"Hey Nineteen" | ||||
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Single by Steely Dan | ||||
from the album Gaucho | ||||
B-side | "Bodhisattva" (live) | |||
Released | 21 November 1980 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1978 | |||
Genre | Jazz fusion, soft rock | |||
Length | 5:06 (Album version) 4:44 (7" version) | |||
Label | MCA | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Gary Katz | |||
Steely Dan singles chronology | ||||
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Official Audio | ||||
"Hey Nineteen" on YouTube |
"Hey Nineteen" is a song by the band Steely Dan from their album Gaucho (1980).
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 by one of the band's drivers, Jerome Anition, who is clearly inebriated. [5] [6]
"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.
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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