Lyrics for Hey Nineteen as interpreted by AbFab

Hey Nineteen Lyrics
Way back when in 'Sixty seven
I was the dandy of Gamm Chi
Sweet things from Boston so young and willing
Moved down to Scarsdale where the hell am I?

Hey Nineteen
No we can't dance together
No we can't talk at all
Please take me along when you slide on down

Hey Nineteen that's 'Retha Franklin
She don't remember the Queen of Soul
It's hard times befallen the sole survivors
She thinks I'm crazy I'm just growing old

Hey Nineteen
No we got nothin' in common
No we can't talk at all
Please take me along when you slide on down

[solo]

ad libbed lines
nice, sure looks good,
hm hm hmm, skate a little lower now

The Cuervo Gold
The fine Columbian
Make tonight a wonderful thing
[say it again]

The Cuervo Gold
The fine Columbian
Make tonight a wonderful thing

The Cuervo Gold
The fine Columbian
Make tonight a wonderful thing

We can't dance together
No we can't talk at all.

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ratfinkabooboo
10-15-2009

Rated 0 
"Skate a little LOWER now" is an upskirt reference. Yes those existed then!

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ratfinkabooboo
10-15-2009

Rated 0 
Efunk is right on the money. Skating rink brings back memories of youth to the protagonist as he watches the fine young things skate around him. "Skate a little lower now" is one of the most scandalous lines in pop history, because it's Fagen requesting an upskirt.

My my, now!

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robcat007
08-21-2009

Rated 0 
Well yes, he says way back in '67, but i think that only refers to him reflecting on his younger days. when the "girls from boston were young and willing."

These same girls, eventually "moved down to scarsdale" and where the hell did he go? He is still chatting up 19 year olds and wondering why. He wants them to take him along when they "slide on down" to scardale or whatever suburb.

He is the "sole survivor" of his pack of frat buddies and he feels lost. But, he sits at the party --through the solo of the song mind you -- drinking shitty tequila and getting ripped on coke or weed as the case may be and it all makes sense again. Just skate a little lower. A wonderful thing indeed.

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watspen
08-18-2009

Rated 0 
what is wrong with you people?!?! GoSlash27 seems to be the only person here with common sense... the FIRST LINE of the SONG: "way back when, in '67". Donald Fagen was 19 in 1967.. so it doesn't make any sense to suggest he's talking about a nineteen year old girl--- its obviously autobiographical (at least to some extent). If I had to guess, I would say that Donald is beckoning back to when he was young and observing that he no longer has anything in common with his younger self anymore.

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1 Reply
StilwellSlim
05-06-2009

Rated 0 
I feel studpid I had to look this up now that i read the lyrics with the song.

He's older and sees a pretty, young, girl. They cannot relate. She doesn't get the old music like him, he dances differently then the kids are dancing now. They can't talk, they cannot dance. Slide on down I see as slide on down the bar to him. Skate a little lower towards his end of the bar. He knows they don't have anything in common, but what a night it would be if they got drunk and blown and he had a night with her that would take him back to his past a little.

Definitley not about an older woman he tapped.

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Windywords
05-03-2009

Rated 0 
When you have to educate a much younger person to be on the same knowledge base that you are on, it's more trouble than it's worth. There are some younger folks that are very savy to things that took place a decade or two before they were born, but it's rare.

If you can't have a conversation over some Tequila, what's the point?

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efunk
04-29-2009

Rated 0 
the song to me is saying he is in a skating rink with a bar somewhere (these type of places do exist) and at that very moment he is thinking back to the good ole days, like the motown days and while revisiting those ole good times he sees some beautiful attractive girl who is probably at the bar in rolla skates and in an extremely simple and short flirtatious conversation he finds out she is nineteen, so he knows she is off limits so as the Creole say "Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez" Let the Good Times Roll - The Cuervo Gold The fine Columbian Make tonight a wonderful thing. In reminiscent of his youth. He looks but dosen't touch and gets tow up from the flow up.


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GoSlash27
03-21-2009

Rated 0 
Also, the time frame for this song was 1967 at Bard College, Annendale, NY. Donald Fagen was 19 at the time. It can't be an inter-generational thing unless he's reversed positions (he's the young girl and the protagonist is actually an older woman).

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GoSlash27
03-21-2009

Rated 0 
I've always interpreted this as if he's the one rejecting her.
She's "young and willing", but he shakes his head at the fact that she doesn't even know who Aretha Franklin is.
The part about "please take me along" kinda puzzles me tho'. Maybe he's up for a cheap fling, but doesn't want to mislead her.

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mheine
09-12-2008

Rated 0 
I figure "take me along when you slide on down" meaning she will get older ("going downhill," as in aging), and he hopes she'd consider him once she's no longer relatively young.
And sole/soul survivor I think is a 3-way pun: the SS group (as mentioned by others), someone old enough to have live through (survived) the age of soul (Aretha Franklin), and sole survivor, emphasizes his feeling out of place, like he's the only (sole) oldster at the party.

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theoldmaid
08-29-2008

Rated 0 
"Please take me along when you slide on down" and
"skate a little lower now" all suggest the man getting a blow job from "19." That's what I kind of thought. I guess I didn't really see the sarcastic side of it when they repeat about getting ripped on tequila and coke for a wonderful evening--btw, "The fine Colombian" never was understandable to my ears, so the Walgreens folks don't know. How ironic--old people going to get their legal drugs....everything down hill from here--that makes the song seems pretty appropriate for Wal-greens.

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Bortherman_711
07-10-2008

Rated 0 
I think he is a heck of alot older than mid-twenties. The song came out in either the late seventies or early eighties, therefore, he is at least 30.

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jbecan
07-02-2008

Rated 0 
I’ve always thought that the “fine Colombian” referred to marijuana, not cocaine. This is back in the days before domestic pot and before “Sinsemilia” or “Green bud” was invented (discovered?). The best pot came out of Colombia (Colombian Gold), and the best cocaine came out of Peru (Peruvian flake) : )

I also think “Gamma Ki” is a college fraternity, which would put his age at early to mid 20’s. “Nineteen” would be a college freshman ..not illegal, just embarrassing : )

Peace/JB

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panzer4963
04-07-2008

Rated 0 
“Skate a little lower now” is the key line. The song is the internal monologue of the protagonist. Out and about, he’s watching “nineteen,” a lovely stranger, and coming to the realization of some hard truths. All men 30 plus began to have these moments.

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kyhangdog
02-29-2008

Rated +1 
I think the song's about me and my pathetic midlife.

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donutbandit
10-28-2007

Rated 0 
Aretha Franklin and the Soul Survivors were big hits in 1967. It's just a song about the generation gap.

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donutbandit
10-28-2007

Rated +1 
Aretha Franklin and the Soul Survivors were big hits in 1967. It's just a song about the generation gap.

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ProfessorKnowItAll
09-14-2007

Rated 0 
I think Elderling's right about the first part: We all thought we were the hot pie back then ("I was the dandy of Gamma Chi"), but we've grown older, and the kids these days don't even know the greats of yesterday ("Hey 19, that's 'retha Franklin/She don't remember, the queen of soul"..."She thinks I'm crazy, but I'm just growin' old.") I always thought the "No we can't dance together/No we can't talk at all" referred to the gap between the older guy and the younger girl: the hip dances for the Dandy are old-fashioned to "Nineteen", and they have nothing in common to talk about.

The "Cuervo Gold" part could be referring to him being miserable and getting drunk/coked up, and tonight is sarcastically "wonderful", or it could be him deciding that seducing Ms. "Nineteen" into drunken, coke-fuelled sex is better than nothing.

I liked the lyrical part of the song, but I always felt like it gets a bit dull towards the end and could've been shorter.

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Elderling
05-18-2007

Rated 0 
No, you guys are missing the point. It's not about a guy dating a younger girl. It's about a guy who used to be a suave ladies' man chatting up some young college girl at a party. He's thinking "Jesus, when did I get so old?" He doesn't go out with her--they can't even dance together, because people would think he was a slimeball. So he says fuck it, drinks some tequila, does some lines, and... ends up pretty miserable (the "make tonight a wonderful thing" is pretty obviously sarcastic, I think).

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Lt. Salt
03-17-2007

Rated 0 
were Steely Dan big Aretha Franklin fans? hence the reference towards the begining of the song...

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nagromnai
02-10-2007

Rated 0 
Funky for white guys!!

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GreyBlueEyes
08-24-2006

Rated 0 
I realized at 32 that dating dudes who were 24 was a mistake.

There is certainly an emotional difference even in six years difference, let alone eight or ten and I don't care how many Tom Cruises and Katie Holmes there are in the world. However, I don't blame Demi Moore one bit. Rock on, woman!

This has to be my second most favorite SD song. That opening guitar riff alone gets my heart pounding. I can do without Fagen's rap in the live shows, though. OK WE GET IT, DONALD, YOU'RE LEADING INTO THE OUT CHORUS.

No offense, of course. :-P

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magicmanx9
07-22-2005

Rated 0 
Unless they know what the song means.

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thatdtctvchppy
04-08-2005

Rated 0 
I heard this song a million times before I realized what it was about, I doubt a person walking into Walgreens would know what it was about, care, and be offended. I really like the music.

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law2468
02-24-2005

Rated 0 
Folks, relax! First of all the song comes from and era when coke use was pretty widespread, not a good thing , but whatchu gonna do. Second Nineteen=19. Fagen was talking about the emotional perils of dating out of your genration, which in our present time frame (I include 1970-2005) has shrunk considerably. In 1979, when the song was written, Fagen (31?) and Becker (29?), were both quite famous, yet not really down with the average groupie. Hard to reconcile the desire to make love with the desire to have meaningful interaction. The lyrics aren't perverted, much.

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