“It’s Sad to Belong” (England Dan & John Ford Coley)

Today’s classic song of the day is that soft rock ode to extramarital love, “It’s Sad to Belong” by England Dan & John Ford Coley. The duo had charted two previous hits in the previous twelve months or so, former classic song of the day “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight” (where the singer is not talking ’bout moving in) and “Nights Are Forever Without You.” They’d go on to have several more hits, including “We’ll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again” and “Love is the Answer,” both from 1978.

“It’s Sad to Belong” was written by Randy Goodrum, one of the most successful songwriters you’ve probably never heard of. He wrote or co-wrote “You Needed Me” and “Now and Forever (You and Me)” for Anne Murray, “Bluer Than Blue” for Michael Johnson, “What Are We Doin’ In Love” for Dottie West and Kenny Rogers, “A Lesson in Leavin'” for Dottie West solo, “Oh Sherrie” and “Foolish Heart” for Journey’s Steve Perry, “Who’s Holding Donna Now” for DeBarge, “Fallin’ in Love” for Sylvia, and many, many others across three decades.

Atlantic Records released “It’s Sad to Belong” in April of 1977. The song hit #21 on the Billboard Hot 100, #13 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #1 on both the U.S. and Canadian Adult Contemporary charts. It tells the bittersweet story of a man who finds his true love, but only after he’s married someone else. He knows they can’t be together, which is why “It’s sad to belong to someone else when the right one comes along.”

England Dan & John Ford Coley were Dan “England Dan” Seals and John “John Ford” Coley, two high school friends from Texas who started out singing in local bars and ultimately scored a recording contract in the early ’70s, first with A&M Records then with Big Tree Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic. They were big in the mid-70s but split up in 1980.

After they split, Dan Seals, the younger brother of Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts, went solo as a country singer and had nine #1 hits on the country charts. He passed away in 2009 of lymphoma at age 61.

John Coley continued performing for a number of years before becoming a producer. He’s still with us today, 76 years old.

And here’s your daily bonus soft rock video of the day, Dan Seals and John Coley performing “It’s Sad to Belong” live on some television show back in 1977. Yes, we all had mid-length hair, porn ‘staches, leisure suits, and big-collared shirts back then. (I did, anyway.)