Captain & Tennille

Released: May 1, 1975

Songwriter: Bruce Johnston

Producer: Morgan Cavett Daryl Dragon

Clearing skies and drying eyes
Now I see your smile
Darkness goes and softness
Shows a changing style

Just in time
Words that rhyme
Well, bless your soul
Now I'll fill your hands
With kisses and a Tootsie Roll

Reality
It's not for me and it makes me laugh
But fantasy world and Disney Girls
I'm coming back

Patti Page and summer days
On old Cape Cod
Happy times and making wine in my garage
Country shade and lemonade
Guess I'm slowing down
It's a turn-back world
With a local girl in a smaller town

Open cars and clearer stars
That's what I lack
But fantasy world and Disney Girls
I'm coming back

Mom!
Hi, Rick and Dave!
Hi, Pop!
Well, good morning, Mom!
Love, get up!

Guess what?
I'm in love with a girl I found
She's really swell
'Cause she likes church bingo chances
And old time dances

All my life
I spent the nights with dreams of you
The warmth I missed for the things
I wished are coming true

I got my love to give and a place to live
Guess I'm gonna stay
It'd be a peaceful life
With a forever wife and a kid some day

It's early nights and pillow fights
And your soft laugh
But fantasy world and Disney Girls
I'm coming back

In 1972, Toni Tennille was a co-writer of the musical Mother Earth. Daryl “Captain Keyboard” Dragon, who got his nickname while touring with the Beach Boys from his signature skipper’s cap, took a job as the keyboardist for Mother Earth and the two hit it off romantically and musically, forming a nightclub act that charged $70 a night.

When two radio DJs urged the duo to record their cover of the Beach Boys song “Disney Girls” in 1974, they also recorded an original song “The Way I Want to Touch You” which attracted interest from several record labels. A&M Records, home to the platinum-selling male/female duo The Carpenters who had scored ten top 5 hits in the US from 1970-1974, signed them.

Captain & Tennille’s 1975 debut album featured seven originals, three Beach Boys covers and – at the suggestion of A&M’s A&R man – a cover of Neil Sedaka’s “Love Will Keep Us Together”. The latter was released as their first single and found massive success in North America. It reached #1 in the US & Canada, won a Grammy for Record Of The Year, and was the biggest song of of the year in the US. Even their Spanish version of the song “Por Amor Viviremos” reached #49 in the US. A&M followed it up with “The Way I Want to Touch You” and it reached #4 in both the US and Canada. Both songs also found success in New Zealand and the UK. The two married in November 1975.

more tracks from the album

Love Will Keep Us Together

From the album

Love Will Keep Us Together (1975)

Captain & Tennille popular songs

Disney GirlsCaptain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille

Love Will Keep Us Together