Recorded - June 1969
Released - September 1969
#1 for weeks of December 6 and 13, 1969.
Today's lecture from the book of unexpected hits is, "One person's garbage is another man's gold". The majority of single releases during the 1960's often contained an inferior track on the B-side. Sometimes it was a lesser-known song by the band, other times it was a deliberate throwaway, destined to be the very definition of "Filler". Well, as it turns out, the latter example is what "Na Na Hey Hey...Goodbye" originally started out as.
For starters, "Steam" weren't even a real band when "Na Na..." was recorded. All of the members were studio musicians, some of whom had performed together in the early 1960's as The Chateaus, from Bridgeport Connecticut. One of the band members was Paul Leka, would later go on to co-write several 1960's pop singles including "Green Tambourine". During 1969, Paul gathered up some of his old bandmates from The Chateaus days, and recorded several songs destined to be A-sides, or so they thought.
In need of filler material for the B-sides, Paul resurrected an old unfinished song he wrote in 1961, "Na Na Hey Hey...Goodbye". All of the musicians present on the recording showed contempt for "Na Na...", and they expected it to be forever buried and un-played. They had such contempt for the song in fact that the song was released under the anonymous name "Steam". As fate would have it, when the song was picked up by radio DJ's, it unexpectedly became the band's one and only hit.
"Na Na Hey Hey...Goodbye" can at worst be classified as bubblegum pop. After all, the reality is the song was a throwaway, recorded by a non-existent band, and features repetitious lyrics. On the other hand, the song is undeniably catchy, and has since been adopted as an unofficial anthem for sporting events. Its chorus, which the band purposely made repetitive to squash all hopes of radio airplay, is almost inescapable if you're a sports fan.
I'll play devil's advocate and admit that for a so called bubblegum-filler song, "Na Na..." is surprisingly solid. Lead vocalist Gary DeCarlo does a rather soulful lead vocal which almost adds a Motown feel to the piece. Also, as a fun fact, the drum track apparently was taken from another song that was being worked on around the same time. So in other words, we have one of the earliest examples of sampling.
Final Verdict - "Na Na Hey Hey...Goodbye" may be a very repetitious song, and it certainly lacks in the lyrical department. On the other hand, the song is undeniably catchy, and has the strength of sounding a bit like vintage Motown. While I certainly can't say it's one of the finest songs of 1969, It's too good to simply call a guilty pleasure. Either way, after just a single listen, the song will never leave your head!
Coming Up Next - "Leaving On A Jet Plane" by Peter, Paul & Mary.
Until Na na na na next time, I'm Dr. Rock -
No comments:
Post a Comment