On February 29, 2000, Steely Dan released their eighth studio album, Two Against Nature. The hit record spawned the Grammy Award-winning single “Cousin Dupree,” about a slacker who finds himself crashing on his aunt’s couch. Familiarize yourself with it below, if you must.
Six years later, the movie You, Me and Dupree was released in theaters, starring Owen Wilson, Kate Hudson, and Matt Dillon. Wilson stars as Randolph “Randy” Dupree, who loses his job and is forced to move in with his newlywed friends (Hudson and Dillon):
Sounds a little too close to be a coincidence? Steely Dan members Donald Fagen and Walter Becker thought so, too. So much so, in fact, that they took the time to write a 10-paragraph open letter complaining about the similarities to Owen’s brother, Luke—or as they referred to him, “The great comic actor, Luke Wilson.” Fagen and Becker start out by giving Luke a rundown of who they are and complimenting him and his brother on Bottle Rocket, the 1996 film they starred in and directed by Wes Anderson. Then they switch gears and get to their reason for writing him.
“This doesn’t involve you directly,” the band begins. “You seem pretty cool, even when you’re playing some pretty bogus parts in bad movies all the time, we realize that it’s not entirely your fault and that you’re entitled to have whatever low standards you want.” The problem, Fagen and Becker explain, is Luke’s brother Owen, who they say “has gotten himself mixed up with some pretty bad Hollywood schlockmeisters” and might be doing “permanent damage to his good creds and whatever reputation for coolness he may still have.”
They go on to say that they suspect somebody involved with You, Me and Dupree heard their song and decided to turn it into a “summer stinkbomb,” without bothering to change the character’s name. To make up for it, Fagen and Becker ask Luke to persuade his brother to come to one of their concerts so he can apologize. Not in a way that would be uncomfortable for him, they clarify. However, “he would have to cop to the fact that what he and his Hollywood gangster pals did was wrong,” and also acknowledge that “he wishes he had never agreed to get involved with this turkey in the first place.”
Owen, clearly detecting the sarcastic undertones, decided to respond with his own humorous statement a little while later, denying Fagen and Becker’s accusation. “I have never heard the song ‘Cousin Dupree,’ and I don’t even know who this gentleman, Mr. Steely Dan, is,” the actor wrote. “I hope this helps to clear things up and I can get back to concentrating on my new movie, Hey 19.” “Hey Nineteen,” for those who don’t know, was the name of the first single off of Steely Dan’s 1980 album, Gaucho.
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