“Hey Nineteen” - Steely Dan (1981)

Youtube ^ | 11/14/2016 | Staff

[simpson96]

Hope you enjoy.Hey Nineteen

[simpson96]

music *ping*

[BBB333]

Good music.

[Stevenc131]

Hey Nineteen
That’s ‘Retha Franklin
She don’t remember
The Queen of Soul
It’s hard times befallen
The Soul Survivors
She thinks I’m crazy
But I’m just growing old

[Original Lurker]

If you don’t have a kick-ass stereo, you’ve never heard Aja.

[bobby.223]

Great stuff!

[jobim]

Steely Dan is matchless - Aja set a standard.

Having said that, the lyrics of this this song always struck me as run-of-the-mill rockstar decadence, typically morally bankrupt dirty old man junk:

The Cuervo Gold
The fine Colombian
Make tonight a wonderful thing

[V K Lee]

MANHATTAN TRANSFER - “The boy from New York City”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZF6m659-z0

[Gay State Conservative]

Hey 19,That’s Retha Franklin
She don’t remember the Queen of Soul

I doesn’t get much better than that

[HartleyMBaldwin]

19 in 1981, 54 today.

[Buckeye McFrog]

so....like, is the girl 19 years old?
Or is her name “19” like “Agent 99” or something?

I never quite got it.

[Steely Tom]

After listening to it a few thousand times, I’m pretty sure the song is about a 19-year-old female of unusual beauty.

This is because the singer has to explain who Aretha Franklin is, among other clues.

[Gay State Conservative]

I never quite got it.

You're betraying you age here! She's 19 years old and he was a good deal older.That's why he needed to explain to her who "Retha" Franklin was! ;-)

[ViLaLuz]

Almost all their lyrics reveal the empty heart of a man who needs Jesus but doesn’t yet realize it. The music is superb.

[leaning conservative]

I remember back in the day when I thought older men were the end of it all........ah youth, here’s to older men!

[wally_bert]

Steely Dan has been a big favorite since I was a kid in the 70s.

[jobim]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I guess it was the celebration of the
age differential in a sex romp that I always reacted to with loathing.

[Cboldt]

I remember Reelin' in the Years hitting the pop stations. This stuff is amazing.

Gold Teeth II gives me goosebumps.

[newfreep]

The song was about their mixing engineer (Elliott Scheiner) going out out with 19 y/o girl. Fagan and Becker thought his tale was so hilarious they wrote a song about his nightmare.

[trisham]

I love that song!!