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The Real ThingKenny Loggins

Songwriter: David Foster Kenny Loggins

Producer: Terry Nelson Kenny Loggins

Amanda, I know what you're thinking
You and I have much to say
And you've been making me crazy
Trying to understand
But it's impossible at your age
I know I said I'll always try
But you're going to bed alone again tonight
And you lie there in the dark and wonder why

I did it for you, and the boys
Because love should teach you joy
And not the imitation
That your momma and daddy tried to show you
I did it for you, and for me
And because I still believe
There's only one thing
You can never give up
Never compromise on
And that's the real thing you need in love

You're so afraid your life is over
And nothing I can say can change your mind
How can anybody be so selfish
And treat you all so cruel
Go on and scream at me and cry
I'll always hold you in my soul
And I'm never going to leave you all alone
But your daddy doesn't live here anymore

I did it for you, and the boys
Because love should teach you joy
And not the imitation
That your momma and daddy tried to show you
I did it for you, and for me
And because I still believe
There's only one thing
You can never give up
Never compromise on
And that's the real thing you need in love

Everybody's got a boat upon the ocean
Not everybody's sailing out to sea
And is there someone there for me?
I'm ready to believe

I did it for you, and the boys
Because love should teach you joy
And not the imitation
That your momma and daddy tried to show you
I did it for you, and for me
And because I still believe
There's only one thing
You can never give up
Never compromise on
And that's the real thing you need in love

Kenny Loggins

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.

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