‘West of Hollywood’: Humor as Reparation in the Life and Work of Walter Becker

Abstract

Innovative musician, producer, and songwriter Walter Becker (1950–2017) wielded humor to distance himself from a traumatic childhood and to bind himself to a peer group that shared his skewed, wry worldview. Following years of struggle at the fringes of the music business, Becker achieved worldwide success as co-founder of the platinum-selling band Steely Dan. By the end of the 1970s, however, the Dan was defunct, and Becker felt compelled to retreat to the Polynesian-American subculture of Maui, Hawaii, where he continued to write and record songs that tackled the orientalist theme of “East meets West” in his inimitable droll style. This chapter takes up Eysenck’s psychology of humor as well as various social theorists’ assessments of Romantic irony as lenses through which to view Walter Becker’s lifelong struggle to bend his potentially ego-diminishing sardonicism into positive relations with self and others. Positive Psychology 2.0 (PP2) will be called upon to frame the chapter’s discussion section, in which it is concluded that Becker was able to mitigate the self-other corrosion that emanated from his hipster-satirist persona by integrating into his art the more earnest, sincere sentiments that sprang from life on his Maui estate, where life amongst family, friends, and artistic collaborators reflected his embrace of a slow-paced, pastoral culture that the Manhattan-born bohemian had earlier dismissed as shallow and vacuous.

Appendix: Interview with Audrey deChadenedes

Audrey deChadenedes (née Thaler) met Walter Becker while both were attending high school in New York City in the 1960s. They became romantically involved afterward and remained a couple until Walter married Juanna Fatouros in the mid-1970s (Jones, 2022, pp. 100–101). Ms. deChadenes and Becker remained friends until the end of the latter’s life in 2017. The following interview was conducted via email on February 9, 2023.

James Kelley: Walter’s mother Joan has been depicted in a negative light by virtually everyone who has written about the subject. Could you comment on Joan by narrating specific incidents that reveal her character? Did she have any positive qualities?

Audrey deChadenedes: I only met Joan once. She came to Brooklyn some time before we moved to LA, and we had lunch. She was very cheerful and charming; however, she got loudly, roaringly drunk pretty quickly. Walter was so embarrassed, and I felt sorry for him.

We next heard from her a couple of years later, when we were living in LA. She was calling for money to be bailed out of jail, on a drunk and disorderly charge. She thought it was all very funny; Walter did not. Finally, when the band was touring for Pretzel Logic, she showed up in London. Walter called me the day after their show and told me she had passed out on the floor of his hotel room; he was quite disturbed.

Obviously, she had a problem with alcohol, and I think some mental health issues as well. Maybe bi-polar or borderline personality…

J. K.: Can you recall any instances in Walter’s life when he used humor to get through a negative situation?

A. deC.: Walter used humor to get through every situation, so it’s hard to pull one out. Humor was his default and he was one of the funniest people I have ever known. When we were a couple, I could never win an argument, even when my position was stronger, because he’d make me laugh, and it would be all over. This was his habit when he didn’t want to deal with something, and it served him well.

J.K.: Walter’s early adulthood seems to have been a trying time for him. Did you see any change in his character after he dropped out of Bard and began struggling to make his way in music?

A. deC.: In many ways, Walter seemed to me to be exactly the same, from when we met at age 17 or 18 until the last time we spoke a few months before he died. His personality was very strong, and that didn’t change, though over time he did become gentler, with his very hard edge softening a bit.

He found the pressure on him in the first couple of years in LA, to record and especially to tour, to be overwhelming. He became pretty depressed during that time. He hated being on the road and doing publicity; he felt like he was being bombarded with demands. He gained weight, which made him unhappy, and eventually started doing drugs again after being clean for several years.