Hey is one of the more popular and well-regarded Polish rock bands working today. It was founded in 1992 by Piotr Banach, who was the band’s guitarist, but it is best known as the project of Kasia Nosowska, the lead singer, who also writes most of the band’s music.
The band was started in Szczecin and initially included Nosowska and Banach, plus Marcin Żabiełowicz (guitar), Robert Ligiewicz (percussion), and Marcin Macuk (bass guitar, keyboards). Their first record, Fire (no Polish title—many of the songs are in English), was released in 1993, and it quickly brought fame to the band. They released several more rock albums in the early years of the band’s existence, and they had many hit songs. Banach left the band in 1999, but he was soon replaced and Hey continued its rise. Banach now has a solo career and also plays with the band Indios Bravos.
In 2003, right after the band’s tenth-anniversary celebration, they released their eighth album, music, music, which had a more experimental and electronica feel than their previous work had. Several other notable highlights of their career include their 2014 concert tour, on which they played only acoustic arrangements of their music. Additionally, in 2015 Nosowska and Paweł Krawczyk, the band’s current guitarist and backup singer, wrote the music for a new production of Shadows. Eurydice Speaks (Cienie. Eurydyka mówi), at the behest of Polish director Maja Kleczewska.
The band currently consists of original members Nosowska, Żabiełowicz, and Ligiewicz, plus Krawczyk and bass guitarist Jacek Chrzanowski, who has been in the band nearly since the beginning. They have released twelve studio albums, the most recent, Flash (Błysk), in 2016, and half of them went platinum.
Nosowska also has a solo career, and if you count both her solo and Hey’s Fryderyk Awards, she is the most-nominated performer in the history of the awards. Hey itself has won 15 of the prestigious awards.
“Silence and Time” (“Cisza, ja i czas”), from the 2001 album [sic]:
Lyrics for “Cisza, ja i czas”:
Lubię ten stan
Rozkoszne sam na sam
Cisza i ja
Cisza, ja i czas
Udaję, że świat zamyka się
W tych czterech ścianach, a za nimi pustka
Lubię ten stan
Cisza, ja i czas
Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, na, na, na, na x3
Kocham ten stan
Cudowne sam na sam
Kawa i ja
Papierosy, kawa, ja
Nie ma kumpli nie ma nieprzyjaciół
Nie licząc dwudziestu w paczce papierosów
Kocham ten stan
Papierosy, kawa, ja…
Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, na, na, na, na (x3)
(…)
Pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, pa, na, na, na, na (x6)
“Quickly, Quickly” (“Prędko, prędzej”), from Hey’s 2016 album, Błysk (Flash):
Lyrics for “Prędko, prędzej”:
Ja do centrum
Do centrum wieź
Gdzie ze słońcem
Miesza się deszcz
Derby kraju, derby co dzień
Gdzie czerń w tęczę, a tęcza w czerń
Do kolektur bożych mnie wieź
Do centrali kruków i wron
Do loftów gdzie wino, śpiew
Do baraków gdzie piją biedę
Ja do centrum
Skrótem mnie wieź
Do atletów, do samochwał
Do szkieletów lekkich jak duch
Do nastoletnich Ikarów
Do chuliganów obojga płci
Do magistrów sztuczek i sztuk
Do niewiniątek na rzeź
Wieź prędko, prędzej mnie wieź
Pstryknij na raz
Potrzyj palce dwa
Tyle to trwa
Tyle życia masz
Jesteś jak sen
Drzemka z której świat
Obudzi się
I będzie trwał…
Ja do centrum
Do centrum wieź
Gdzie ze słońcem
Miesza się deszcz
Derby kraju, derby co dzień
Gdzie czerń w tęczę, a tęcza w czerń
Ja do centrum, do centrum wieź
Gdzie tramwaje, pomnik i plac
Gdzie w witrynie czystej jak lód
Przemawiając, siebie zobaczę…
Pstryknij na raz
Potrzyj palce dwa
Tyle to trwa
Tyle życia masz
Jesteś jak sen
Drzemka z której świat
Obudzi się
I będzie trwał…
