Jackie Mason once said, in answering a question regarding why his comedy is "mean", that "compliments aren't funny". This helps to explain why it's been said that what comedians fear the most is sincerity. And although I wouldn't classify the tone of Donald Fagen's lyrics as comical or anything like that, I would say that irony is his primary mode. Therefore, finding a song such as "What I Do" on one of his albums (Morph the Cat, from 2006) was a real surprise, because the song is basically a straight-ahead tribute to Ray Charles (in the liner notes, Fagen calls it a "conversation between some younger version of myself and the ghost of Ray Charles"). One of the really cool things about both Fagen and Becker, as their fans know, is the way they are constantly paying tribute to the great musicians who have inspired them in the past - and the ones who do so in the present too, for that matter. But recording this song must have been a bit nerve-wracking, even for an artist of his caliber, because he had two significant problems to surmount: the aforementioned tone issue, and the fact that the music would have to be worthy of one of his heroes. Have a listen to the song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQdu6ju1fBw) and a look at the lyrics (http://donaldfagen.com/disc_morphthecat.php) and see if you think that he accomplished both. I know I do.