘Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary’
Who Appears in the New Yacht Rock Documentary?
Fagen’s response, Price argues, was akin to a “wink. It’s like, ‘I get it. I understand how important this name [‘yacht rock’] is to our music. But I’m gonna let you know how I feel about that.’ It’s him being him.”
In keeping, six Steely Dan songs appear in Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary, thanks to a return call from Fagen’s manager where permission was granted. Other featured acts include the Michael McDonald-era Doobie Brothers, Christopher Cross, David Pack from Ambrosia, Kenny Loggins and Toto, among others.
“Yacht rock to me is a very relaxing feeling,” comedian Fred Armisen says in the film. “It’s like the singers are all saying, ‘Hey, it’s going to be OK.” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson also adds his thoughts.
The Best Song From Every Steely Dan Album
Steely Dan’s confidence kept growing as their songs gained more narrative complexity and musical depth.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
