Tom Johnston said in an interview it was a song about a personal break up with his girlfriend.
This song was released as the first single off of their album, but radio stations stopped playing it because of the line : “and the radio just seems to bring me down.” Miraculously, the DJs flipped it over and started playing the B side with a tune called “Black Water” (which was on the B side because the record company didn’t think it was a hit. On its own without promotion, the song shot to number 1 on US Billboard to become the first number one record for The Doobie Brothers and for Patrick Simmons who wrote the guitar riff between music sessions, and one of only two songs to go to number one after being released as a B side record! Wow!!! What unique history!!
Tom Johnston said in an interview it was a song about a personal break up with his girlfriend. This song was released as the first single off of their album, but radio stations stopped playing it because of the line : “and the radio just seems to bring me down.” Miraculously, the DJs flipped it over and started playing the B side with a tune called “Black Water” (which was on the B side because the record company didn’t think it was a hit. On its own without promotion, the song shot to number 1 on US Billboard to become the first number one record for The Doobie Brothers and for Patrick Simmons who wrote the guitar riff between music sessions, and one of only two songs to go to number one after being released as a B side record! Wow!!! What unique history!!