Today’s classic ’70s song of the day is “Ride Captain Ride” by the group Blues Image. It was released in the spring of 1970 and shot up the charts to hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 9 of that year.
“Ride Captain Ride” was written by the band’s singer, Mike Pinera, and keyboardist, Frank “Skip” Konte. It tells the story about a captain who recruits a crew to sail with him to a new land on his “mystery ship.” Unfortunately, after sailing, the ship and its crew are never heard from again.
As to the number of men in the crew, Mike Pinera says it was inspired by the number of keys on the band’s Fender Rhodes piano:
“Okay, I need a first word. And what came into my head was ’73.’ I liked the rhythm, and I went, ’73 men sailed up, from the San Francisco Bay.’…The song sort of just wrote itself from there.”
The band Blues Image was formed in Tampa, Florida, in 1966. They were pretty big in South Florida, then moved to Los Angeles in 1969 and promptly signed with Atco Records. The self-titled debut album didn’t make much of a mark, but their second album, Open, did, thanks in no small part to “Ride Captain Ride.” By the way, the version of the song on the album is slightly longer than the single version, repeating the final chorus a few more times.
Blues Image was kind of a one-hit wonder, but not really. Later in 1970 Atco released their follow-up single “Gas Lamps and Clay,” which hit #83 on the Hot 100 but didn’t go any higher than that. So the band technically had two hits, even if few people heard the second one. They broke up in May of 1970, just as “Ride Captain Ride” was peaking on the charts.
As good as the Blue Image original is, I’m even more fond of the cover that Blood, Sweat & Tears did on their 1975 album, New City. It’s a cool jazz-influenced arrangement with a nifty horn part arranged by saxophonist Bill Tillman, a bluesy vocal by David Clayton-Thomas, a full-tilt Fender Rhodes solo by Larry Willis, and some tasty drumming by Bobby Colomby. It’s worth a listen.
[…] New City. That album was pretty good and featured a stellar cover of Blues Image’s “Ride Captain Ride,” but even that couldn’t right the listing ship, and the group faded out from […]