It’s that time of year when a lot of playoffs are happening in sports. From now til the start of next season fans will be dramatically saying goodbye to the losing side.

Probably the only thing this 1969 #1 hit song has in common with the sports world is the cover of the album, which depicts the players sitting in a steam room.

Nonetheless, “Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Hey” has become an international sports anthem: When the pitcher is removed from a baseball game…when a basketball player fouls out…WHEN THE CONTEST HAS BEEN WON.

Sports crowds love finding songs to adopt as anthems. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Sweet Caroline” are other notable examples.

But Steam didn’t write the song for the sports world. They didn’t even write it to be released as a single…and in fact the band known as Steam didn’t even exist in 1969 when the song began racing up the charts.

“Gary DeCarlo, Paul Leka and Dale Frashuer wrote the song in the early 1960s, when the three were members of a Bridgeport, Connecticut band called The Chateaus. The Chateaus disbanded after several failed recordings. In 1969, DeCarlo recorded several singles at Mercury Records in New York with Paul Leka as producer. The singles impressed the company’s executives, who wanted to issue all of them as A-side singles. In need of ‘inferior’ B-side songs, Leka and DeCarlo resurrected an old song from their days as the Chateaus, ‘Kiss Him Goodbye’ with their old bandmate, Dale Frashuer.” —Wikipedia

Said DeCarlo of the song, “I started writing while I was sitting at the piano going ‘na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na’…Everything was ‘na na’ when you didn’t have a lyric.” Someone else added ‘hey hey.’ —The Billboard Book of Number One Hits

“The song was transformed into a stadium anthem during the 1977 Major League Baseball season. Chicago White Sox organist Nancy Faust had played the song many times before when opposing pitchers were relieved or when the Sox had clearly won the game, but without much reaction from the Comiskey Park fans. During a critical series with the Kansas City Royals, however, the crowd began singing along with the tune, and a tradition was born. Since then, the song has become a staple of many sporting events. The song’s familiar chorus of ‘Na na na na / na na na na / hey hey / goodbye’ is often chanted by fans near the end of a contest to signify that victory is all but assured. This is sometimes accompanied by the gesture of holding up keys. Other versions of lyrics sung by the crowds at sporting events can be interpreted as ‘Na na na na / na na na na / hey hey / Start the bus,’ in reference as to it’s time to just leave town now.” —Wikipedia

Girls group Bananarama (“Venus,” “Cruel Summer”) also released “Na Na Na Na” on their 1983 album Deep Sea Skiving. The Canadian act, The Nylons, released an a cappella version in 1987 which landed in the Top 20.

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye Lyrics
(Words and Music by Gary DeCarlo, Dale Frashuer, and Paul Leka)

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye

He’ll never love you, the way that I love you
‘Cause if he did, no no, he wouldn’t make you cry
He might be thrillin’ baby but a-my love (my love, my love)
So dog-gone willin’
So kiss him (I wanna see you kiss him. Wanna see you kiss him)
Go on and kiss him goodbye, now

Na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye

Listen to me now

He’s never near you to comfort and cheer you
When all those sad tears are fallin’ baby from your eyes
He might be thrillin’ baby but a-my love (my love, my love)
So dog-gone willin’
So kiss him (I wanna see you kiss him. I wanna see you kiss him)
Go on and kiss him goodbye, na-na na-na-na na na

Na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye

Hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye
Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey-ey, goodbye