Hey Sandy
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"Hey Sandy" is a song by the indie rock band Polaris which serves as the theme song for the Nickelodeon television show The Adventures of Pete and Pete. It's well-known by fans of the show and the band alike for its lyrics, which are not only nearly indecipherable in the first place, but also have generated considerable debate as to their meaning.
The lyrics were a subject of speculation for several years until they were (mostly) revealed to fans by band members. One line, the third one and the most difficult one to understand, was left a mystery, and still generates debate, though "Can you settle to shoot me?" is accepted in some circles as the most likely lyric. When the official Pete and Pete Season 1 DVD was released on May 17, 2005, the subtitle for the mysterious third line is indeed "Can you settle to shoot me?". Although strong evidence, the canonicity of this subtitle remains debatable.
Among the most plausible theories of the song's meaning is that it describes Sandra Scheuer, one of four students killed by U.S. soldier fire at the Kent State massacre in 1970. In particular, the line "but guiltily I thought you had it coming" may refer to the popular sentiment that the action was partially justified because of the provocation offered by student protestors. Polaris' song is thought to be loosely based on an earlier folk song of the same name, one that is explicitly about Scheuer and the Kent State shootings.
The full album version of "Hey Sandy" contains a bewildering introduction with a man speaking the following words:
- Jupiter or Thor is perfect. We need Atlas for our long-distance stuff. Titan will be even better. They shouldn't have cancelled Navaho. Wait 'til you see our submarines with Polaris.
Besides an obvious reference to the band's name, this sound bite is in fact discussing United States ballistic missiles designed during the Cold War:
- the intermediate-range Jupiter and Thor IRBM
- the Atlas ICBM, the first successful US intercontinental ballistic missile (for "long-distance stuff")
- the Titan family of ICBMs, successors of Atlas
- the cancelled SM-64 Navaho, an experimental cruise missile developed by the U. S. Air Force
- the UGM-27 Polaris, a submarine-launched ballistic missile
External links
- Official lyrics (http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~jfrens/pete-and-pete/music.html)
- Theories of the unknown 3rd line (http://www.peteshrine.com/polarisweb/heysandy.htm)
- The lyrics of the older song of the same name (http://www.molwert.de/Lieder/Hey_Sandy.htm)