"Hey Sandy" | |
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Song by Polaris | |
Songwriter(s) | Mark Mulcahy [1] |
"Hey Sandy" is a song by the American 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 that the song's lyrics, nearly indecipherable, have generated considerable debate as to their meaning. [2]
The full lyrics were a subject of speculation for several years until they were revealed to fans by band members and cast members of the show. One line, the third and the most difficult one to understand, was purposefully left a mystery by head songwriter Mark Mulcahy. [3] [4] The most common assumptions are "Can you settle to shoot me?" and "Can you settle a sure bet?", with actor Danny Tamberelli backing up the second one. [5] Another theory indicates that it could be a reference to the Kent State shootings and Sandra Lee Scheuer (being the diminutive "Sandy" of the song), although the actual meaning of the song is in debate. [6] In regards to this, Mulcahy said in 2015: "No one is right. Nothing that anyone has guessed is right (...) But, you know, eventually no one's going to care so. I don't know if I want to take it to my grave. Maybe I do." [7] Incorrect translations of this lyric, however, can still be found on the closed captioning of Pete and Pete DVD sets.[ citation needed ]
The full album version of "Hey Sandy" begins with a sample of actor Sorrell Booke performing a section of the 1969 documentary album "To The Moon: A Time-Life Records Presentation". [8]
Besides a reference to the band's name, the sample discusses United States ballistic missiles designed during the Cold War:
Brooke's performance is abruptly cut off and followed by another sample from "To The Moon" of a radio transmission from the pre-launch testing of Apollo 11:
There is a cover version of "Hey Sandy" by the New Jersey band Mister Behavior, as well as by California math rock band Tera Melos on their covers EP Idioms, Vol. I
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi), primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. The United States, Russia, China, France, India, the United Kingdom, Israel, North Korea and Iran are the only countries known to have operational ICBMs.
The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980.
Vandenberg Space Force Base, previously Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a United States Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Space Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from the Western Range, and also performs missile testing. The United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 30 serves as the host delta for the base. In addition to its military space launch mission, Vandenberg Space Force Base also hosts space launches for civil and commercial space entities, such as NASA and SpaceX.
The Adventures of Pete & Pete is an American sitcom created by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi for Nickelodeon. It focuses on two brothers, both named Pete Wrigley, and their humorous and surreal adventures in suburbia among their equally eccentric friends, enemies, and neighbors.
The PGM-17A Thor: was the first operative ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was named after the Norse god of thunder. It was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with thermonuclear warheads. Thor was 65 feet (20 m) in height and 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter.
Polaris is an American independent rock band that was formed as a one-off musical project in the early 1990s, involving members of the New Haven indie rock band Miracle Legion. They were commissioned specifically to produce music for the Nickelodeon television show The Adventures of Pete & Pete, which was later compiled into the group's first and only album. Nearly twenty years after the show was cancelled, Polaris reemerged with its first tour and a cassingle of two new songs.
Danny Tamberelli is an American actor and musician. He is known for his portrayal of Little Pete in The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1989 to 1995, as the voice and actor of Jimmy De Santa in the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V and for his work as a cast member of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That.
Miracle Legion was an American college rock band formed in 1983 in New Haven, Connecticut. They earned modest renown, especially in their native New England region, but also in the UK, where they were feted by music media such as NME and Melody Maker.
Music from the Adventures of Pete & Pete is a studio album by the band Polaris, a one-off project involving members of the late 1980s and early 1990s band Miracle Legion. It features twelve songs composed by the band between 1992 and 1995 for the cult Nickelodeon television series, The Adventures of Pete & Pete. The album remains the only full-length release by Polaris. A deluxe edition was released in September 2020 via Mezzotint Records on vinyl and CD, containing unreleased demos, a lyric sheet and other additional material.
The North American SM-64 Navaho was a supersonic intercontinental cruise missile project built by North American Aviation (NAA). The final design was capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the USSR from bases within the US, while cruising at Mach 3 at 60,000 feet (18,000 m) altitude. The missile is named after the Navajo Nation.
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Mark Mulcahy is an American musician. He was the front-man for the New Haven, Connecticut-based band Miracle Legion. The band earned modest renown, especially in their native New England region. Mulcahy soon formed Polaris, a house band for the mid-1990s alternative television series The Adventures of Pete & Pete (1993–1996). They are best remembered for the song "Hey Sandy" featured in the opening credits of each show, and for nostalgic tunes such as "Waiting for October" and "Saturnine". Following the cancellation of Pete & Pete, Mulcahy began playing his own shows in New York City and rebuilding his career. Mulcahy has opened for notable artists, including Oasis and Jeff Buckley and received homage from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke, who dedicated a song to Mulcahy at a Boston show.
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The SM-68 Titan was the designation of two intercontinental ballistic missiles developed for the United States Air Force. The Titan I and Titan II missiles were operational between 1962 and 1987 during the Cold War. These missiles, particularly the Titan II, were the basis of the Titan family of space launch vehicles.
A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs). Similar facilities can be used for anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs).
Trevor Gardner was Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force for Research and Development during the early 1950s. Together with Bernard Schriever, the Air Staff's Assistant for Development Planning, Gardner was one of the prime movers of the U.S. ICBM program and was also involved in the U-2 program.
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