I was having a conversation about one-hit wonders of the ’70’s, and someone mentioned this song. I checked and learned that Dobie Gray had a previous hit, "The ‘In’ Crowd," which reached #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the R&B chart. We tend to forget about it, because Ramsey Lewis had a bigger hit with that song later that year. "Drift Away," on the other hand, went to #5 on the Hot 100 in 1973 and reached #17 on the year-end chart, and was Decca Records’s last pop hit in the United States. It was written by Mentor Williams and originally done by country singer John Henry Kurtz in 1972.
When I hear this…I’m 7 years old again in 1974. Always loved this song with that guitar.
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I was the same way. The first time I heard it, I said “I just have to learn that on guitar!” Then I ran into a lot of people who hated the song, which made no sense. It’s a great song with a good message.
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I don’t know how anyone could not like it. The Stones did a version on a bootleg that was good…but no one beats this version.
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You know that Uncle Kracker covered this song in 2003. Ever have a car full of teenagers wondering how you got to be so cool th t you know all the lyrics to Uncle Kracker’s newest song?
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I’m listening to it now. He does a nice cover of it, and really close to the original.
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Yep, sometimes it would be nice just to drift away from here. When I feel like that I go to the studio and do some crafting.
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Your happy place, right? Mary does that with her knitting. “Yacht Rock” makes sense in that context.
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Another favorite. I love the lyrics and the ‘feeling’ of drifting away to powerful music.
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Around this time you had a lot of laid-back R&B singers, like Gray, Bill Withers, Roberta Flack, Donnie Hathaway, Teddy Pendergrass (who had been with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes), etc. who were following in the footsteps of Otis Redding and where he was taking soul with “Dock of the Bay.” A great time for soul music…
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It was indeed. It was a time that changed the way I ‘felt’ music.
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Love this song and haven’t thought about it for years!
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There’s been so much good music created over the last hundred years and too much of it falls through the cracks. I’m trying to dig it out.
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Good for you and you’re doing a great job of it!
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lovely, very chilled.
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