6

1 comments

"Hey Nineteen" was written by members Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, and released on their 1980 album Gaucho.

According to one reviewer's interpretation, the song "was about a middle-aged man's disappointment with a young lover ("Hey Nineteen, that's 'Retha Franklin / She don't remember the Queen of Soul / It's hard times befallen the Soul Survivors / She thinks I'm crazy but I'm just growing old")."

Steely Dan used a variety of musicians on their albums. On this track, Hugh McCracken played guitar, Rick Marotta was on drums, and Victor Feldman and Steve Gadd added percussion. Walter Becker also added guitar, and Donald Fagen played the Fender Rhodes electric piano and the synthesizer. Roger Nichols, who was one of the engineers on the Gaucho sessions, fashioned a drum machine they used on this track. Dubbed "Wendel," it was one of the first of its kind, and it allowed them to record Rick Marotta's drum parts and play them back with perfect precision.