| Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye |
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"Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" was a song written and recorded by Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, and Paul Leka ; attributed to a then fictitious band "Steam," it was released under the Mercury subsidiary label Fontana . It became the number one pop single on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1969. Although subsequent recordings and a quickly assembled touring band Steam met with little success, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" remains a perennial favorite. HISTORY Gary DeCarlo, Paul Leka and Dale Frashuer wrote the song in the early 1960s, when the three were members of a Bridgeport, Connecticut band called The Chateaus. The Chateaus disbanded after several failed recordings. In 1969, DeCarlo recorded several singles at Mercury Records in New York with Paul Leka as producer. The singles impressed the company's executives, who wanted to issue all of them as A-side Singles . In need of "inferior" B-side songs, Leka and DeCarlo resurrected an old song from their days as the Chateaus, "Kiss Him Goodbye" with their old bandmate, Dale Frashuer. With DeCarlo as lead Vocalist , the three Musicians recorded the song in one recording session. Instead of using a full band, Leka spliced together a drum track from one of DeCarlo's four singles and played keyboards himself. "I said we should put a chorus to it (to make it longer)," Leka told Fred Bronson in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. "I started writing while I was sitting at the piano going 'na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na'...Everything was 'na na' when you didn't have a lyric." Someone else added "hey hey." (Bronson,2003) To everyone's great surprise, the powers-that-be at the label decided to release the song, now named "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", as the A-side on Fontana, a Mercury Records subsidiary. Leka thought it was "an embarrassing record, not that Gary sang it badly. But compared to his four songs, it was an insult." (Bronson, 2003) Since none of the musicians wanted credit for the tune, a nonexistent group, "Steam", was concocted. "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" rapidly rose to the top of the pop charts, topping the Billboard Hot 100 in December of 1969. A touring Band , quickly assembled and dubbed "Steam" by their Producer , Paul Leka, went on tour with the song but quickly disbanded in 1970. Despite the demise of the original band, "Na Na Hey Hey" continued to ride the charts during the 1970s. {Link without Title} . In the late 1960s, high school sports fans picked up the song as an anthem to sing when their respective team was far ahead in a game. It was also popular among military members when they were out carousing, usually sung in the following fashion: NA-NA-NA-NA, NA-NA-NA-NA, HEY-HEY-HEY, F--K THE --- (depending on which branch of the service they belonged to, or which rival corps they wanted to disrespect). The original recording of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" has been released in many collections of '' as one of five bonus tracks. In 1987, Canadian act The Nylons released an A Cappella version of this song as a single under the shortened title "Kiss Him Goodbye." It became their biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number twelve. CULTURAL IMPACT The song was transformed into a stadium anthem during the 1977 near the end of a contest to signify that victory is all but assured. This is sometimes accompanied by the gesture of holding up Keys . Other versions of lyrics sung by the crowds at sporting events can be interpreted as "Na na na na / na na na na / hey hey / Start the bus," in reference as to it's time to just leave town now. REFERENCES TO "NA NA HEY HEY KISS HIM GOODBYE"
LYRICS The verse of the song centers on the singer telling a woman the reasons why she should dump her current beau. The lengthy, repetitive fade-out chorus is the part that is typically sung by the fans: ''Na,na... na, na, na, na... hey, hey, hey... goodbye''. SEE ALSO
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