Kenny Loggins wrote today’s classic song of the day when he just a 17 year-old senior in high school. The song is “House at Pooh Corner” and it’s a wise-beyond-his-years look at nostalgia and lost innocence.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was the first to record “House at Pooh Corner.” They included it on the 1970 album Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy, which also included the hit “Mr. Bojangles.” They released “House at Pooh Corner” as a single in April of 1971 but it stalled at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Kenny Loggins, with his partner Jim Messina, were next to record the song. Loggins and Messina’s version of “House at Pooh Corner” was included on their 1971 album, Sittin’ In. They didn’t release it as a single.
Interestingly, “House at Pooh Corner” almost didn’t get released because the Walt Disney Company, which owned the rights to the Winnie the Pooh character, objected. Fortunately for Mr. Loggins, he happened to be dating a girl named Marnie Walker, who happened to be the daughter of Card Walker, who happened to be the president of the Walt Disney Company at the time and… well, let’s let him tell the story:
“I was 17, and I didn’t really have any awareness that I wasn’t allowed to write a song about Winnie the Pooh, and that there were people who owned that copyright…. About a month later, I got a phone call from John McEuen, who at the time seemed to be the leader of the Dirt Band [who wanted to record the song]. He says, ‘Kenny, I’m really sorry, but we won’t be able to record that song. We’ve been inundated with phone calls from Disney lawyers for the last few weeks, telling us that we’re not allowed to record a song about Winnie the Pooh.’
“I was going on a date that night, and I mentioned to my girlfriend, ‘I’m kinda bummed tonight because I thought I had my first song recorded, and it’s not gonna happen. The Disney lawyers put the kibosh on it. She looked at me and says, ‘Disney lawyers? Let me to talk to Daddy about that.’ I did not know that I was dating the daughter of the CEO of the Disney corporation.”
Young Ms. Walker talked to her dad about her boyfriend’s situation, her dad talked the company’s lawyers, and next thing you know, Kenny Loggins got permission to release his song (with the Dirt Band recording it). Life’s funny that way.
And here’s your daily bonus track of the day. In 1994, after Kenny Loggins had become a successful solo artist and had his own four-year-old son, he wrote a somewhat-sequel to “House at Pooh Corner” called “Return to Pooh Corner.” (It’s actually the same song but with an added verse.) Enjoy.
