Previously Unreleased Steely Dan Cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Carey” Unearthed: Stream

The cover was scrapped from a 2001 Joni Mitchell tribute album

steely dan joni mitchell carey

Way back in 2001, Steely Dan recorded a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Carey,” but it never saw the light of day. Now, however, the rendition has been unearthed, and you can listen to it below.

According to The Dan Vault YouTube channel, Steely Dan covered “Carey” for a Joni Mitchell tribute album called A Case of Joni. Walter Becker and Donald Fagen recorded the track over six days with the likes of future Steely Dan drummer Keith Carlock and vocalist Carolyn Leonhart — “the fastest Steely Dan song ever,” a 2001 news post to the official Joni Mitchell website says. However, Steely Dan’s contribution was cut from the album, which was officially released in 2007 as A Tribute to Joni Mitchell. Sufjan Stevens, Björk, and Prince are among the artists featured on the final project.

Over two decades later, Steely Dan’s “Carey” was unearthed by Pittsburgh Freeform DJ Steve Acri, who played the show on-air on July 7th. In their rendition, Becker and Fagen transform the Blue cut from a quirky acoustic number into a groovy soft rock song. Check it out below.

Listen to Steely Dan and all your other favorite Dad Rock artists in our Father’s Day playlist. As for Joni, you may need to turn to YouTube to spin Blue, since the artist took her music off of Spotify to stand in solidarity with Neil Young against vaccine misinformation.

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