Hey Sandy
"
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 & 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.
Among the most plausible theories is that it is loosely based on English folk singer
Harvey Andrews's song of the same name. The titular "Sandy" is
Sandra Scheuer, one of four students fatally shot by National Guard troops in the
Kent State shootings 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 protesters. However, Harvey Andrews's "Hey Sandy" is explicitly about the shootings; Polaris's "Hey Sandy" remains decidedly unclear.
The full 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 purposefully left a mystery by head songwriter Mark Mulcahy, and still generates debate.
Though some speculate "Can you settle to shoot me?" is the most likely missing lyric, other guesses abound.
There appears to be no plausible reason, besides an attempt for publicity, to release the lyrics to the song but continue to withhold just one line. Since Mark Mulcahy continued to refuse to reveal the lyric long after the show had gone into reruns and was no longer being publicized, it does not seem likely that it was a
publicity stunt. Another postulated possibility is that the original lyric contained a reference to
drugs, and so could not be revealed at the time the show aired or was still airing as a children's program on television. The fact that the song is thought to refer to Vietnam protest student
Sandra Scheuer makes this theory even more likely. Those who espouse this theory believe the missing lyric to be, "Can you sell me a shroom, babe?"
It is speculated that
Nickelodeon, aware of the potential fight with the
censors, encouraged Mulcahy not to release the lyrics so the series could continue to be rated TV-Y, should it ever air in
reruns again. It would be nearly impossible to remove or change the lyric, and therefore if it came to the attention of the censors, the drug reference would essentially prevent the show from ever airing again.
On the DVD set, the subtitles render the line as "Can you settle to shoot me?", which makes sense considering the next line, "Or have you picked your target yet?" On the other hand, people who caption movies and television series, especially obscure or forgotten ones, often have no access to the original script or lyrics, and are simply writing down what they think they hear. For example, on the official DVD containing the BBC show
Ballykissangel, caption errors are common, and are a result of the captioner not understanding Irish slang or hearing a different word due to the heavy Irish accents.
On the DVD commentary for season 2 of
The Adventures of Pete and Pete, one of the show's creators, Chris Viscardi, mentions the missing lyric and says, "I've actually become very passionate about keeping that line a secret." He does not mention why.
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. The 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
*
Lyrics as revealed by a Polaris band member*
Harvey Andrews's "Hey Sandy" lyrics
