Hey Nineteen

1980 single by Steely Dan

"Hey Nineteen"

Single by Steely Dan
from the album  Gaucho
B-side| "Bodhisattva" (live)
Released| 21 November 1980 (single)[1]
Recorded| 1978[citation needed]
Genre|

* Jazz fusion
* soft rock

Length| 5:06 (album version)
4:31 (7" version)[1]
Label| MCA
Songwriter(s)|

* Walter Becker
* Donald Fagen

Producer(s)| Gary Katz[2]
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 from the band Steely Dan from their album Gaucho (1980)[1] that describes an intergenerational seduction,[3][4] a song that would become popular with the bands live performances after its 1993 reunion (becoming its third most-played).[3] The song featured Steely Dan's composing duo of Donald Fagen (lead vocals and keyboards) and Walter Becker (bass and guitar), as well as Hugh McCracken (guitar), Rick Marotta, Victor Feldman, and Steve Gadd (percussion), and Frank Floyd and Zack Sanders (backing vocals).[not verified in body] The song peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 (1981) and appeared at number 11 on Top Adult Contemporary charts through 1993.[5][6][needs update]

## Background

[edit]

The song was released as the first single from the band's 1980 album Gaucho,[1] and was produced by Gary Katz.[2] The single's B-side is the 1974 live version of the song "Bodhisattva", with an introduction by an inebriated Jerome Aniton, one of the band's drivers,[1][7] a single that was recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and was previously unreleased.[citation needed][8][page needed][failed verification] As described by Bernstein, "Hey Nineteen" would become among the most played at the band's live performances (third, according to Setlist.fm), despite having gone unplayed by Becker and Fagen with their "part[ing of] ways in 1981"; its live performances only began with their reunion in 1993.[3]

## Lyrics and music

[edit]

### Lyrics

[edit]

According to Will Layman, writing for Popmatters.com, the song "was about a middle-aged man's disappointment with a young lover";[4] as described by Scott Bernstein for Jambase.com (quoting Songfacts.com), in the song, "an older man is seducing a 19-year-old girl. He’s a bit conflicted... However, on this particular night and with the help of some Cuervo Gold tequila, everything is wonderful."[3]

Hence, the lyrics present an older man contemplating a romantic encounter with a 19-year-old with whom he has little in common; for example, she does not recognize a song by "'Retha Franklin".[9] The song ends ambiguously, mentioning, "The Cuervo Gold" and "fine Colombian",[9] going on to say that these "make tonight a wonderful thing",[citation needed] again emphasizing the age difference.[citation needed] Hence, as Stewart Mason states in his AllMusic review, the listener is "(quite deliberately)... unclear as to whether the singer's been left alone with "the Cuervo Gold/the fine Colombian"... or whether he's just resorted to getting the girl drunk and stoned enough to stop resisting".[9]

### Music

[edit]

This section needs expansion with: standard description of the musical construction of the piece, one that balances the current critical emphasis. You can help by adding to it. (June 2025)

|

Walter Becker of Steely Dan described the band's music as "a whole new kind of bizarre concerto music" with the band "doing the very, very best contemporary disco-jazz-funk-space muzak with a reggae twist".[3] In a generally negative review emphasizing this particular song's lyrical choices, Stewart Mason of AllMusic.com describes the song's melody as "lazy", with a "lackadaisical ultra-mellow drift", similarly addressing the song's arrangement, which he refers to as "possibly unconscious self-satire... [that] is so hermetically airtight and studiedly slick that it verges upon the mechanical".[9]

## Charts

[edit]

"Hey Nineteen" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1981,[5] number 11 on the Top Adult Contemporary charts through 1993,[6][full citation needed] and, through 2022, its number 68 on the Billboard.com Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[10][needs update] On the Hot 100 Billboard.com chart, with a run of 19 weeks, "Hey Nineteen" is tied with "Peg" and "Rikki Don't Lose That Number", for being Steely Dan's longest-running chart hit (their peak positions being 10th, 11th, and 4th, respectively).[5]

## Credits

[edit]

Band members appearing on the recording of the single were:[citation needed][verification needed]

* Donald Fagen – lead vocals, electric piano, synthesizer
* Rick Marotta – drums
* Walter Becker – bass guitar, guitar
* Hugh McCracken – guitar
* Victor Feldman, Steve Gadd – percussion
* Frank Floyd, Zack Sanders – backing vocals

## Chart history

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### Weekly charts

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Weekly chart performance for "Hey Nineteen"  | Chart (1980–1981)  | Peak
position

|

Australia (Kent Music Report)  | 48
Canada RPM Top Singles[11] | 3
New Zealand (RIANZ)[12] | 20
US Billboard Hot 100[13] | 10
US Billboard Adult Contemporary[6] | 11
US Billboard R&B[10] | 68
US Cash Box Top 100[14] | 10

### Year-end charts

[edit]

Year-end chart performance for "Hey Nineteen"  | Chart (1981)  | Rank

|

Canada[15] | 25
US Billboard Hot 100[16] | 72
US Cash Box[17] | 80

## Further reading

[edit]

* Genius.com Staff (June 18, 2025). "Hey Nineteen: Steely Dan—Producer: Gary Katz". Genius.com. Retrieved June 18, 2025. This source provides possible information related to the production and performance credits for this musical work, citing Track 31 of "Showbiz Kids: The Steely Dan Story, 1972-1980".

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e Hitparade.ch Staff (June 18, 2025). "Steely Dan–Hey Nineteen". Hitparade.ch (in German). Udorf, Switzerland: Hung Medien. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
2. ^ a b Genius.com Staff (June 18, 2025). "Hey Nineteen: Steely Dan—Producer: Gary Katz". Genius.com. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
3. ^ a b c d e Bernstein, Scott (December 27, 2017). "Remembering Walter Becker Of Steely Dan: 'Hey Nineteen' Banter". JamBase.com. Retrieved March 3, 2019. "Upon its release, 'Hey Nineteen' shot all the way to #10 on the Billboard charts. 'In this song, an older man is seducing a 19-year-old girl. He's a bit conflicted, as her inexperience frustrates him when she doesn't even remember Aretha Franklin. However, on this particular night and with the help of some Cuervo Gold tequila, everything is wonderful,' reads a description of 'Hey Nineteen' on Songfacts.com. Becker and Fagen parted ways in 1981, leaving "Hey Nineteen" unplayed until their aforementioned 1993 reunion. / Steely Dan made up for lost "Hey Nineteen" time from 1993 through Walter's death. "Hey Nineteen" was the third most played song of the band's live career as per Setlist.FM." Note, in quoting from Bernstein's extensive transcription of Walter Becker's onstage "rants"—his use of the term, not intended as derogtory—we have standardised the punctuation for the Becker transcripts (making punctuation formats uniform, and adding clearly omitted punctuation).
4. ^ a b Layman, Will (April 10, 2006). "Jazz Today: The Strange, Mixed Fate of Steely Dan"". PopMatters.com. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
5. ^ a b c Billboard Staff (November 18, 2021). "Chart History: Steely Dan—The Hot 100". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
6. ^ a b c Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 228.[full citation needed]
7. ^ Mansfield, Brian. "On the Road Again: Steely Dan". USA Today. Retrieved February 17, 2024. "Becker and Fagen included one of [truck driver Jerome] Aniton's rambling, inebriated intros on a 1974 live recording of Bodhisattva that appeared as the B-side of the 1980 single Hey Nineteen."
8. ^ Sweet, Brian (August 16, 2018). Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9781787591295. Retrieved June 18, 2025.[page needed]
9. ^ a b c d Mason, Stewart (June 18, 2025). "Hey Nineteen / Steely Dan". AllMusic.com. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
10. ^ a b Billboard Staff (May 22, 2022). "Chart History: Steely Dan—Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". Billboard.com. Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
11. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. December 9, 1981. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
12. ^ "The Official New Zealand Music Chart". THE OFFICIAL NZ MUSIC CHART.
13. ^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 \- ISBN 0-89820-089-X
14. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 2/14/81". tropicalglen.com.
15. ^ The 1981 Top 100 Singles chart is identified by the RPM Year-End article "Top 100 Singles (1981)". RPM. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
16. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1981/Top 100 Songs of 1981 | Music Outfitters". www.musicoutfitters.com.
17. ^ "Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 26, 1981". Archived from the original on October 22, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2018.

## External links

[edit]

* "Hey Nineteen" lyrics at Steely Dan archive.com
* Rashida Jones talks about this song with NPR in the article "How Rashida Jones Found Her Inner Music Nerd"

* v
* t
* e

Steely Dan

* Donald Fagen

* Walter Becker
* Jeff "Skunk" Baxter
* Denny Dias
* Jim Hodder
* David Palmer
* Royce Jones
* Michael McDonald
* Jeff Porcaro

Studio albums|

* Can't Buy a Thrill (1972)
* Countdown to Ecstasy (1973)
* Pretzel Logic (1974)
* Katy Lied (1975)
* The Royal Scam (1976)
* Aja (1977)
* Gaucho (1980)
* Two Against Nature (2000)
* Everything Must Go (2003)

Live albums|

* Alive in America (1995)
* Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz with Steely Dan (2005)
* Northeast Corridor (2021)

Singles|

* "Dallas"
* "Do It Again"
* "Reelin' In the Years"
* "Show Biz Kids"
* "My Old School"
* "Rikki Don't Lose That Number"
* "Pretzel Logic"
* "Bad Sneakers"
* "Kid Charlemagne"
* "Peg"
* "Deacon Blues"
* "FM (No Static at All)"
* "Josie"
* "Hey Nineteen"
* "Time Out of Mind"
* "Cousin Dupree"

Album tracks|

* "Aja"
* "Any Major Dude Will Tell You"
* "Dirty Work"
* "Only a Fool Would Say That"

Compilations|

* Greatest Hits (1978)
* Steely Dan (1978)
* Gold (1982/91)
* A Decade of Steely Dan (1985)
* Reelin' In the Years (1985)
* Do It Again (1987)
* Citizen Steely Dan (1993)
* Then and Now (1993)
* Showbiz Kids (2000)
* The Definitive Collection (2006)
* 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Steely Dan (2007)
* Found Studio Tracks (2007)

Video albums|

* Plush TV Jazz-Rock Party (2000)

Related articles|

* Discography
* Gary Katz
* Members
* Roger Nichols
* Yacht rock
* You've Got to Walk It Like You Talk It or You'll Lose That Beat

* Category

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz work
* MusicBrainz release group

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