Captain & Tennille

Songwriter: Billy Preston Reginald Rasputin Boutte

Producer: Captain & Tennille

With every note I play
I play with love
With every word I sing
It's coming from my heart

And so I sing a song of joy for you
With all the happiness this melody brings
With all the happiness this melody brings

Seems you always had a prayer for me
When no one cared for me
You were so kind to me

And so I sing a song of joy for you
With all the happiness this melody brings
With all the happiness this melody brings

With every note I play
I play with love
With every word I sing
It's coming from my heart

And so I sing a song of joy for you
With all the happiness this melody brings
With all the happiness this melody brings

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

Song of Joy

From the album

Song of Joy (1976)

Captain & Tennille popular songs

Song of JoyCaptain & Tennille

Captain & Tennille

Song of Joy