Walter Becker and Donald Fagen met in 1967 at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Discovering that they enjoyed similar music, the two began writing songs together.

After Fagen graduated in 1969, the two moved to Brooklyn and tried to peddle their tunes in the Brill Building in midtown Manhattan. Kenny Vance (of Jay and the Americans), who had a production office in the building, took an interest in their music, which led to work on the soundtrack of the low-budget Richard Pryor film You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.