Hey Nineteen

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

"Hey Nineteen"
Single by Steely Dan
from the album Gaucho
B-side"Bodhisattva" (live)
Released21 November 1980[1]
Recorded1978
GenreJazz fusion, soft rock
Length5:06 (Album version)
4:44 (7" version)
LabelMCA
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

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 drunken host Jerome Aniton.[5]

Charts

"Hey Nineteen" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1981,[6] number 11 on the Adult Contemporary chart,[7] and number 68 on the R&B Singles chart.[8] 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

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