Kenny Loggins

Songwriter: Richard Stekol Kenny Loggins

Producer: Tom Dowd

I read your letter
It said between the lines
You're visiting Mexico for an indefinite amount of time
Your love for burritos has now begun to cool
You need this driving fool
To Detomaso the night away
Detomaso a ride away

Roll, Mr. Night
You know what you gotta do
Anymore I ain't asking you
Go on out and do it tonight

Come on, Mr. Night
Now I'm in the driver's seat
Till we reach our destiny
Go on out and do it tonight

Your Mona Lisa
She took her smile of gold
Run under the border guard
And put it over on her Romeo

Your love for Señorita
I see is none too cool
Here comes this driving fool
To Detomaso the night away
Detomaso a ride away

Roll, Mr. Night
You know what you gotta do
Anymore I ain't asking you
Go on out and do it tonight

Come on, Mr. Night
Now I'm in the driver's seat
Till we reach our destiny
Go on out and do it tonight

I see those ivory lies
In sweet Rosita's eyes
Gonna leave them both behind
When we 'tomaso all night

Your love and money this time are gone for good
Little Rosa took a boda bag
And hit the road like a Robin Hood

And I see by the headlines that I'll be driving south
And when I pull you out
We'll Detomaso the night away
Detomaso a ride away
Lambourghini a getaway

Roll, Mr. Night
You know what you gotta do
Anymore I ain't asking you
Go on out and do it tonight

Come on, Mr. Night
Now I'm in the driver's seat
Till we reach our destiny
Go on out and do it tonight

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Kenny Loggins has enjoyed more than three decades of success in the music business, as a songwriter and performer, mostly in a soft rock vein. He was born Kenneth Clarke Loggins in Everett, WA in early 1948, and the family later moved to Detroit, and finally to Alhambra, CA when he was in his teens. He initially turned to music as a way of compensating for his extreme shyness, and found that he was, indeed, a talented guitarist and had a voice. For a time in the late ‘60s he was based in Pasadena, studying at Pasadena City College. At the end of the decade, Loggins passed through the lineup of a band called Gator Creek, who were good enough to get signed to Mercury Records. The group recorded one self-titled album, which was issued in 1970 and included an early version of “Danny’s Song,” a track that he later recorded again as part of Loggins & Messina. He also spent time with a short-lived group called Second Helping, and was a member of the stage incarnation of the Electric Prunes during a later phase of that group’s history.

Loggins was proficient on the guitar and piano, but it was his songwriting that allowed him to make his first lasting impression on the music industry. He took a job as a staff writer for Wingate Music, for $100.00 a week, and later that year four of his songs ended up on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy. This event was particularly fortuitous, as that album was the first release by the newly reconstituted version of the group, and included what proved to be their biggest hit, “Mr. Bojangles.” The presence of the latter helped make Uncle Charlie one of the group’s biggest selling long-players; and the exposure generated a second hit in the form of Loggins’ own “House at Pooh Corner.”

The success of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s recordings brought Loggins to the attention of former Poco member Jim Messina, who was working as a staff producer at CBS. It was Messina’s intention to produce Loggins' debut album, but he also ended up playing and singing on the record, and it worked out so well that the two ended up in a duo. Loggins & Messina were among the most popular folk-based soft rock acts of the first half of the ‘70s and enjoyed a four-year string of successful albums.

more tracks from the album

Keep the Fire

From the albums

Keep the Fire (1979)
Caddyshack: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack (1980)

Kenny Loggins popular songs

Mr. NightKenny Loggins

Kenny Loggins

Keep the Fire