by Pico
Ever had a song that you enjoyed listening to when it first came out, then moved on and forgot about it only to have some event trigger the memory of that song many years later? Such was the case for me with a thirty year old deep cut of Kenny Loggins’, “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong.”
That was the track that commenced with a buttermilk-rich guitar shortly after setting the needle down on the flip side of Loggins’ yacht rock extravaganza, Keep The Fire. Archtypical late seventies blue-eyed soul popularized by Hall and Oates, with an organ-based slow groove that stands in the same company as “Sara Smile.” Loggins’ emotive vocals wouldn’t make Daryl Hall tremble but he makes his point as he achingly sings “I’ve grown tired of fighting.” The background vocals take on a prominent role, too, taking some of the lines in the verses and virtually the entire chorus. The climax comes at a righteous breakdown section that finds Loggins pleading with his pissed off lover while his vocal assistants testifies “right or wrong, baby” alleluias.
Oh and by the way, the off the wall trigger that culled this tune from the deep recesses of my mind was the untimely death last week of one of those backup singers. I thought even back in 1979 that it was pretty cool Loggins was able to get a voice of Michael Jackson’s stature to come in behind Kenny and play second fiddle, and today that just seems downright astonishing. A fairly close listen leaves no question that it’s truly the Gloved One crooning back there.
There’s a few other notable names involved with “Who’s Right;” the other backup singer and the song’s co-writer with Loggins is Richard Page. His brief turn in the white hot spotlight would come about five or six years later as the frontman for Mr. Mister. The soulful tenor sax the permeates the latter part of the song came from one half of fraternal funk-jazz outfit of the time, The Brecker Brothers, but Michael Brecker had still yet to make his mark as a solo artist. Honestly, that Michael’s death still hits me harder than the other Michael’s ever will, but Brecker sideman appearances are as numerous as Texas red ants in July. Jackson? Not so much.
To top it off, the song along with the rest of the album was produced by another legend, Tom Dowd (Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Chicago and MeatLoaf).
For the trivia-obsessed, here’s another MJ connection to Keep The Fire: the album’s big hit was “This Is It.” That’s precisely what The King Of Pop said about his swan song 50 concert run in London, scheduled to begin this month. Sadly, his heart had the same message for Jackson himself last month.
Sample: Kenny Loggins “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong”
“One Track Mind” is a more-or-less weekly drool over a single song selected on a whim and a short thesis on why you should be drooling over it, too.
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