Hey Nineteen

Last updated
"Hey Nineteen"
Hey Nineteen cover.jpg
Single by Steely Dan
from the album Gaucho
B-side "Bodhisattva" (live)
Released21 November 1980 [1]
Recorded1978
Genre Jazz fusion, soft rock
Length5:06 (Album version)
4:44 (7" version)
Label MCA
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Gary Katz
Steely Dan singles chronology
"Josie"
(1978)
"Hey Nineteen"
(1980)
"Time Out of Mind"
(1981)
Official Audio
"Hey Nineteen" on YouTube

"Hey Nineteen" is a song by the band Steely Dan from their album Gaucho (1980).

Contents

Background

According to one reviewer's interpretation, the song "was about a middle-aged man's disappointment with a young lover". [2]

The lyrics are about an aging hipster attempting to pick up a girl who is so young that she does not recognize "'Retha Franklin" playing on the stereo. [3] The song closes with the ambiguous line, "The Cuervo Gold, the fine Colombian, make tonight a wonderful thing," leaving the listener to decide whether the narrator is consuming tequila and drugs with the love interest, or if he is in fact alone. [3] [4]

The B-side is a previously unreleased 1974 live version of the song "Bodhisattva", recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, with an introduction one of the band's drivers, Jerome Anition, who is clearly inebriated. [5] [6]

Charts

"Hey Nineteen" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1981, [7] number 11 on the Adult Contemporary chart, [8] and number 68 on the R&B Singles chart. [9] With a chart run of 19 weeks, "Hey Nineteen" is tied with "Peg" and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" for being their longest-running chart hit.

Personnel

Chart history

Related Research Articles

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Gaucho is the seventh studio album by the American rock band Steely Dan, released by MCA Records on November 21, 1980. The album marked a significant stylistic shift for the band, with more focus on rhythm and atmosphere than their earlier work, but the recording sessions demonstrated the group's typical obsessive nature and perfectionism, as they used at least 42 different musicians, spent over a year in the studio, and far exceeded the original monetary advance given by the record label. At the 24th Annual Grammy Awards, Gaucho won Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical, and was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

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References

  1. "Steely Dan - Hey Nineteen". hitparade.ch.
  2. Layman, Will. "Jazz Today: The Strange, Mixed Fate of Steely Dan" (April 10, 2006). Accessed July 31, 2006. Archived June 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  3. 1 2 Allmusic song review: "Hey Nineteen."
  4. "Remembering Walter Becker Of Steely Dan: 'Hey Nineteen' Banter". JamBase. 27 December 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  5. Mansfield, Brian. "On the Road Again: Steely Dan". USA Today . Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  6. Sweet, Brian (August 16, 2018). Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years. Omnibus Press. ISBN   9781787591295 via Google Books.
  7. Steely Dan Chart History: Hot 100, Billboard . Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  8. 1 2 Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 228.
  9. 1 2 Steely Dan Chart History: Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Billboard. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  10. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1981-12-09. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
  11. "The Official New Zealand Music Chart". THE OFFICIAL NZ MUSIC CHART.
  12. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - ISBN   0-89820-089-X
  13. "Cash Box Top 100 2/14/81". tropicalglen.com.
  14. The 1981 Top 100 Singles chart is identified by the RPM Year-End article "Top 100 Singles (1981)". RPM . Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  15. "Top 100 Hits of 1981/Top 100 Songs of 1981 | Music Outfitters". www.musicoutfitters.com.
  16. "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 26, 1981". Archived from the original on October 22, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2018.