The Six Best "Hey!"s in Rock and Roll

No musician puts a "Hey!" in a song for him/herself. "Hey!" is a social cue, an opportunity for engagement between a musician and the audience. It means nothing, but it means the same nothing to all of us and therefore means something, maybe even everything. Whoa. Here are the six best "Hey!"s in rock and roll. And, uh, hey, let us know your favorites in the comments below.

6. The Beatles
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"

"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" is best link between the happy go lucky Help! Beatles and the serious, ambitious Rubber Soul Beatles. John Lennon kicks off each hook with a "Hey!" so enthusiastically that he jumps in his chair at the 1:35 mark of the above video. The snippet from the Help! film does a great job of portraying the occasional boringness of being Ringo, and it basically sets up the cover art for Definitely Maybe by Oasis. The "Hey!" is a sly trick at play. Some songs try to get a hook in your head by repeating it ad nauseum. "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" earworms its way in by yelling at you to pay attention first.

5. Arcade Fire
"Une Annee Sans Lumiere"

The aftermath of Arcade Fire's debut Funeral, those thousands of indie bands with dozens of members, can distract from how fresh the album seemed upon release. "Une Annee Sans Lumiere" is never a song people call their favorite. It's a slow jam with more than half of its lyrics in French and it makes zero references to space dogs. But this song may have the largest impact, as it pioneered the modern "Hey!" The Arcade Fire "Hey!" is short and shouted and usually doused in reverb, and there's currently a song on top 40 radio that uses it heavily.