View source for Hey Nineteen

{{use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox song
| name          = Hey Nineteen
| cover         = Hey Nineteen cover.jpg
| alt           = 
| type          = single
| artist        = [[Steely Dan]]
| album         = [[Gaucho (album)|Gaucho]]
| B-side        = "Bodhisattva" (live)
| released      = 21 November 1980 (single)<ref name=HitParadeNineteen/>
| recorded      = 1978{{cn|date=June 2025}}
| studio        = 
| genre         = {{hlist|[[Jazz fusion]]|[[soft rock]]}}
| length        = 5:06 (album version)<br />4:31 (7" version)<ref name=HitParadeNineteen/>
| label         = [[MCA Records|MCA]]
| writer        = {{hlist|[[Walter Becker]]|[[Donald Fagen]]}}
| producer      = [[Gary Katz]]<ref name=Genius/>
| prev_title    = [[Josie (Steely Dan song)|Josie]]
| prev_year     = 1978
| next_title    = [[Time Out of Mind (Steely Dan song)|Time Out of Mind]]
| next_year     = 1981
| misc          = {{External music video|header=Official Audio|{{YouTube|cvg5mbM6FGs|"Hey Nineteen"}}}}
}}

"'''Hey Nineteen'''" is a song from the band [[Steely Dan]] from their album ''[[Gaucho (album)|Gaucho]]'' (1980)<ref name=HitParadeNineteen/> that describes an intergenerational seduction,<ref name = JambaseNineteen/><ref name=PopmattersNineteen/> a song that would become popular with the bands live performances after its 1993 reunion (becoming its third most-played).<ref name = JambaseNineteen/> 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).{{citation needed lead|date=June 2025}} The song peaked at number 10 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] (1981) and appeared at number 11 on Top Adult Contemporary charts through 1993.<ref name=BillboardHot100/><ref name="autogenerated228"/>{{update after|2025|6|19}}

== Background ==
The song was released as the first single from the band's 1980 album ''[[Gaucho (album)|Gaucho]]'',<ref name=HitParadeNineteen/> and was produced by [[Gary Katz]].<ref name=Genius>{{cite web | author = Genius.com Staff | date = 18 June 2025 | title = Hey Nineteen: Steely Dan—Producer: Gary Katz | work = [[Genius.com]] | url = https://genius.com/Steely-dan-hey-nineteen-lyrics | access-date = 18 June 2025}}</ref> The single's B-side is the 1974 live version of the song "[[Countdown to Ecstasy|Bodhisattva]]", with an introduction by an inebriated Jerome Aniton, one of the band's drivers,<!--Neither the "unreleased", nor the "Santa Monica" are in the Hitparade.ch or USAToday sources.--><ref name=HitParadeNineteen>{{Cite web| author = Hitparade.ch Staff | date = 18 June 2025 | title = Steely Dan–Hey Nineteen | work = [[Hitparade.ch]] | language = de-sw | url=http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Steely+Dan&titel=Hey+Nineteen&cat=s| access-date = 18 June 2025 | location = Udorf, Switzerland | publisher = Hung Medien}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2015/07/05/steely-dan-on-the-road-again/29590941/|first=Brian|last=Mansfield|title=On the Road Again: Steely Dan|publisher=[[USA Today]]|access-date=17 February 2024 | quote = 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.}}</ref> a single that was recorded at [[Santa Monica Civic Auditorium]] and was previously unreleased.{{cn|date=June 2025}}<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sweet|first=Brian|date=August 16, 2018|title=Steely Dan: Reelin' in the Years|location =  | publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=9781787591295|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BRhDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Hey+Nineteen%22+%22steely+dan%22+B-side+Bodhisattva+Live+at+Santa+Monica+Civic+Jerome+Aniton&pg=PT290|access-date = 18 June 2025}}{{page needed|date=June 2025}}</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2025}}{{failed verification|date=June 2025}}<!--The e-book isn't page numbered, and the page to which we jump with the URL—which focuses on Fagen's solo Nightfly (1982)—does not mention any of this content (Bodhisattva, Aniton, 1974 live, 1980 single, Sants Monica, previously unreleased, etc.) so we have to state this as a {{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.<ref name = JambaseNineteen/>

==Lyrics and music==
===Lyrics===
According to Will Layman, writing for ''[[Popmatters.com]]'', the song "was about a middle-aged man's disappointment with a young lover";<ref name=PopmattersNineteen>{{cite web | author = Layman, Will | date = April 10, 2006 | title = Jazz Today: The Strange, Mixed Fate of Steely Dan" | work = [[PopMatters.com]] | url = http://www.popmatters.com/music/columns/layman/060410.shtml | access-date = 18 June 2025 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615164027/http://www.popmatters.com/music/columns/layman/060410.shtml | archive-date= 2006-06-15 | url-status =  }}</ref> 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."<ref name = JambaseNineteen>{{cite web| author = Bernstein, Scott | url=https://www.jambase.com/article/remembering-walter-becker-steely-dan-hey-nineteen-banter|title=Remembering Walter Becker Of Steely Dan: 'Hey Nineteen' Banter|date=27 December 2017|website=[[JamBase.com]] |access-date=3 March 2019 | quote = <small>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.</small>}} 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).</ref>

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 "[[Aretha Franklin|'Retha Franklin]]".<ref name=AllmusicNineteen>{{cite web | author = Mason, Stewart | date = 18 June 2025 | title = Hey Nineteen / Steely Dan | work = [[AllMusic.com]] | url = http://www.allmusic.com/song/hey-nineteen-t4181847 | access-date = 18 June 2025}}</ref> The song ends ambiguously, mentioning, "The [[Cuervo Gold]]" and "[[cannabis|fine Colombian]]",<ref name="AllmusicNineteen" /> going on to say that these "make tonight a wonderful thing",{{cn|date=June 2025}}<!--Not in the AllMusic source.--> again emphasizing the age difference.{{cn|date=June 2025}} <!--All of the following is unsourced, WP:OR, editorising: "When this song was written [[tequila]] was less popular among college-aged drinkers, and Colombian [[cannabis]]—which in his college days was prized for its aroma and flavor—was being replaced by [[Sinsemilla]] varieties valued primarily for their potency.{{cn|date=June 2025}}{{or|date=June 2025}}{{Editorializing|date=June 2025}}"--> 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".<ref name=AllmusicNineteen /><!--THE FOLLOWING EARLIER CONTENT APPEARS IN NO SOURCE APPEARING:  "is left to decide whether the narrator is drinking and smoking with her, or if he is in fact alone and thinking of days gone by.{{cite quote|date=June 2025}}{{or|date=June 2025}}{{Editorializing|date=June 2025}}"-->

===Music===
{{expand section | with = standard description of the musical construction of the piece, one that balances the current critical emphasis| small = no | date = June 2025}}
[[Walter Becker]] of the [[Steely Dan]] duo generally describes 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".<ref name = JambaseNineteen/> 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".<ref name=AllmusicNineteen/>

== Charts ==
"Hey Nineteen" peaked at number 10 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart in early 1981,<ref name=BillboardHot100>{{cite web | author = Billboard Staff | date = 2021-11-18 | title =  Chart History: Steely Dan—The Hot 100 | work = [[Billboard.com]] | url =  https://www.billboard.com/artist/steely-dan/chart-history/hsi/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211118001805/https://www.billboard.com/artist/steely-dan/chart-history/hsi/ | archive-date = 2021-11-18 | access-date = 18 June 2025}}</ref> number 11 on the Top Adult Contemporary charts through 1993,<ref name="autogenerated228">{{cite book|first= Joel |last= Whitburn |author-link= Joel Whitburn |year= 1993 |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993 |location =  | publisher= Record Research |page=228 | url =  | access-date =  }}{{full|date=June 2025}}</ref>{{full|date=June 2025}} and, through 2022, its number 68 on the ''[[Billboard.com]]'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.<ref name="BillboardR&B">{{cite web | author = Billboard Staff | date = 2022-05-22 | title =  Chart History: Steely Dan—Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | work = [[Billboard.com]] | url =  https://www.billboard.com/artist/steely-dan/chart-history/bsi/ | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220522085836/https://www.billboard.com/artist/steely-dan/chart-history/bsi/ | archive-date = 2022-05-22 | access-date = 18 June 2025}}</ref>{{update after|2025|6|19}} On the Hot 100 ''Billboard.com'' chart, with a run of 19 weeks, "Hey Nineteen" is tied with "[[Peg (song)|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).<ref name=BillboardHot100/>

== Credits ==
Band members appearing on the recording of the single were:{{cn|date=June 2025}}{{verification needed|date=June 2025}}<!--See edit summary for 18 June, beginning "Found, placed...".-->
* [[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==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

===Weekly charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+Weekly chart performance for "Hey Nineteen"
!Chart (1980–1981)
!Peak<br />position
|-
!scope="row"|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])
| style="text-align:center;"|48
|-
!scope="row"|Canada ''[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.0299&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.0299.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.0299|title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=1981-12-09 |access-date=2018-12-17}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
!scope="row"|New Zealand ([[RIANZ]])<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nztop40.co.nz/|title=The Official New Zealand Music Chart|website=THE OFFICIAL NZ MUSIC CHART}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|20
|-
!scope="row"|US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]<ref>''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990'' - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|10
|-
!scope="row"|US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|Adult Contemporary]]<ref name="autogenerated228"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|11
|-
!scope="row"|US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|R&B]]<ref name="BillboardR&B"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|68
|-
!scope="row"|US [[Cash Box (magazine)|''Cash Box'']] Top 100<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tropicalglen.com/Archives/80s_files/19810214.html|title=Cash Box Top 100 2/14/81|website=tropicalglen.com}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|10
|}
{{col-2}}

===Year-end charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+Year-end chart performance for "Hey Nineteen"
!scope="col"|Chart (1981)
!scope="col"|Rank
|-
!scope="row"|Canada<ref>The 1981 Top 100 Singles chart is identified by the [[RPM Year-End]] article {{cite web|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.4689&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062 |title=Top 100 Singles (1981)|publisher=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]] |access-date=2018-01-05}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|25
|-
!scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1981.htm|title=Top 100 Hits of 1981/Top 100 Songs of 1981 &#124; Music Outfitters|website=www.musicoutfitters.com}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|72
|-
!scope="row"|US ''Cash Box''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/80s_files/1981YESP.html |title=Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 26, 1981 |access-date=September 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022115158/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/80s_files/1981YESP.html |archive-date=October 22, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|80
|}
{{col-end}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web | author = Genius.com Staff | date = 18 June 2025 | title = Hey Nineteen: Steely Dan—Producer: Gary Katz | work = [[Genius.com]] | url = https://genius.com/Steely-dan-hey-nineteen-lyrics | access-date = 18 June 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 ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://sdarchive.com/lyrgaucho.html#track2 "Hey Nineteen" lyrics] at Steely Dan archive.com
* [[Rashida Jones]] talks about this song with NPR in the article [https://www.npr.org/2012/08/23/159915544/how-rashida-jones-found-her-inner-music-nerd "How Rashida Jones Found Her Inner Music Nerd"]

{{Steely Dan|state=collapsed}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hey Nineteen}}
[[Category:1980 songs]]
[[Category:1980 singles]]
[[Category:MCA Records singles]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Gary Katz]]
[[Category:Songs written by Donald Fagen]]
[[Category:Songs written by Walter Becker]]
[[Category:Steely Dan songs]]