“Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by Steam

Even though, as pointed out in the facts’ section, this song is commonly applied to the likes of losers at sporting events, what “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” is actually based on is a love triangle. More pointedly, the addressee is a lady whom the male singer is trying to get with. And said lady already has a boyfriend. And as alluded to throughout, this guy has a tendency to mistreat her.

So the singer is using that reality as an angle to try to convince this lady to date him instead. Thus in the pre-chorus when he states that he wants to see her “kiss him goodbye”, such is actually a metaphor pointing of the idea of her dumping him. And beyond him noting out that this guy is emotionally wrecking her life, the other way in which the singer is trying to rationalize her switching teams so to speak is by asserting that he is the one who ‘really loves’ her. So fundamentally, what the singer is telling the addressee is that her current boyfriend doesn’t love her, but he does. Indeed he loves her so much that just witnessing this guy abuse her is causing him his own personal emotional grief.

But that being said, the bottom line is that once again this is a lady whom he wants to get with. So at the end of the day, this track can be generally categorized as a love song. However, if you want to get even more specific, it can be classified more along the lines of a pickup track.

Writing Credits for “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”

This song was written by Gary DeCarlo (1942-2017), Dale Frashuer and Paul Leka, with Paul also serving as the track’s producer. They were all, to various degrees, members of the short-lived music band known as Steam.

Steam actually recorded “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” in one session.  It was a song which by and large they were already familiar with, as the three aforementioned artists had actually penned it earlier in the decade when they operated under different band names. Indeed the ‘na-na-nas’ were basically added as filler to make the chorus of the original version of the song longer. And interesting to note is that when they did record what proved to be their only true hit, they actually intended for “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” to be a B-side. Accordingly Steam did not vest as much energy into making this song as they conventionally would.

Release Date

This song was released by Fontana Records on 1 November 1969. It is featured on the only album Steam ever dropped, which is named after the band.

Such a Successful Song

This song was a great success for Steam, as it topped the Billboard Hot 100.  It was also certified Gold in the United States. It went to sell in excess of six million copies by the turn of the century.

Indeed “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” has maintained an enduring presence in American pop culture. It is one of those types of songs that people recite for instance when an opposing professional athlete is ejected from a game or when someone is eliminated from a competition whom they don’t like. As such, it has been utilized in venues as diverse as the WWE, NBA, MTV and even in political settings.

This song has also been featured on popular television shows such as “Cheers” (1990), “The Simpsons” (1991, 2003) and “Ally McBeal” (1998).  Additionally it also appeared on a few major-motion films, including “Remember the Titans” (2000). Moreover car manufacturer GMC used it on one of their 2019 advertisements.

“Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” also charted in six other nations outside of the US. And this included peaking at number nine on the UK Singles Chart.

Notable Covers

This song has been covered by some big-name artists such as The Supremes (1970) and Donna Summer (1995). But most-notably girl band Bananarama dropped their own rendition of “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” in 1983.  And their version did fairly well, reaching number five on the UK Singles Chart and charting in six countries overall.

Also as late as 2014 Gary DeCarlo released his own solo rendition of “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” on his album “Long Time Comin”.  He always had a bittersweet relationship with the tune. You see Steam itself was actually formed as a direct result of the success of this song. However, the record executives did not allow Gary (the lead vocalist on the song) to front the band. Instead the group’s lead singer, when they actually went on tour, was a guy named Bill Steer. Or another way of putting it is that when this track actually blew up, no one knew it was Gary DeCarlo who sang it.  Moreover he agreed to such an arrangement in exchange for a solo deal that never materialized. And his overall displeasure concerning the matter is something he apparently held onto until his death in 2017.