Why Stadium Anthem ‘Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye’ Strikes Out
‘200 Greatest 60s Rock Songs’ Book Excerpt
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Although Steam was a one-hit wonder band, that one hit is heard in movies and TV commercials more than a half-century later and is sampled by other artists. But lead singer Gary DeCarlo was for years deprived of the income and fame the song’s success would have provided.
In the early 1960s, DeCarlo, Paul Leka, and Dale Frashuer were members of doo-wop groups named the Glenwoods, the Citations, and the Chateaus. The three got together again in 1968 when DeCarlo recorded four new singles for Fontana Records.
“The record company wanted me to put out a song called ‘Sweet Laura Lee,’ which was written by Larry Weiss, who wrote ‘Rhinestone Cowboy,’” DeCarlo told Jennifer Dodge in 2014. I didn’t really want to lead with a ballad, but they said that’s what they wanted, so . . .
“We needed a B-side for it, and ‘Na Na’ became the B-side. It didn’t have the chant, though. The chant was born the night in the studio. Actually ‘Na Na’ was written a few years before, and it was just called ‘Kiss Him Goodbye.’ It was a blues shuffle.
“I always liked it, and I said to Dale, ‘Dale, I want to do “Kiss Him Goodbye.” Tell Paul that that’s what I want to do.’ When we went to the studio that night, the chant was born, and that was it. We went in around seven o’clock that night, and by five the next morning it was done, just the way you hear it on the radio.”
DeCarlo told Classic Bands that when the record company decided to release “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” as a single, he was promised that a road band would be formed around him. It never happened. A band named Steam toured the country with the song but DeCarlo was not a part of it.
“All they did basically was go out and when they did the video, they lip-synched. And when they went out and did the shows, people would say to them, ‘How come you don’t sound like the record?’ That’s because they didn’t. There was no guitar on the record. There was no bass on the record. So these guys didn’t even know what they were doing.”
“That hurt me,” DeCarlo recalled in the Connecticut Post in 2016. “I remember driving to the railroad station, hearing the song on the radio, and just wanting to yell out the window, ‘That’s me!’ I fell into a deep depression.”
“Na Na Hey Hey” reached №1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Dec. 6, 1969. While DeCarlo received one-third of the songwriting royalties, he was unable to tour as a member of Steam, losing a valuable income stream. In 2014, DeCarlo recorded a new version of “Na Na Hey Hey” for his album Long Time Comin’.
Today “Na Na Hey Hey” is a popular sports stadium anthem, often played when a visiting player leaves the field in defeat. DeCarlo, 75, died in June 2017 after a long battle with lung cancer.
Frank Mastropolo is the author of 200 Greatest 60s Rock Songs and 200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs.
