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Song of the Day #3,351: ‘Heart to Heart’ – Kenny Loggins

While the yacht rock genre was at its peak in the late 70s and early 80s, the phrase “yacht rock” didn’t enter the lexicon until 2005. Writer/actor J.D. Ryznar created an online series titled Yacht Rock which dramatized the lives of the era’s top names, including Christopher Cross, Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins.

While people (and Sirius/XM Channel 70) have expanded the definition to include a wide range of soft rock, Ryznar and his collaborators take a very hard line on what they consider true yacht rock. They even maintain a website called Yacht or Nyacht? on which they measure the yacht-ness of songs and artists on a 100-point scale.

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Song of the Day #3,350: ‘Ventura Highway’ – America

America is an interesting case, as they most certainly qualify as yacht rock (or “west coast” music) despite hailing from merry old England.

The London trio was inspired by Los Angeles-based band Crosby, Stills and Nash and chose their band name because, according to Wikipedia, they “did not want anyone to think they were British musicians trying to sound American.” Which is exactly what they were.

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Song of the Day #3,349: ‘Somebody’s Baby’ – Jackson Browne

Another week, another batch of smooth soft rock to soothe your weary soul. Yes, my yacht rock series continues.

Not every yacht rock song is by an artist entirely confined by the genre. While it’s hard to think of a Christopher Cross or Michael McDonald outside of this genre, others have spent some time in this world and lived to see another day.

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Song of the Day #3,348: ‘Same Girl’ – Randy Newman

Who but Randy Newman can deliver both laugh out loud funny and hauntingly sad songs with the same finesse?

Today’s SOTD, ‘Same Girl,’ from Newman’s 1983 album Trouble in Paradise, is a somber declaration of love from a pimp to one of his prostitutes. Another thing I love about Newman… he writes songs about things very few artists would ever consider.

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Song of the Day #3,347: ‘Only the Song Survives’ – John Hiatt

John Hiatt is a singer-songwriter worthy of more attention than I’ve ever given him. I own a couple of his albums and know some of his most famous songs (Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Thing Called Love,’ ‘Have a Little Faith’). But I haven’t listened to him, not really.

2000’s Crossing Muddy Waters is one of the Hiatt albums I own. It’s a stripped-down acoustic record of mostly heartbreak songs and though I can’t remember the last time I listened to it (probably the year it came out), sampling its tracks just now I didn’t come across a weak one.

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