Howdy, everybody! Happy Friday and welcome back to another edition of CHART ATTACK! This week’s mix is relatively eclectic, yet — as was often the case in the early ’80s — completely inoffensive. And you’ll find references to John Lennon in four of this week’s singles. On with the chart — let’s look at February 14, 1981!
10. Hey Nineteen — Steely Dan Amazon iTunes
9. Givin’ it Up for Your Love — Delbert McClinton Amazon iTunes
8. Keep On Loving You — REO Speedwagon Amazon iTunes
7. (Just Like) Starting Over — John Lennon Amazon iTunes
6. Woman — John Lennon Amazon iTunes
5. Passion — Rod Stewart Amazon iTunes
4. The Tide is High — Blondie Amazon iTunes
3. I Love a Rainy Night — Eddie Rabbitt Amazon iTunes
2. 9 to 5 — Dolly Parton Amazon iTunes
1. Celebration — Kool & the Gang Amazon iTunes
10. Hey Nineteen — Steely Dan (download)
I love Steely Dan. And I love “Hey Nineteen.” And although I’ve never had any misconception about this song’s subject, it was only when listening to this song the other day that I realized: Donald Fagen both looks and sounds like a skeevy, dirty old man, and “Hey Nineteen” is, in fact, not helping his image. And despite the fact that Fagen was only 32 when this song was recorded, it’s not a stretch to hear it and imagine him being, say, 50. SKETCHY. Here’s a picture of Donald Fagen with Japanese musician Juri Panda Jones. Look at this while listening to “Hey Nineteen,” willya?
Right?
Something else weird happened to me while I was listening to “Hey Nineteen” recently. Whenever I sing along with it, I always avoid the lead line (except for “that’s ‘retha Franklin”). I just sing the backing vocals. And, when I sing them, I sing them like…you guessed it.
Oh, picture of 3 Time Grammy Award Winner Michael McDonald, how I’ve missed you.
Anyway, so yeah, I always sing those backing vocals like McD. But when listening to the song the other day, I realized: I don’t hear McD as a prominent voice. I mean, I think I hear him in there, and I know he sang backing vocals on Gaucho, but you know that I have a tendency to hear a little bit of McD in everything, so I could just be crazy.
Steely Dan only had a few Top 10 hits ( “Do It Again” and “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” and what the hell, we’ll give “Peg” credit for reaching #11, only because of McD), but this was their last one, peaking here at #10 for only two weeks.
