Kid Charlemagne
single
CoverKid charlemagne cover.jpg
ArtistSteely Dan
AlbumThe Royal Scam
B-sideGreen Earrings
ReleasedJune 1976 [1]
GenreJazz fusion · funk rock
Length4:38 (album version)
3:56 (single version)
LabelABC
WriterWalter Becker · Donald Fagen
ProducerGary Katz
Prev year1975
Next year1976

"Kid Charlemagne" is a song by American rock band Steely Dan, released in 1976 as the opening track on their album The Royal Scam. An edited version was released as a single, reaching number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100.[2] Larry Carlton's guitar solo on the song was ranked #80 in a 2008 list of the 100 greatest guitar solos by Rolling Stone.[3] The solo was ranked number 8 in the updated 2026 version.[4]

Lyrics

Writers Walter Becker and Donald Fagen have stated that the lyrics of "Kid Charlemagne" were loosely inspired by the rise and fall of the San Francisco-based LSD chemist Owsley Stanley.[5][6][7]

The final verse describes Stanley’s 1967 arrest after his car reportedly ran out of gas:[citation needed]

Clean this mess up else we’ll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here
Is there gas in the car?
Yes, there’s gas in the car
I think the people down the hall know who you are

Guitar solo

Larry Carlton's guitar solo starts at 2:18 into the song and ends at 3:08. Pete Prown and HP Newquist described it as consisting of "twisted single-note phrases, bends, and vibrant melody lines"; they called it and Carlton's "joyous, off-the-cuff break" during the song's fade-out "breathtaking."[8] According to Rolling Stone, which ranked "Kid Charlemagne" at #80 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs": "In the late seventies, Steely Dan made records by using a revolving crew of great session musicians through take after take, which yielded endless jaw-dropping guitar solos. Larry Carlton's multi-sectioned, cosmic-jazz lead in this cut may be the best of all: It's so complex it's a song in its own right."[9] Nick Hornby, in Songbook, spoke of the solo's "extraordinary and dexterous exuberance", though he questioned its relationship with the "dry ironies of the song's lyrics".[10]

Though the solo is a composite of just two takes, Carlton spent nearly two hours recording takes for the solo that were not used.[11]

Carlton's use of tapping in the solo was cited by Adrian Belew as an early example of what he and Rob Fetters were trying to accomplish at the time when Eddie Van Halen was experimenting with the technique.[12]

When asked if his solo on "Kid Charlemagne" was a high point of his career, Carlton said, "Probably so. I can't think of anything else that I still like to listen to as strongly as that."[11]

In 2021 Vulfpeck guitarist Cory Wong described the solo as his "favorite guitar solo of all time".[13]

Reception

Cash Box said that "the melody and arrangement are complicated, but accessible" and "every note is necessary."[14]

Personnel

Per Robustelli[11] and A Decade of Steely Dan liner notes.

Steely Dan
Additional musicians

Other appearances

  • American rapper Kanye West sampled "Kid Charlemagne" on the song "Champion" from his 2007 album Graduation. Upon hearing "Champion", Becker and Fagen refused West's request to use the sample, but changed their minds after receiving a letter from West explaining "Champion"'s importance to him.[15]
  • American singer-songwriter Jason Isbell references "Kid Charlemagne" on the song "Open and Close" from his 2025 album Foxes in the Snow.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Steely Dan singles"
  2. ^ [ Steely Dan USA chart history], Billboard.com. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  3. ^ "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 30, 2008. Retrieved 2017-05-05.. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
  4. ^ "The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2026-05-15.
  5. ^ "Complete transcript of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker in a BBC-Online Chat". March 4, 2000. Archived from the original on 2009-04-13.
  6. ^ Greenfield, Robert (2011-03-14). "Owsley Stanley: The King of LSD". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2016-05-08.
  7. ^ Pershan, Caleb (2015-07-20). "'Kid Charlemagne': A Close Reading Of Steely Dan's Ode To Haight Street's LSD King". SFist. Archived from the original on 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2017-08-13.
  8. ^ Prown, Pete & Newquist, HP (1997). Legends of Rock Guitar. Hal Leonard. p. 1917. ISBN 9781476850931.
  9. ^ "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 30, 2008. Retrieved 2017-05-05.. Retrieved 2011-01-25.
  10. ^ Hornby, Nick (2003). Songbook. Penguin. p. 55. ISBN 9781573223560.
  11. ^ Robustelli, Anthony (2017). Steely Dan FAQ: All that's Left to Know about this Elusive Band. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. pp. 145–146. ISBN 9781495025129.
  12. ^ Owen, Matt (December 20, 2021). "Adrian Belew on how Eddie Van Halen advanced guitar playing 'to the next level'". Guitar World. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  13. ^ "Larry Carlton Tells the Story Behind "Kid Charlemagne" | Wong Notes Podcast". YouTube. 2 June 2021.
  14. ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews". Cash Box. June 12, 1976. p. 16. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  15. ^ Scarano, Ross (16 October 2012). "Interview: Steely Dan's Donald Fagen Talks New Album, Reclaiming the Ghetto, and Getting a Letter From Kanye". complex.com. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  16. ^ "Open and Close". Retrieved October 23, 2025.