This was .38 Special's first hit. It was written by Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan for their band Survivor. When Survivor's producer decided that song wasn't right for their first album, .38 Special recorded it. After it became a hit, John Kalodner, who signed Aerosmith, Genesis, Survivor and .38 Special, had Peterik write some songs for .38 Special in addition to his work with Survivor. Says Peterik:
That was a major moment for me. It was my first foray into co-writing. Kalodner said, 'You did great with Rocking Into The Night, I want to put you together with Don Barnes and Jeff Carlisi of .38 to see what you can do.' That first night, Jeff and Don are at my house in La Grange, Illinois and we're sitting around the kitchen table. Writing sessions are always like blind dates: It's like making love without the foreplay. Suddenly you're sitting there face to face, and you're thinking, 'OK, what do we do now? Am I going to embarrass myself? What if my ideas suck?' So we're sitting there nervously, just making small talk, and all of the sudden Jeff says, 'I've got this lick,' and he starts with the opening lick of what became Hold On Loosely. I go, 'That's really neat,' and Don says, 'I've got this title - Hold On Loosely,' and I go, 'Yeah, but don't let go.' My wife of 32 years now, this is what broke us apart when we were teenagers - I was getting too close. I was getting too serious for her. She didn't say, 'Hold On Loosely,' but that's what was in her heart. So when Don said 'Hold On Loosely,' I immediately knew what he was talking about. He wasn't even talking about that exactly, he told me later, he just thought it was a cool title. I immediately saw a story, and it was really my own story. I said, 'Jeff, play that riff.' He plays the riff, and I start singing: 'You see it all around you, good loving gone bad.' It just started coming. I turned on the tape recorder and said, 'Guys, I think we have something here.' We got the stalk of the song in the next 2 days, then I fine-tuned it in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I flew down to Jacksonville where the band was rehearsing and basically worked out the song with them down there. The bridge was straight out of the Doobie Brothers songbook. If I look at that song, it's kind of a meld of a lot of influences of mine from that time. The 1/8 notes are very Cars-like from that time and the bridge was What A Fool Believes upside down. It was a great moment and led to a series of .38 Special songs that I wrote with them. After that came Caught Up In You, Fantasy Girl, Wild Eyed Southern Boys and all of those. It was a great run that continues to this day." (Thanks to Jim for speaking with us about this song. He is author of the book Songwriting For Dummies. To learn more, check out his website: www.jimpeterik.com.)
here's what i found straight from the band...
This was .38 Special's first hit. It was written by Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan for their band Survivor. When Survivor's producer decided that song wasn't right for their first album, .38 Special recorded it. After it became a hit, John Kalodner, who signed Aerosmith, Genesis, Survivor and .38 Special, had Peterik write some songs for .38 Special in addition to his work with Survivor. Says Peterik: That was a major moment for me. It was my first foray into co-writing. Kalodner said, 'You did great with Rocking Into The Night, I want to put you together with Don Barnes and Jeff Carlisi of .38 to see what you can do.' That first night, Jeff and Don are at my house in La Grange, Illinois and we're sitting around the kitchen table. Writing sessions are always like blind dates: It's like making love without the foreplay. Suddenly you're sitting there face to face, and you're thinking, 'OK, what do we do now? Am I going to embarrass myself? What if my ideas suck?' So we're sitting there nervously, just making small talk, and all of the sudden Jeff says, 'I've got this lick,' and he starts with the opening lick of what became Hold On Loosely. I go, 'That's really neat,' and Don says, 'I've got this title - Hold On Loosely,' and I go, 'Yeah, but don't let go.' My wife of 32 years now, this is what broke us apart when we were teenagers - I was getting too close. I was getting too serious for her. She didn't say, 'Hold On Loosely,' but that's what was in her heart. So when Don said 'Hold On Loosely,' I immediately knew what he was talking about. He wasn't even talking about that exactly, he told me later, he just thought it was a cool title. I immediately saw a story, and it was really my own story. I said, 'Jeff, play that riff.' He plays the riff, and I start singing: 'You see it all around you, good loving gone bad.' It just started coming. I turned on the tape recorder and said, 'Guys, I think we have something here.' We got the stalk of the song in the next 2 days, then I fine-tuned it in the next 2 or 3 weeks. I flew down to Jacksonville where the band was rehearsing and basically worked out the song with them down there. The bridge was straight out of the Doobie Brothers songbook. If I look at that song, it's kind of a meld of a lot of influences of mine from that time. The 1/8 notes are very Cars-like from that time and the bridge was What A Fool Believes upside down. It was a great moment and led to a series of .38 Special songs that I wrote with them. After that came Caught Up In You, Fantasy Girl, Wild Eyed Southern Boys and all of those. It was a great run that continues to this day." (Thanks to Jim for speaking with us about this song. He is author of the book Songwriting For Dummies. To learn more, check out his website: www.jimpeterik.com.)
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