"New Frontier" | ||||
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Single by Donald Fagen | ||||
from the album The Nightfly | ||||
B-side | "Maxine" | |||
Released | January 1983 | |||
Format |
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Genre | ||||
Length |
3:50 (single) 6:23 (album) |
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Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Songwriter(s) | Donald Fagen | |||
Producer(s) | Gary Katz | |||
Donald Fagen singles chronology | ||||
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"New Frontier" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Donald Fagen for his debut studio album, The Nightfly (1982). The song was released as the second single from the album in January 1983 through Warner Bros. Records. The song – set in the early 1960s – centers on teenagers finding romance in an underground fallout shelter. It has been described as equally sarcastic and nostalgic in its lyrics. Musically, the song contains elements of jazz and funk.
The song received acclaim from music critics. Its music video—which combined animation and live-action—was considered an early classic through rotation on MTV. It was less successful on the charts than its predecessor, however, reaching number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. It performed better in the Netherlands, reaching number 47.
The narrator of the song is a "gawky teenager circa 1962", who has also been described as a "wannabe hipster." He opens the song with discussion of his family's backyard fallout shelter—which he casually describes as a "'a summer smoker underground"—which his father built "in case the reds decide to push the button down." The narrator meets a girl at a party, whom he compares to the actress Tuesday Weld. They bond over the music of jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, as he attempts to entice her back to the shelter for a "private party." The teenager also holds big dreams for his future: "I can't wait till I move to the city, 'till I finally make up my mind to learn design and study overseas."
The song's title is a reference to New Frontier, a term used by John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election. "We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier—the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats," Kennedy said. Robert J. Toth of The Wall Street Journal considered that Fagen used the term humorously as a "metaphor for the mysteries of sex and adulthood." Musically, the song has been described as "futuristic jazz-funk" by Rolling Stone contributor Kevin O'Donnell. It contains a "four-note piano riff that functions as a sort of musical exclamation point to certain lines in the verses." Toth wrote that "the music sounds as frenetic as the teenage hero's hormones, and its deliberately cheesy tone matches the kid's skin-deep sophistication."