The Nightfly

"The Nightfly" is track six of the album, 5:47, written by Fagen, with Marcus Miller on bass, Jeff Porcaro on drums and Larry Carlton, Hugh McCracken and Rick Derringer on guitar. The cover figure, Lester the Nightfly, is based on disc jockeys such as Symphony Sid; Fagen told Capital Radio's Charlie Gillett in January 1983 that he had made the character up all by himself, a combination of disc jockeys he heard as a kid. Albumism calls the track the album's emotional center, which is its opinion rather than the artist's.

Setlist.fm lists the song 39 times across 53 Fagen setlists from 1986 to 2017, tied for his most played, with "New Frontier" also at 39, "Green Flower Street" at 38 and "I.G.Y." at 24. No covers or samples of it were found. The upload carries only the title, so it may be the album or this track.