The long and usually glorious history of "Hey" in popular song

Hey hey! Why on Hey, you might ask?

I'll tell you for why. I was planning to reboot the blog theme of just taking a particular song and writing an extended piece on it; I fixed on a couple of recent songs to write about, songs at different ends of the American indie-rock scale united by unforgettable and gleeful choruses. One is called 'Hey Lover', it's by beardy Californians Dawes, one is called 'Hey Darling', it's by recently reformed Washington (state) powerpoppunk trio Sleater-Kinney. Gosh darn, I love both these songs.

I probably will get to writing about them. But first.

You might have noticed they both begin with 'Hey'. Hey, how about that, I thought. Hey's a lovely modern transatlantic word, drawing attention, admonishing, greeting, celebrating, consoling, warning. There's a disproportionate number of great songs by great artists which feature the word in their title. Those in the know know the value of a good "Hey" from Happy Mondays to The Ramones to Madonna to Ben Hey-Now (X-Factor joke, sorry).

This is my 30-song double album compilation. This might be the most valuable contribution I've ever made to humanity:

HEY THEN

1. Hey Good Lookin' - Hank Williams
2. Hey Schoolgirl - Tom and Jerry (Simon and Garfunkel)
3. Hey Baby - Bruce Channel
4. Hey Grandma - Moby Grape
5. Hey Bulldog - The Beatles
6. Hey Jude - Beatles
7. Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
8. Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye - Leonard Cohen
9. Hey Girl Don't Bother Me - The Tams
10. Hey You - Pink Floyd
11. Hey Hey My My (Into the Black) - Neil Young
12. My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) - Neil Young
13. Hey - Pixies
14. Hey DJ I Can't Dance to the Music You're Playing - Beatmasters ft Betty Boo
15. Hey Ladies - Beastie Boys 

HEY NOW

1. Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms
2. Hey God - Bon Jovi
3. Hey There Delilah - Plain White Ts
4. Hey Now - Oasis
5. Hey Dude - Kula Shaker
6. Hey Boy Hey Girl - Chemical Brothers
7. Hey Scenesters - The Cribs 
8. Hey Self-Defeater - Mark Mulcahy
9. Hey You Bastards I'm Still Here - Mark Kozelek
10. Hey Porcupine - Josh Rouse
11. Ho Hey - The Lumineers
12. Hey Ya! - OutKast
13. Ya Hey - Vampire Weekend
14. Hey Lover - Dawes
15. Hey Darling - Sleater-Kinney