Peg

Released as a single in November 1977, Peg was the last Aja track recorded and the only one cut in New York, at A&R with Elliot Scheiner. Rick Marotta played drums. Jay Graydon's solo was chosen from seven guitarists who tried, and he spent about six hours on it. He learned it was on the record when he heard it on the radio. Michael McDonald multitracked the backing vocals on the chorus. Others on the track include Steve Khan on guitar, Don Grolnick on clavinet, Paul Griffin on electric piano and Tom Scott on lyricon.

The band denied that the song was about the actress Peg Entwistle. Fagen said in 2020 that it has no hidden meaning, that the title fit a musical phrase, and that the scene is a jilted boyfriend at a seedy photo shoot in Los Angeles. Robustelli describes it as an altered blues that does not sound like a blues.

It reached 11 on the Hot 100, 8 on Cash Box and 7 in Canada. De La Soul sampled it heavily on Eye Know in 1989, and Pitchfork ranked it 87th among songs of the 1970s. The Guardian put it first among their twenty best, noting that Fagen's online explanation of its chords runs twelve minutes. It appears in 797 setlists on setlist.fm, the most of any Steely Dan song.