Show Biz Kids

"Show Biz Kids" is a song composed by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and performed by Steely Dan with Rick Derringer on slide guitar. It was the first single from Steely Dan's 1973 album Countdown to Ecstasy, and reached number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2] It was edited for the single release.

"Show Biz Kids"
Single by Steely Dan
from the album Countdown to Ecstasy
B-side	"Razor Boy"
Released	July 1973 [1]
Genre	Rock, jazz fusion
Length	3:59
Label	ABC
Songwriter(s)	Donald Fagen, Walter Becker
Producer(s)	Gary Katz
Steely Dan singles chronology
"Reelin' In the Years" (1972) "Show Biz Kids" (1973) "My Old School" (1973)
Official audio
"Show Biz Kids" on YouTube

Cash Box said that the song has "an infectious chorus delivered a la Nilsson's "Coconut" hit."^[3]

The song satirizes contemporary Los Angeles lifestyles.^[4] Critic Tom Hull described the album lyrics as "a running paste together joke [...] sufraintelligent, witty and slyly devious", citing as an example the following lyrics from "Show Biz Kids": "They got the booze they need / All that money can buy / They got the shapely bods / They got the Steely Dan T-shirt / And for the coup de grâce / They're outrageous."^[5] A version of "Show Biz Kids" was recorded by Rickie Lee Jones on her album of cover versions "It's Like This" released in 2000.

Personnel

• Donald Fagen – piano, lead vocals, backing vocals
• Walter Becker – electric bass, harmonica, background vocals
• Jim Hodder – drums, percussion, background vocals
• Rick Derringer – slide guitar (recorded at Caribou Ranch, Nederland, Colorado, courtesy of Columbia Records)
• Victor Feldman – marimba, percussion
• Sherlie Matthews, Myrna Matthews, Patricia Hall, Royce Jones, James Rolleston – background vocals