It was fun to hear "That’s What I Like About You" by the Romantics the other day — albeit that it was playing in a grocery store. I suspect the Romantics would be appalled. Not that I like the song, but that it was playing in a grocery store.*

In any case, the song reminds me that almost any song that contains repeated exhortations of "Hey!" is made better precisely because of the repeated exhortations of "Hey!"

I am right about this, aren’t I?

The Ramones actually relied on "Hey!" a lot, if I remember my Ramones.

The Producers had a great "Hey!" song called "What’s He Got (That I Ain’t Got)?"

By the way, just to be sure we’re on the same page, "Hey Joe" or "Hey Jude" is not the sort of "hey" I’m talking about. And certainly not the "Hey now" parts of "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House (one of the best songs of all time -- "hey"or otherwise).

I tell you what won't work. Most ballads absolutely don’t need an exuberantly exhorted "Hey!"

Do you think "I Talk to the Wind" by King Crimson would benefit from "Hey!" being exhorted throughout the tune? No. In fact, I'm pretty sure "I Talk to the Wind" is probably the song least likely in history to benefit from screaming "Hey!" over and over. Here: I've put a link so you can hear this gorgeous song right here. Click on it and, as an experiment, scream HEY! in time through the choruses. Doesn't work, does it?

Let me know if any great "Hey!" songs stick in your mind and what they are.

* Actually, the Romantics might object to my approval of their tunes. My band, Safety in Numbers, opened for them once in Dallas and more than held our own. We got an encore, in fact, and toyed with playing "Talking In Your Sleep" just to see if it would piss them off. Why not? During our set, I’d already pointed out between songs that the Romantics and their road crew had basically been jerks to us. Mostly the roadies; we didn’t have that much interraction with the Romantics themselves because they were holed up in the dressing room getting really plastered on tequila. At least so far as we could tell and from what the waitresses told us.

Having said all that, they were pretty damned good when they got onstage.