Today’s classic Yacht Rock song of the day is “Love Will Find a Way” by Pablo Cruise. This track was released in May of 1978 and shot all the way to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Love Will Find a Way” is a strong Yacht Rock song, rating a solid 91 on the Yachtski scale at the old Yacht or Nyacht? website (no longer active, unfortunately). It got a lot of airplay during the summer of ’78, even though it’s not technically a summer song.
Pablo Cruise is a group, not a guy, hailing from San Francisco. The group formed in 1973 and had their first hit with “Whatcha Gonna Do?” in 1977. Asked where the group’s name came from, the boys inevitably replied that “Pablo” represented an honest, down-to-earth individual while “Cruise” described that individual’s fun-loving, easy-going attitude towards life. Retroactively, the “Cruise” has definite connections the Yacht Rock genre that the group was definitely a participant in.
The group scored five Top 40 singles (“Whatcha Gonna Do” in 1977, “Love Will Find a Way” and “Don’t Want to Live Without It” in 1978, “I Want You Tonight” in 1979, and “Cool Love” in 1981) before fading away in the early ’80s. They broke up in 1986, although three of the four (David Jenkin on guitar and vocals, Cory Leiros on keyboards, and Steve Price on drums) reunited in 1996 then again in 2004. The fourth member, Bud Cockerall (bass), passed away in 1999, age 44. The other members, augmented by a collection of newbies, continue to tour on the oldies circuit.
By this point you may be asking, what are the top Yacht Rock songs? According to the Yachtski experts at Yacht or Nyacht, the Top 20 Yacht Rock songs are, in order:
- “What A Fool Believes” (The Doobie Brothers)
- “Heart to Heart” (Kenny Loggins)
- “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” (Michael McDonald)
- “This is It” (Kenny Loggins)
- “Nothin’ You Can Do About It” (Airplay)
- “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong” (Kenny Loggins)
- “Rosanna” (Toto)
- “Human Nature” (Michael Jackson)
- “Sailing” (Christopher Cross)
- “Nobody’s Business” (Maxus)
- “Turn Your Love Around” (George Benson)
- “Ride Like the Wind” (Christopher Cross)
- “FM” (Steely Dan)
- “All Right” (Christopher Cross)
- “Africa” (Toto)
- “Mornin’ “(Al Jarreau)
- “Sure Enough” (Tom Scott)
- “Peg” (Steely Dan)
- “Make Believe” (Toto)
- “Minute By Minute” (The Doobie Brothers)
A lot of Kenny Loggins, a lot of Christopher Cross, a lot of Michael McDonald (and Michael McDonald-adjacent) tunes. They are the true kings of the yacht.
