I’m thinking about drummer Hal Blaine today. This was his kind of LA weather. He used to make us laugh and laugh at our weekly breakfasts. I heard “Love Will Keep Us Together” today and thought of a funny story that Hal loved to tell (one of the clean ones.) The good old days of the music business.
Hal started by saying that one day in 1975 someone came up to him and said “Congratulations, Hal, you have the number one record in the country!”
Hal, confused, said “What is it?”
The guy says “The Captain & Tennille!”
Hal goes, “Who the hell are the Captain and Tennille?”
Now this guy is confused. He says “You know, “Love Will Keep Us Together” by the Captain and Tennille.”
Hal, agitated now, goes “WHO THE F*** ARE THE CAPTAIN AND TENNILLE???”
I wish I could imitate Hal’s voice.. So, Hal was pissed off and in an ill temper until the next day he gets a telegram from A&M Records stating “You will be receiving an RIAA Certified Gold Record for “Love Will Keep Us Together” by The Captain And Tennille.”
Hal fires back a telegram to A&M: “WHO THE HELL ARE THE CAPTAIN AND TENNILLE???”
Finally, Don Randi or another Wrecking Crew vet comes up to Hal and says “Hey, we have the number one record in the country, The Captain And Tennille!”
Hal screams out “WHO THE HELL ARE THEY???
“You know, that Daryl Dragon demo thing we worked on last year.”
Hal could barely remember the thing. He explained to us, “I never heard it as a song, never heard the words, just a riff line turned into 3 minutes.”
After he heard the song on the radio he told us “I remember, but it’s vague.”
So every time I think of this song, I think of ol’ Hal and the Gold Record on his wall for a song he didn’t even remember recording. I really miss him.
