Friday October 1, 2021 “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” Steam
Not sure about you but I can’t hear this nonsense song often enough and I am not able to even give you one good reason why.
“Na Na Na Na…” was written by Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer and Paul Leka, who had been in a Connecticut band together called the Chateaus in the early '60s. One of the unfinished songs they wrote as the Chateaus was a tune called "Kiss Him Goodbye," which they worked on in 1961. Rumor has it that it was an instrumental that the Chateaus used just before they would ‘take a break’.
Maybe that’s why the ‘goodbye’ would feature so prominently.
De Carlo was putting together a solo project and had recorded a song called “Sweet Laura Lee” and none of us need to hear that song to know it wasn’t going to work. So, as the story goes, they needed a “B” side to the record, so DeCarlo went back to his Chateaus break song and riffed the unwritten lyrics. You will of course note there are not a lot of lyrics in the song.
The record was released as “Steam” even though there was no such entity and as the DJs dismissed “Sweet Laura” and flipped the record they created a radio sensation and number one hit with “Na Na Na…” a touring band was quickly put together.
Paul Leka, one of the other Chateaus and co-writer of today's song would go on to write another number one hit, “Green Tambourine” and he produced hits for Harry Chapin, REO Speedwagon and the NY band The Left Banke.
Stay safe and well ...and, oh yes, this is an earworm that I think you will be hearing all day, you’re welcome. I listened to this song 17 times while I was typing this...I typed slowly and made lots of mistakes, intentionally.