It’s a rainy Sunday here in Orlando, so I’m staying dry, hunting for the cat when thunder hits, and diving into England Dan & John Ford Coley. I think the song most folks know best is 1976’s “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight.” I’ll admit I was one of those folks who thought they were singing “I’m not talking ’bout the linen” even before screenwriter Shane Black called us out in “The Long Kiss Goodnight.”
And to prove it, here’s a live version from “The Midnight Special” where you can clearly hear “I’m not talkin’ ’bout movin’ in.”
In all, the soft rock duo had six songs hit the Top 40. After “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” it was “Nights Are Forever without You.”
1977 brought a new album from Dan and John, “Dowdy Ferry Road,” and two more songs that rose to #21 and #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 – “It’s Sad to Belong” and “Gone Too Far.” I’ll admit “Gone to Far” is the one I don’t recall ever hearing on the radio, although the production, especially the guitars and drums, make it sound like a TV theme song of the era.
The 1978 album “Some Things Don’t Come Easy” had four singles but the first is the only one to crack the Top 40. To me, “We’ll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again,” sounds a lot like the solo work of David Gates from Bread. Gates’ “The Goodbye Girl” came out the year before and even includes the lyric “Goodbye doesn’t mean we’ll never be together again.”
As a duo, the last hit for England Dan & John Ford Coley was 1979’s “Love Is the Answer,” written by Todd Rundgren and originally recorded by his band, Utopia. Since 1979, the song has been covered by a lot of Contemporary Christian artists.