Posted on 10/24/2011 6:37:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Paul Leka, a songwriter and producer who worked with many recording stars but who was best known for writing the chanting chorus of “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye),” a No. 1 hit in 1969 that was reborn in the 1970s as a sports arena anthem, died on Oct. 12 in a hospice near his home in Sharon, Conn. He was 68.
The cause was lung cancer, said his brother, George.
Mr. Leka made his name in the Tin Pan Alley tradition, writing or arranging songs for other people. He wrote and produced “Green Tambourine,” a No. 1 hit in 1967 for the psychedelic soft-rock band the Lemon Pipers; signed REO Speedwagon to its first record contract; and produced four of Harry Chapin’s albums, including 1974’s “Verities & Balderdash” containing the song that was Chapin’s lone No. 1 hit, “Cat’s in the Cradle.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
goodbye
Too young. I bet he never expected!
I absolutely loved “Green Tambourine” when I was a little kid. I used to wonder why there couldn’t be more songs written like it.
Thanks to the man who wrote it. RIP.
Check out the YouTube vid - one of the worst bands ever with one of the best refrain ever!
Oh yeah, “Green Tambourine” was psychodelia for the rest of us, none of the pretentious trash of the Dead, Jefferson Airplane or the Cream.
RIP.
Legend has it (don’t know if its true) that the band who recorded Na Na Hey Hey was actually recording a slow ballad and they finished with some studio time to kill so they put together Na Na Hey Hey as ad-lib filler to go on the back of the 45. They intentionally recorded it too long (most singles then couldn’t go past 3:30 if they wanted air time) so nobody would confuse it with the A-side.
The label hated the ballad but loved the ad-lib so they added some accompaniment and released the song under the group name “Steam” so as not to harm the branding of the group’s other tunes which were mostly love ballads.
“Steam” became a one-hit wonder and the song has long cemented its standing in rock music lore.
By the way, does anyone besides me think the tune before the ad-lib isn’t taken from Jerry Butler’s “He Will Break Your Heart” which was re-released in the mid-70s by Tony Orlando and Dawn as “He Don’t Love You Like I Love You” which reached #1 on the singles chart?
RIP.
They intentionally tried to make “Na Na” a throwaway song. As bad as they tried to make it, it hit #1...which tells you a bit about the quality of music, past and present, that becomes a “hit”.
I was surprised to learn Kiss Him Goodbye was written in the early 60s.
hey hey hey, good bye....RIP, and thanks for the great tunes.
Na Na Na came into the sports arenas via DePaul Blue Demon basketball & Ray Meyer in Chicago, when it had a winning run with Mark Aguirre.
In 1968, "Boss Radio" KHJ, at 930 kilocycles, was the Los Angeles area's premier rock blaster. "Green Tambourine" shot up the station's "Boss 30" chart, reaching Number One on January 24, but remained there only a week before Paul Mauriat's "Love Is Blue" knocked it off--and then it rapidly faded.
The Jefferson Airplane got a lot of airplay on KHJ the previous year, and the Cream did well on the Boss 30 in the spring of '68, but you probably had to listen to FM to hear the Dead, and in 1968, no one in my family had a radio with an FM band.
Man, what a bummer. Particularly, when I realize I am only 3 years younger than him. His tunes bring back a flood of memories.
Yes, that was the time when all the pretentiousness of FM “art rock”, as opposed to “rock and roll” started. The swan song of the AM radio - Steppenwolf, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Procol Harum, the Troggs. Even the Rolling Stones got confused for a year or so at the time. In the end, all those one hit wonders and bubble gum of the time sound better today than the too-clever-by-half minor key tunes by Cream.
I always thought it was a Stevie Wonder song.
Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that I didn't have an FM radio at the time.
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