yacht band lyrics

Early Breakfast with Gary King 4am - 6am

Now Playing

Stars Simply Red Download 'Stars' on iTunes

The 20 greatest yacht rock songs ever, ranked

27 July 2022, 17:50

By Tom Eames

We can picture it now: lounging on a swish boat as it bobs along the water, sipping cocktails and improving our tan. Oh, and it's the 1980s.

There's only one style of music that goes with this image: Yacht rock.

What is Yacht Rock?

Also known as the West Coast Sound or adult-oriented rock, it's a style of soft rock from between the late 1970s and early 1980s that featured elements of smooth soul, smooth jazz, R&B, funk, rock and disco.

• The 40 greatest disco songs ever, ranked
• The 10 greatest and smoothest ever sax solos, ranked

Although its name has been used in a negative way, to us it's an amazing genre that makes us feel like we're in an episode of Miami Vice wearing shoulder pads and massive sunglasses.

Here are the very best songs that could be placed in this genre:

Player - 'Baby Come Back'

Player - Baby Come Back

Not the reggae classic of the same name, this 1977 track was Player's biggest hit.

After Player disbanded, singer Peter Beckett joined Australia's Little River Band, and he also wrote 'Twist of Fate' for Olivia Newton-John and 'After All This Time' for Kenny Rogers.

Steely Dan - 'FM'

It's tough just choosing one Steely Dan song for this list, but we've gone for this banger.

Used as the theme tune for the 1978 movie of the same name, the song is jazz-rock track, though its lyrics took a disapproving look at the genre as a whole, which was in total contrast to the film's celebration of it. Still, sounds great guys!

Bobby Goldsboro - 'Summer (The First Time)'

Bobby Goldsboro - Summer (The First Time)

A bit of a questionable subject matter, this ballad was about a 17-year-old boy’s first sexual experience with a 31-year-old woman at the beach.

But using a repeating piano riff, 12-string guitar, and an orchestral string arrangement, this song just screams yacht rock and all that is great about it.

Kenny Loggins - 'Heart to Heart'

Kenny Loggins - Heart To Heart (Official Music Video)

If Michael McDonald is the king of yacht rock, then Kenny Loggins is his trusted advisor and heir to the throne.

This track was co-written with Michael, and also features him on backing vocals. The song is about how most relationships do not stand the test of time, yet some are able to do so.

Airplay - 'Nothing You Can Do About It'

Nothin' You Can Do About It

You might not remember US band Airplay, but they did have their moment on the yacht.

Consisting of David Foster (who also co-wrote the Kenny Loggins song above), Jay Graydon and the brilliantly-named Tommy Funderburk, this tune was a cover of a Manhattan Transfer song, and was a minor hit in 1981.

Boz Scaggs - 'Lowdown'

Boz Scaggs - Lowdown (Official Audio)

We've moved slightly into smooth jazz territory with this track, which is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

The song was co-written by David Paich, who would go on to form Toto along with the song's keyboardist David Paich, session bassist David Hungate, and drummer Jeff Porcaro.

Steve Winwood - 'Valerie'

Steve Winwood - Valerie (Official Video)

This song is probably as far as you can get into pop rock without totally leaving the yacht rock dock.

Legendary singer-songwriter Winwood recorded this gong about a man reminiscing about a lost love he hopes to find again someday.

Eric Prydz later sampled it in 2004 for the house number one track ‘Call on Me’, and presented it to Winwood, who was so impressed he re-recorded the vocals to better fit the track.

Toto - 'Rosanna'

Toto - Rosanna (Official HD Video)

We almost picked 'Africa' , but we reckon this tune just about pips it in the yacht rock game.

Written by David Paich, he has said that the song is based on numerous girls he had known.

As a joke, the band members initially played along with the common assumption that the song was based on actress Rosanna Arquette, who was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro at the time and coincidentally had the same name.

Chicago - 'Hard to Say I'm Sorry'

Chicago - Hard To Say I'm Sorry (Official Music Video)

Chicago began moving away from their horn-driven soft rock sound with their early 1980s output, including this synthesizer-filled power ballad.

• The 10 greatest Chicago songs, ranked

The album version segued into a more traditional Chicago upbeat track titled ‘Get Away’, but most radio stations at the time opted to fade out the song before it kicked in. Three members of Toto played on the track. Those guys are yacht rock kings!

Michael Jackson - 'Human Nature'

Michael Jackson - Human Nature (Audio)

A few non-rock artists almost made this list ( George Michael 's 'Careless Whisper' and Spandau Ballet 's 'True' are almost examples, but not quite), yet a big chunk of Thriller heavily relied on the yacht rock sound.

Michael Jackson proved just how popular the genre could get with several songs on the album, but 'Human Nature' is the finest example.

The Doobie Brothers - 'What a Fool Believes'

The Doobie Brothers - What A Fool Believes (Official Music Video)

Possibly THE ultimate yacht rock song on the rock end of the spectrum, and it's that man Michael McDonald.

Written by McDonald and Kenny Loggins, this was one of the few non-disco hits in America in the first eight months of 1979.

The song tells the story of a man who is reunited with an old love interest and attempts to rekindle a romantic relationship with her before discovering that one never really existed.

Michael Jackson once claimed he contributed at least one backing track to the original recording, but was not credited for having done so. This was later denied by the band.

Christopher Cross - 'Sailing'

Christopher Cross - Sailing (Official Audio)

We're not putting this in here just because it's called 'Sailing', it's also one of the ultimate examples of the genre.

Christopher Cross reached number one in the US in 1980, and VH1 later named it the most "softsational soft rock" song of all time.

Don Henley - 'The Boys of Summer'

The Boys Of Summer DON HENLEY(1984) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO

Mike Campbell wrote the music to this track while working on Tom Petty’s Southern Accents album, but later gave it to Eagles singer Don Henley, who wrote the lyrics.

The song is about the passing of youth and entering middle age, and of a past relationship. It was covered twice in the early 2000s: as a trance track by DJ Sammy in 2002, and as a pop punk hit by The Ataris in 2003.

England Dan and John Cord Foley - 'I'd Really Love to See You Tonight'

England Dan & John Ford Coley - I'd Really Love To See You Tonight.avi

A big hit for this duo in 1976, it showcases the very best of the sock rock/AOR/yacht rock sound that the 1970s could offer.

Dan Seals is the younger brother of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts fame. Which leads to...

Seals & Crofts - 'Summer Breeze'

Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft #1 Hit(1972)

Before The Isley Brothers recorded a slick cover, 'Summer Breeze' was an irresistible folk pop song by Seals & Crofts.

While mostly a folk song, its summer vibes and gorgeous melody make for a perfect yacht rock number.

Christopher Cross - 'Ride Like the Wind'

Ride Like The Wind Promo Video 1980 Christopher Cross

If Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins are in charge of the yacht rock ship, then Christopher Cross has to be captain, right? Cabin boy? Something anyway.

The singer was arguably the biggest success story of the relatively short-lived yacht rock era, and this one still sounds incredible.

Eagles - 'I Can't Tell You Why'

The eagles - I can't tell you why (AUDIO VINYL)

Many Eagles tunes could be classed as yacht rock, but we reckon their finest example comes from this track from their The Long Run album in 1979.

Don Henley described the song as "straight Al Green", and that Glenn Frey, an R&B fan, was responsible for the R&B feel of the song. Frey said to co-writer Timothy B Schmit: "You could sing like Smokey Robinson . Let’s not do a Richie Furay, Poco-sounding song. Let’s do an R&B song."

Gerry Rafferty - 'Baker Street'

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street (Official Video)

Gerry Rafferty probably didn't realise he was creating one of the greatest yacht rock songs of all time when he wrote this, but boy did he.

• The Story of... 'Baker Street'

With the right blend of rock and pop and the use of the iconic saxophone solo, you can't not call this yacht rock at its finest.

Michael McDonald - 'Sweet Freedom'

Michael McDonald - Sweet Freedom (1986)

If you wanted to name the king of yacht rock, you'd have to pick Michael McDonald . He could sing the phone book and it would sound silky smooth.

Possibly his greatest solo tune, it was used in the movie  Running Scared , and its music video featured actors Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines.

Hall & Oates - 'I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)'

Daryl Hall & John Oates - I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) (Official Video)

This duo knew how to make catchy hit after catchy hit. This R&B-tinged pop tune was co-written with Sara Allen (also the influence for their song 'Sara Smile').

• Hall and Oates' 10 best songs, ranked

John Oates has said that the song is actually about the music business. "That song is really about not being pushed around by big labels, managers, and agents and being told what to do, and being true to yourself creatively."

Not only was the song sampled in De La Soul's 'Say No Go' and Simply Red 's 'Home', but Michael Jackson also admitted that he lifted the bass line for 'Billie Jean'!

More Song Lists

See more More Song Lists

Shania Twain's 10 best songs ever, ranked

The 100 greatest movie songs of all time, ranked, the greatest oscars music performances of all time, ranked, mother's day: 10 of the greatest and emotional songs about mums, the 30 greatest female singers of all time, ranked in order of pure vocal ability, more features.

See more More Features

Next James Bond odds: Who is the favourite actor to replace Daniel Craig?

When barry gibb invited his son and maurice's daughter on stage for emotional revival of 'stayin' alive', when celine dion paid emotional tribute to the bee gees with poignant rendition of 'immortality'.

Celine Dion

When Shania Twain wowed on her TV debut as a plucky 14-year old

Shania Twain

Glastonbury Festival 2024: Lineup, headliners, legends slot, dates and re-sale tickets revealed

Smooth playlists, smooth's all time top 500, smooth soul, smooth country hot hits, smooth chill concentration, smooth podcast picks, they don't teach this at school with myleene klass, take that: this life, runpod with jenni falconer, the news agents.

• Mobile Site
• Staff Directory
• Advertise with Ars

Filter by topic

• Biz & IT
• Gaming & Culture

Front page layout

From MIDI to MusicVAE —

How yacht fed their old music to the machine and got a killer new album, "i don’t know if we could’ve written it ourselves—it took a risk maybe we aren’t willing to.".

Nathan Mattise - Aug 31, 2019 12:00 pm UTC

• The band YACHT, named for a mysterious sign seen in Portland around the turn of the century. YACHT / Google I/O 2019
• YACHT's Claire Evans takes the stage not to rock out, but to talk out the band's new album leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning. Google I/O 2019
• Album art for Chain Tripping . Here's the Spotify link . YACHT / DFA Records

The dance punk band YACHT has always felt like a somewhat techy act since debuting in the early 2000s. They famously recorded instrumental versions of two earlier albums and made them available for artists under a Creative Commons license at the Free Music Archive . Post-Snowden, they wrote a song called “ Party at the NSA ” and donated proceeds to the EFF. One album cover of theirs could only be accessed via fax initially (sent through a Web app YACHT developed to ID the nearest fax to groups of fans; OfficeMax must’ve loved it). Singer Claire L. Evans literally wrote the book ( Broad Band ) on female pioneers of the Internet.

So when Evans showed up at Google I/O this summer, we knew she wasn’t merely making a marketing appearance ala  Drake  or  The Foo Fighters . In a talk titled “Music and Machine Learning,” Evans instead walked a room full of developers through a pretty cool open secret that awaited music fans until this weekend: YACHT had been spending the last three years writing a new album called Chain Tripping  (out yesterday, August 30). And the process took a minute because the band wanted to do it with what Evans called “a machine-learning generated composition process.”

“I know this isn’t the technical way to explain it, but this allowed us to find melodies hidden in between songs from our back catalog,” she said during her I/O talk. “Here’s what the user-facing side of the model looked like when we recorded the album last May—it’s a Colab Notebook, not the kind of thing musicians usually bring into the studio.”

YACHT had long possessed an interest in AI and its potential application in music. But the band tells Ars it wasn’t until recently, around 2016, that the concept of doing a full album using this approach seemed feasible. While research entities had long been experimenting with AI or machine learning and allowing computers to autonomously generate music, the results felt more science project than albums suitable for DFA Records (home to labelmates like Hot Chip or LCD Soundsystem). Ultimately, a slow trickle of simplified apps leveraging AI—face swap apps felt huge around then; Snapchat and its dynamic filters rose to prominence—finally gave the band the idea that now could be the time.

“We may be a very techy band, but none of us are coders,” Evans tells Ars. “We tend to approach stuff from the outside looking in and try to figure out how to manipulate and bend tools to our strange specific purposes. AI seemed like an almost impossible thing, it was so much more advanced than anything we had dealt with… And we wanted to use this to not just technically achieve the goal of making music—so we can say, ‘Hey an AI wrote this pop song’—rather we wanted to use this tech to make YACHT music, to make music we identify with and we feel comes from us.”

Bringing a Colab Notebook to a rock studio

Having the idea to use artificial intelligence to somehow make music was one thing; doing it proved to be something else entirely. The band started by looking at everything available: “We messed around with everything that was publicly available, some tools that were only privately available—we cold emailed every single person or entity or company working with AI and creativity,” as YACHT founder Jona Bechtolt puts it. But no single existing solution quite offered the combination of quality and ease of use the band had hoped for. So, they decided to ultimately build out their own system by borrowing bits and pieces from all over, leveraging their entire back catalog in the process.

One instrument of note

“A lot of these music making tools right now are made by engineers who love music, but they’re made by engineers,” Evans adds. “So they’re often in love with the math in this way that doesn't ultimately take into consideration that the audio output of these tools isn’t objectively very impressive. You can have this incredible piece of tech that uses advanced ML techniques to split the difference between two different sounds, but what if the output sounds like a fart?”

Ultimately, YACHT made it work for them by embracing that, er, fart-iness. (“The NSynth for us, we thought it sucked at first,” Bechtolt admits.) Rather than thinking of the NSynth as something that could replicate or replace a traditional guitar or even synth within a composition, the band embraced its oddity and found more success. Bechtolt notes music has a long legacy of this type of repurposing—the 808 drum machine didn’t sound like real drums, but its unique sound ultimately spawned many new genres. Though the band doesn't see the NSynth having that legacy.

“It’s not good at what it’s trying to do; it’s good at something it didn’t set out to do—that’s what’s interesting,” Evans adds. “It sounds wonky, reedy, lo-fi, and kind of shitty, but in a way that speaks to us as lo-fi, DIY artists.”

“We knew we’d have to base everything on some kind of dataset, so early on, we thought, ‘What if we used our back catalog?” Bechtolt says. “We naively thought it’d be something like Shazam, where we could throw raw audio at an algorithm. That isn’t really possible…”

“Or, at least, not within the realm of our computing capacity,” Evans interjects.

“So we had to notate all our songs in MIDI, which is a laborious process,” Bechtolt continues. “We have 82 songs in our back catalog, which is still not really enough to train a full model, but it was enough to work with the tools we had.”

With that MIDI data, Bechtolt and longtime collaborator (bass and keyboards player) Rob Kieswetter started by identifying small segments—a particular guitar riff, a vocal melody, a drum pattern, anywhere from two bars to 16 bars—that could be looped, combined, and ultimately run through the band’s simplified AI and ML model. The band relied heavily on Colab Notebooks in a Web browser—specifically, the MusicVAE model from Google’s Magenta team—manually inputting the data and then waiting (and waiting) for a fragment of output from this workflow. And that AI/ML-generated fragment, of course, was nothing more than data, more MIDI information. Evans told I/O the band ran pairs of those loops through the Colab Notebook at different temps “dozens, if not hundreds of times to generate this massive body of melodic information” as source material for new songs. From there, it became the humans’ turn.

“It still couldn’t make a song just by pushing a button; it was not at all an easy or fun flow to work through,” Bechtolt says. “So after three days, we were like, ‘OK, I think we have enough stuff.’ By that point we had a few thousand clips between two- and 16-bars, and we just had to call it quits at some point.”

“It wasn’t something where we fed something into a model, hit print, and had songs,” Evans adds. “We’d have to be involved. There’d have to be a human involved at every step of the process to ultimately make music… The larger structure, lyrics, the relationship between lyrics and structure—all of these other things are beyond the technology’s capacity, which is good.”

reader comments

Channel ars technica.

• facebook-rs

Yacht Rock: Album Guide

By David Browne

David Browne

Summer’s here and time is right for dancing … on the deck of a large nautical vessel. During the late Seventies and early Eighties, the radio was dominated by silver-tongued white-dude crooners with names like Rupert and Gerry, emoting over balmy R&B beats, swaying saxes, and dishwasher-clean arrangements. Though it didn’t have a name, the genre — soft rock you could dance to — was dismissed by serious rock fans as fluffy and lame. But thanks to a web series in the mid-2000s, the style — belatedly named “ yacht rock ” — has since spawned a satellite-radio channel, tribute bands, and a Weezer cover of Toto’s “Africa.” Is the modern love of the music ironic or sincere? Hard to say, yet there’s no denying yacht rock is a legit sound with a vibe all its own that produced a surprising amount of enduring music perfectly at home in summer. (John Mayer even tips his own sailor’s hat to the genre on his new “Last Train Home” single, and even the aqua-blue cover of his upcoming Sob Rock album.) The resumption of the Doobie Brothers’ 50th anniversary tour, postponed last year due to COVID-19 but scheduled to restart in August, is the cherry atop the Pina colada.

Boz Scaggs, Silk Degrees (1976)

Before yacht rock was an identifiable genre, Scaggs (no fan of the term, as he told Rolling Stone in 2018) set the standard for what was to come: sharp-dressed white soul, burnished ballads that evoked wine with a quiet dinner, and splashes of Me Decade decadence (the narrator of the pumped “Lido Shuffle” is setting up one more score before leaving the country). Add in the Philly Soul homage “What Can I Say,” the burbling life-on-the-streets homage “Lowdown,” and the lush sway of “Georgia,” and Silk Degrees , internationally or not, set a new high bar for Seventies smoothness.

Steely Dan, Aja (1977)

The sophisticated high-water mark of yacht, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker’s masterpiece is the midway point between jazz and pop, with tricky tempo shifts, interlocking horn and keyboard parts, and pristine solos. Not settling for easygoing period clichés, these love songs, so to speak, are populated by a sleazy movie director (the gorgeous rush of “Peg”), a loser who still hopes to be a jazzman even if the odds are against him (the heart-tugging “Deacon Blues”), and a guy whose nodding-out girlfriend is probably a junkie (“Black Cow”). The most subversive cruise you’ll ever take.

The Doobie Brothers, Minute by Minute (1978)

The Doobies got their start as a biker-y boogie band, but they smoothed things out for Minute by Minute . Highlighted by “What a Fool Believes,” the unstoppable Michael McDonald-Kenny Loggins co-write, the LP piles on romantic turmoil, falsetto harmonies, and plenty of spongy electric piano. But it also proves how much personality and muscle the Doobies could bring to what could be a generic sound. McDonald’s husky, sensitive-guy delivery shrouds the unexpectedly bitter title song (“You will stay just to watch me, darlin’/Wilt away on lies from you”)  and honoring their biker roots, “Don’t Stop to Watch the Wheels” is about taking a lady friend for a ride on your hog.

Editor’s picks

The 250 greatest guitarists of all time, the 500 greatest albums of all time, the 50 worst decisions in movie history, every awful thing trump has promised to do in a second term.

Further Listening

Seals & crofts, get closer (1976).

The Dylan-goes-electric moment of yacht, “Get Closer” validated the idea that folkie singer-songwriters could put aside their guitars (and mandolin), tap into their R&B side and cross over in ways they never imagined. In addition to the surprising seductiveness of the title hit, Get Closer has plenty of yacht-rock pleasures. In “Goodbye Old Buddies,” the narrator informs his pals that he can’t hang out anymore now that he’s met “a certain young lady,” but in the next song, “Baby Blue,” another woman is told, “There’s an old friend in me/Tellin’ me I gotta be free.” A good captain follows the tide where it takes him.

Christopher Cross, Christopher Cross  (1979)

Cross’ debut swept the 1981 Grammys for a reason: It’s that rare yacht-rock album that’s graceful, earnest, and utterly lacking in smarm. Songs like the politely seductive “Say You’ll Be Mine” and the forlorn “Never Be the Same” have an elegant pop classicism, and the yacht anthem “Sailing” could be called a powered-down ballad. Fueled by a McDonald cameo expertly parodied on SCTV , the propulsive “Ride Like the Wind” sneaks raw outlaw lyrics (“Lived nine lives/Gunned down ten”) into its breezy groove, perfecting the short-lived gangster-yacht subgenre.

Rupert Holmes, Partners in Crime (1979)

The album that made Holmes a soft-rock star is known for “Escape (The Piña Colada Song),” which sports a made-for-karaoke chorus and a plot twist worthy of a wide-collar O. Henry. But what distinguishes the album is the Steely Dan-level musicianship and Holmes’ ambitious story songs, each sung with Manilow-esque exuberance. The title track equates a hooker and her john to co-workers at a department store, “Lunch Hour” ventures into afternoon-delight territory, and “Answering Machine” finds a conflicted couple trading messages but continually being cut off by those old-school devices.

Steely Dan, Gaucho (1980)

The Dan’s last studio album before a lengthy hiatus doesn’t have the consistency of Aja, but Gaucho cleverly matches their most vacuum-sealed music with their most sordid and pathetic cast of characters. A seedy older guy tries to pick up younger women in “Hey Nineteen,” another loser goes in search of a ménage à trois in “Babylon Sisters,” a coke dealer delivers to a basketball star in “Glamour Profession,” and the narrator of “Time Out of Mind” just wants another heroin high. It’s the dark side of the yacht.

Going Deeper

Michael mcdonald, if that’s what it takes  (1982).

Imagine a Doobie Brothers album entirely comprised of McDonald songs and shorn of pesky guitar solos or Patrick Simmons rockers, and you have a sense of McDonald’s first and best post-Doobs album. If That’s What it Takes builds on the approach he nailed on “What a Fool Believes” but amps up the sullen-R&B side of Mac’s music. His brooding remake of Lieber and Stoller’s “I Keep Forgettin’” is peak McDonald and the title track approaches the propulsion of Christopher Cross’ “Ride Like the Wind.” With his sad-sack intensity, McDonald sounds like guy at a seaside resort chewing over his mistakes and regrets – with, naturally, the aid of an electric piano.

Related Stories

Yacht rock babylon, how to watch women's march madness basketball games online (even if you don't have cable).

Kenny Loggins, Keep the Fire (1979)

Loggins’ journey from granola folk rocker to pleasure-boat captain embodies the way rock grew more polished as the Seventies wore on. Anchored by the percolating-coffeemaker rhythms and modestly aggro delivery of “This Is It,” another McDonald collaboration, Keep the Fire sets Loggins’ feathery voice to smooth-jazz saxes and R&B beats, and Michael Jackson harmonies beef up the soul quotient in “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong.” The secret highlight is “Will It Last,” one of the sneakiest yacht tracks ever, fading to a finish after four minutes, then revving back up with some sweet George Harrison-style slide guitar.

Dr. Hook, Sometimes You Win  (1979)

Earlier in the Seventies, these jokesters established themselves with novelty hits like “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone,’’ but they soon paddled over to unabashed disco-yacht. Sometimes You Win features three of their oiliest ear worms: “Sexy Eyes,” “When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman” and “Better Love Next Time,” all oozing suburban pickup bars and the somewhat desperate dudes who hang out there. The album, alas, does not include “Sharing the Night Together,” recently reborn by way of its sardonic use in last year’s Breaking Bad spinoff El Camino .

Carly Simon, Boys in the Trees  (1978)

As a trailblazing female singer-songwriter, Simon was already a star by the time yacht launched. Boys in the Trees features her beguiling contribution to the genre, “You Belong to Me,” a collaboration with the ubiquitous Michael McDonald. The Doobies cut it first, but Simon’s version adds an air of yearning and hushed desperation that makes it definitive. The album also packs in a yacht-soul cover of James Taylor’s “One Man Woman” and a “lullaby for a wide-eyed guy” called “Tranquillo (Melt My Heart),” all proving that men didn’t have a stranglehold on this style.

Anchors Aweigh

More smooth hits for your next high-seas adventure.

“BREEZIN’”

George Benson, 1976

The guitarist and Jehovah’s Witness made the leap from midlevel jazz act to crossover pop star with a windswept instrumental that conveys the yacht spirit as much as any vocal performance.

“WHATCHA GONNA DO?”

Pablo Cruise, 1976

Carefree bounce from a San Francisco band with the best name ever for a soft-rock act — named, fittingly, after a chill Colorado buddy.

“BAKER STREET”

Gerry Rafferty, 1978

Rafferty brought a deep sense of lonely-walk-by-the-bay melancholy to this epic retelling of a night on the town, in which Raphael Ravenscroft’s immortal sax awakens Rafferty from his morning-after hangover.

“REMINISCING”

Little River Band, 1978

The Aussie soft rockers delivered a slurpy valentine sung in the voice of an old man looking back on his “lifetime plan” with his wife. Innovative twist: flugelhorn solo instead of sax.

“WHENEVER I CALL YOU ‘FRIEND’ ”

Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks, 1978

After its ethereal intro, this rare genre duet grows friskier with each verse, with both Loggins and Nicks getting more audibly caught up in the groove — and the idea of “sweet love showing us a heavenly light.”

“LOTTA LOVE”

Nicolette Larson, 1978

Neil Young’s sad-boy shuffle is transformed into a luscious slice of lounge pop by the late Larson. Adding an extra layer of poignancy, she was in a relationship with Young around that time.

“STEAL AWAY”

Robbie Dupree, 1980

Is it real, or is it McDonald? Actually, it’s the best Doobies knockoff — a rinky-dink (but ingratiating) distant cousin to “What a Fool Believes” that almost inspired McDonald to take legal action.

“TAKE IT EASY”

Archie James Cavanaugh, 1980

Cult rarity by the late Alaskan singer-songwriter that crams in everything you’d want in a yacht song: disco-leaning bass, smooth-jazz guitar, sax, and a lyric that lives up to its title even more than the same-titled Eagles song.

“BIGGEST PART OF ME”

Ambrosia, 1980

Ditching the prog-classical leanings of earlier albums, this trio headed straight for the middle of the waterway with this Doobies-lite smash. Bonus points for lyrics that reference a “lazy river.”

“I CAN’T GO FOR THAT (NO CAN DO)”

Daryl Hall and John Oates, 1981

The once unstoppable blue-eyed soul duo were never pure yacht, but the easy-rolling beats and shiny sax in this Number One hit got close. Hall adds sexual tension by never specifying exactly what he can’t go for.

“COOL NIGHT”

Paul Davis, 1981

The Mississippi crooner-songwriter gives a master class on how to heat up a stalled romance: Pick a brisk evening, invite a female acquaintance over, and suggest . . . lighting a fire.

“KEY LARGO”

Bertie Higgins, 1981

Yacht’s very own novelty hit is corny but deserves props for quoting from not one but two Humphrey Bogart films ( Key Largo and Casablanca ).

“AFRICA”

The same year that members of Toto did session work on Michael Jackson’s Thriller, they released the Mount Kilimanjaro of late-yacht hits.

“SOUTHERN CROSS”

Crosby, Stills, and Nash, 1982

The combustible trio’s gusty contribution to the genre has choppy-water rhythms and enough nautical terminology for a sailing manual.

Maya Hawke Calls 'Dark' a 'Cut and Dry' Song About New Love

• By Charisma Madarang

Olivia Rodrigo Will Spill More 'Guts' on New Deluxe Edition

• Deluxe Guts
• By Jon Blistein and Althea Legaspi

Kelly Clarkson Performs Touching Rendition of Katy Perry's 'Wade Awake'

• Katy + Kelly
• By Tomás Mier

Luke Hemmings Gets Lost in Translation in Cinematic 'Shakes' Video

• Can't Shake This Feeling
• By Larisha Paul

Anti-Flag's Justin Sane 'Plans to Flee U.S.,' Rape Accuser Claims

• Going 'Silent'
• By Cheyenne Roundtree

Most Popular

Bill maher fires caa after oscar party snub (exclusive), over 1,000 jewish creatives and professionals have now denounced jonathan glazer’s 'zone of interest' oscars speech in open letter (exclusive), rose hanbury just broke her silence on the prince william affair rumors, kobe bryant's parents face backlash after putting championship ring on the auction block, you might also like, meet the women managing música mexicana’s breakout stars, from xavi to yahritza y su esencia and more, the 12 best gel nail polishes for a professional, chip-free manicure, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, how jimmy chin and chai vasarhelyi moved from movies like ‘free solo’ and ‘nyad’ to non-fiction series ‘photographer’, mlb’s highest-paid players 2024: ohtani on top despite $2m salary.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

• Out Newsletter

Search form

By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use .

Need To Know: YACHT

YACHT may not be from this planet. As described on the band's website, 'YACHT is a Band, Belief System, and Business conducted by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans of Marfa, Texas and Portland, Oregon, USA. All people are welcome to become members of YACHT. Accordingly, YACHT is and always will be what YACHT is when YACHT is standing before you.' With influences ranging from the Mystery Lights of Marfa, Texas, to dogmatic spiritual practices that transcend into the punk genre, YACHT maintains a rich intelligence that blends beautifully with accessible electronic beats. Not to mention they're a favorite of LCD Soundsystem front man James Murphy and a member of his immediate family, DFA Records, which will release YACHT's new album, Shangri-La on June 21st.

YACHT has adopted the triangle as both a band logo and a spiritual symbol to define the YACHT mission. Simple in design, the triangle ranges from gay connotations to architectural advancements. Both members have the image boldly tattooed on their forearm. This is their cult, and they want us as members. Out caught up with YACHT in the midst of 100-degree heat of the Coachella Festival. Claire, with necklace of shells and rope, and Jona, in an all-black suit, discussed their personal religious convictions (or lack thereof), their definition of pop, and their devotion to living in the here and now.

Out : I am very interested in your writing process. Are all your lyrics original? Do you draw inspiration from literary motifs? Claire L. Evans: Yes to all of the above. It is obviously mostly original but we like to put in references to things from texts or other songs that we like. We feel they are clear enough that if someone is not aware of the reference they can go on a spiritual and literary discovery through that path. That is definitely a lesser facet of our work. Our work is bits and pieces, Easter eggs if you will. Jona Bechtolt: : We write everything together. Claire L. Evans: With each project or record that we are doing, we commit a large part of ourselves and our energy to the project. We spend a lot of time reading books and watching movies and listening to music and learning as much as possible based on that subject. We allow it to filter through our brains and make something our own out of that. Everything is steeped in references but it is all reinterpreted and remixed. There are a lot of literary influences.

YACHT entered the music scene through the visual arts lens. Because of this, do you find that your fan base consists of other artists? Jona Bechtolt: I don't know. I would like that to be true but I don't know if other artists like us. Claire L. Evans: We don't want to limit ourselves to only doing music because we have always done a lot of different things. Because we are most known for making music doesn't mean that music is our number 1 priority. Part of the total experience is the definition of YACHT as multimedia. Everything we put our minds to is called YACHT. Music is an amazing way of getting through to people really quickly. I think pop music has a very deep power to draw people in and disseminate messages via cross-platform, cross-cultural, cross-global communications.

What is your definition of pop? Claire L. Evans: I think we all see the coordination between pop and spiritual mantras. Jona Bechtolt: Repetition has to be included in the definition for sure. Claire L. Evans: That quality that pop music has where it can be absorbed into your brain immediately with very little effort and it can be repeated over and over again without you being consciously aware of it. That to us is an almost spiritual concept. People do mantra repetition in spiritual practice. This is the same thing. They even repeat melodic repeats in their heads over and over again to dictate their actions and change their point of view on the world. This is pop: it is repeated messages, motifs and musical melodies. We play with that. We come from the Pacific Northwest and many years of intense DIY scenes. Our ideas of pop are bit more damaged than most people. Pretty much anything is pop as long as you are not doing something un-listenable.

So while many musicians would bristle at being defined as pop, YACHT, on the other hand, believes everything is pop, including yourselves. Claire L. Evans: There has been a real stigma against pop and I have never really understood it. A lot of the most interesting and subversive artists of our time have been pop musicians. Prince, Michael Jackson, these people were all maniacs! They pushed their own messages strongly across huge amounts of people. They had a lasting impact. It is interesting to play with that. Mainstream might be beneficial. You utilize many symbols in your work and onscreen. Is there a subliminal aspect to them? Jona Bechtolt: I don't think they are very subliminal. They are right out there. They are right out front. Claire L. Evans: No comment.

When did you get your YACHT tattoos? Claire L. Evans: We got the triangles when we committed to the idea of the triangle as a motif.

Why the triangle? Claire L. Evans: We wanted to have a logo because there are two categories of things that we wanted to emulate: punk rock bands and religions. Punk rock bands and religions both have these qualities where people will wear a Black Flag t-shirt and that does not mean they are really into Black Flag -- it means they participate in punk and the subculture and they have certain values. The same way a Christian will wear a cross or [a Jew] will wear a Star of David around their neck -- this does not mean you go to a certain church but it instead means you participate in a value system that is much great than yourself. The commonalities between the two are very interesting to us. We wanted to find a logo that spoke to that universal quality. The triangle seemed like the obvious choice. It is very ancient and means an infinite amount of things to an infinite amount of people. It has mathematical qualities, spiritual qualities, architectural qualities, and it is even the gay rights symbol. Jona Bechtolt: We like that the triangle can stand for everything and nothing at the same time. Claire L. Evans: It plays with idea of dogma. It is dogmatic since it is a logo but it is also the most ancient and open-ended logo that we could find.

It's completely accessible. Everyone can draw a triangle! Claire L. Evans: It's a simple shape, so that is nice as well. It has social integrity.

Were you raised a certain religion? Do you subscribe to any faith other than the YACHT faith? Claire L. Evans: I was raised Atheist. Jona Bechtolt: I was raised Catholic. Claire L. Evans: It's not so much about being religious, but it is instead about creating an alternative from that culture. There is a great value in community and communal transcendence that we find interesting, but we don't want to submit ourselves into the dogmatic or ideological aspects of that. For us, music is very similar to spirituality. This is especially true with underground music where people are devoted to their favorite bands in an almost religious way. Live shows are people coming together and transcending. This is all very religious without being dogmatic.

You are signed to DFA Records. I get the sense that DFA is a true community. Are you friends with other acts on the label? Claire L. Evans: It's totally a family. Jona Bechtolt: I had emailed DFA out of the blue in 2005 or 2006. We were looking to contribute remixes for people that we liked, so I immediately thought of DFA and Juan MacLean specifically. I wrote to the one email address they had on their website, which was [email protected]. I wrote to them and told them that I would love to do a remix. They responded telling me that Juan would love to do it, but he is too busy right now but they will keep me in mind for the future. We had rough email correspondence the years after that. One day I got a call from John at DFA. DFA is a very small operation with literally like three employees. They informed me that LCD Soundsystem is going on their North American tour for their new album Sound of Silver and their support band couldn't get work visas. They asked if I could fill in for them starting tomorrow. I had never met anyone from DFA or LCD so I was really excited and nervous. They invited me to ride on their tour bus with them! I said "Yes," and it was amazing. It was a life-changing experience. Everyone who is even remotely involved with DFA is incredible and so sweet and so nice. They took us in as immediate family members. They then asked us to make a record with them and so we made a single and now the next album.

DFA is very well curated. It's a new breed of record label. Claire L. Evans: DFA is such a small operation that they can only afford to put out a few records a year. They have to be great records or else it is a waste. We have never worked with any label where everyone on the label is a friend. We were nervous because it is such a small family. We are really lucky. Why does Portland have such a great music scene? Claire L. Evans: Does it?

Claire L. Evans: People always ask us about that. Jona Bechtolt: Portland is not unique from other cities in America. There are so many cities that produce great music and Portland just has the spotlight for the next 15 minutes. Claire L. Evans: People say that the weather is so bad in Portland that people are stuck in their basements making music all winter. But it is not the only city with terrible weather. It has the perfect storm of terrible weather, cheap rent and lots of young creative people. There is no fluoride in the water, so everyone has bad teeth.

Are you both from Portland? How are you connected to Marfa, Texas? Jona Bechtolt: Where should we start? I guess we can say we are from Portland. Marfa, Texas, is a special place for us. We have written most of our songs there.

Tell me more about Marfa. I just got back from SXSW but didn't make it to Marfa. Claire L. Evans: Marfa is incredible. It is in the middle of nowhere. To go there you have to really want to go there. That is probably a huge reason why it is so special. It is incredibly beautiful. The light is beautiful. The water has a small amount of lithium in it. There is a paranormal mystery that occurs in Marfa called the Marfa Mystery Lights. It breeds a general ambiance and vibe and acceptance of psychedelia.

Is it like the Aurora Borealis? Claire L. Evans: It looks like stars are falling from the sky. It has happened there since before recorded human history. It is a Native American myth. Nobody has figured it out. There is an ambiance in Marfa that has a different tolerance for humankind. It is a beautiful and small art community. It is a perfect place to work and be separate from the world and make music. We made our last two albums there and I want to continue doing it there. It is our spiritual home.

When speaking of the band's style, why have you committed yourselves to black and white? Jona Bechtolt: It's always been important. With our style we wanted to give people a solid understanding of our commitment to this band and this project and the idea of history. Claire L. Evans: When we witnessed the Marfa Mystery Lights, it was an important moment for us. We realized that for the last two centuries of human existence we have been operating with an absence of mysticism. We have become rational and scientific in regard to real life. We have grown up in this world of constant information that is seeking reasons. We feel entitled in that sense. Jona Bechtolt: Right. Claire L. Evans: We realized that all of art and spirituality and religion for all of humankind before the Scientific Revolution had overpowering ritualistic feelings about the world. We wanted to recommit to that idea. The black and white for us shows identification. The reason we wear black and white doesn't have a why. It just is. For us, we want to become a separate entity onstage and we want people to see it as special.

Do you think you are living in the ideal decade or do you wish you lived during a different era? Claire L. Evans: All we have is now, that has always been our philosophy. Jona Bechtolt: We only know how to live in the now.

For info on YACHT, including upcoming tour dates, click here.

Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?

Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!

Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!

APPLE STORE - GOOGLE PLAY

ROKU - APPLE TV - FIRE TV - GOOGLE TV

From our Sponsors

Most popular.

38 Male Celebs Who Did Full Frontal Scenes

These are all the celebrities who came out as lgbtq+ in 2023, these pics prove maluma has always been a certified daddy, 32 lgbtq+ celebs you can follow on onlyfans, 26 actors who showed bare ass in movies & tv shows, 16 times celebrity men had to say they weren't gay, 15 unforgettable gay kissing scenes from tv & movies, 13 queens who quit or retired from drag after 'rupaul's drag race', 40 steamy celebrity calvin klein ads we'll always be thirsty for, the 15 best lgbtq+ movies of 2023, latest stories, saucy santana details the wild story of his worst hookup: 'i didn’t sign up for a gang bang', lady gaga is taking over las vegas...again, vibrant locks rain or shine with the pride store's top haircare essentials, the dark side rises in 'the acolyte's exciting first trailer, 10 lgbtq+ tv shows and movies coming out this spring, these stunning portraits of the old gays then & now show us the beauty of our queer elders, meet federico debernardi, chris appleton's reported new boyfriend, at risk for syphilis or chlamydia there’s a pep for that, 'will & grace' star eric mccormack defends straight actors playing gay, kit connor & joe locke meeting up irl has 'heartstopper' fans flipping out, drag race star q shares she's living with hiv, 'drag race' & 'we're here' alum shangela is facing multiple new allegations of sexual assault, 20 male superheroes & villains who are just way too sexy for no reason, what exactly is 'gooning' here's what you need to know about the spicy solo activity, ​big dipper said he gives hookups a false address to screen them—and fans have thoughts, march 18, 2024, gay councilman resigns after drunken urination video & alleged assault, zane phillips would love to star in live-action 'hercules' & we will be seated, the tragic death of trans teen nex benedict: everything you need to know, gina carano says pedro pascal tried to help her not get fired from 'the mandalorian', trending stories.

Why some states are requiring ID to watch porn online

'Drag Race' star Q shares she's living with HIV

Southern states push forward with bills ending legal recognition for trans people

Here are the 15 gayest cities in the world for 2024

Reneé Rapp calls for 'permanent ceasefire in Gaza' during GLAAD Awards speech

Here are the 30 remaining lesbian bars in the US today

Elliot Page pushes back on LGBTQ+ films being 'niche'

Exclusive: Stars shine bright at Elton John's AIDS Foundation Oscars party

'Free Mom Hugs' volunteer labeled 'groomer' by hate group. Here's how she responded.

Emerald elegance: unveiling Ireland’s premier countryside hideaways

President Biden addresses LGBTQ+ youth ‘suicide crisis’ in statement on Nex Benedict

Missing Washington transgender woman found dead in Mexico

Johnny Sibilly reveals his spicy bedroom preferences & if he'd join OF (EXCLUSIVE)

Scarlet fever: exploring our fascination with blood

20 Celebs Who Are Out & Proud of Their Trans & Nonbinary Kids

5 reasons to stay at this all-inclusive Puerto Vallarta resort

Meet the climate grannies. They'll do whatever it takes to protect their grandchildren

France becomes world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in constitution

HIV+ man banned from jail work program gets last laugh

Why most GOP women are standing by their man

Julio Torres discusses making 'Problemista' & parallels with 'Barbie'

Valencia: from sunniest city to Green Capital of Europe

A bridge, a split rail fence, a high school bathroom, and skin all raw

Mr. Gay World's Plus cover story: behind the scenes

How climate disasters hurt mental health in young people

Most recent.

Planet Fitness bans member who photographed trans woman changing — and it's not sorry

Planet Fitness bans a troll who snapped a pic of a trans woman changing — and it's not sorry

Wisconsin middle school faces series of bomb threats after Libs of TikTok post

Federal judge grants Casa Ruby founder Ruby Corado pre-trial release from D.C. jail

Kentucky lawmakers seek to criminalize 'disruptive conduct' after LGBTQ+ protest

Empowering women with Nashelle Jewelry this Women's History Month

Chasten Buttigieg takes on anti-trans bullies during Michigan State University lecture

The Werkroom's artistic rebellion transforms pop culture icons into queer fantasies

Diets that mimic fasting reverse aging: study

20 sapphic YA books you'll love (no matter your age)

​Big Dipper reveals he gives hookups a fake address to screen them & gay Twitter is READING

Nex Benedict’s tragic death further proves that Oklahoma is not OK

Opinion: I'm a climate scientist. If you knew what I know, you'd be terrified too

Get your spring bling on with The Pride Store’s jewelry picks

Olympic swimmer Sean Gunn comes out as gay

Bloom in your skin with The Pride Store’s skincare essentials

GLAAD urges action over Meta’s ongoing neglect of moderating anti-trans hate

16 Republican AGs threaten Maine over protections for trans care and abortion

Bud Light boycott likely cost Anheuser-Busch InBev over $1 billion in lost sales

'Drag Race' & 'We're Here' star Shangela hit with multiple new sexual assault allegations

Hiro Clark pays homage to late nights with No Sleep

Federal judge blocks enforcement of controversial Texas immigration law

Recommended Stories for You

Courtney nichols.

How YACHT used A.I. to make their album 'Chain Tripping'

YACHT. Credit: Neurography by Mario Klingemann, training images by Jaclyn Campanaro.

For their latest project, Indie rock band YACHT (Young Americans Challenging High Technology), worked closely with AI. They fed their entire back catalog -- 82 songs from the last 17 years -- into a series of machines that analyzed their lyrics and melodies and wrote original songs. The result is "Chain Tripping,” a 10-song album. 

"We live in a world where we're completely surrounded by semi-autonomous intelligent entities,” says singer Claire L. Evans. “And so as artists, we're interested in making art about the real world that we live in because we felt like there was this really interesting opportunity to understand more about ourselves."

YACHT worked with LA artist Ross Goodwin to create their lyric generating algorithm. They built a collection of more than 2 million words. The words were drawn from their back catalog, their favorite bands, and music they heard growing up. "Then we trained this algorithm on that. So the algorithm was kind of pulling from our own influences. And it learned language from lyrics that we gave it," Evans says.

YACHT didn't alter the lyrics or sounds that the algorithms produced. "We decided we were going to be very strict about how we used this material. And we created a set of rules. We can't add anything. We can't improvise anything. We can't harmonize," says singer Jona Bechtolt. "We decided it would be just a subtractive process. So we could remove things, like we could take out a word, but we couldn't add a word for the lyrics. Same with the drum patterns and the melodies."

Would YACHT use this A.I. process for another album? Bechtolt says that they started working on "Chain Tripping" three years ago, and since then, all the technologies they used have advanced "in crazy ways." 

Evans says by the time they make another record, who knows how radically improved the technologies will be. But she thinks they will use A.I. again. "I think this record is really pure. I mean, we made all these rules, and we were really specific about only using general material. I think if we come back to it, we'll sort of know our position within this collaboration, and we'll have a little bit more freedom in terms of what we contribute as humans."

-- Written by Amy Ta, produced by Rosalie Atkinson

Keep KCRW Independent.

• Sign-up for our newsletters.
• Make a donation.
• Jona Bechtolt - member of YACHT
• Claire L. Evans - member of YACHT
• Rob Kieswetter - member of YACHT

Think Out Loud

Portland band yacht experiments with artificial intelligence and music.

Broadcast: Friday, Oct. 21

In 2019, the band YACHT released an album called “Chain Tripping.” Every piece of the album was created by artificial intelligence: the music, the lyrics, the album art and the title. The band members, who come from Portland and Astoria, also made a documentary about the process of creating the album. It’s called The Computer Accent , and it’s playing this week at PAM CUT . Lead singer Claire Evans joins us to explain what AI can do for music, and what it can’t.

Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. In 2019, the band Yacht released an album called Chain Tripping. Every piece of the album, the music, the lyrics, the art, the videos, the title was created using artificial intelligence. The band members, who come from Portland and Astoria, also produced a documentary about the process of making the album. It’s called The Computer Accent, and it’s playing this coming Tuesday at PAM CUT, formerly known as the Northwest Film Center at the Portland Art Museum. Claire Evans is one third of the band Yacht. She joins us now to talk about the promise and also the limits of using AI to make music. Welcome to the show.

Claire Evans: Thanks for having me.

Miller: Thanks for joining us. I thought we could start with one of the songs from the album and we can talk about the making of it. This is Death.

[Song “Death” plays, then fades . . . ]

Why did you and the band decide to use AI to create this album?

Evans: Good question. Well, we’ve been a band for 20 years, and in that time there have been a number of really significant transformative, technology-driven changes in music, like from social media to digital recording to streaming. We’re still here and I think that comes from a willingness to try new things. And AI is one of those things. It promises to be sort of the final boss in terms of industry-wide transformation technologies. So we wanted to get basically a jump on it. We wanted to understand it.

We wanted to find a way to make it our own, so that it could never really displace us and we tend to learn through making things. So the prospect of making an album immediately seemed like a neat, really self-contained way to approach understanding something new. Here’s a way to explore what AI could bring, not only to music composition and writing lyrics and recording, but also the artwork and music videos and typography and photography. You name it. We’ve always felt like an album is kind of a frame that brings all different kinds of creative work together. So it was a really interesting opportunity to kind of assess the state of the art with this tech and and play around with it and see what we could make.

Miller: What were your fears before you started working on the album, or as you were starting work on the album?

Evans: Oh, we didn’t really understand what we were getting into, to be honest. I think like a lot of people our understanding of Ai was heavily influenced by somewhat reductive mainstream media representations of what it is, and decades and decades of science fiction representations of malevolent anthropomorphized, sentient, machine demons. So, we didn’t really know what we were getting into. We had a suspicion that it would take a lot of work, and we felt very daunted about the fact that we didn’t understand how to code, we didn’t understand the math that was under the hood. So we were worried that we would just be too dumb to do it, frankly. We were also concerned that it would be too easy actually, also. It was sort of like either it’s gonna be too difficult, or it was gonna be too easy. We were afraid that if it was as simple as pushing a button and training an algorithm to generate a song then, what would be interesting about that? What would the challenge actually be? Initially, we thought the challenge would be just finding a way to kind of make these robot produced songs our own and perform them in some way that made them feel real. It’s not really until we started working that we realized how far behind the state of the art actually was. I mean, you can’t press a button and make a pop song. You couldn’t when we started working on this album in 2017, you can’t do that now. It’s a good thing, frankly, but it ended up taking just a lot more work, a lot more effort and a lot of human-in-the-loop engagement, which ultimately would make the whole project a lot more rewarding. And I think we learned a lot from it.

Miller: Can you describe the set of rules that you all came up with governing how you would make the album, what you would do with the output from computers.

Evans: We thought it was really important to think of the output not as the end of the process, but as the beginning of a new process. We sort of jokingly referred to the entire recording experience as sort of like a scotch-taped-together recording process. Because like I said, there were no AI tools available that would allow us to produce a full song with verse, chorus, bridge, lyrics. So we had to find different tools for each aspect of the construction of a song. So one for creative lyrics, one for creating melodies, different tools for generating sounds. And they need to take a unique approach to each of those tools and understand each of those tools. But it was really important for us that whatever tool we were working with, it had to be trained on, that is to say it had to kind of draw from our own back catalog and our own influence. So we spent a lot of time making ourselves legible to the machine, like building databases of all our favorite music. So we could teach the lyrics-writing algorithm, the kinds of lyrics we like.

Miller: And you had to actually feed it thousands of songs from your catalog, but you don’t have thousands of songs, so from your favorite artists. So what was that piece of the algorithm? What would it do with the lyrics that you loved or had written in the past?

Evans: Well, we used what’s called a character recurrent neural network. I’m not gonna get too deep into the technical weeds, but basically it’s a system that generates language one letter at a time, based on what it expects from its training with a massive database of text. What it expects the most likely letter to come next is, so you give it an A, it will automatically fill in an N, and a D. Because that’s a word. And you can tweak the parameters, but basically we taught this character-generating model language, but only using song lyrics. So the only context it had for what a word is, or what frequency certain words appear in language, was from this massive database of song lyrics that we put together, I think two million words of songs from all of our favorite artists, from all the music we grew up listening to from the music our parents liked. Everything that we thought might be kind of kicking around in our own heads, we tried to put into this system so it could generate lyrics that felt like us. And it was really interesting. I could talk about this for hours, but the kinds of surprising things that the lyrics generating model was able to generate, like it would tap into these really universal, almost like lizard brain aspects of songwriting. Sometimes it would get stuck in these loops and just repeat things over and over again. But the kinds of things that songs are always about, you know, love and desire and rage like maybe 50 pages of just I want you, I want you, I want you, I want your brain. You just played a short clip of Death . We drew some lyrics for that song from a passage that just said “stab” over and over again. So stab a crash, stab a car, stab your hair, stab a factory. I mean it’s so much fun to play with these models because they generate this deeply surreal material on its own. It doesn’t hold up because it doesn’t have any structure. It doesn’t have any meaning. But our job as artists is to kind of take that material and give it meaning either by putting it together in some way like a puzzle or actually embodying and performing it and projecting all this stuff that we bring to it as performers and as artists. It’s a really fun role to try to fill and step into now.

Miller: Do you have the same emotional connection to the music, and especially to the lyrics, for these songs that you do to songs for which YOU were the human who wrote the lyrics?

Evans: Yes and no. I think meaning is very fluid and there are songs that I wrote, pen and paper from the old style way a long time ago, that I’ve been performing for decades and the meaning of those songs has changed for me over the years. Because life happens and you have a different perspective on things. The way I feel about the meaning of those songs is different than what our fans might feel or what other members of the band might feel. So everyone’s relationship to meaning in the context of songwriting involves a great deal of projection and personal experience. I think with these machine generated lyrics, it’s a little bit more effort to project meaning onto them. But it’s also much more expansive and open ended. And I really love the idea of performing songs that I am still figuring out the meaning of and that I can share that experience with the audience and we can talk about it and we can each share our own interpretations, sort of like a lyrical Rorschach test that we’re collaboratively viewing.

I think that’s really beautiful.

Miller: It’s funny, because on some level, the process of feeding this algorithm thousands of songs, millions of words, it feels really foreign or alien. It seems at first blush like a different way of creating something than the way we think of an artist. But on another, I mean, you as a songwriter or you know, somebody who writes short stories or novels, your people who have been, who’ve taken in all kinds of of other works over the years, they’re all somewhere in your head and it’s I wonder if on some level that the act of creation actually feels similar for a human, that you’re doing a version of what the computer is doing, manipulating all these things that are in your head, and then coming up with something that can’t help but be related to them somehow?

Evans: Absolutely. I think it absolutely is the difference. There are differences of course. These systems are capable of producing material at a scale and volume that is genuinely terrifying. Like, we press the button and print hundreds of pages of lyrics. I mean an amount of lyrics that I could never write in a lifetime I could create with one of these systems in a matter of minutes. I mean of course there’s all this time that goes into training and building it to begin with. But it is daunting to come up against that level of just generative potential.

Miller: It’s millions of monkeys at typewriters. But the monkeys are smart, or sort of.

Evans: The monkeys are not smart. The monkeys are really, really good at really, really specific things. They have no general.

Miller: They’re trained, if they’re not smart without being smart.

Evans: Yes, we are the smart ones. Everything that these systems produce, everything that’s beautiful or interesting that these models can create is because of the artists and musicians who make up the data sets that they were trained on and built with. Everything AI knows about being creative, it’s learned from humans. Without us, it’s nothing. I think it’s really important to remember that, because we very easily get overwhelmed thinking ‘my God that’s so powerful’. But it’s really just the sort of hallucinatory distillation of everything people have made before. And that is a much more exciting prospect I think, the idea of collaborating with hundreds of other artists throughout time rather than just one machine.

Miller: I want to play a scene from this new documentary in which you’re talking with your bandmate, Jona, who has been working on playing as an actual drummer some of the loops or or licks that were given to you all by the algorithm. Let’s have a listen:

[ Excerpt plays from documentary film ]

“So this today started with recording these drum loops that were spit out from a gente and they were so difficult to play. And it made me realize that the way I play drums is all just piecing together different clips that I’ve learned. There’s like certain things that you do on the drums. Like if you’re gonna hit a crash you usually hit the kick to, it sounds silly to hit like a crash in the middle of a pattern without a kick. And this has it just this creating loops that are very weird. It was pretty hard, it was like having to learn drums again. And even though it was supposed to be interpolating between two of our previous patterns in between, there’s some weird stuff that no one has ever done when you’re playing things that are so weird the first time this drum pattern will ever be on an album in the history of time. Yeah, I think that’s safe to say. That’s cool.”

I love that because it shows us what happens when somebody who hasn’t played an instrument before and also doesn’t have, maybe isn’t beholden to the limits of the known limits of instruments. Just says, well why don’t you do it this way? It reminded me of another scene in the movie when Rob and Jona were trying to play the music spit out by a computer. And it was hard because they thought that it was too straight ahead. They wanted to sort of loosen it rhythmically. And then the question was, would that be cheating, going against your own rules that you all had set for yourselves? How would you figure out those kinds of internal debates?

Evans: Yeah, we debated a lot. You can see in the film, there’s a lot of argument about what qualifies as cheating and what doesn’t. I think for us, we really wanted to set these very explicit rules at the beginning of the process that we only wanted to interpolate from or draw from our own back catalog and our influences. Once we’re working with the generated material, we didn’t want to add anything. We wanted to only work with what we had. We could subtract and transpose things and rearrange things, but we couldn’t jam. We couldn’t come up with a harmony. We couldn’t improvise. We couldn’t do any of the things that felt natural or normal or good in the moment. Ultimately we held to that rule, and we couldn’t work with anything that the models couldn’t create. So there was no machine learning model that could generate chords at the time that we wrote this album. So there are no chords on the album, things like that, where it’s probably overly fussy and rigid. But I think for the purposes of really taking this project seriously, understanding this technology, and really seeing what we could do within those constraints, it was important to us.

And I think also, I speak for myself, I think it’s fairly true for a lot of artists: having constraints is a really important part of beginning a major project, otherwise you can get so easily overwhelmed. But it’s true that within those constraints, we struggled a lot to try to figure out how can we make this sound good, or how can we make this feel good, because there’s so much of this material that these models these tools, they don’t have a body, they have no understanding of what feels good to play, they’re not they’re not coming at composition from habit or embodied experience. They’re just generating notes in sequences based on mathematical probability. So when we sit down to play those notes or sing those melodies, they might not be on paper very complex, but they’re just weird. Like they’re just to the left of what something would normally be, and they don’t feel good. So it made us realize how much we were bound to our own sort of bodily experience in history playing music.

Miller: What has all this taught you about the best use, the most useful use, and least destructive use for these tools when it comes to making music?

Evans: Yeah. I think we would never make an album in this way again, but we also never make an album the same way twice anyway. So, on to the next always. There are aspects of this experience that I will take with me for the rest of my life. I think for one it broke us out of a lot of habits, like I was saying physical habits, but also our own patterns of thinking, we knew what a Yacht song should sound like. Once we were playing with these tools, we were open to a lot more subtle melodies, a lot weirder things. I think it gave us an ear for the weird, that we will take with us. I write songs differently. Now my relationship to language is different because I’m not thinking about meaning quite the same way. I’m actually thinking about words as sounds first, rather than things with meaning. And then the meeting kind of comes afterwards now a lot of sort of technical things like that, where it’s, it’s just slightly a sort of broke us and put us together in a new way. But still now, I mean there are still tools that are of interest to me. I think when we get stuck sometimes, it’s really fun to play with a language generating AI model and see what it suggests. Sometimes our reaction is to do the opposite of what it suggests, but sometimes you just need something to bounce off of. So I think there are lots of really interesting uses for these tools. And of course the tools are evolving so quickly. I mean the things that we were using in 2017 which were like cutting edge things. We were working with research scientists, really getting the fresh-off-the-presses mathematical models. Those things are now old hat. They’re archaic, they’re built into a lot of recording software under the hood, they’re frictionless, totally invisible to most. And a lot of these tools are much better at the kinds of things that we wanted them to do back then, in a way that makes them look interesting.

Miller: More interesting and more powerful, and more to talk about in the future. But Claire Evans, thanks so much for joining us.

Evans: Oh, yes! Thank you so much for having me.

Miller: Claire Evans is a member of the band Yacht. We’ll go out with Sticking To The Station from their 2019 album, Chain Tripping. You can hear more about the album and the documentary, The Computer Accent.

Contact “Think Out Loud®”

If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter , send an email to [email protected] , or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983. The call-in phone number during the noon hour is 888-665-5865.

OPB’s First Look newsletter

Streaming Now

BBC Newsday

• The Women of Motley Crue
• Mellencamp's Concert Heckler
• Hall of Fame Fan Vote Update
• Eagles Rumored to Play Sphere
• Jeff Lynne's ELO Final Tour
• Perry Journey Songs Ranked

Yacht or Not?: Sailing the Seas of Yacht Rock

Louis Armstrong said, “If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.” Duke Ellington said, “There are simply two kinds of music: good music and the other kind.” Christopher Cross said, “If you get caught between the moon and New York City, the best that you can do is fall in love.”

What do these pieces of wisdom add up to? Music, like love, doesn’t follow rules. Musicians as diverse as Armstrong, Ellington and Cross don’t want to be boxed in by genre. They want to write, record and perform and not spend time deciding if they play bebop or hard bop, blues or Southern rock, funk or disco.

But as temperatures heat up and people think of sailing away to find serenity, yacht rock playlists start to float in on the breeze. And that means drawing boundaries with enough latitude that artists don’t object to being boxed in and  still foster playlists with a sense of meaning, a sense of continuity and depth. Peaks and valleys must be smartly balanced against the total annihilation of a common aesthetic. (Yes, despite a fascination with sailing and pina coladas, yacht rock can be taken seriously!)

And so, much to Armstrong’s chagrin, we have to ask, “What is yacht rock?” If it seems obvious, take a look at Spotify’s recent “Yacht Rock” playlist . Spotify is a global streaming leader with some 350 million monthly users, an army of music experts and cutting edge artificial intelligence, and yet the company filled its playlist with songs such as Tears for Fears ’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me,” Van Morrison ’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and Bruce Hornsby ’s “The Way It Is.”

If somebody wants to create and enjoy a stack of songs that runs from tunes by the J. Geils Band , to the  Police , to Bad Company , to Talking Heads (yup, the company has all these artists on its playlist and even included Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters”), they should do that with gusto! It sounds like an evening full of classic jams and fun left turns so cheers to the endeavor. But if a major player in the music business wants to do that and call it yacht rock, we need to take a step back and consider what is and isn’t yacht.

We know breezes, islands, keys, capes, cool nights, crazy love and reminiscing help define the yacht aesthetic (see works by Seals & Crofts , Jay Fergeson, Bertie Higgins, Rupert Holmes, Paul Davis, Poco , and Little River Band ). But let’s get beyond the captain’s caps and map the waters of this perfect-for-summer style.

Watch Bertie Higgins' Video for 'Key Largo' 

Yacht Rock Sets Sail With Help From a 2005 Web Series

Before 2005, people generally placed Toto ’s “ Africa ” and Holmes’ “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” in the soft rock genre. Maybe if they were getting fancy, they’d call them AM Gold. But in 2005, the online video series Yacht Rock debuted. It fictionalized the careers of soft rock artists of the late ’70s and early ’80s. The cheeky show capitalized on the building renaissance of artists such as Steely Dan and Michael McDonald , who embraced the silliness of the series.

“When it came on I remember watching it pretty avidly,” McDonald admitted in 2018 . “My kids got a huge kick out of it. We would laugh about the characterizations of the people involved. At this point it’s a genre of its own. You’re either yacht or you're not.”

He might be right that you’re either yacht or you’re not. But calling it a genre doesn’t quite work (more on that in a minute).

Listen to the Doobie Brothers' 'Minute By Minute'

Riding the Waters From the Radical ’60s to the Sincere ’70s

By the late ’60s, rock ‘n’ roll had become “art.” The Beatles started as simple teen heartthrobs covering early rock ‘n’ roll, but graduated to the supreme weirdness of the  White Album . Chuck Berry gave birth to the Rolling Stones who gave birth to Led Zeppelin and the gonzo bombast of “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.” And all sorts of acts went wild from the Grateful Dead , to Pink Floyd , to Frank Zappa  and beyond. The sunshine of ’70s AM Gold came as a reaction to these wonderful excesses. Singer-songwriters aimed to take rock and pop back to the simple pleasures of tight, light tunes such as Beach Boys ’ classics, Motown hits and Brill Building-crafted songs.

Hippies looking for revolution and Gen X-ers on the hunt for rage, irony and sharp edges bristled at the genuine lyrics of tenderness and heartbreak neatly packaged in finely-crafted Top 40. Where the stars and fans of '60s and ’90s rock wanted arty and experimental music, anger and angst, yacht took listeners on a voyage powered by pure earnestness: think of the sincere and intense conviction of Dave Mason’s “We Just Disagree,” Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together," and “Love is the Answer” by England Dan & John Ford Coley.

(Which is why placing the Police or Talking Heads on any yacht mix doesn’t work.)

Yacht rock embodies the final charge of unbridled, heartfelt pop.

“I think these songs remain so popular because they are unabashedly pop,” Nicholas Niespodziani, leader of the hugely successful tribute band  Yacht Rock Revue , explains to UCR. “They’re not self conscious. You couldn’t write a song like ‘Africa’ now. What are they even singing about? Who knows? But it’s fun to sing.”

Watch Captain & Tennille's Video for 'Love Will Keep Us Together'

Music That’s Jazzy, But Sure Isn’t Jazz

Yacht rock doesn’t just have an earnestness to its lyrics, the sax solos come with the same level of sincerity.

If the style was the last gasp of unadulterated pop, it was also the dying breath of jazz’s influence on rock. Jazz rock started in the ’60s with Zappa, Chicago , Santana and Blood, Sweat & Tears , but slowly simple drums and growling guitars stomped horn lines and rhythmic shifts into the ground. However, yacht rock features echoes of swingin’ saxophones, big band horns and Miles Davis ’ fusion projects.

Yacht rock is very pop, but legitimate musical talents made those hooks. Chuck Mangione logged time in jazz giant Art Blakey’s band then took what he learned and crushed complex harmonic ideas into the pop nugget “Feels So Good,” which is basically a Latin-bebop-disco-classical suite. (If you dig “Feels So Good,” dig deeper and groove to smooth jazz mini-symphony “Give It All You Got.”)

Nearly every classic from the style features either an epic sax solo or dazzling guitar part. For horn glory, go spin Little River Band’s “Reminiscing,” Gino Vannelli’s “I Just Wanna Stop” or Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers ’ “Just the Two of Us." For six-string wizardry as astounding as anything Jimmy Page came up with (and much more economical), try Atlantic Rhythm Section’s “So Into You,” Pablo Cruise’s “Love Will Find a Way” and pretty much every Steely Dan cut.

(Which is why placing Tears for Fears’ “ Everybody Wants to Rule the World ” and Rockwell’s “Somebody’s Watching Me” on any yacht mix doesn’t work).

Watch the Little River Band's Video for 'Reminiscing' 

A Vibe, Not a Genre or Gender or Demographic of Any Kind

Being a style, a feeling, an aesthetic, a vibe means that yacht rock can pull a song from a wide variety of genres into its orbit. It also means that it’s not just a catalog of hits from bearded white dudes. Yes, Kenny Loggins , McDonald and both Seals and Crofts helped define yacht rock. But quintessential songs from the style came from the women and artists of color, soul singers, folk heroes and Nashville aces.

For every Loggins' tune in a captain’s hat, there’s a Carly Simon track dressed up as your cruise director. Yes, there's Steely Dan's jazz influence, but also  Crosby, Stills & Nash 's folk legacy (“Southern Cross” remains definitively of the style). Yacht rock playlists should also be littered with appropriate R&B gems, such as the Raydio’s “You Can’t Change That” (which features Ray Parker Jr.!), Hall & Oates ’ “Sara Smile” and Kool & the Gang’s “Too Hot.” Likewise, country acts of the era tried to go Top 40 while attempting to retain some twang and managed to make Love Boat music (see Juice Newton’s “Angel of the Morning,” Eddie Rabbit’s “I Love a Rainy Night,” Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers ’ “Islands in the Stream”).

It’s hard to tell if the Commodores’ “Sail On” is pop or R&B, harder still to know if George Benson’s “Give Me the Night” is pop, R&B or jazz. But they both feel yacht.

(Which is why Santana can do psychedelic Latin music and can do yacht on “Hold On,” and why the Pointer Sisters can do new wave disco with “Neutron Dance” and yacht with “Slow Hand.")

Wishing You a Bon Voyage on the Seas of Yacht

Spotify was right to think about diversity when making its playlist, though the company got the type of diversity wrong. Yacht has some pretty specific sonic parameters, but has no demographic restrictions when it comes to the kind of artists contributing to the style’s catalog. That means when you hit the high seas of yacht, you don’t need to be afraid to fight for your favorites to be included, just please don’t have one of those favorites be “Ghostbusters.”

We began talking about drawing boundaries with enough latitude that artists don’t object to being boxed in. The wide latitude yacht rock affords matters because music comes to define eras and outlines cultural trends (remember that yacht came in reaction to art rock and that says a lot about the swing from the late '60s to the early '80s). Calling Christopher Cross soft rock might feel right, but it doesn't tell us much about where he was coming from and what he was trying to accomplish. Calling Cross yacht rock, now that we know it's not a pejorative, illuminates his aesthetic.

Cross came out of the Texas rock scene that produced blues aces the Vaughan Brothers and guitar shredder Eric Johnson (who plays on a lot of his albums). He loves Joni Mitchell and that shows in his craft. He's jazzy but not jazz (see those horns and guitar on "Ride Like the Wind") with a vibe that's completely yacht -- developed from the scene that took '60s pop, updated it and sheltered it from the trends of punk, metal, new wave and hip hop. The same can be said for Loggins, McDonald, Simon, Lionel Ritchie and so many others.

Spotify needs to tweak its algorithm so it gets this right. Or, better yet, connect with the genre-crossing vibe that makes yacht so unique.

Top 100 Classic Rock Artists

More from ultimate classic rock.

The 25 Best Yacht Rock Songs Of All Time

Yacht Rock isn’t exactly a genre. It’s more a state of mind. It is the musical equivalent of a mid-afternoon mimosa nap in some nautical location—a cool breeze of lite-FM confection with the substance of a romance novel and the machismo of a Burt Reynolds mustache comb.

But what exactly is Yacht Rock?

Yacht Rock is ‘70s soft schlock about boats, love affairs, and one-night stands.

Typified by artists like Christopher Cross, Rupert Holmes, and Pablo Cruise, Yacht Rock is not only easy to mock, but it’s also deserving of the abuse. There’s a sensitive 70s male brand of chauvinism that permeates this material—like somehow because you could schnarf an 8-ball of cocaine and sail a boat into the sunset, your indulgences and marital infidelity were actually kind of sexy. Cheap pickup lines and beardly come-ons abound.

And yet, this stuff is irresistible on a slow summer day. It reeks of sunshine and laziness, and couldn’t we all use a little of both?

These are the 25 Best Yacht Rock Songs, in order. Zero suspense. (Sorry if that’s less fun for you).

If you would like to learn more about Yacht Rock without getting a sailing license, read on…

What are the qualifications for inclusion on our list?

So Yacht Rock refers to a type of soft rock, right? But there’s a ton of soft rock out there that doesn’t fit the bill. There’s no room on my boat for Barry Manilow. At the Copa? Sure. But not so much on my boat. So what makes a great yacht rock song exactly?

Ideally, one or more of these themes will be present:

• Finding the love of your life;
• Having a memorable one-night stand; or 
• Doing something nautical.

These features pretty much capture everything that’s great about this milieu. But there’s also an important cheese factor at play here. While Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, CSN, and the Doobie Brothers all made songs that might qualify for inclusion here, the artists themselves are–let’s just say it–too good to be considered Yacht Rock.

We’ll make sure to include them in our deluxe playlist at the article’s conclusion.

But in order for a song to be considered for our list, it must be at least slightly embarrassing. Case in point, the top song on our list…

1. “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes

“The Pina Colada Song” is arguably the most perfect embodiment of yacht rock, fulfilling, as it does, all three of the qualifications cited above. Holmes sings about making love in the dunes, attempts to cheat on his wife, then ultimately, rediscovers that his “old lady” is actually the love he’s been searching for all along. That’s the holy trinity of Yacht Rock themes, all wrapped up in a breezy story of casual adultery. And at the turn of a new decade, listeners were feeling it. Released as a single in 1979, “Escape” stood at the top of the charts during the last week of the year. Falling to #2 in the new year, it returned to the top spot in the second week of 1980. This made it the first song to top the charts in two separate, consecutive decades. Fun fact: Rupert Holmes never drank a Pina Colada in his life. He just thought the lyric sounded right. Hard to argue that point.

2. “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) by The Looking Glass

Formed at Rutgers University in 1969, Looking Glass topped the charts in 1972 with the tale of a lovelorn barmaid in a harbor town haunted by lonely sailors. It would be the band’s only hit. Lead singer Elliot Lurie would go on to a brief solo career before becoming head of the music department for the 20th Century Fox movie studio in the ’80s and ’90s. That means he was the musical supervisor for the soundtrack to Night at the Roxbury . Do with that information what you will. And with respect to “Brandy,” see the film Guardians of the Galaxy 2 for Kurt Russell’s surprisingly detailed treatise on its lyrical genius.

3. “Summer Breeze” by Seals and Crofts

The title track from the soft-rock duo’s breakout 1972 record, “Summer Breeze” is an incurable earworm, a bittersweet twilight dream that captures everything that’s right about Lite FM. From an album inhabited by Wrecking Crew vets and studio aces, “Summer Breeze” curls like smoke drifting lazily through an open window.

4. “Africa” by Toto

Toto singer David Paich had never been to Africa. The melody and refrain for this #1 hit from 1982 came to him fully formed as he watched a late night documentary about the plight of those living on the African continent. The lyrics touch on missionary work and describe the landscape as inspired by images from National Geographic , according to Paich’s own recollection. Putting aside its self-aware inauthenticity, “Africa” is an infectious, 8x platinum AOR monster.

5. “Reminiscing: by Little River Band

Released in the summer of 1978 and reaching up to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Reminiscing” was guitarist Graeham Goble ‘s nostalgic take on the swing band era. Not only is it the only Australian song ever to reach five million radio plays in the U.S., but rumor is that it was among the late John Lennon’s favorite songs.

6. “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray

Recorded originally by a country-swamp rocker named Jeffrey Kurtz, Dobie’s 1973 cover became his biggest hit, reaching #5 on the charts. Though not explicitly nautical, “Drift Away” captures the distinct sensation of cruising at sunset.

7. “Love Will Find a Way” by Pablo Cruise

Pablo Cruise may have the most “yachty” of all band names on our list. And “Love Will Find a Way” is sort of the musical equivalent of a ketch skipping along a glassy surface on a crisp summer dawn. Pablo Cruise was formed in San Francisco by expats from various mildly successful bands including Stoneground and It’s a Beautiful Day. And there is a certain slick professionalism to the proceedings here. Of course, Pablo Cruise was never a critic’s darling. Homer Simpson once accurately classified them as wuss rock. Still, they perfectly captured the white-folks-vacationing-in-the-Caribbean energy that was all the rage at the time. Love found a way to reach #6 on the Billboard charts, remaining in constant radio rotation during the red-hot summer of ’78.

8. “Ride Captain Ride” by Blues Image

Blues Image emerged from South Florida in the late ’60s and served as the house band for Miami’s vaunted Thee Image music venue upon its inception in 1968. This gave Blues Image the opportunity to open for ascendant headliners like Cream and the Grateful Dead. The association landed them a contract Atco Records. Their sophomore record Open yielded their one and only hit, a #4 in 1970 about a bunch of men who disappear into the mists of the San Francisco Bay in search of a hippie utopia.

9. “Eye in the Sky” by The Alan Parsons Project

This #3 hit from 1982 has nothing to do with sailing. But it’s infectiously smooth production sheen, layered synth, and dreamy vocals make it a perfect Lite FM gem–one cut from the stone that gave us yacht rock. The “Project” was actually a British duo–studio wizard Alan Parsons and singer Eric Woolfson. The title track from their sixth studio album is also their very best recording. It’s also often paired with the instrumental lead-in “Sirius,” a song famous in its own right for blaring over unnumbered sporting arena PA systems. If that tune doesn’t make you think of Michael Jordan, you probably didn’t live through the late 80s.

10. “Miracles” by Jefferson Starship

Marty Balin was a pioneer of the San Francisco scene, founding Jefferson Airplane in 1965 as the house band for his own legendary club–The Matrix. But in 1971, deeply shaken by the death of Janis Joplin, Balin quit his own band. Four years later, he was invited to rejoin his old mates on the already-launched Starship. He immediately contributed what would become the biggest hit by any Jeffersonian vessel. “Miracles” reached #3 in 1975. Gorgeous, elegant, and open, this is a complete anomaly in the Airplane-Starship catalogue. Listen closely for the NSFW lyrics that have often flown under the radar of some adorably innocent censors.

11. “Sad Eyes” by Robert John

In 1972, Robert John had a #3 hit with his cover of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” And yet, just before recording “Sad Eyes”, the Brooklyn-born singer was employed as a construction worker in Long Branch, New Jersey. By the summer of ’79, he would have a #1 hit. In fact, the charting success of “Sad Eyes” was part of a cultural backlash against the reign of disco. A wave of pop hits swept on to the charts, including this slick soft rock throwback. With his sweet falsetto and doo wop sensibility, Robert John knocked The Knack’s “My Sharona” from its 6-week stand atop the charts.

12. “Magnet and Steel” by Walter Egan

Before launching headlong into his music career, Walter Egan was one of the very first students to earn a fine arts degree from Georgetown, where he studied sculpture. The subject would figure into his biggest hit, a #8 easy listening smash from 1978. Featured on his second solo record, “Magnet and Steel” enjoys the presence of some heavy friends. Lindsey Buckingham produced, played guitar and sang backup harmonies with Stevie Nicks. By most accounts, Nicks was also a primary source of inspiration for the song.

13. “Lido Shuffle” by Boz Scaggs

Of course, not all yacht rock songs are about sailing on boats. Some are about missing boats. Boz Scaggs looks dejected on the cover of 1977’s Silk Degrees , but things turned out pretty well for him. This bouncy #11 hit is a classic rock mainstay today. The band you hear backing Boz–David Paich, Jeff Porcaro, and David Hungate–would go on to form the nucleus of Toto that very same year. Toto, as it happens, is essentially a recurring theme of the genre. Before rising to massive success in their own right, the members of Toto absolutely permeated rock radio in the 70s, laying down studio tracks with Steely Dan, Seals and Crofts, Michael McDonald, and more.

14. “What You Won’t Do for Love” by Bobby Caldwell

This smooth-as-silk tune reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its 1978 release. It also reached #6 on the Hot Selling Soul Singles Chart. This is significant only because of Caldwell’s complexion. He was a white man signed to TK Records, a label most closely associated with disco acts like KC and the Sunshine Band. Catering to a largely Black audience, the label went to minor lengths to hide their new singer’s identity–dig the silhouetted figure on the cover of his own debut. Suffice it to say, once Caldwell hit the road, audiences discovered he was white. By then, they were already hooked on this perfect groove, which you might also recognize as a sample in 2Pac’s posthumous 1998 release, “Do For Love.”

15. “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” by Michael McDonald

Technically, Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgettin’” is an adaptation of an earlier tune by the same name. In fact, the original “I Keep Forgettin” was conceived by the legendary songwriting duo Leiber and Stoller–best known for iconic staples like “Hound Dog”, “Kansas City”, “Poison Ivy” and much much more. The original recording is by Chuck Jackson and dates to 1962. But McDonald’s 1982 take is definitive. If that wasn’t already true upon its release and #4 peak position on the charts, certainly Warren G. and Nate Dogg cemented its status when they sampled McDonald on “Regulate”. Get the whole history on that brilliant 1994 time capsule here .

Oh and by the way, this tune also features most of the guys from Toto. I know, right? These dudes were everywhere.

16. “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty

To the casual listener, Gerry Rafferty’s name may sound vaguely familiar. Indeed, you may remember hearing it uttered in passing in the film Reservoir Dogs . In a key scene, the DJ (deadpan comedian Steven Wright) mentions that Rafferty formed half the duo known as Stealers Wheel, which recorded a “Dylanesque, pop, bubble-gum favorite from April of 1974” called “Stuck in the Middle With You.” In the same scene, Mr. Blonde (portrayed with sadistic glee by Michael Madsen), slices off a policeman’s ear. At any rate, this is a totally different song, and is actually Rafferty’s biggest hit. “Baker Street” is a tune that reeks of late nights, cocaine, and regret. Peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Baker Street” soared on wings of the decade’s most memorable sax riff. Raphael Ravenscroft’s performance would, in fact, lead to a mainstream revitalization of interest in the saxophone writ large.

17. “Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang” by Silver

There are several interesting things about Silver that have almost nothing to do with this song. First, bass guitarist and singer Tom Leadon was both the brother of Bernie Leadon from the Eagles and a member of Tom Petty’s pre-fame band, Mudcrutch. Second, the band’s keyboardist was Brent Mydland, who would go on to become the Grateful Dead’s longest tenured piano guy. Third, Silver put out their only record in 1976, and future Saturday Night Live standout Phil Harman designed the cover art. With all of that said, Arista executives felt that their first album lacked a single so they had country songwriter Rick Giles cook up this ridiculous, gooey concoction that I kind of love. Let’s say this one falls into the “so bad it’s good” category. Anyway, the song peaked at #16 on the charts. The band broke up in ’78, leading Mydland to accept the deadliest job in rock music. He defied the odds by playing with the Grateful Dead until an accidental drug overdose claimed his life in 1990.

18. “Biggest Part of Me” by Ambrosia

I admit, I’m kind of hard-pressed to make Ambrosia interesting. In fact, they were extremely prolific, and earned high regard in early ’70s prog rock circles. And in the 1990s, lead singer David Pack would actually be the musical director for both of Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration concerts. But this Southern California combo is much better known to mainstream audiences for their top-down, hair-blowing-in-the-wind soft rock from the decade in between. Peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980, “Biggest Part of Me” is the group’s best-known tune–a seafoamy bit of blue-eyed soul served over a raw bar of smooth jazz and lite funk.

19. “Baby Come Back” by Player

Player released their self-titled debut album in 1977 and immediately shot up to #1 with “Baby Come Back.” Bandmates Peter Beckett and J.C. Crowley had both recently broken up with their girlfriends. They channeled their shared angst into this composition, a self-sorry guilty pleasure featuring former Steppenwolf member Wayne Cook on keys. Granted, Steppenwolf’s edgy disposition is nowhere to be found on this record, but it is pretty infectious in a late-summer-night, slightly-buzzed, clenched-fist sort of way. Player endured various lineup changes, but never returned to the heights of their first hit.

20. “On and On” by Stephen Bishop

Remember that scene in National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) where there’s this dude in a turtleneck singing a super cloying folks song before John Belushi mercifully snatches away his guitar and smashes it to smithereens? That guy was Stephen Bishop, who was actually in the middle of enjoying considerable success with his 1976 debut album, Careless . “On and On” was the album’s biggest hit, a vaguely Caribbean soft-rocker that reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in ’77. The gentle electric riffs you hear there are supplied by guitarist Andrew Gold–who wrote the theme song for the Golden Girls . (I freakin’ know you’re singing it right now).

21. “Chevy Van” by Sammy Johns

The classic tale of boy-meets-girls, bangs-her-in-his-van, and brags-to-his-buds, all with backing from the world famous Wrecking Crew studio team. In 1975, a lot of people super related to it. It sold over a million copies and reach #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. I can’t tell you this song is good. But I also can’t tell you I don’t like it.

22. “You Are the Woman” by Firefall

Firefall’s lead guitarist Jock Bartley perfectly captures this song’s impact, calling the band’s biggest hit “a singing version of [a] Hallmark card.” That feels right. The second single from Firefall’s 1976 self-titled debut was only a regional hit at first. But it was driven all the way to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the strength of radio requests. As Bartley explained, “Every female between the ages of 18 and 24 wanted to be the woman portrayed in the song, and that caused their boyfriends and spouses to call radio stations and subsequently flood the airwaves with dedications of the song and the sentiment.”

23. “Sailing” by Christopher Cross

Arguably, “Sailing” is the single most emblematic song of the Yacht Rock genre. Its thematic relevance requires no explanation. But it’s worth noting that the song is inspired by true events. During a tough time in his youth, Cross was befriended by Al Glasscock. Serving as something of an older brother to Cross, Glasscock would take him sailing. He recalls in his biggest hit that this was a time of escape from the harsh realities of his real life. In 1979, Cross released his self-titled debut. In early 1980, “Sailing” became a #1 hit, landing Cross a hat-trick of Grammys–including recognition as best new artist. Though Cross and Glasscock would lose touch for more than 20 years, they were reunited during a 1995 episode of The Howard Stern Show . Cross subsequently mailed a copy of his platinum record to Glasscock.

24. “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree

Apparently, this song was perceived as so blatant a ripoff of Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins’ “What a Fool Believes” that legal action was actually threatened. It never formulated. Instead, Robbie Dupree landed a #6 Billboard Hot 100 hit with the lead single from his self-titled 1980 debut. Critics hated it, but it was a dominant presence in the summer of 1980. It even earned Dupree a Grammy nomination for best new artist. He ultimately lost to the man just above–Christopher Cross.

25. “This is It” by Kenny Loggins

You didn’t think we’d get through this whole list without an actual Kenny Loggins tune. This song has the perfect pedigree, teaming Loggins and Michael McDonald on a 1979 composition that became the lead single off of Kenny Loggins’ Keep the Fire. Coming on the tail end of the ’70s, “This is It” felt positively omnipresent in the ’80s. I may be biased here. I grew up in Philadelphia, where a local television show by the same name adopted “This is It” as its theme song. But then, it did also reach #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.

And in that spirit…this is it, the end of our list.

But as usual, here’s a bonus playlist–an expanded voyage through the breezy, AOR waters of the mid-’70s to early ’80s.

• Share on Facebook
• Email this Page
• Share on Pinterest
• Share on Reddit
• Share on Tumblr
• Share on Pocket
• Share on SMS

• Build A Boat
• Find A Dealer

• Best Yacht Rock Songs to Play on Your Boat

Whether sailing the high seas or cruising on a tranquil lake, there’s no denying the magical combination of boating and music. And nothing quite fits the bill like yacht rock songs when it comes to creating the perfect ambiance for your boat party. With their smooth melodies and laid-back vibes, yacht rock tunes are the ideal soundtrack to accompany your nautical adventures. 

Curate the ultimate playlist for your next boat party with these suggestions so you can set sail with style and groove to the sounds of the sea.

What Is Yacht Rock and Why Is It Perfect for Boating?

Yacht Rock emerged in the late ’70s and early ‘80s , epitomizing the era’s smooth, soft rock music. Characterized by its polished production, jazz-influenced arrangements and evocative lyrics, yacht rock often features leisure, escapism and coastal lifestyle themes. These songs would be played aboard luxury yachts, capturing the essence of sunny days, ocean breezes and carefree adventures on the water.

Yacht rock songs for boats’ relaxed yet sophisticated nature make it a perfect complement to any boating experience. As the boat glides through the water, the soothing rhythms of the best lake songs create an atmosphere of tranquility and joy, taking your boat party to a new level of enjoyment.

Crafting the Perfect Boating Playlist

To create the ultimate summer boating songs playlist, we considered various factors contributing to the perfect sailing ambiance. The selected songs boast uplifting beats, catchy melodies and lyrics that evoke images of boats, sailing and the sea. Moreover, we’ve included diverse songs to cater to different musical tastes.

Best Boat Songs of All-Time

With so many options out there, we’re excited to share our top songs about boats and sailing and the best songs to listen to on a boat. 

• “Sailing” by Christopher Cross: With its gentle guitar strums and Christopher Cross’s velvety vocals, “Sailing” is an anthem for seafarers. The song’s serene melody and poetic lyrics encapsulate the feeling of being on the open water, making it a must-have for your boat party playlist. As you cruise along, “Sailing” will have everyone swaying to the rhythm, embracing the true spirit of yacht rock.
• “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes: A yacht rock classic, “Escape” brings a touch of whimsy to your boat party. This catchy tale of love and adventure pairs perfectly with the carefree ambiance of boating. The song’s playful vibe and sing-along chorus will have your guests joining in the fun, creating unforgettable memories on the water.
• “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass: “Brandy” is a timeless yacht rock gem that narrates the tale of a sailor’s love for a barmaid. Its upbeat tempo and memorable hooks make it an essential addition to your boat party playlist. As you listen to the story unfold, you’ll be transported to coastal taverns and endless maritime horizons.
• “Yacht Rock” by JD & The Straight Shot: The eponymous “Yacht Rock” is a modern tribute to the genre. With smooth instrumentals and polished vocals, this song embodies the very essence of summer boating songs. As you sail into the sunset, “Yacht Rock” will warmly embrace you, ensuring a truly unforgettable boat party experience.

• “Sail On” by Commodores: Smooth and soulful, “Sail On” by the Commodores is a yacht rock favorite that perfectly captures the essence of sailing. The mesmerizing vocals of Lionel Richie and the mellow instrumentation make it a sublime addition to your boat party playlist. As you sail into the horizon, “Sail On” will evoke feelings of serenity and nostalgia.
• “Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills & Nash: “Southern Cross” is a yacht rock sensation that vividly depicts a sailor’s journey and longing for adventure. With its dreamy harmonies and evocative lyrics, this song embodies the wanderlust spirit of boating. As you navigate the waters, “Southern Cross” will ignite a sense of exploration and freedom.
• “Key Largo” by Bertie Higgins: Set the perfect mood for your boat party with “Key Largo” by Bertie Higgins. This romantic ballad takes inspiration from the beautiful Florida island, offering a gentle and relaxing vibe. As you anchor in tranquil waters, “Key Largo” will fill the air with enchanting melodies, creating a magical experience on your boat.
• “Into the Night” by Benny Mardones: “Into the Night” is a yacht rock classic that weaves a tale of passion and romance under the moonlight. With its soulful vocals and captivating melody, this song is perfect for setting a dreamy and intimate atmosphere at your boat party. As the stars twinkle above, “Into the Night” will take you on a magical journey through the night skies.
• “Reminiscing” by Little River Band: As the sun sets on your boat party, let the nostalgic vibes of “Reminiscing” fill the air. This boating playlist gem has smooth harmonies and a gentle rhythm that will transport you back to cherished memories and create an ambiance of camaraderie and friendship. It’s the perfect tune to share stories and laughter with your guests.
• “Moonlight Feels Right” by Starbuck: “Moonlight Feels Right” is a funky and fun yacht rock song that will have everyone dancing on deck. With its catchy marimba riffs and chorus, this tune infuses your boat party with playful energy and excitement. So, let loose and dance under the moonlit sky as “Moonlight Feels Right” fills the night with joy.

Honorable Mentions

Whether you use them to create a more extensive playlist or keep them on standby for future voyages, these yacht rock gems will elevate your boat party’s ambiance. Let the melodies of these honorable mentions serenade you as you create unforgettable memories on your nautical journey. Here are our best boat party songs: 

• “Dance with Me” by Orleans: A captivating blend of folk and yacht rock, “Dance with Me” offers a smooth and romantic melody that sets the perfect tone for a slow dance on deck. This timeless classic will create a memorable moment for you and your guests as you sway together beneath the stars.
• “Cool Change” by Little River Band: “Cool Change” is an introspective Yacht Rock anthem that captures the essence of tranquility and self-discovery. Its calming rhythm and soul-stirring lyrics make it an excellent addition to your boat party playlist, especially during introspection on the open waters.
• “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree: The captivating vocals and soft rock style of “Steal Away” make it a must-have on your Yacht Rock boat party playlist. This tune exudes a sense of freedom and adventure, making it the perfect companion as you explore new horizons on your boat journey.
• “On and On” by Stephen Bishop: Stephen Bishop’s soothing voice and the mellow instrumentation of “On and On” create an atmosphere of pure relaxation. As you glide across the water, this yacht rock classic will add a touch of serenity to your boat party experience.

As you set sail on your boat party adventure, let the smooth melodies of yacht rock be your trusted companions. The carefully curated playlist will transport you and your guests to a world of blissful boating, where the worries of the shore are left behind. Grab your sunglasses, feel the wind in your hair and embark on a memorable journey with the ultimate yacht rock playlist for your boat party.

Discover Your Dream Boat With Formula Boats

Whether you seek luxurious leisure or thrilling performance, their boats offer innovation, design and unwavering craftsmanship. Customize your own Formula Boat model or locate a dealer now to turn your boating dreams into a reality and create unforgettable memories aboard your very own exquisite boat.

Contact Dealer

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply

Feature: The 101 GREATEST YACHT ROCK SONGS OF ALL TIME for Your Summer Playlist - featuring Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, Christopher Cross and Steely Dan

What Yacht Rock Classic Hit #1?

Yacht Rock is not for everyone. If you like your rock Cannibal Corpse intense or your hip hop extra Onyx edgy, then Yacht Rock will indubitably be your Kryptonite.

Some people consider this genre akin to musical wallpaper, marshmallow fluff, whiter-than-white bread snore-tunes or sax-heavy Sominex-inducing elevator muzak. They consider it slick, soulless pablum, even though true Yacht Rock vibrates with liveliness. Yes, it can be slow but it should never be sleepy; it should be relaxed and chill but never boring. Unfortunately, it's oft mistaken for any East Listening or Adult Contemporary tune (although, to be fair, many of the songs on this list do fall in these categories). But true Yacht Rock will not cause you to yawn; so don't worry, you won't find Air Supply, Barry Manilow or Dan Fogelberg anywhere near one of these rockin' yachts.

But what exactly is "Yacht Rock"? For those who don't know, it includes pop-rock songs from the late 1970's/early 1980's that would sound great on a yacht as you sip your pina coladas and get caught in the rain. Yacht Rock was not designed as thus; forty years ago, these songs that joyously filled the airwaves were called "soft rock" or "blue-eyed soul." It wasn't until the early 2000's when the term "Yacht Rock" was coined and the genre's guidelines were determined by the great J. D. Ryznar, Steve Huey, Hunter Stair, and David Lyons. Now it's everywhere, including on your SiriusXM radio app where a really bad Thurston Howell III soundalike introduces these Doobie-bounced ditties.

How can you identify a potential Yacht Rock classic? You can use Justice Potter Stewart's famous "I know it when I see it" (or, in this case, "hear it") dictum. To my ears, Yacht Rock is slick as an oil spill, part smooth pop, part light rock, both funky and jazzy. Most of the songs have tight harmonies, strong background singers (oftentimes sounding like Michael McDonald lost in an echo chamber), with added horns or strings. It's not lounge music, but it's music to lounge to. It's not disco, so you don't dance to it, but it's music where you can't help but tap your feet.

The joy of Yacht Rock is just that...its joyousness. This is bubblegum music for the jet set or the wannabe Richie Rich's. Its delightfully shallow, and part of its vibrancy is that it doesn't have a bad thought in its head. (Some of the songs obviously don't have any thoughts in their head, but if you want to have an intellectually stimulating conversation about, say, Toto's "Georgy Porgy," then have at it.) But never forget that part of its charm lies in its inability for deeper analysis; it's quite a stretch to compare some of these songs to a Winslow Homer painting or a Thomas Pynchon novel, but I'll try.

Officially, to be considered Yacht Rock, the song must have been released between 1976 and 1984, and I adhere to this rule for the 101. That means no songs that are proto-Yacht Rock, such as Seals & Crofts' "Summer Breeze," Ace's "How Long," or Steely Dan's "Dirty Work," are included. Neither did post-yacht rock favorites ("fire keepers") like Michael McDonald's "Sweet Freedom" (1986) get a chance. Some singers or groups, who are nowhere near Yacht Rock when looking at their oeuvre, may have a single YR classic in their midst; artists like Michael Jackson, Andy Gibb, the Eagles, and Earth, Wind and Fire have at least one Yacht Rock goodie on the list. And then there are those tunes that are not Yacht Rock: Nyacht Rock, which I tried but failed to avoid, but debates will happen nonetheless. For example, is "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" true Yacht Rock? Purists may say no, but I think there are few songs more yachty than the Rupert Holmes earworm.

Who would be on the Yacht Rock Mount Rushmore? Certainly Michael McDonald, whose presence is everywhere on this list with the Doobie Brothers, solos, duets, and as a backing vocalist on many of these tunes; he has 8 entries (not counting his prolific background singing). Kenny Loggins also epitomizes the genre (with 4 songs on the list, plus he co-wrote the #1 tune), as does Christopher Cross (with 5 songs on the list). But who gets that final position? Steely Dan (6 songs), Toto (6 songs), or Boz Scaggs (5 songs)? I'll let you try to settle on the filling of the fourth Rushmore slot.

And shouldn't there be a Yacht Rock Broadway musical? There are Yacht Rock tours, online series, books, websites, radio stations, podcasts, Spotify playlists; why not an official jukebox musical?

Lastly, you may ask: What makes me, a theatre reviewer, a Yacht Rock expert? For starters, I lived through these songs during my teenage years; they are the soundtrack of my younger self, especially when listening to Casey Kasem every Sunday morning on American Top-40 on CK-101. No matter how cheesy, I have a place in my heart for them. And on my 60 th birthday, I hope to rent a yacht, invite friends, don an ascot and captain's hat, and while enjoying mounds of caviar, listen to the soothing sounds of my youth. I'll use this list, my YACHT ROCK 101, as our guide, and hopefully you will too. (And hopefully if a song is unfamiliar to you, then you'll seek it out on You Tube or Spotify.) So, without further ado, counting down Kasem-style from #101 to #1, let's climb aboard...

THE 101 GREATEST YACHT ROCK SONGS!

101. NOTHIN' YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT [Airplay; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: N/A]

We start our three-hour tour here, Mr. Howell, with Airplay's little-known yachter, "Nothin' You Can Do About It," featuring David Foster, who peppers much of the following 101, and Jay Graydon, who played guitar on the Yacht Rock classic, "Peg." And as you'll find in so many songs here, the session musicians from Toto play the instruments and lift this horn-pocked One-Off into the stratosphere. It's poppy and breezy and everything that a YR hit should be. And its lyrics could be the Yacht Rock credo: "Relax; enjoy the ride!"

100. GEORGY PORGY [Toto; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #48]

This sounds like an outtake from a lost Boz Scaggs album. I have a place deep (very deep) in my heart for this. Yes, it's annoying, and Cheryl "Got to Be Real" Lynn's "Georgy Porgy, pudding pie/Kissed the girls and made them cry" refrain will get horrifically stuck in your head, but my oh my, how I love its glorious badness. (Some might claim that this isn't Yacht Rock, it's Yuck Rock.) No other chart would dare unearth this lost remnant that many think should remain lost, but it's too late baby, yes, it's too late. And if you want a sign of the coming Apocalypse: The endearingly ridiculous "Georgy Porgy" is more popular and beloved now than when it was first released.

99. THE THEME FROM "THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO" (BELIEVE IT OR NOT) [Joey Scarbury; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

Yacht Rock songs are usually called "likable," which is sort of a masked insult. When you can't think of something nice to say, you usually fall back on "likable," which doesn't mean you like it; it just means someone out there may like it. And "The Theme from 'The Greatest American Hero'" is certainly likable; it's maybe the only thing we remember from the otherwise forgotten William Katt TV series, which lasted three seasons. For "Seinfeld" fans, George's use of it on his answering machine in "The Susie" episode put the song on a level way above its pay grade. Just last year, it also showed up (with "Seinfeld's" Jason Alexander) in a Tide commercial. So, this song has planted its flag in our more current pop culture landscape; perhaps it and the roaches will be the only things to survive the end of the world. Believe it or not.

98. INTO THE NIGHT [Benny Mardones; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #11]

97. WE JUST DISAGREE [Dave Mason; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #12]

96. KEY LARGO [Bertie Higgins; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #8]

95. ESCAPE (THE PINA COLADA SONG) [Rupert Holmes; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

These four songs, including one #1 hit, will cause arguments from purists; they score them low on the official Yacht Rock scale and label them the dreaded Nyacht Rock. But I think each of them deserve to be on the list, even if this low. Benny Mardones was a key part of one of my high school experiences as the special musical guest for 1981's Grad Night at Disney World; I remember hearing "Into the Night" into the nighttime distance and knowing that I was in the right place at the right time. (And I take the song's narrator as a teenager crooning about a girl-because with lines like "she's just sixteen years old/Leave her alone, they say," it's just too creepily cringy to contend with otherwise.) "We Just Disagree" builds as the best Yacht Rock songs do, even if it may be too gloomy in subject matter (the breaking up of a relationship). "Key Largo" by Tampa Bay area native Bertie Higgins may be more Tropical Rock than Yacht Rock, but it's yachty enough to make the cut; besides, who can resist the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall allusions? And Rupert Holmes's "Escape," the last word in 70's pop, is what many people think of when they read the term "Yacht Rock." And yes, it may be excessively wordy for the genre, complete with a twist ending, but to leave it off the list entirely would be a pop culture misdemeanor if not a crime. For the purists who will not escape the strict Yacht Rock guidelines and unnecessarily nix great and yachty songs like these, then we just disagree.

94. YAH-MO BE THERE [James Ingram with Michael McDonald; 1983; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #19]

A Yacht Rock staple and the first appearance of the ubiquitous Mr. McDonald on our list. I'm sure more than one person agrees with Paul Rudd from the move The 40-Year-Old Virgin when he, having McDonald's songs on a continuous loop at his work place, exclaims, "...If I hear 'Yah-Mo Be There' one more time, I'm gonna 'yah mo' burn this place to the ground!"

93. BREEZIN' [George Benson; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #63]

The first of two instrumentals on the list and the initial Yacht Rock sighting of George Benson. I mentioned earlier that none of these songs should be compared to paintings by Winslow Homer, but if any comes close, it's this one, especially Homer's "Breezin' Up." Try looking at the painting and hearing the Benson hook at the same time, and I'll see you in the morning.

92. FOOLISH HEART [Steve Perry; 1984; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #8]

Although Steve Perry is more famous as the onetime front man for Journey, and for making "Don't Stop Believin'" the most overplayed track from the Eighties, this is his sole entry into my Yacht Rock 101. His smooth voice haunts this with an uber-emotional yearning that seldom finds its way onto the feel-good vibes found elsewhere on this list.

91. 99 [Toto; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #26]

Chalk up another inspiration from a George Lucas film, although not the film you may think it is. Star Wars may be Lucas' biggest achievement, but this song takes its idea from the seldom-seen Lucas cult hit, THX 1138 , which is dystopian cold in feeling. That such a stark story (losing your identity and only being known as numbers) gets the smooth pop-light Toto treatment can only be construed as ironic.

90. ONE STEP CLOSER [The Doobie Brothers; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #24]

The Doobie Brothers' last gasp of the Michael McDonald era before our bearded musical Michelangelo would meander into a solo career.

89. HARD HABIT TO BREAK [Chicago; 1984; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #3]

Love is an addictive drug that lasts years in this beautiful if not overwrought ballad produced by David Foster.

88. DO RIGHT [Paul Davis; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #23]

A rare example of RYR: Religious Yacht Rock. Certainly the most unabashedly Christian song on the list, its opening lines like something out of an old Jim and Tammy Bakker telecast from the early 1980's: " I know that he gave his life for me/Set all our spirits free/So I want to do right, want to do right/All of my life ..." Musically it has a total yacht quality, a toe-tapping buoyant drive, that didn't stop it from being the 10 th biggest Adult Contemporary Christian hit of 1980.

87. DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS [Rick Springfield; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

A year after "Jessie's Girl," Rick Springfield nearly hit the top of the charts with this Yacht Rock plea of jealous rage (though Springfield's demeanor doesn't come across as "rage"; he seems disdainful but laid back, which is why this perfectly fits the YR mold). It's too much fun to rival "Every Breath You Take" in the paranoid Top-10 hit department. Make sure not to miss the lyrics in French near the song's end which are there because...well, I don't know exactly why they're there, but I appreciate the nod to Francophiles.

86. WAITING FOR YOUR LOVE [Toto; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #73]

This is Toto's third song in the 101, paving way for claims that they should be the final slot on the Yacht Rock Mount Rushmore. "Waiting for Your Love" may not have hit big, stalling at a disappointing #73 on the charts, but has since been cited as one of Toto's greatest songs.

85. IT KEEPS YOU RUNNIN' [The Doobie Brothers; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #37]

Michael McDonald's soulful vocals and the band's mesmerizingly funky rhythm catapult this entry into the stratosphere. Yes, it was shoved onto the soundtrack of Forrest Gump , but its Yacht Rock status comes from it being featured in another film (and soundtrack that is a Yacht Rock purist's dream): the forgotten film FM (which spawned an even higher entry on this list...Steely Dan's infectious title cut).

84. LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME [Boz Scaggs; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #14]

Boz Scaggs wasn't born with the name "Boz." Actually born William Royce Scaggs, he got the nickname "Boz" after someone kept wrongly referring to him as "Bosley" at St. Marks Academy. And with a name like "Boz," Yacht Rock elite status was certainly destined. In the 1970's, Scaggs would perfect that laid back soft rock sound with a slight funky beat, the quintessence of Yacht Rock. This song, slower than most on this list, would become his big reaching-for-the-stars power pop ballad, and it didn't hurt that it was featured in a John Travolta film (Urban Cowboy).

83. KISS YOU ALL OVER [Exile; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

It's hard to imagine that learned people that I deeply admire have a difficult time including this as a Yacht Rock staple. With synthesized strings and inspired by the grizzly growling org*smic sound of Barry White in "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next To Me," "Kiss You All Over" was voted ninth in Billboard's 2010 list of "The 50 Sexiest Songs of All Time" (for the record, "Physical" was #1).

82. BABYLON SISTERS [Steely Dan; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: N/A]

Dante-esque tour of California, with the jaded Yacht Kings, Steely Dan, playing the part of Virgil as your guide. Singing backup on this track, crooning those haunting words "Here comes those Santa Ana winds again," is none other than Patti Austin, who will be even more involved with another Yacht Rock classic that you'll find further down the list [see "Baby, Come to Me"]. A delicious downer.

81. SMOKE FROM A DISTANT FIRE [Sanford Townsend Band; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #9]

One of the great One Hit Wonders of the 1970's.

80. HOLD THE LINE [Toto; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #5]

The song that put the session musicians of Toto on the map and the fourth of their hits to make our 101.

79. TAKIN' IT TO THE STREETS [The Doobie Brothers; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #13]

The world was introduced to Michael McDonald as a Doobie right here, their first song written by him for the Doobie's and with him on lead vocals. And thus, the King of Yacht Rock started his reign. Also, who can forget the 1978 episode of "What's Happening" with Rerun illegally recording the Doobie's singing this very song?

78. KEEP THE FIRE [Kenny Loggins; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #36]

Mr. and Mrs. Howell, let me introduce you to our next entry...Kenny Loggins with his very own Herbie Hancock-inspired vocoder long before it was in vogue.

77. ISN'T IT TIME [The Babys; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #13]

Michael Corby's opening piano, backed with syrupy violins, leads way to John Waite's oxymoronic soft bombastic vocals and Tony Brock's pulsating drum work. Lisa Freeman-Roberts, Myrna Matthews and Pat Henderson get their gospel groove on while backing Waite's hearty screech in this scrumptious pop treat.

76. YOU CAN'T CHANGE THAT [Raydio; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #9]

A cool breeze of a song by Ray Parker Jr. & Co., one of the few Yacht Rock light-soul classics that you can dance to, though it's way too laid back to be considered disco. A song that immediately puts you in a good mood no matter how bad your day had been previously.

75. LIDO SHUFFLE [Boz Scaggs; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard 100: #11]

Boz again, with this ode to a drifter looking for some luck. The galvanizing music would be created by none other than David Paich (keyboards), David Hungate (bass), and Jeff Porcaro (drums), all of them future members of Toto. Whoa-oh-oh-oh!

74. WHAT'CHA GONNA DO? [Pablo Cruise; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #6]

Is there a more apt band name for Yacht Rock greatness than "Pablo Cruise"? And this tune, a key part of that summer of 1977, was where they first introduced themselves to us in all their infectious pop-light glory. The group hit #6 in the U.S., which isn't bad, but Canada got it right when they elevated this tasty morsel to #1 on their charts.

73. SENTIMENTAL LADY [Bob Welch; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #8]

Bob Welch, a former member of Fleetwood Mac, originally recorded this for their 1972 album Bare Trees . After leaving the band, he recorded it again, giving it the lush Yacht Rock treatment. Fleetwood Mac may not be considered official Yacht Rock gurus, but this song comes closest, with the majority of their members performing on it: Mick Fleetwood on drums, John McVie on bass, Christine McVie on piano as well as joining Lindsey Buckingham in background vocals. All that's missing is Stevie.

72. MISS SUN [Boz Scaggs; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #14]

We can thank this record for giving us our beloved Toto. Originally recorded by them in 1977, and due to their tight musicianship, Toto made a deal with Columbia Records solely based on their performance of this song. Ironically, it didn't make Toto's first LP, but Boz and the Toto gang recorded it for his Hits! compilation and the rest is Yacht Rock history.

71. JOSIE [Steely Dan; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #26]

One of Steely Dan's very best, especially Chuck Rainey's hypnotic bass. And those lyrics: " When Josie comes home/So bad/She's the best friend we ever had/She's the raw flame/The live wire/She prays like a Roman/With her eyes on fire." Question: Where is Josie coming home from? College? War? Prison? With Steely Dan's don't-care-if-listeners-understand-them obtuse lyrics, we'll never know.

70. YOU ARE THE WOMAN [Firefall; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #9]

69. STILL THE ONE [Orleans; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #5]

Two light-rock classics from Year One of Yacht Rock. "You Are the Woman" would become a quasi-staple of yachty wedding reception playlists, especially if a flautist happened to be on board; "Still the One" would be the commercial jingle for both ABC-TV in the 1970's and Applebee's restaurants just a couple of years ago.

68. YEAR OF THE CAT [Al Stewart; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #8]

Perhaps the most haunting song on the list; it's what you get when you mix Casablanca with the Vietnamese Zodiac.

67. THUNDER ISLAND [Jay Ferguson; 1977; ; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #9]

This passionate ode to island lovin' can be heard in Anchorman 2 , the hockey movie Miracle , and the great "To'Hajiilee" episode of Breaking Bad .

66. RICH GIRL [Hall & Oates; 1977; ; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

Hall & Oates first chart-topper and perhaps the first #1 single to use the word "bitch" in it. Interestingly, the song was written about a guy initially-the spoiled heir to a Chicago-based entrepreneur who owned Walker Bros. Original Pancake House and ran fifteen KFC restaurants; the gender of the person was changed and the song suddenly became destined for pop culture immortality. And yes, it entered skin-crawling notoriety when Son of Sam himself, David Berkowitz, claimed the song inspired him to continue his serial killing rampage that paralyzed New York City that summer of '77.

65. MORNIN' [Al Jarreau; 1983; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #21]

64. LOVELY DAY [Bill Withers; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #30]

Two of the peppiest songs imaginable, both about splendid sunshine days, perfect for relaxing while you count your money on your very own yacht. Jarreau's "Mornin'" sounds like the feel-good opening of a Broadway show, while Withers hit the motherlode with "Lovely Day," ubiquitous in ads and movies for the past 45 years, complete with an impressive 18-second note that Withers sings that may be the longest ever in a Top-40 hit

63. ARTHUR'S THEME (BEST THAT YOU CAN DO) [Christopher Cross; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

Christopher Cross is up there with Michael McDonald as the face of Yacht Rock, and this Academy Award winner for Best Song from the movie Arthur put Cross at the pinnacle of his success. He never came close to those heights again, but Yacht Rock gave his cannon (and career) a whole new life.

62. LONELY BOY [Andrew Gold; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #7]

Teenage psychopathy never sounded so good.

61. BEING WITH YOU [Smokey Robinson; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

Smokey's "Being with You" was kept out of the #1 position because Kim Carnes' owned the top of the '81 charts with the behemoth "Bette Davis Eyes." So the story goes, Smokey loved Carnes' version of his own "More Love" from the year before that he wrote a song specifically for her...and that song was "Being with You." But it was such a strong tune that he opted to record it himself and eventually had to settle with it at #2, behind the person who the song was originally intended for.

60. HOW MUCH I FEEL [Ambrosia; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #3]

Ambrosia is another Yacht Rock giant whose slick soft pop sound and lush harmonies would epitomize the genre.

59. LIVING INSIDE MYSELF [Gino Vannelli; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #6]

Is this too intense for Yacht Rock? Maybe at times with Vannelli's head-bursting vocals. But it's a musical treasure trove, at times as dramatic as any Hamlet soliloquy, and Vannelli sings it like an overemotive Johnnie Ray resurrected with big hair.

58. JOJO [Boz Scaggs; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #17]

Smoothly soulful as it is , "Jojo" deals with the darker side of Yacht Rock. The title character is quite obviously a pimp, especially with lines like "fifty dollars, he'll get you all you want" or "His baby stays high...he keeps her on the street." As rough as the thematic waters may seem, the music is smooth sailing, the perfect fusion of pop, jazz and funk. All this and Toto, too.

57. WHAT YOU WON'T DO FOR LOVE [Bobby Caldwell; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #9]

Of course this made the list. A heart-shaped pressing of the song was released just in time for Valentine's Day, 1979, and cost a whopping $7.98 from consumers (which was the price of most LP's back then) . So many artists from Boys II Men, Michael Bolton and even Tupac Shakur either covered it or sampled its contagious mellowness.

56. LOVE TAKES TIME [Orleans; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #11]

At the time, here's how Cash Box described the music of this winner: "...synthesizer coloration, firm pounding beat, piano, searing guitar fills, tambourine and dynamic singing." In other words, 100% pure Yacht Rock!

55. KISS ON MY LIST [Hall & Oates; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

Certainly on my list of the best things in life.

54. SO INTO YOU [Atlanta Rhythm Section; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #7]

The lightest of Southern Rockers, Atlanta Rhythm Section's laid back brand of guitar rock suited the late 70's perfectly, a nice alternate to the disco pandemic but not quite in Lynryd Skynyrd territory either. Also, is the title "So Into You" a double entendre? And were the lyrics more sexually explicit than we ever imagined? " It's gonna be good, don't you know/From your head to your toe/Me into you, you into me, me into you..."

53. YOU'RE THE ONLY WOMAN [Ambrosia; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #13]

In sone ways Ambrosia may be the most Yacht Rocky of all groups (don't worry, Toto and Steely Dan will always give them a run for the money). But this song underscores the carefree feel of the genre, like reclining on a yacht with these words on the breeze in the background: "You and I've been in love too long/To worry about tomorrow/Here's a place where we both belong/I know you're the only woman I'm dreaming of..." Not worrying about tomorrow, just floating without a care in tthe world. Is there anything more yachty than that?

52. I'D REALLY LOVE TO SEE YOU TONIGHT [England Dan & John Ford Coley; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

Ingenious opening, the listener privy to a one-way phone conversation: " Hello, yeah, it's been a while/Not much, how 'bout you?/I'm not sure why I called/I guess, I really just wanted to talk to you ..." It's up to the listener to decide whether the caller is pathetic or sweet. "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight" may be the perfect easy listening song of all time, better than anything by Barry Manilow (who would cover it decades later); it's its sing-along boisterousness that saves it from being unceremoniously tossed into the Nyacht Rock bin.

51. EVERY TIME I THINK OF YOU [The Babys; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #13]

Another feel-good Babys bombast, pounding the power pop vibes in a song that's both intense and full of positive feelies.

50. ALL NIGHT LONG (ALL NIGHT) [Lionel Richie; 1983; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

This massive hit has a bit of everything, a sort of melting pot of styles--adult contemporary, pop, R&B, Richie's soothing easy listening vocals, all to a Caribbean beat. The song was everywhere in 1984, in the popular music video (directed by Five East Pieces' Bob Rafelson and produced by Mike Nesmith of the Monkees), heard in the premiere of "Miami Vice," and sung by Richie at the closing ceremonies of the '84 Olympics. And what is the translation of the lines, " Tom bo li de say de moi ya/Yeah jambo jumbo"? Don't even bothering going to Google Translate; turns out they're just gibberish with no deeper meaning. No deeper meaning, i.e. the way we like our Yacht Rock.

49. IF YOU LEAVE ME NOW [Chicago; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

So popular that it's featured in works as diverse as "The Modern Family," "South Park," Shaun of the Dead and even the video game, Grand Theft Auto V . It's perhaps the most soaring, lush, heartfelt and yearning ballad on the list, with Peter Cetera's lead vocals drowning listeners in waves of pure reverie.

48. JUST REMEMBER I LOVE YOU [Firefall; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #11]

Such a sober, serious song in such a vibrantly feel-good genre, and yet it's uplifting and filled with hope. I think of someone on the verge of suicide, maybe wanting to jump off a building or maybe seeking help calling a hotline, and the singer, perhaps a close friend, talking him or her down: " When there's so much trouble that you want to cry/When your love has crumbled and you don't know why/When your hopes are fading and they can't be found/Dreams have left you waiting, friends let you down..." But then the friend reminds the sorrowful soul, "just remember I love you and it will be all right" and that "maybe all your blues will wash away..." And that's really what Yacht Rock does, doesn't it? It washes those blues away.

47. BABY, COME TO ME [Patti Austin & James Ingram; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

As with so many songs on this list, Michael McDonald adds superb backing vocals here, in this enchanting ballad made famous by its appearance on "General Hospital" as Luke and Holly's love song.

46. HEY NINETEEN [Steely Dan; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #10]

An aging boomer can't connect with his young lover; not quite Nabokovian but close, especially when the leering singer exclaims to his youngling in the perviest way possible, "Skate a little lower now!" The 19-year-old girl in question doesn't even know who Aretha Franklin is; I was 18 when the song was released and I sure knew the Queen of Soul as did most of my peers. Who, I wondered way back when, is this ditsy girl? Perhaps the most startling thing about the work is the singer's unblinking dive into cocaine and alcohol in order to be able to deal with a world that is slowly leaving him behind: " The Cuervo Gold / The fine Colombian / Make tonight a wonderful thing..."

45. YOU BELONG TO ME [Carly Simon; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #6]

44. HE'S SO SHY [The Pointer Sisters; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #3]

43. THROUGH THE FIRE [Chaka Khan; 1984; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #60]

Yacht Rock is not known for its diversity. Of course there are several songs by people of color, and there are definitely strong women on the chart, but we would be remiss if we did not mention that overall the genre is mostly male and white. But the women who do appear on the list have created some of the finest tunes of them all. Carly Simon's wondrous "You Belong to Me," written by Simon and Michael McDonald with backing vocals by James Taylor, started as a Doobie ballad, but Simon's more poignant version actually bests the "Brothers." The Pointer Sisters are not Yacht Rock, but their hit, "He's So Shy," certainly is; that they sang it with Isaac on an infamous episode of "The Love Boat" is about the highest order of Yachtdom there is. And Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire," produced by David Foster, is one her all-time greatest songs, even though it didn't score big in the Land of the Hot-100; still, Khan's vocals are breathtaking in this scorching torchy ballad that is nothing short of Yacht Rock gold bullion.

42. TIME OUT OF MIND [Steely Dan; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #22]

One of the funkiest songs about heroin ("chasing the dragon") ever written.

41. AN EVERLASTING LOVE [Andy Gibb; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #5]

40. AFTER THE LOVE HAS GONE [Earth, Wind & Fire; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

39. I CAN'T TELL YOU WHY [The Eagles; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #8]

38. HUMAN NATURE [Michael Jackson; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #7]

Not all Yacht Rock hits are by Yacht Rock artists, as is the case with these four songs. The Bee Gees are definitely not Yacht Rock, especially their disco hits, and neither is brother Andy Gibb...with one exception. Gibb's "An Everlasting Love" with its nonstop overlapping vocals (combined with Barry Gibb's falsetto and the string arrangement) make this irresistible. Earth, Wind & Fire's "After the Love Has Gone," another David Foster masterpiece, with its rousing vocals and brilliant use of horns, is EWF's most gorgeous tune. The Eagles, certainly not a Yacht Rock group (though often mistaken as such), has one hit in their oeuvre that's unadulterated YR: "I Can't Tell You Why," with Timothy B. Schmidt, pulling out his inner Smokey Robinson and Al Green, providing its stirring lead vocals. And Michael Jackson's Yacht Rock entry, "Human Nature" from the Thriller album , was backed by members of Toto, with some of Jackson's most lush vocals, and is the dictionary definition of the word "euphoric."

37. HOT ROD HEARTS [Robbie Dupree; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #15] There are so many hits in the rock era about two teenagers making love in a parked car, from "Night Movies" to "Paradise By the Dashboard Lights," but "Heart Rod Hearts" may be the most daring of them all in its own way: " Ten miles east of the highway/Hot sparks burnin' the night away/Two lips touchin' together/Cheek to cheek, sweatshirt to sweater/Young love born in a back seat/Two hearts pound out a back beat / Headlights, somebody's comin'..." And obviously that last lyric just quoted has a rather sordid double meaning.

36. JUST THE TWO OF US [Grover Washington, Jr. with Bill Withers; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

This jazzy ballad, with Withers' heart full o' soul vocals, is a soft-jazz saxfest, later spawning Will Smith's cover (about fathers and sons), Bill Cosby's unlistenable "Just the Slew of Us," and, most hilariously, Dr. Evil's duet with Mini Me in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me .

35. MAGNET AND STEEL [Walter Egan; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #8]

Inspired by Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, who sings backup in it, "Magnet and Steel" is totally yachtriffic, with inspiring heavenly harmonies. A sort of musical snapshot of 1978, this light-rock masterwork is featured in the phenomenal Boogie Nights and the phlegmatic Deuce Bigalow: American Gigolo .

34. WHENEVER I CALL YOU FRIEND [Kenny Loggins with Stevie Nicks; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #5]

One of the great duet tracks on the list, written by Loggins and Melissa Manchester. When first released, because Stevie Nicks is not credited on the original 45 single, this was officially considered Loggins first solo Top-40 hit.

33. GIVE ME THE NIGHT [George Benson; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #4]

Yacht Rock was created for George Benson's jazzy-guitar, cool-funk sensibilities. Although "Give Me the Night" may border on disco, it's not quite there and rests firmly in our beloved Yacht Rock territory.

32. NEVER BE THE SAME [Christopher Cross; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #15]

Love never dies, not even after a break up, not even after you've found someone else; that's what this Christopher Cross song teaches us: " The years go by, there's always someone new/To try and help me forget about you/Time and again it does me no good/Love never feels the way that it should..."

31. TIME PASSAGES [Al Stewart; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #7]

There's a floating, drifting quality to the song, as '70's mellow as they come. The top single of the year on the Easy Listening charts, "Time Passages" has Al Stewart's thin voice singing, " Drifting into time passages / Years go falling in the fading light / Time passages/Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight..." If he had sung about a "yacht" rather than a "train," then this classic might rest even higher on the YR list.

30. REAL LOVE [The Doobie Brothers; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #5]

29. LOTTA LOVE [Nicolette Larson; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #7]

Nicolette Larson sings backup on the Doobie's third biggest hit, "Real Love," and lead on her sweet cover of Neil Young's "Lotta Love." Take the lyric, "It's gonna take a lotta love/To change the way things are..." In Young's version, he comes across as rather somber, yearning, on the verge of melancholia, like it's a wish that he knows can never be fulfilled; Larson sings with a Melanie-like playfulness to a disco-light beat, and in her hands the song becomes life-affirming, vivacious, with a somewhat positive can-do attitude that's not found in the original.

28. I'M NOT GONNA LET IT BOTHER ME TONIGHT [Atlanta Rhythm Section; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #14]

This song's sensibility is all Yacht Rock...that the world is in upheaval, and there are terrors out there waiting to destroy us, but who cares when we can save the worry for another day? This outlook stands as the true philosophy of procrastination found in Yacht Rock: " About all the pain and injustice / About all of the sorrow / We're living in a danger zone / The world could end tomorrow/But I'm not gonna let it bother me tonight..."

27. FEELS SO GOOD [Chuck Mangione; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #4]

The title of this flugelhorn-driven instrumental says it all.

26. ALL RIGHT [Christopher Cross; 1983; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #12]

If you're ever down and troubled, then do yourself a favor: Put on Christopher Cross' "All Right," with MM's patented backing vocals, and watch as the bad times wash away and a smile creeps upon your face. This stands as perhaps the most optimistic song ever written: "'Cause it's all right, think we're gonna make it/Think it might just work out this time..."

25. TURN YOUR LOVE AROUND [George Benson; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #5]

George Benson + Toto + David Foster + Jay Graydon on guitar + an early use of the Linn LM-1 Drum machine = Yacht Rock platinum status.

24. MINUTE BY MINUTE [The Doobie Brothers; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #14]

Listening to this Michael McDonald marvel of mellowness beats Xanax any day.

23. ONE HUNDRED WAYS [Quincy Jones and James Ingram; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #14]

What a perfect example of scrumptiously soft soul music with the velvet voice of Mr. Ingram leading the way, singing a litany of 100 things to romance his lady. He's never been better than a moment in this Grammy-winner, when he hits outrageous notes while singing, "Sacrifice if you care/Buy her some moonlight to wear..." To quote Robert Palmer: Simply irresistible.

22. I LOVE YOU [The Climax Blues Band; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #12]

This surely plays on rotation in heaven.

21. BAKER STREET [Gerry Rafferty; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

Is this the coolest Top-5 hit of the 1970's? With Raphael Ravencroft's searing saxophone riff rivaling anything by Clarence Clemons, the answer must be a resounding YES!

20. FM (NO STATIC AT ALL) [Steely Dan; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #22]

Perhaps the only Top-40 hit where the songwriters dare to rhyme "Elvis" with "yells his" and sing about "grapefruit wine." Recorded as the title song for a little-known 1978 film, FM, the significance of this Grammy-winning Steely Dan song cannot go unnoticed. The year it was released was the first time FM radio (clearer sound, no static at all) superseded AM radio (too much static) in listening popularity. So, if you ran an AM station and had to play a song called "FM" in rotation-a song about your competitor, a radio format that was making you obsolete-then what would you do? In the case of some stations, they edited the Steely Dan track and put the "A" sound from the group's song "Aja" where the "F" in "FM" should be. Their newly fine-tuned tune would be called "AM," even though the repeated phrase of "no static at all" would now make no sense whatsoever.

19. COOL NIGHT [Paul Davis; 1981; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #11]

Paul Davis' ultimate love song, even stronger than his iconic "I Go Crazy." Its boppin' bliss shields the fact that the lead singer is lost: " I sometimes wonder why /All the flowers have to die / I dream about you /And now, Summer's come and gone / And the nights they seem so long ..." But this is Paul Davis, and nothing can bring him down, not when there's a cool night comin' and he invites his love to join him by the fire so that they can bring "back memories of a good life when this love was not so old..." The singer's optimism is so heartfelt, and this being Yacht Rock, we know that these two will ultimately get back together.

18. REMINISCING [Little River Band; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #3]

This slick throwback to a black-and-white Cole Porter world should be on any indispensable wedding reception playlist, starting with a young couple falling in love and ending when they're older, spending their hours looking back at their good times. You would think this melodic pop treasure would be a Paul McCartney fave, but in an interesting twist, it was John Lennon who claimed "Reminiscing" as one of his favorite songs.

17. DEACON BLUES [Steely Dan; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #19]

This slick, sprawling mega-work about a midlife crisis is the most epic of Yacht Rock songs, its jazzy War and Peace , a veritable A la Recherche du Tremps Perdu . If you want to hear a fan of the University of Alabama cheer, then play them this line: "They call Alabama the Crimson Tide/Call me Deacon Blues." Still, the song is so seriously sober in tone that few people, even the most ardent of Alabama fanatics, will be yelling "Roll Tide!" after hearing it.

16. BABY COME BACK [Player; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

Tranquil and comforting even though it was written after two of the Player members suffered recent break-ups. Pop culture has had a heyday with its infectious hook, with "Baby Come Back" popping up in the Transformers, "The Simpsons," "King of the Hill" and even a "General Hospital" ep featuring the band themselves playing this classic live.

15. AFRICA [Toto; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

The Gods of Yacht Rock blessed the reign of this "Africa," Toto's sole #1 single that has been hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as "The New 'Don't Stop Believin'." It's been utilized in such works as Stranger Things, South Park and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City . During the funeral of Nelson Mandela, CBS accompanied the footage with this song, raising more than one eyebrow. But if you haven't heard the song in awhile, or have never heard it (who are you?), then please heed the song's advice: "Hurry, boy, it's waiting there for you!"

14. MOONLIGHT FEELS RIGHT [Starbuck; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #3]

"The wind blew some luck in my direction/I caught it in my hands today..." One of the earliest Yacht Rock ventures on the list, with nods to French Connections, Ole Miss, the Chesapeake Bay, Southern Belles ("hell at night") and 1974 graduates ("a class of '74 gold ring"). According to Casey Kasem on AT-40, it was also the first song to chart that featured a marimba. Wafts along so joyfully, complete with suggestive giggles at the end of a particularly evocative verse.

13. COOL CHANGE [Little River Band; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #10]

In its own way, perhaps the yachtiest song on the list, a plea for escape, to come to terms with nature, to sail away on the "cool and bright clear water." It's not unlike Thoreau's "Walden Pond" set to music: "Well, I was born in the sign of water/And it's there that I feel my best/The albatross and the whales, they are my brothers/It's kind of a special feeling/When you're out on the sea alone/Staring at the full moon like a lover..." With "Cool Change," we don't need to journey outdoors to escape by emracing nature, to climb mountains or to sail the seas; we have the song itself which, to this listener, becomes the perfect escape without ever having to leave the house.

12. THIS IS IT [Kenny Loggins; 1979; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #11]

"It's not a love song," Loggins once said. "It's a life song." If you want proof of American exceptionalism, go no further than here, because this is it . Although written for personal reasons, the song was needed when America was a bit down and out, "our backs to the corner" so to speak: Long gas lines, the Three Miles Island nuclear catastrophe, the cold war in its iciest state in years, and American hostages in Iran. And this song said it best: "Sometimes I believe/We'll always survive/Now I'm not so sure..." But then he stands tall and proclaims: "For once in your life/Here's your miracle/Stand up and fight!" I look at today, when America and the world once again are down and out (with soaring gas prices, gun violence, Russia invading the Ukraine and extreme tribalism); it's not a bad idea to play "This Is It" at full volume in order to lift our spirits, to help us stand up and fight through these dark days.

11. RIDE LIKE THE WIND [Christopher Cross; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

It's like something you'd find in a Sam Peckinpah film: A murderer of ten people is on the run, escaping inevitable execution (by hanging), chased by a posse all the way "to the border of Mexico." And yes, in "Ride Like the Wind," the bad guy gets away with it in this thrilling ride of a song, both driving and jazzy, with the trumpeting death horns and Michael McDonald's background vocals seemingly chasing the outlaw lead singer. Only recently I discovered that the line in the song is "gunned down ten," not "Gunga Din"; am I the only one who misunderstood these lyrics for most of my life?

10. LOWDOWN [Boz Scaggs; 1976; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #3]

Here's the "dirty lowdown" (the honest truth) about "Lowdown." Boz Scaggs reinvented himself as the sunglasses-at-night bastion of cool with this soft-funk, discofied killer of a track. It was written by Scaggs and David Paich, their first collaboration; Paich, as you may know, would later go on to form the group Toto. Their creation would be honored with a Grammy win for best R&B song, and Scaggs would become the first white artist to win the award in that particular category. It could have also been one of the great additions to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which the filmmakers wanted, but Boz's manager nixed the idea. They lost tons of money and popularity by settling for the soundtrack of the trauma-drama, Looking for Mr. Goodbar , where incidentally I first heard the song and wound up playing it over and over again long after it was a Top-10 hit.

9. LOVE WILL FIND A WAY [Pablo Cruise; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #6]

"Shadow Dancing" may have been the #1 song of '78, but it's this Pablo Cruise rollicking heap of pop brilliance that overfilled the radio airwaves that summer the way ivy covers the walls of Harvard. It was everywhere, and you couldn't escape it: "Once you get past the pain/You'll learn to find your love again." Such optimism, such hope, "Love Will Find a Way" became the signature hit of that fun-filled summer. It wasn't deep, but don't worry, it was happy. Pablo Cruise actually exemplifies the YR genre, the positive vibes perfect for summertime paradise by a band long forgotten, now remembered endearingly and, due to the recent adoration of Yacht Rock, justifiably immortalized.

8. ROSANNA [Toto; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #2]

The ultimate Toto tune and, thus, one of the Ultimate Yacht Rock entries. Named after Rosanna Arquette, the song became the summer anthem of '82, nesting at #2 for five weeks. The song's West Side Story -inspired music video featured Patrick Swayze, a year before The Outsiders, in a small part and Cynthia Rhodes as the title girl. Sylvester Stallone, who was directing Stayin' Alive at the time, saw Rhodes in the video and immediately cast her as a lead in his film. Stayin' Alive turned out to be a bad film, but it's a great story.

7. PEG [Steely Dan; 1977; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #11]

Welcome to L.A. where we're at a questionable photoshoot for an actress/model of perhaps ill-repute named Peg; narrating it is a disgruntle, sarcastic boyfriend who keeps her pictures with him and loves her even more due to her fame or infamy. The mention of foreign movies in the lyrics brings to mind seedier fair for our Pag, perhaps pornography. But any Steely Dan darkness that shrouds "Peg" is eclipsed by the jubilant music, so springy, so animated, so full of verve. Add Michael McDonald's patented backing vocals and Jay Graydon's guitar work, and you have nothing less than a fist-in-the-air triumph .

6. I KEEP FORGETTIN' (EVERY TIME YOU'RE NEAR) [Michael McDonald; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #4]

The captain of our Yacht Rock, Michael McDonald is everywhere in this 101. If you take only the top 12 songs, his voiceprints can be found somewhere in following: #12, #11, #7, #6, #3 and #1. And this song, his first big solo scribed by both McDonald and Ed Sanford (of the Sanford Townsend Band, famous for "Smoke from a Distant Fire"), obviously typifies the genre as strong as Coca Cola typifies soda. It even boasts the title of an episode of the online video series, "Yacht Rock," which after you've seen it is something you'll never forget.

5. STEAL AWAY [Robbie Dupree; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #6]

Yes, it sounds a little too close to the bubbly beat of "What a Fool Believes." And yes, it's the only time you will ever see Robbie Dupree in a Top-10 list during the modern era. But this is a wonder of Yacht Rocky delight, so shallow, so sweetly stupid, and so infectious to the ear. Listening to it might zap a few IQ points away from you, but the song is so agreeable, so toe-tappingly charming, who cares?

4. BIGGEST PART OF ME [Ambrosia; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #3]

Michael McDonald did not sing lead or backing vocals in "Biggest Part of Me," and he didn't write it, but he does have a footnote in its creation. When Ambrosia's David Pack scribed the song, the lead singer questioned his own lyrics: " There's a new sun arisin' /I can see a new horizon /That will keep me realizin'/You're the biggest part of me..." He wondered if it was too saccharine sweet for what he wanted, so he called the authority of such things, Michael McDonald. McDonald gave the thumbs up and the rest is Yacht Rock history.

3. HEART TO HEART [Kenny Loggins; 1982; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #15]

QUESTION: What do you get when your so-good-it-makes-you-wanna-cuss song features the Holy Trinity of Yacht Rock: Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald and David Foster? ANSWER: A masterpiece.

2. SAILING [Christopher Cross; 1980; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

Yacht Rock used to be known as the West Coast style, and "Sailing" is its finest example. Hearing it is akin to being on that yacht, wearing that silly captain's hat, and just chilling as the boat gently rocks with the breeze. Its accolades are many: Grammy Awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Arrangemt of the Year and Best New Artist of the Year. Wow. And time has never erased it from our lives. Over the years you could hear the song on "WKRP in Cincinnati," "Family Guy," "Cobra Kai" and Hyundai TV commercials. I don't care who you are or where you are, "Sailing" automatically takes the listener "not far down from paradise." And, like me, you can find tranquility, just you wait and see.

And now for the #1 Yacht Rock song of all time...

1. WHAT A FOOL BELIEVES [The Doobie Brothers; 1978; Chart Position on the Billboard Hot 100: #1]

All right, Mr. and Mrs. Howell, our journey ends here, with this obvious Yacht Rock classic, a song written by our popes of YR, Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, where the stars were aligned upon its creation and everything went right. It hit Number One on the charts as well as winning Song of the Year and Record of the Year Grammy Awards. But it's the delectable beat fusing light-jazz and lighter-funk combined with McDonald's smooth velvet vocals that takes "What a Fool Believes" into the coveted top spot. No one can argue that this is the genre's finest three minutes and forty-one seconds. When it pops up on the radio or on your playlist, the world doesn't seem to be such a bad place, not with sophisticated keen pop like this. You have to turn up the volume. And It rightfully stands tall at the Number One position, the bouncy Citizen Kane of Yacht Rock.

And that's that. Have a great summer!

Tampa/St. Petersburg SHOWS

Recommended For You

Houstonia Magazine

• Eat & Drink
• Arts & Culture
• Style & Shopping
• Travel & Outdoors
• News & City Life
• Home & Real Estate
• Gift Guides
• Health & Wellness

This Is the Definitive Definition of Yacht Rock

By Timothy Malcolm July 12, 2019

Michael McDonald. One might say the smoothest mother in music history.

Image: Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com

About 10 years ago , somebody showed me a YouTube video of Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins writing a song that’s smoother and more polished than anything else on the airwaves.

That video—lovingly spoofing the writing of the Doobie Brothers' 1978 hit “What a Fool Believes”— was the first episode of a series called Yacht Rock . Premiering in 2005 on the Los Angeles-based television incubator Channel 101, Yacht Rock struck a chord with a generation of music nerds who attempt to compartmentalize and categorize the songs they heard as children. The term “yacht rock” itself grew out of the video series, permeating our culture today as much as the music had back in the late 1970s and early '80s.

But here’s the thing about terms that permeate our culture today: They get compromised and bastardized to fit other people’s cozy narratives, typically based on their own nostalgia. Google “yacht rock” and you’ll find articles from across the media spectrum attempting to define the term , failing hard because these writers just don’t get it. There’s even a new BBC series about yacht rock , and while it went into great detail providing context on the emergence of the musical style, it still turned out to be one person’s definition that included songs that were—as some of us might say— nyacht rock.

I’m here to set the record straight—or smooth. Yacht rock is music, primarily created between 1976 and ‘84, that can be characterized as smooth and melodic, and typically combines elements of jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock. You’ll hear very little acoustic guitar (get that “Horse With No Name” out of there) but a lot of Fender Rhodes electric piano. Lyrics don’t get in the way of the song’s usually high musicality (some of the finest Los Angeles session players, including members of the band Toto, play on many yacht rock tunes.) The lyrics may, however, speak about fools. The songs are as light and bubbly as champagne on the high seas, yet oddly complex and intellectual.

And just to hammer this home: Fleetwood Mac is not yacht rock. Daryl Hall & John Oates are 98 percent not yacht rock. Those folkie songs from America, Pure Prairie League, and Crosby, Stills & Nash? Nope. Rupert Holmes's "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"? Too wordy and not musically interesting—not yacht rock. How about "Summer Breeze" by Seals & Crofts? A little too folky, but close.

I’m not affected by personal nostalgia (I was born in 1984, just as the yacht rock era was ending); instead, I’m an objective music lover who just so happens to have been researching yacht rock for the past several years. I know the men who coined the term “yacht rock” ( they have a great podcast and actually rate whether or not a song is yacht rock ), and they can back me up on this. 

So whether you’re docked for the summer or about to set sail on an adventure, allow me to steer you in the right direction. I've crafted for you the definitive yacht rock playlist—below are a few highlights:

“What a Fool Believes,” The Doobie Brothers

I won’t get any nerdier, I’ll just say that this is the song that epitomizes yacht rock. It’s effortlessly melodic, bouncy, and bright, features a prominent Fender Rhodes electric piano, and includes an ultra-smooth vocal from Michael McDonald.

“Heart to Heart,” Kenny Loggins

Loggins never quite knew whether to be a jazzy folkie or a rocker, but in between those two phases were a couple yachty gems, including this cool breeze on a warm summer day, from the 1982 album High Adventure . Just listen to Loggins’s vocal—it’s butter.

“FM,” Steely Dan

Steely Dan brought a New York edge and a habit of wanting the best players on their records to Los Angeles. In time their sound morphed into the whitest smooth jazz on the planet, aka yacht rock. “FM,” from 1978, has both that snarky exterior and smooth center, but look up the band’s classic albums Aja and Gaucho for a number of yachty delights.

“Human Nature,” Michael Jackson

Once you get to know yacht rock, you can begin traveling into yacht soul—smooth songs from top studio players that lean just a little harder on the R&B. This classic song from the 1982 album Thriller was written and performed by Toto. Jackson provides the gorgeously breezy vocal.

“Rosanna,” Toto

Speaking of Toto, these guys were and still are awesome musicians. The 1982 hit “Rosanna” proves this in spades—the drum shuffle is iconic, the twists are remarkable, and the sound is smoother than a well-sanded skiff.

“Nothin’ You Can Do About It,” Airplay

Who is Airplay? A one-album band created by mega-producer David Foster and session guitarist Jay Graydon. These guys wrote Earth, Wind & Fire’s “After the Love Has Gone,” then this absolute stunner from 1980, a bouncy, giddy, and gentle pop classic.

“I Really Don’t Know Anymore,” Christopher Cross

Emerging out of nowhere with a Grammy-winning album in 1979, Cross is the perfect yacht rock figure, a normal-looking white dude who just so happens to sing like the wind on a summer’s evening. This song, from that debut album, is essential yacht rock with a noticeable background singer—of course, Michael McDonald.

If you want to catch McDonald and sing along to some of his yacht rock classics, he’s performing Friday night at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands. Chaka Khan—who also has a few yacht rock tunes in her catalog—will open. Tickets start at $39.50; prepare accordingly with this  summer yacht rock playlist on Spotify . You’re welcome.

Related Content

On The Town

What to Do and See This Summer

06/01/2021 By Chris Gray

Which Music Venues are Maintaining Covid-19 Restrictions?

03/15/2021 By Sydney Davis

Scary feet, scary feet, scary feet!

5 Things to Do in Houston This Weekend, Oct 23–25

10/23/2020 By Emma Schkloven

On the town

What to Do and See This Month, From Post Malone to Paw Patrol

03/02/2020 By Chris Gray

• COVID-19 News
• Submit A Story Idea
• Submit A Picture Or Video
• Main Street Festival
• Tennessee Event Venues
• Submit An Event
• Eat & Drink
• Entertainment
• Kids & Family
• Fashion and Style
• Things to Do
• Relocating to Williamson County
• Morning Source
• Battle Ground Academy
• Brentwood Academy
• Brentwood High School
• Centennial High School
• Christ Presbyterian Academy
• Fairview High School
• Father Ryan High School
• Franklin High School
• Franklin Road Academy
• Grace Christian Academy
• Independence High School
• Nolensville High School
• Page High School
• Ravenwood High School
• Spring Hill High School
• Summit High School
• Columbia State Community College
• High School Football Scores
• Nashville Predators
• Nashville SC
• Nashville Sounds
• Tennessee Titans
• Tennessee Volunteers
• Vanderbilt Commodores
• Search Local Homes
• Cool Springs
• Spring Hill
• Nolensville
• Thompsons Station

Playlist of the Week: Top 100 Songs of Yacht Rock

Each week we’re featuring a playlist to get your mind going and help you assemble your favorites. This week we take a deep dive into the soft rock hits of the late ’70s and early ’80s, which have come to be known in some circles as Yacht Rock. The term Yacht Rock generally refers to music in the era where yuppies enjoyed sipping champaign on their yachts — a concept explored in the original web series Yacht Rock, which debuted in 2005 and has developed a cult following. Artists most commonly thought of in the Yacht Rock era include Michael McDonald, Ambrosia, 10cc, Toto, Kenny Loggins, Boz Scaggs, and Christopher Cross. Yacht Rock has become the muse of a great number of tribute bands, and is the current subject of a short-run channel on Sirius XM.

Here is a stab at the Top 100 Songs of Yacht Rock — not necessarily in rank order, with a few more added for honorable mention. We welcome your comments. What songs are ranked too high? What songs are ranked too low? What songs are missing? Make your case. Also, please let us know concepts for playlists you’d like to see — or share a favorite list of your own.

Featured Local Savings

Related articles more from author, everything new coming to hulu april 2024, lindsey stirling sets north american tour stop at firstbank amphitheater, pilgrimage festival blind tickets are on sale today, close to home news, top stories from march 19, 2024, gofundme set up for family of riley strain, top 5 stories from march 18, 2024, spring hill fire department commended for saving pets during apartment fire, close to home events, don’t miss the children’s treasure consignment event in columbia, franklin police and fire departments to host car seat safety events, jw marriott to offer easter brunch, 6 live shows this week- march 18, 2024, 15th annual iron fork returns on april 4, check out this easter egg drop in franklin, recycling roundup returns to nissan headquarters for middle tennessee and surrounding..., mtsu to host anti-human trafficking advocate celia williamson march 20.

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Statement
• Copyright Infringement Claims

10 of the Best Yacht Rock Songs of All Time

Yacht Rock, a 1970s and 1980s-era subgenre has recently experienced a boom in popularity. Its distinctive fusion of jazz, R&B, and soft rock components has enthralled audiences and created a new fan base. Yacht Rock has evolved into the go-to music for individuals looking to unwind and escape from the rigors of daily life because of its calming melodies, layered harmonies, and catchy hooks.

In this article, we’ll examine in more detail ten of the best Yacht Rock songs that have become timeless favorites. These songs, which range from the comforting melodies of The Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes” to the memorable hooks of Toto’s “Africa,” have withstood the test of time and continue to enthrall listeners. We’ll discuss what makes these songs unique and ideal for those long days spent on the lake or leisurely evenings on the patio, whether you’re a lifelong admirer of the genre or new to it. Take a drink, relax, and join me as we embark on a musical tour of the best Yacht Rock has to offer.

10 of the Best Yacht Rock Songs

1. “sailing” by christopher cross.

An undeniable Yacht Rock classic, “Sailing” won Christopher Cross the Grammy for Record of the Year in 1981. The song’s dreamy lyrics and soothing melody perfectly encapsulate the feeling of being at one with the water. It is the ideal soundtrack for an afternoon spent sailing or simply enjoying the ocean breeze. With its gentle instrumentation and Cross’s calming vocals, “Sailing” transports listeners to a peaceful, sun-drenched world where worries and stress drift away.

2. “What a Fool Believes” by the Doobie Brothers

Written by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, “What a Fool Believes” showcases The Doobie Brothers’ signature sound with smooth, soulful vocals and intricate keyboard work. Released in 1979, this Grammy-winning song topped the charts and remained a fan favorite for its catchy melody and relatable lyrics about unrequited love. With its polished production and infectious energy, “What a Fool Believes” remains a Yacht Rock staple that continues to captivate audiences.

3. “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille’s 1975 hit “Love Will Keep Us Together” is a quintessential Yacht Rock ballad celebrating love’s power. The song’s upbeat tempo, irresistible hook, and Daryl Dragon’s masterful keyboard playing make it a timeless classic that resonates with listeners today. It’s difficult not to get carried away by this uplifting hymn to love and dedication as Toni Tennille’s sincere vocals flawlessly meld with the song’s infectious tune.

4. “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree

A prime example of Yacht Rock’s laid-back vibe is “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree, a smooth and sultry hit that made waves in 1980. The song paints a picture of a spontaneous, romantic escapade with its memorable chorus, funky groove, and Dupree’s soulful vocals. From its breezy synths to its driving beat, “Steal Away” encapsulates the carefree spirit of Yacht Rock, making it a must-listen for fans of the genre.

5. “Africa” by Toto

“ Africa ” by Toto, released in 1982, is a beloved Yacht Rock anthem that has stood the test of time. The song’s unforgettable melody, lush harmonies, and captivating storytelling have made it a favorite for listeners worldwide. With its vivid lyrics and soaring chorus, “Africa” transports listeners to a vast, uncharted landscape of adventure and romance. Its distinctive blend of rock and world music elements makes this track an enduring classic.

6. “Peg” by Steely Dan

Jazzy and sophisticated, “Peg” by Steely Dan showcases the band’s trademark fusion of rock, pop, and jazz. Released in 1977, the song’s infectious groove, polished production, and impeccable musicianship have made it a Yacht Rock staple. Featuring Michael McDonald on backing vocals, “Peg” is a prime example of Steely Dan’s knack for creating intricate yet accessible music. With its bright horns, unforgettable guitar riff, and smooth harmonies, “Peg” has earned its place among the Yacht Rock elite.

7. “Baby Come Back” by Player

“Baby Come Back” by Player is a quintessential Yacht Rock ballad that tugs at the heartstrings with poignant lyrics about lost love. The 1977 song’s deep melody, memorable chorus, and longing vocals have made it a timeless classic that appeals to listeners even now. As the song builds to its unforgettable climax, “Baby Come Back” reminds us of the power of love and the enduring appeal of Yacht Rock’s smooth sound.

8. “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” by Hall & Oates

A sultry, funk-infused hit, “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” by Hall & Oates, showcases the duo’s signature blend of pop and soul. Released in 1981, the song’s irresistible groove, catchy hook, and Daryl Hall’s smooth vocals have made it a fan favorite. With its irresistible beat and effortlessly cool vibe, “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” is a standout track in the Yacht Rock genre that still gets people moving on the dance floor.

9. “Hey Nineteen” by Steely Dan

Another Yacht Rock classic from Steely Dan, “Hey Nineteen,” is a smooth, laid-back tune that perfectly captures the band’s signature sound. The 1980 song’s catchy melody, clever lyrics, and easygoing groove have made it a favorite among listeners.

“Hey Nineteen” is a classic example of Steely Dan’s ability to create timeless music that transcends fads and is still relevant today thanks to its unusual fusion of jazz, pop, and rock components.

10. “Biggest Part of Me” by Ambrosia

Rounding out our list is “Biggest Part of Me” by Ambrosia, a 1980 hit that showcases the band’s trademark blend of soulful vocals, lush harmonies, and smooth instrumentation. With its heartfelt lyrics, soaring chorus, and polished production, the song has become a Yacht Rock classic that still resonates with listeners. As the song builds to its emotional crescendo, “Biggest Part of Me” is a fitting tribute to the enduring appeal of Yacht Rock’s smooth sound.

From sun-soaked afternoons on the water to romantic evenings under the stars, Yacht Rock’s timeless tunes uniquely transport listeners to a world of relaxation and nostalgia. These ten Yacht Rock songs, with their smooth melodies, soulful vocals, and catchy hooks, serve as a testament to the enduring appeal of this beloved subgenre. As more and more people discover the magic of Yacht Rock, its classic tracks continue to sail into the hearts of new fans, proving that this smooth sound is here to stay.

Jason Butler

Jason Butler is the owner of My Money Chronicles, a website where he discusses personal finance, side hustles, travel, and more. Jason is from Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Savannah State University with his BA in Marketing. Jason has been featured in Forbes, Discover, and Investopedia.

• Jason Butler https://mymoneychronicles.com/author/admin/ Life Hacks Unleashed: Clever Strategies for Simplifying Your Day
• Jason Butler https://mymoneychronicles.com/author/admin/ Sunshine State Skylines: The Five Largest Cities in Florida
• Jason Butler https://mymoneychronicles.com/author/admin/ 20 Great Wedding Gift Ideas
• Jason Butler https://mymoneychronicles.com/author/admin/ 15 Reasons You Didn't Get the Job

Share this post:

Wedding Pro Hub

Yacht Rock Songs for a Chillin’ Vibes Wedding Playlist

As a reminder: Yacht Rock is a style of music commonly classified as soft rock from the 70s to the mid-80s. You will hear everything from smooth soul, smooth jazz, R&B, and disco.

You can play songs that are the pure definition of yacht rock by artists and musicians like Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers, and Kenny Loggins. However, you will also find a few Nyacht songs (songs that have sometimes been classified as yacht rock but do not fit the definition).

It’s up to you as we are trying to set a mood for a great chill playlist for any event or party.

Stream Yacht Rock Playlist

My Wedding Songs is a reader-supported website. As an Amazon Associate, we earn revenue from qualifying purchases. Purchases made through links on this page may earn us a commission but also support the artists.

Listen to your favorite songs on streaming services!

Yacht Rock Songs for Weddings

Listed alphabetically by artist and then song title.

Ace – How Long Released in 1975 on the album Five-A-Side

Most Meaningful Lyrics:

“And you said you was never intending / To break up our scene this way / But there ain’t any use in pretending / It could happen to us any day”

Al Jarreau – We’re In This Love Together Released in 1981 on the album Breakin’ Away

“We got the kind that lasts forever / We’re in this love together / We got a kind that will last forever and evermore”

Ambrosia – Biggest Part Of Me Released in 1980 on the album One Eighty

“Together) We are gonna stay together / (Forever) For me there’s nothing better / You’re the biggest part of me”

Ambrosia – How Much I Feel Released in 1978 on the album Life Beyond L.A.

“How’s your life been goin’ on / I’ve got a wife now / Years we’ve been goin’ strong”

Atlantic Rhythm Section – So Into You Released in 1976 on the album A Rock and Roll Alternative

“From your head to your toe / Gonna love you all over, over and over / Me into you, you into me, me into you”

Bill Withers – Lovely Day Released in 1977 on the album Menagerie

“Just one look at you / And I know it’s gonna be / A lovely day”

Bobby Caldwell – What You Won’t Do For Love Released in 1978 on the album Bobby Caldwell

“But then I only want the best, it’s true / I can’t believe the things I do for you / What you won’t do, do for love”

Boz Scaggs – Lowdown Released in 1976 on the album Silk Degrees

“Got to have a Jones for this, Jones for that / This runnin’ with the Joneses, boy, just ain’t where it’s at, no, no”

Captain & Tennille – Love Will Keep Us Together Released in 1975 on the album Love Will Keep Us Together

“I will be there to share forever / Love will keep us together”

Christopher Cross – Ride Like the Wind Released in 1980 on the album Christopher Cross

“Lived nine lives / Gunned down ten / Gonna ride like the wind”

If you love this list you most likely like classic rock. Check out our list of classic rock love songs !

Christopher Cross – Sailing Released in 1980 on the album Christopher Cross

“Sailing / Takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be / Just a dream and the wind to carry me / Soon I will be free”

Daryl Hall & John Oates – Kiss On My List Released in 1981 on the album Voices

“Because your kiss is on my list of the best things in life / Oh babe, because your kiss, your kiss is on my list”

David Pomeranz – On This Day Released in 2001 on the album On This Day

“Here I stand, take my hand / And I will honor every word that I say / On this day”

DeBarge – All This Love Released in 1982 on the album All This Love

“Say you really love me baby / Say you really love me, darlin’ / ‘Cause I really love you, baby”

Donald Fagen – I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World) Released in 1982 on the album The Nightfly

“What a beautiful world this will be / What a glorious time to be free”

Doobie Brothers – What a Fool Believes Released in 1979 on the album Minute by Minute

“But what a fool believes, he sees / No wise man has the power to reason away / What seems to be”

Dr. Hook – Sexy Eyes Released in 1979 on the album Sometimes You Win

“Sexy eyes, moving ‘cross the floor, couldn’t want for more, sexy eyes / Sexy eyes, getting down with you, I wanna move with you, sexy eyes”

Earth, Wind & Fire – After the Love Has Gone Released in 1979 on the album I Am

“What used to be happy is sad / Somethin’ happened along the way / And yesterday was all we had”

George Benson – Give Me the Night Released in 1980 on the album Give Me the Night

“A little late romance / It’s a chain reaction / You’ll see the people of the world / Coming out to dance”

George Benson – Lady Love Me (One More Time) Released in 1983 on the album In Your Eyes

“Just let me love you one more time / Feel your heartbeat close to mine / Lady, love me all the time”

You might want to listen to a 1980s rock playlist .

James Ingram and Michael McDonald – Yah Mo B There Released in 1983 on the album It’s Your Night

“‘Cause it’s a long hard road that leads to a brighter day / Don’t let your heart grow cold, just reach out and call His name”

Kenny Loggins – Heart to Heart Released in 1982 on the album High Adventure

“Now that we’ve grown apart, oh no / Well, the only way to start / Is heart to heart”

Kenny Loggins – This Is It Released in 1979 on the album Keep the Fire

“Let ’em believe / Leave ’em behind / But keep me near in your heart / Know whatever you do, I’m here by your side”

Kenny Loggins and Stevie Nicks – Whenever I Call You “Friend” Released in 1978 on the album Nightwatch

“Whenever I call you friend / I believe I’ve come to understand / Everywhere we are you and I were meant to be / Forever and ever”

Larry Carlton – Room 335 Released in 1978 on the album Larry Carlton

This song is a guitar instrumental.

Lee Ritenour – Is It You Released in 1981 on the album Rit

“Are you somebody in love? / Show me what you’re doin’ and tell me who you are / Hey, I’m ready for love, for love”

Leon Ware – Slippin Away Released in 1982 on the album Leon Ware

“You ain’t gonna keep on slippin’ away / Somewhere in your mind, I know / You will see that I am on your side”

Lionel Richie – All Night Long (All Night) Released in 1983 on the album Can’t Slow Down

“People dancing all in the street / See the rhythm all in their feet / Life is good, wild, and sweet”

Lionel Richie – Running with the Night Released in 1983 on the album Can’t Slow Down

“We were running with the night / Playing in the shadows / Just you and I / ‘Til the morning light”

Little River Band – Reminiscing Released in 1978 on the album Sleeper Catcher

“I said to myself when we’re old / We’ll go dancing in the dark / Walking through the park and reminiscing”

Luther Vandross – Never Too Much Released in 1981 on the album Never Too Much

“Love is a gamble and I’m so glad that I’m winnin’ / We’ve come a long way and yet this is only the beginnin'”

Marc Jordan – Margarita Released in 1983 on the album A Hole In The Wall

“I step over the borderline / Margarita will you be mine / Oh you think that love’s a game”

Maxus – Keep a Light On Released in 1981 on the album Maxus

“Please keep a light on for me, yeah / ‘Cause tonight I can’t see / Another place that I’d rather be”

Michael Jackson – Human Nature Released in 1983 on the album Thriller

“See that girl / She knows I’m watching / She likes the way I stare”

Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney – The Girl Is Mine Released in 1982 on the album Thriller

“Well I love you endlessly / (Loving we will share) / So come and go with me / Two on the town”

Michael McDonald – I Gotta Try Released in 1982 on the album If That’s What It Takes

“Maybe there ain’t nothin’ left to say / But if our time’s really runnin’ out / Then this is no time to run away”

Michael McDonald – I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near) Released in 1982 on the album If That’s What It Takes

“I keep forgettin’ we’re not in love anymore / I keep forgettin’ things will never be the same again”

Michael Miglio – Never Gonna Let You Go Released in 1980 on the album Everytime It Rains

“Your lovin’ turns me on / My lonely days are gone / That’s why I’m never gonna let you go”

Nicolette Larson – Let Me Go, Love Released in 1979 on the album In the Nick of Time

“We shared in the fantasy of / Knowing this love in our lives / Is it ever what it seems to be / Oh and if it’s over / Let me go, love”

Olivia Newton-John – Magic Released in 1980 on the album Xanadu

“You won’t make a mistake / I’ll be guiding you / You have to believe we are magic”

Another song list to read: Most Iconic 1990s Rock Songs .

Pablo Cruise – Love Will Find A Way Released in 1978 on the album Worlds Away

“You’ll learn to find your love again / So keep your heart open / Cause love will find a way”

Pages – O.C.O.E. (Official Cat of the Eighties) Released in 1981 on the album Pages

“Rushin’ to the future and runnin’ from the past / Intent on getting higher / So knocked out, so real, a hopeless jag”

Patti Austin and James Ingram – Baby, Come To Me Released in 1982 on the album Every Home Should Have One

“Let me put my arms around you / This was meant to be / And I’m oh so glad I found you”

Paul Davis – Cool Night Released in 1981 on the album Cool Night

“It’s gonna be a cool night / Just let me hold you by the firelight / If it don’t feel right you can go”

Philip Bailey and Phil Collins – Easy Lover Released in 1984 on the album Chinese Wall

“Easy lover / She’ll get a hold on you believe it / Like no other / Before you know it you’ll be on your knees”

Player – Baby Come Back Released in 1977 on the album Player

“Baby come back, yeah, any kind of fool could see / There was something in everything about you”

Pointer Sisters – He’s So Shy Released in 1980 on the album Special Things

“Nothin’ has ever felt so right / And I’m so glad I took the time / That I had to take to make him mine”

Quincy Jones – One Hundred Ways Released in 1981 on the album The Dude

“Maybe she has it in her mind / That she’s just wasting her time / Ask her to stay / Find one hundred ways”

Ray Parker Jr. – A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do) Released in 1981 on the album A Woman Needs Love

“So, when you think you’ve fooled her / She just might be fooling you / Remember: if you can do it / She can, too”

Raydio – You Can’t Change That Released in 1979 on the album Rock On

“You’re the only one I love / And you can’t change that / You’re the only one I need”

Cocktail hour leads into the meal. See a list of good dinner party music to listen to .

Rickie Lee Jones – Chuck E’s In Love Released in 1979 on the album Rock On

“But that means that Chuck E.’s in love, my, my / Chuck E.’s in love, love, love, love”

Robbie Dupree – Steal Away Released in 1980 on the album Robbie Dupree

“I caught you glancing my way / And I know what you’re after (no second chances tonight) / Why don’t we steal away”

Roger Voudouris – Get Used To It Released in 1979 on the album Radio Dream

“Get used to it / ‘Cause I’ll be around / Yeah, ya better get used to / All my love, please”

Sanford-Townsend Band – Smoke From a Distant Fire Released in 1977 on the album Sanford-Townsend Band

“I know where you goin’ to I knew when you came home last night / ‘Cause your eyes had a mist from the smoke of a distant fire”

Smokey Robinson – Being With You Released in 1981 on the album Being with You

“I don’t care what they think / If you’re leaving / I’m gonna beg you to stay”

Steely Dan – Hey Nineteen Released in 1980 on the album Gaucho

“No, we can’t dance together (We can’t dance together) / No, we can’t talk at all / Please take me along when you slide on down”

Steely Dan – Peg Released in 1977 on the album Aja

“It sure looks good on you / And when you smile for the camera / I know I’ll love you better”

Steve Perry – Foolish Heart Released in 1984 on the album Street Talk

“Foolish heart, heed my warning / You’ve been wrong before / Don’t be wrong anymore”

The Imperials – Living Without Your Love Released in 1979 on the album One More Song for You

“‘Cause living without Your love / Was like not ever living or existing”

Timothy B. Schmit – Tell Me What You Dream Released in 1984 on the album Playin’ It Cool

“Is it someone else’s arms that hold you tight / Or darling, is it me / Tell me what you dream at night”

Toto – Africa Released in 1982 on the album Toto IV

“It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you / There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do”

Toto – Georgy Porgy Released in 1978 on the album Toto

“I’m not the only one that holds you / I never ever should have told you / You’re my only world”

Warren G ft. Nate Dogg – Regulate Released in 1994 on the album Above the Rim

“It was a clear black night, a clear white moon / Warren G was on the streets tryin’ to consume / Some skirts for the eve so I can get some funk”

Nyacht Rock Hits for Weddings

These are a list of songs that are commonly thought to be yacht rock songs but technically are not. If you have yacht rock enthusiasts, you may want to skip these. Otherwise, they are still great songs that fit the vibe.

10cc – I’m Not In Love Released in 1975 on the album The Original Soundtrack

“Don’t make a fuss / Don’t tell your friends about the two of us / I’m not in love”

Al Stewart – Time Passages Released in 1978 on the album Time Passages

“There’s something back here that you left behind / Oh time passages / Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight”

America – You Can Do Magic Released in 1982 on the album View from the Ground

“You can do magic / You can have anything that you desire / Magic, and you know / You’re the one who can put out the fire”

Bertie Higgins – Key Largo Released in 1981 on the album Just Another Day in Paradise

“We had it all / Just like Bogie and Bacall / Starring in our old late, late show / Sailing away to Key Largo”

Billy Joel – Just the Way You Are Released in 1984 on the album The Stranger

“I said I love you, that’s forever / And this I promise from the heart / I couldn’t love you any better / I love you just the way you are”

Billy Ocean- Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run) Released in 1977 on the album Suddenly

“Oh girl, oh baby, it takes a little time / Then you can love again / But I ain’t got the time”

Climax Blues Band – Couldn’t Get It Right Released in 1976 on the album Gold Plated

“But, I couldn’t see the light, no, I couldn’t see the light / I kept on looking for a way to take me through the night / Couldn’t get it right”

Climax Blues Band – I Love You Released in 1981 on the album Flying the Flag

“Thank you, babe, for being a friend / And shining your light in my life / ‘Cause, oooh, I need you”

Daryl Hall & John Oates – Rich Girl Released in 1977 on the album Bigger Than Both of Us

“You’re a rich girl, and you’ve gone too far / ‘Cause you know it don’t matter anyway / You can rely on the old man’s money”

Daryl Hall & John Oates – Sara Smile Released in 1975 on the album Daryl Hall & John Oates

“And when you feel you can’t go on, I’ll come and hold you / It’s you and me forever”

Yacht rock is soft rock. You may want Up-tempo hits for a cocktail hour to set the mood .

Doobie Brothers – Listen to the Music Released in 1972 on the album Toulouse Street

“Meet me in the country for a day / We’ll be happy, and we’ll dance / Oh, we’re gonna dance our blues away”

Dr. Hook – When You’re In Love with a Beautiful Woman Released in 1979 on the album Pleasure and Pain

“You want to trust her / Then somebody hangs up when you answer the phone / When you’re in love with a beautiful woman / You go it alone”

England Dan & John Ford Coley – I’d Really Love to See You Tonight Released in 1976 on the album Nights Are Forever

“And I don’t wanna change your life / But there’s a warm wind blowing / The stars are out, and I’d really love to see you tonight”

Exile – Kiss You All Over Released in 1978 on the album Mixed Emotions

“You don’t have to say a thing / Just let me show how much / I love you, need you”

Firefall – You Are the Woman Released in 1976 on the album Firefall

“You are the woman that I’ve always dreamed of / I knew it from the start / I saw your face and that’s the last I’ve seen of my heart”

Fleetwood Mac – Dreams Released in 1977 on the album Rumours

“I keep my visions to myself / But it’s only me who wants to wrap around your dreams, and / Have you any dreams you’d like to sell, dreams of loneliness?”

Fleetwood Mac – Everywhere Released in 1987 on the album Tango in the Night

“We better make a start / You better make it soon / Before you break my heart”

Gary Wright – Love Is Alive Released in 1976 on the album The Dream Weaver

“I’ll try to keep it together / ‘Cause what I say may not happen the same way / Now could be forever”

Gerry Rafferty – Baker Street Released in 1978 on the album City to City

“When you wake up, it’s a new mornin’ / The sun is shinin’, it’s a new mornin’ / You’re goin’, you’re goin’ home”

Gino Vannelli – I Just Wanna Stop Released in 1978 on the album Brother to Brother

“The world ain’t right without you, babe / I just gotta stop / For your love”

Another themed cocktail hour: Boy Band playlist for a wedding reception .

Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers – Just The Two Of Us Released in 1981 on the album Winelight

“Building castles in the sky / Just the two of us / You and I”

Jackson Browne – Somebody’s Baby Released in 1982 on the album Fast Times at Ridgemont High Soundtrack

“She’s gonna be somebody’s only light / Gonna shine tonight / Yeah, she’s gonna be somebody’s baby tonight”

Little River Band – Cool Change Released in 1979 on the album First Under the Wire

“If there’s one thing in my life that’s missing / It’s the time that I spend alone / Sailing on the cool and bright clear water”

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band – Blinded by the Light Released in 1976 on the album The Roaring Silence

“Blinded by the light / Revved up like a deuce / Another runner in the night”

Melissa Manchester – Whenever I Call You Friend Released in 1979 on the album Melissa Manchester

“I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight / Sweet love flowing almost every night / I know forever we’ll be doing it right”

Michael Johnson – Bluer Than Blue Released in 1978 on the album The Dude

“You’re the only light this empty room has ever had / And life without you is gonna be / Bluer than blue”

Orleans – Dance With Me Released in 1975 on the album Orleans II

“The music is just starting / Night is calling, and I am falling / Dance with me”

Orleans – Still The One Released in 1976 on the album Waking and Dreaming

“You’re still the one that I love to touch / Still the one and I can’t get enough / We’re still having fun, and you’re still the one”

Pointer Sisters – Slow Hand Released in 1981 on the album Black & White

“Baby, believe me I understand / When it comes to love you want a slow hand”

Pure Prairie League – Let Me Love You Tonight Released in 1980 on the album Firin’ Up

“Let me love you tonight / There’s a million stars in the sky / Let me love you tonight / I’ll make everything alright”

Rufus and Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody Released in 1983 on the album Rickie Lee Jones

“You knew I could not resist / I needed someone / And now we’re flyin’ through the stars / I hope this night will last forever”

Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Pina Colada Song) Released in 1979 on the album Partners in Crime

“If you like makin’ love at midnight / In the dunes on the cape / Then I’m the love that you’ve looked for / Write to me and escape”

Seals & Crofts – Get Closer Released in 1976 on the album Seals and Crofts

“Darlin’, if you want me to be closer to you, get closer to me”

Steely Dan – Do It Again Released in 1972 on the album Can’t Buy a Thrill

“Then you love a little wild one / And she brings you only sorrow / All the time you know she’s smiling / You’ll be on your knees tomorrow”

Stephen Bishop – On and On Released in 1976 on the album Careless

“On and on / He just keeps on trying / And he smiles when he feels like crying”

The Alan Parsons Project – Eye in the Sky Released in 1982 on the album Eye in the Sky

“I am the eye in the sky / Looking at you / I can read your mind”

With over 7 hours of yacht rock songs to play, you can have your fill any need for background music. Whether you think the songs are Yacht or Nyacht, the songs will set a chill theme for any party.

Thank you to Camille “Rocky” Bourg, Jr. of Music by Request for helping us distinguish between real Yacht rock songs and Nyacht songs!

Do you have a favorite Yacht rock song? Please share your song below in the comments!

DJ, Author, Music Lover

Matthew Campbell is the Chief Party Playlist Officer of My Wedding Songs from his experience as a wedding DJ. He is the author of two wedding planners: 'Wedding Songs Planner' and 'The Wedding Music Toolkit'. Matthew is the host of the 'Wedding Songs Podcast'. He shares music inspiration in his weekly newsletter the 'Wedding MusicLetter'. His articles have been published on Rolling Stone, DJ Life Magazine, and DJ Times. Matthew resides in the wedding capital of the world - Las Vegas.

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• March Madness
• AP Top 25 Poll
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Charges are dropped midtrial in ‘Hotel California’ lyrics case. Don Henley plans to fight on

New York prosecutors abruptly dropped their criminal case midtrial Wednesday against three men who had been accused of conspiring to possess a cache of hand-drafted lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits. (March 6) (AP Video: Joseph B. Frederick)

Former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi smiles as he leaves court, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in New York. New York prosecutors abruptly dropped their criminal case midtrial Wednesday against three men who had been accused of conspiring to possess a cache of hand-drafted lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits.(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

• Copy Link copied

Former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi, left, leaves court, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in New York. New York prosecutors abruptly dropped their criminal case midtrial Wednesday against three men who had been accused of conspiring to possess a cache of hand-drafted lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Attorney Stacey Richman, second from left, who represented former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi is joined by other defense attorneys as she speaks to reporters, Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in New York. New York prosecutors abruptly dropped their criminal case midtrial Wednesday against three men who had been accused of conspiring to possess a cache of hand-drafted lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Musician Don Henley returns to court after a break in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. Henley resumed testifying Tuesday in a trial over handwritten drafts of lyrics to some of the Eagles’ biggest hits, including “Hotel California,” and his decade-long effort to reclaim the pages. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Musician Don Henley leaves the courthouse in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. The Eagles co-founder testified this week in the criminal trial of three collectibles dealers charged with conspiring to own and attempt to sell handwritten draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits without the right to do so. The men have pleaded not guilty. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski returns to court after a break in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. The trial surrounding pages of draft lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles features a star witness: Don Henley. The Eagles co-founder testified Monday at the criminal trial of three collectibles professionals. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Musician Don Henley, center, arrives to court in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. Three collectibles-world professionals are on trial in the criminal case involving roughly 100 legal-pad sheets from the development of the Eagles’ 1976 “Hotel California” album. They are charged with scheming to conceal the pages’ disputed ownership and sell them despite knowing that Henley claimed they had no right to do so.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) — From the start, the case was highly unusual: a criminal prosecution centered on the disputed ownership of a cache of hand-drafted lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits.

Its end was even more unexpected.

In the middle of trial, New York prosecutors abruptly dropped their case Wednesday against three collectibles experts who had been accused of scheming to hang onto and peddle the pages, which Eagles co-founder Don Henley maintained were stolen, private artifacts of the band’s creative process.

In explaining the stunning turnabout, prosecutors agreed that defense lawyers had essentially been blindsided by 6,000 pages of communications involving Henley and his attorneys and associates. Prosecutors and the defense got the material only in the past few days, after Henley and his lawyers apparently made a late-in-the-game decision to waive their attorney-client privilege shielding legal discussions.

AP AUDIO: Charges are dropped midtrial in ‘Hotel California’ lyrics case. Don Henley plans to fight on

AP correspondent Margie Szaroleta reports on an abrupt end to the trial involving lyrics by The Eagles.

“These delayed disclosures revealed relevant information that the defense should have had the opportunity to explore” when Henley and other prosecution witnesses testified late last month, Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Aaron Ginandes told the court.

With that, rare books dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and rock memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski were cleared of all the charges. They had included conspiracy to criminally possess stolen property.

The case centered on roughly 100 pages of legal-pad pages, many from the creation of a classic rock colossus. The 1976 album “Hotel California” ranks as the third-biggest seller of all time in the U.S., in no small part on the strength of its evocative, smoothly unsettling title track about a place where “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

Prosecutors had said the defendants knew the pages’ chain of possession was shaky but sought to keep and sell them anyway, contriving to fabricate a provenance that would pass muster with auction houses and stave off Henley’s demands for the return of the handwritten sheets.

Through their lawyers, the defendants contended they were rightful owners of pages that weren’t stolen by anyone.

“The next step is building back our reputations,” Inciardi said in a written statement after the dismissal. Kosinski, leaving court, said only that he felt “very good” about the case’s end. Horowitz hugged tearful family members, then left court without commenting.

Henley lawyer Dan Petrocelli, meanwhile, said the musician plans to turn to civil courts.

“As the victim in this case, Mr. Henley has once again been victimized by this unjust outcome,” Petrocelli said in a statement.

One of Kosinski’s lawyers, Scott Edelman, said they also were going to “evaluate next steps.”

The communications that led to the case dismissal weren’t released publicly. But in court earlier this week, defense lawyers said the trove had identified additional potential witnesses and raised questions about some testimony from Henley and others.

Judge Curtis Farber said Wednesday that witnesses and their lawyers used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and hide information that they believed would be damaging” and that prosecutors “were apparently manipulated.”

As Edelman saw it, prosecutors “got blinded by the fame and fortune of a celebrity.”

The defense maintained that Henley gave the lyrics pages decades ago to a writer who worked on a never-published Eagles biography and later sold the handwritten sheets to Horowitz. He, in turn, sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who started putting some of the pages up for auction in 2012.

“These are three factually innocent men,” said Inciardi’s lawyer, Stacey Richman.

Henley, who realized the pages were missing only when they showed up for sale, reported them stolen. He testified at the trial that he let the writer pore through the pages for research but “never gifted them or gave them to anybody to keep or sell.”

The writer, Ed Sanders, wasn’t charged with any crime and wasn’t called to testify. He hasn’t responded to messages about the trial.

Defense lawyers said in court Monday that newly produced emails showed that Henley initially suspected someone else before being reminded of the decades-old book project.

The defense said emails also indicated that some Henley lawyers and a private investigator initially characterized the pages’ disappearance as a burglary — and didn’t mention Sanders’ 1979 book contract — because they believed that referring to a burglary would help their cause. The contract, often mentioned during the trial, said the Eagles would furnish Sanders with material, which would remain the band’s “sole property.”

Messages seeking comment were sent to the Henley attorneys involved in the initial 2012 discussions about the lyrics sheets . Another firm that represented Henley in later dealings with the matter, Loeb & Loeb, said in a statement Wednesday that it respects the attorney-client privilege decisions and is “confident that its attorneys acted in accordance with their professional and ethical responsibilities.”

Prosecutors said Wednesday that they repeatedly asked various witnesses to waive their attorney-client privilege, but they chose not to until the past few days.

But Horowitz lawyer Jonathan Bach said that while the defendants were accused of not asking enough questions about the pages’ ownership, “it appears that the failure to do a full investigation lies with the other side.”

Before the case collapsed, the nonjury trial provided sometimes gossipy peeks into the height of the Eagles’ career and the music business.

The court heard the band’s longtime manager lament on a decades-old tape about dealing with “a pampered rock star.” Henley held in his hands aging pages with lyrics-in-the-making for such Eagles songs as “After the Thrill is Gone,” “One of These Nights” and “The Long Run.”

During testimony that stretched across three days, the Grammy-winning singer and drummer recounted highlights from the band’s heyday, such as the writing of “Hotel California.” And he discussed personal low points, including his 1980 arrest after authorities reported finding a 16-year-old girl who was ailing from drug use at his home. It happened as the Eagles were breaking up, and Henley was reeling.

“The band was everything to me, and it’s something I’d been working towards since I was 15 years old. It was my whole world” and “my identity,” he said. “We had accomplished so much in the previous decade.”

In the long run, it wasn’t the end. The Eagles reunited in 1994 and are still touring.