Rock the Boat

This song sounds more like 1974 than any song on this countdown.

It's the Hughes Corporation's Rock the Boat, the breezy 1974 hit that had America dancing before disco had exploded.

Now,

formed in Santa Monica in 69, the group signed with RCA and released their debut album, Freedom for the Stallion.

They did that in December of 73.

Songwriter Wally Holmes wrote Rock the Boat, but producer John Flores suggested a punchier opening line, so they came up with that.

So I'd like to know where you got the low shot.

He also brought in top session players like Joe Sample, guitarist Larry Carlton, and bassist Wilton Felder.

It did me too.

That and Rock the Boat

by Hughes

Corporation.

The Hughes Corporation actually had a very big hit in 1974.

Which one? Rock the Boat.

Oh,

there you

go.

Oh, don't rock the boat, baby.

Yes.

Don't dip the

hit that marked disco as the main thing on the scene than two consecutive number one hits with the word rock in the title.

The Hughes Corporation's Rock the Boat we heard at song number 1721.

The international hit that knocked Rock the Boat out of the top spot in the U.S. was George McRae's Rock Your Baby.

It was written by Henry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, Henry Wayne Casey of the Casey and the Sunshine Band fame, who would go on to have four number one disco songs in the next couple of years.

George McRae, an R&B disco soul singer from West Palm Beach, Florida, wasn't the original person to sing the song.

Debbie Harry and partner Chris Stein had originally penned it in 1974, just after they formed a group together as Angel and the Snake.

Their inspiration was the Hughes Corporation's early disco hit Rock the Boat.

And they called the first version Once I Had a Love.

We were living in a loft in New York's then notorious Bowery area, Harry told the Guardian newspaper in 2013, rehearsing at night in rooms so cold we had to wear gloves.

Wonder if I know that song.

Average White Band, Staple Singers, "Respect Yourself", Hughes Corporation, "Rock the Boat." I love that song.

The Three Degrees, "When Will I See You Again?", Tower of Power.

"Rubber Band Man" by The Spinners.

[singing]

Um, Rock the Boat, Hues Corporation.

Rock the boat, don't rock the boat, baby.

Baby.

Uh, then they have How Long by Ace in here.