Augustana: Hey Now (and thoughts about 2008)

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“Hey Now” is incredibly nostalgic to me.    Although it came out in 2008, it has a distinctive ’90s sound.   Without going into too much detail, even 2008 seems like “simpler times” to me now.    Obama’s election made it seem as if racism was finally a thing of the past.  How wrong we were.   (But that’s another topic for another time).

2008 (eleven years ago!) was also one of the last years actual rock music was still being played on commercial radio, but Augustana (grouped in a catchall category called “modern rock” which included more well known indie-pop bands like The Fray, Snow Patrol, or O.A.R) never caught on big.  I believe their biggest hit was “Sweet and Low,” from the same album.

I purchased Augustana’s 2008 album “Can’t Love Can’t Hurt” and almost all the songs are great, but this one, which was never released to radio, became my favorite song on the album and possibly of that year.

This comment on Youtube sums it up best:

This is one of those songs that confirms that some of the best most epic songs exist in the “unknowns/seldom exposed” category. If this song was released in the late 90s, it would be played in the cycle of those nostalgic 90s sound most of us loved. I don’t think that sound every ended. It just fell asleep, while bands like Augustana and Blue October kept that timeless mood alive for another day.

4 thoughts on “Augustana: Hey Now (and thoughts about 2008)”

  1. good song – a band I’ve not heard before. I looked up the lyrics.

    Hey Now
    Augustana
    Sky black and blue
    Blue turned to red
    It’s quiet in the streets now
    It’s screaming in your head
    I ain’t a fool
    I’ve got my doubts
    Say it doesn’t hurt
    Doesn’t matter anyhow
    Anyhow
    Saying hey you’re bleeding for nothing
    It’s hard to breathe when you’re standing on your own
    We’ll kill ourself to find freedom
    You’ll kill yourself to find anything at all
    So lock all the doors
    And put your child to rest
    It’s quiet in the streets now
    It’s screaming in your head
    We’re passing the time
    We’re breaking apart
    We’re damned at the end
    We’re damned at the start
    Blame it on the roses
    Blame it on the red
    Running out of time
    Running out of breath
    Saying hey you’re bleeding for nothing
    It’s hard to breathe when you’re standing on your own
    We’ll kill ourself to find freedom
    You’ll kill yourself to find anything
    You say good-bye
    Every day and night
    With writing on the walls
    Everybody’s gonna need somebody
    To take our troubles, and our worries, and our problems all away
    Saying hey you’re bleeding for nothing
    It’s hard to breathe when you’re standing on your own
    We’ll kill ourself to find freedom
    You’ll kill yourself to find anything at all
    Saying hey you’re bleeding for nothing
    It’s hard to breathe when you’re standing on your own
    We’ll kill ourself to find freedom
    You’ll kill yourself before
    You’ll kill yourself again
    Hey now, hey now, hey now
    Right now
    Hey now, hey now, hey now
    Right now
    Hey now, hey now, hey now
    Right now
    Hey now, hey now
    Songwriters: Mike Flynn / Dan Layus
    Hey Now lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

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  3. Augustana has been one of my favorite bands since Boston came out! I mean, I came to musical maturity right at the height of emo culture, and it definitely shows-almost everything I listen to is in the same vein:)

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