Iconic Singer Songwriter Tells The HILARIOUS Story Of This 70s Soft Rock Classic | Professor of Rock
Вставка
- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
- Stephen Bishop tells the hilarious story of his 1977 Hit On and On. He is a California singer-songwriter who had many hits in the 70s and 80s including Save it for a Rainy Day, and It Might Be You from Tootsie, etc tells us the story of his genre defining 1977 hit that captured the nation and is now a bona fide Yacht Rock classic. You’ll get a kick out of the guy. the story is next on professor of rock
We Have New MERCH! bit.ly/Profess...
Thank you to this Episodes Sponsor, Zenni Optical
Incredible Prices on New Glasses - bit.ly/ZenniOp...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Executive Producer
Brandon Fugal
Honorary Producers
Brian G, Jason Sheperd, Mark Thompson, Bobby Alcott
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check Out My Hand Picked Selection Below
Professor's 80s Store
- 100 Best Selling Albums amzn.to/3h3qZX9
- Ultimate History of 80s Teen Movie amzn.to/3ifjdKQ
- 80s to 90s VHS Video Cover Art amzn.to/2QXzmIX
- Totally Awesome 80s A Lexicon amzn.to/3h4ilrk
- Best In Ear Headphones (I Use These Every Day) amzn.to/2ZcTlIl
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Access To Backstage Content
Become a Patron - bit.ly/Professo...
Purchase The Albums
Help out the Channel by purchasing your albums through our links! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you, thank you for your support.
Click here for Premium Content: bit.ly/SignUpF...
bit.ly/Faceboo...
bit.ly/Instagr...
#70s #Rock #Story
Hey music junkies and vinyl junkies Professor of Rock always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest 70s vinyl songs of all time for the music community and vinyl community.
If you’ve ever owned records, cassettes and CD’s at different times in you life or still do this is your place Subscribe below right now to be a part of our daily celebration of the rock era with exclusive stories from straight from the artists and click on our patreon link in the description to see our brand new show there.
Today we continue our new show Yacht Rock Smoothies-
the stories behind the smoothest songs in the harbor. Yacht Rock is one of my favorite genres...I was raised on this music from the 70s and 80s and i”m really glad that new fans and a whole new generation are discovering and appreciating these truly sophisticated, meticulously crafted rock and pop ditties.
Today we get to know a true master of the craft of songwriting. Multiplatinum singer songwriter and one Eric Clapton’s favorite’s Mr. Stephen Bishop. Stephen has had countless hits that you will no doubt recall including It Might Be You the love song from Tootsie. He also wrote Separate Lives that was beatifully covered by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin from White Nights. It went to #1 in the mid 80s.
Save It For A Rainy Day which featured the aforementioned Eric Clapton with Chaka Khan. He also wrote and performed one of my favorite songs, the 1977 hit On and On which peaked at #11 on the Hot 100 and went to #2 on the AC charts. It actually spent a whopping 28 weeks in the charts Up next Stephen tells us the story of this classic hit, how it came about and of his first album. As we go into this interview, I want to thank our sponsor Zenni Eyewear, the glasses I wear.
The best thing about Zenni right now is there blue blokz feature which you can add to any of your frames at Zenni.com, I have it on all of mine. They protect your eyes from digital blue light that we come in to contact all the time. Check it out today. Here’s Stephen with the Story.
thanks for watching. Make sure to leave us a comment below about this song and Stephen Bishop What specific memories do you have about these classic 70s and 80s soft rock or yacht rock hits? What other songs should we cover here. Let us know in the comments. If you like our video we invite your subscribe to this channel right now to get our daily history on the rock and roll era, Content you won’t get anywhere else. Also if you are able, check out our patreon link below for even more content. help us keep the music alive. Until Next time… Three
It was great sitting down with you guys! -Bish
Stephen Bishop is the guy who got his guitar smashed by John Belushi in Animal House while he was singing "I gave my love a cherry that had no stone".....this guy is a friggin' legend!
A piece of true cinema history!
ua-cam.com/video/8V_hCqO6UQs/v-deo.html
Lol
And that's real fear on his face because Belushi just thought of it and no body was prepared for it
@@MarcoPolo-je5ej thanks!
This guy cracks me up… his personality alone makes me want to dig back into his catalog a bit
No kidding. He's got some great songs!
The only song I've ever heard from him is from the film The Money Pit, it's a song called The Heart Is So Willing, great song.
Kind of makes you want to hear some of those early throw away songs with the weird titles.
@@AllUAreIsHistory I loved that track. Hard to find. He also did that track, "Walking On Air" from the Boy Who Could Fly. That one can be found on "Bowling In Paris."
Same here. Kudos to Adam for keeping these songs alive!
It's a perfect song, one of my all time faves.... it will be played at my funeral, don't know how much more upbeat I can get. Love it.
Great interview. Stephen Bishop is one of my favorites. What a great sense of humor.
Professor you’re not a UA-camr. You’re a true journalist. You’re doing g important work documenting these periods before these singers and songwriters pass away.
How bout “Dancing in the moonlight” next
I believe he’s done that interview already.
UA-cam’s been a legit platform for some time now. LOTS of quality edutainment, and not even available in most traditional academic institutions.
No need to denigrate this platform to elevate the Professor. This is how info is disseminated now. And what professor has traditionally been able to reach literally the entire globe before? 🌎 It’s the power of the internet, and the (relative) democracy of the platform that allows us to learn all kinds of interesting things, esp. when UA-cam’s algorithm is on point, and suggests videos that you _KNOW_ you never would’ve found on your own.
One of my top two favorite songs of all time (reminiscing being the other). Timeless.
Stephen seems like a really down to earth guy. Funny as hell. Puts me a little higher in my book of people who I'll never meet, but would love to. Great songwriter, very much of a definer of the Yacht Rock sound.
For sure He's got some great album tracks as well.
From his songwriting prowess to his personality and sense of humor, I call him "the West Coast Rupert Holmes"!
My girlfriend in the late 80's roommate/friend was dating Steven and the four of us went out for dinner a few times and I got to hang at his place and play a guitar of his in a small bedroom studio. I found him to be a very gracious, humble and fun person to be around.
Watch him in the Kentucky Fried movie! It's the movie that started all the Naked Gun movies.
The opening line of that song is legend.
It's too bad that Paul Davis is no longer with us. The song "I go crazy" is my #1 yacht rock song... and Seals & Crofts and England Dan & John Ford Coley. More great musicians that have passed. Their memory and music will live on.
Amen brother 🙏🏼
Cliff Richard in the 70’s and 80’s “Devil Woman” is my UK Yacht Rock favorite
This song was on Billboard Hot 100 for over half a year in 1977. Got up to #11 at its peak. I remember it because it was one of those non-disco songs that stood out, when it came on the radio.
I thought seals & crofts were still alive, along with John Ford Coley, just very old now. RIP England Dan Seals 🦭
@@potownrob Dan England is dead while John Ford Coley and Seals&Crofts(band broke up) are still alive
“It might be you” and “On and on” are timeless songs because the melody, the lyrics, the sound, the emotion and that weird immediate feeling of nostalgia that they bring cannot be replicated nor copied. The former brings a feeling of hope for love, while the latter brings that feeling of comfort with life when one has the time to sit back with a nice drink and a nice book and simply relax.
These type of songs always brings me back to "The Best of Bread" one of the greatest albums ever produced.
Oooh that's a fabulous Album . I can weep all the way through it.
This song was a giant hit with my audiences in the 70's in the clubs and in concert. I was always very proud that I could hit that high note and sustain it at the end of the song. This is one of the few songs I wish I could have written myself. Always admired Stephen Bishop!
I was in a Woolworth's in San Antonio--I was 8 or 9--when "Luckenbach, Texas", "Used Ta Be My Girl" and "On & On" came over the store's speakers. It was like that moment was frozen forever in time, and to this day I can see what aisle I was on and what I was doing. I dont know if I was consciously aware of the significance of the moment and the impact those songs made on my barely existence of a life, but I think it shaped my taste in music. Honestly, I credit Stephen Bishop for being my first vocal teacher. Even to this day--43/44 years later, my heart is still 70s &80s classics, AND the three aforementioned songs get cranked ALLLLLLLLLL the way up. P.s. I can still hit the note in "On &On".
If you want to hear a great cover of Lukenbach Texas listen to Sean Rowe’s version
So well said and I can definitely relate.
My wife went to luckenbach a couple of months ago and brought me a bumper sticker.
@@davidlane256 that’s pretty awesome
Nice story! I think you might have a gift in the writing department. 🙂
My friend and I ran into him at the San Diego airport in 1979.
“Are you Stephen Bishop?”
“Yep.
Pretty exciting, huh?”
So glad I got to see him live at a little room in Las Vegas. The intense applause surprised him. “Wow,” he said. “I’m going to have to come here more often.”
Looking forward to more Yacht Rock classics. Would love to hear about Boz Scaggs and Lido Shuffle or Lowdown.
Your wish is our command! Will do!
I read years ago that Boz Skaggs stopped releasing albums after his divorce because his ex wife would have received a large part of the profits. I would love to know if there's any truth to that. I hope not, because it would be awfully petty (and sad) to stop creating great music just to get back at an ex.
Boz and Steve Miller (LOVE your Steve Miller shirt, btw!) both lived and had their first band together in Plano Texas, I lived in the next town over, Richardson. I've loved them both since the early days.
Some useless trivia: Richardson TX is where Mike Judge grew up, the guy who created "King of the Hill". There are so many places in that cartoon based on real sites around there, in fact "Arlen" is really based on Garland, TX. The "Meglomart" was a real store, but it was called the Hypermart, and it was accurately portrayed, that was not exaggerated!
@@LazyIRanch That could be true as he dropped out of the music biz for most of the 1980s, but he's recorded several albums since, the most recent being Out of the Blues in 2019.
Lido Shuffle is the kind of song that puts a smile on your face when you are having a crappy day!
@DogMan Not many men in the US file for divorce, 80% of marriages end because the woman leaves or forces the man to vacate his home, even if he had it before the marriage. That is one of the two main reasons marriage and children are out of fashion now, Within a generation, the median births per woman is down to 0,8 babies per female adult, down from 2,8. For the European linage majority, the births per woman is the lowest ever including
I love Stephen Bishop. He's an absolute legend and his music is AMAZING.
Such a fantastic artist, great songwriter, amazing voice, and some of the best soft rock and movie tunes ever...Stephen Bishop is really one of my fav artists, true talent at the highest level.
Always liked this song Everytime I heard it as a child. Always in my playlist. Breath of fresh air Everytime I hear it. Thanks professor 👍
I agree. Love the melody and he's one funny dude. I think you'll really enjoy it.
This is one of the best episodes yet. He has a great sense of humor and is a great storyteller. Obviously, with his song writing ability
There's an interesting story about how Phil Collins originally suggested a cover of the Mindbenders song "A Groovy Kind of Love" for Stephen Bishop and recorded a demo version that ended up being used in the movie Buster, which led to him recording the song himself, and it became a No. 1 hit in 1988 for Phil.
Will do!
It was also my brothers wedding song in 1988.
I hear “Stephen Bishop” and I immediately think of John Landis’ “Kentucky Fried Chicken” and “Show us you’re nuts!” … “Hello… how you doing? Surfin’ U.S.A.”
It's actually the other way around, I asked Phil to record me doing a demo of the song. I recommended to him to cover it as he showed an interest in recording it while producing my demo....
@@stephenbishopofficial Thank you so much for correcting me :) Such an honor (seriously).
Andrew Gold was such an under appreciated talent . And he sang one of my top 15 favorite songs 🎵 ❤! RIP AG
He was really great!
Linda Ronstadt's boyfriend for a while, later he married Nicolette Larson.
Save It For A Rainy Day brings me back in time...such a classic soft rock song...
Thanks Professor for unearthing these great stories and reminding us of how good these songs and artists are.
Stephen Bishop - “Careless” is a stunningly good album. Should be in everyone’s collection. He’s funny and flippant, but the songs on that record are so sensitive and vulnerable that it’s almost unbelievable one person could write them all. Lyrics, music, vocals,.. it’s just a masterpiece.
I couldn’t agree more. No duds anywhere. Why isn’t he better know throughout the world?
Yes, it is still fresh each time it's played.
Featured artists on that album included Andrew Gold ("Lonely Boy"), Larry Carlton (Steely Dan), Eric Clapton, Art Garfunkel, Chaka Khan and Lee Ritenour (famous Jazz guitarist)!
Careless is one of my favourite albums of all time! No shucks…it’s absolutely my favourite of all time!
@@johncochrane2049
They love him in the Philippines. He used to do concerts there a lot. You can find them on UA-cam.
I've traveled a lot from Asian to Alaska (my birth place), to Eastern Europe. Everybody enjoyed the song when I played it on my guitar.
I think I’ve said this on other interviews you did, but you really have a knack for getting the best out of the artists you interview. I’ve heard his songs a million times but had no idea who he really was and never really listened to his lyrics. It’s still not my cup of tea but I definitely have a new appreciation. And thanks to gary simon’s comment I now have a new appreciation of the great guitar smashing scene in Animal House!
I have nothing witty to say, just came here to say i love this song....takes me back.
in my teen years i found such solace in the sound of "yacht rock" and until today had no idea what it was called. thank you my friend
I knew yacht rock as “easy listening “ back in the day.
Yup, love this song. Sweet memories of a lost love in 1978…
The chorus is so inspiring when you're going through tough times. For me that's all the time.
Please do Year of The Cat by Al Stewart!
ua-cam.com/video/vYN_QupQJ_M/v-deo.html
@@suprememusicmaster Thank you!
Year of The Cat is my absolute favourite song. It came around at a time in my life where it changed drastically in a good way and every time I hear it it brings me right back to 1977 and the birth pf my first child. He even surprised me with it at his wedding when it came to the mother and son dance.
Stephen Bishop seems like a real down to earth guy. Loved the interview!
Stephen Bishop’s Bish and Careless are still in my collection. I regard him as one of the true Romantic melody writers and he was very influential to my guitar playing and song writing. His negative spaces within his songs was brilliantly balanced and beautifully crafted with his lyrics . Madge to me was such a good story and the chords with the lyrics… brilliant. He reminded me of the old RKO pictures scores .
Never knew Stephen wrote a lot of Eric Clapton songs! I remember listening to him in 1978-what a great era of music 🎵 ✨🥳
The music of Stephen Bishop made my childhood happy. I love all his music. I was 6 years old when On and On came out. Thanks Professor!
What a terrific interview. Stephen Bishop is a gift.
Animal House..”I gave my love a cherry…”. I wanted to hear about that.
There's never been a bad Stephen Bishop song. He's so good.
I'd love to hear more about "She's Gone" by Hall and Oates. Such a classic.
Everytime I watch "Animal House" I can't stop laughing over Belushi smashing Steven's Guitar as he's singing 'I Gave My Love A cherry, That Had No Stone, I gave my love a chicken that had no bones..." one of the funniest scenes in that movie . Kudos Stephen!!!
Bish also played an Illinois State Trooper in The Blues Brothers.
I’ve always loved the Careless record. Stephen seems like an awesome guy to talk with.
“On and On” is such a great tune. I love Bishop’s work. Thanks for digging up these stories and interviews.
I remember when I first heard he was from San Diego, I was so thrilled, being a San Diego native myself, and to now hear him say he used to be taken to Tijuana for haircuts, I could relate even more because I used to be taken down to TJ to get buzz cuts too when I was a kid.
My dad did the same with me. Not a buzz cut, but any cut in the late 60s early 70s was too much. My brother and I were bribed with getting fireworks from the backrooms of the stores on Revolucion
Brilliant songwriter, ‘On and On’ will just rip your heart out ⚡️💙⚡️
Good interview , what a character .😀
He really is. Thanks for watching.
Soothing mellow sound. On and on. 🎶👍
If this episode was an hour and a half long I'd still want more.
I was young when most of these songs came out but I still remember them. Funny how people can remember all the words to songs but have hard times remembering other things (that are important), mainly talking about myself but I'm sure others will agree!!
Great video PoR!!!
I always thought Stephen Bishop was a highly underrated singer and songwriter. Great stuff, especially learning to play his songs on guitar.
I listened to this song on and on.
I usually do after I watch Adam's interviews. 🤩
I always start off listening to these episodes thinking I’ll be mildly entertained, only to be swept up into a memory trip. Off to listen to more Stephen Bishop now. It’s been too long. 💙
There's something about these 70's guys; they really seem to be great guys and have a their act together. This interview, along with Elliot Lurie and Gilbert O'Sullivan interviews were outstanding. Keep 'em coming Professor!
Stephen Bishop is just TOO underrated! My favorites are "On And On" and "It Might Be You".
Professor, I will be turning 60 at the end of this year. I was DJing since 1979 and though I’m technically retired I still get a call every now and then. One of the things I loved about the craft was learning the ins and outs of songs I played. It made for great trivia and people loved the insight. Whenever I watch an episode of yours I can feel the same passion through you and you help all of us lovers of music go to places that we would never have gone without you.
Your channel is gold and I can’t thank you enough for all you do!
Great interview! You got great stories from him. The steel guitar story killed me! 😂
I didn't understand, the guy just left for some reason and wouldn't come back? The other guy couldn't get it right, and then the 1st guy came back?
@@shack8110 the first guy left cuz he thought he had contributed what he thought was the best he could provide for the song. Bishop wanted to try out more takes with different possibilities but had to get the other steel guitar player. When he thinks he’s got an even better solution by having this other steel guitar player sit in, it hilariously backfires cuz the style is all wrong. Turns out the first player had more of an idea of what worked with the tune. It’s funny in that sometimes you have to go through stuff to realize creatively what you have is already what will work best. Also, I’m sure Bishop would agree, that couldn’t have realized unless all that happened.
He is hilarious! "There’s a Hair in Your Enchilada"😂 Such a great interview!
I was dying.
I graduated from High School in 1976 and one of the first things I bought for myself (with my hard earned tip money from waitressing midnight shift at Denny's) was an all-in-one stereo radio/record player (we didn't refer to them as "turntables" back then) and double cassette player/recorder. I would always have it set to record so that if I heard a song that I wanted, I just had to click off the pause button. Now a 65 year old retiree, I just happened to spend yesterday going through my box of memories, and came across my "song lists" from those college years. Stephen Bishop, Dan Hill, Seals & Crofts, Paul Davis, Andrew Gold, 10CC, Alessi Brothers, Dean Friedman, Todd Rundgren's "Hello, It's Me", Michael Franks, Art Garfunkel (You GOTTA listen to "On Second Avenue"!!!), Eric Carmen and Paul Williams (another VERY under rated songwriter) -- so many solo singer/songwriters.... Melissa Manchester, Leah Kunkel (I Run With Trouble is another must), Jennifer Warnes (Song of Bernadette), Joan Baez "Miracles" and "Diamonds and Rust" -- Those are just the artists that I can name off the top of my head -- ALL were played on KMOX-FM out of St. Louis, MO -- Adult Contemporary was my Genre of choice in my post-disco queen days. I'd LOVE to get ahold of some of their playlists from back in the day. Sing on Bish, keep recording, and I'll keep buying those albums -- CDs -- whatever they are called these days.
Woulda' been finishing up my freshman year when you graduated H.S.
Gotta say, you had/have impeccable taste...
@@larry2447 I still have impeccable taste -- just look at my waistline!! LOL!! Gotta look up some more Leah Kunkel -- Cass Elliott's sister and guardian of Cass' daughter. Leah is also a lawyer and was/is? married to Russ Kunkel who is/was a session drummer and on some of Bish's albums -- one of "The Whistling Bishettes". Leah sang or sings with a group called The Coyote Sisters. Looking them up for a listen just now. BTW, Eric Carmen is another.
Lol that was great Adam, glad you interviewed him, such a Icon!
Nice guy, Mr. Bishop😊.
“On and On”,
“It Might Be You”.
“Separate Lives”.
Three “Yacht Rock” greats😊. Unless u just hate “softer” music, it’s almost impossible to dislike these these tunes😊.
I'm on the wrong side of 76, and remember very well back in the 50's and 60's what we called "Elevator music," but not until I started following this channel did I ever hear the term yacht rock music. Live and learn! Cheers! :)
If you like comedy, you should google "Channel 101 Yacht Rock" and watch all 10 ten-minute episodes. Hilarious!
@@jezmez68 OK...thanks for the tip...I'll check it out. Cheers! :)
Heard "On and On" on the radio on the way home this evening, then started googling Stephen Bishop and stumbled upon this interview. What a great segment! Thanks for doing this.....
Love the song. I was a young male rock vocalist in high school when this came out. I loved songs with melody and lyrics that told a good story. Incidentally, in the early 80s I moved from New England to Los Angeles and lived in Silver Lake for a while. Then moved to Los Feliz (adjacent). So many stars of music, film and TV in those Hollywood Hills. Flea was a neighbor.
I love his songs On and On , , It Might be You is AMAZING 👍
I've been a Stephen Bishop fan since On and On came out. Thank you for this.
Would love for you do do an interview with David Pack of Ambrosia. Stephen is good friends with David as is Michael McDonald. Michael sang back up for Stephen Bishop and David Pack as they all belonged to the same record label. What an interesting life these gentlemen have had with writing music together, producing it and singing back up where ever they could. Thanks for your excellent interviews!
What an awesome interview. Great job here
Thanks so much!
@@ProfessorofRock My pleasure as always
Whenever I’m blue or in a bad mood, I pull out On and On and by the time he puts on Sinatra and starts to cry, I’m sobbing right along with him. I’ve always loved him and even if his most of the 650+ songs are bad, there are a bunch of them that are pure gold! I love your music Stephen Bishop!! I’m a child of the 70s and I never get tired of these great and beautiful songs. Thank you Professor of Rock for chronicling my life! Thank you Mr Bishop for writing beautiful songs and your voice is amazing.
I wasn't informed but at some point during my lifetime soft rock became yacht rock.
@tristra And a dumb hijack that was!..
One of my all time favorite singer songwriters. I have all of his albums. As a songwriter myself, his inspirations steered me in new and different directions. Funny to find out that he was friends with Kenny Rankin as I was a big fan of his, having all of his albums, as well.
Stephen Bishop is such a card! I'd like to hear some of those "losers" he wrote in his teens, because he was clearly very imaginative, even back then.
I woke up this morning with this song stuck in my head, I hadn't heard it in, years? I thought, to get it out of my head, I'd listen to a "Hilarious" story from Prof.... Poof, here I am, how does that work???
Love Stephen Bishop
I have a soft place in my heart for songs like this, 'yacht-rock".. My parents and I would visit family in NY and Maine just about every Summer, and the car radio was constantly slipping out such songs... This was PRE-Walkman Days, kids, so what the parents wanted to listen to.. there went I. I look back on those joy-filled, endless Summers, and wish I could live them all over again. Thanks Mom and Dad.. ☺
Talented, funny and self depreciating,. Great combination. 👍😎👍
This is fantastic! Love his music and voice and songwriting!
Great interview!!! Seems like a fun guy to talk to..
On and On, I loved that song, it was a good time in my life, my daughter was born about the same time, delivered at home by me(that was a period of back to roots and nature), living in the mountains a simple life and commuting less frequently 200 miles to my recording studio that was getting so busy with big projects that there was far less time when I was really needed since most of the big projects had their own engineer, and the office staff was very competent, the two main studios were booked up 4-6 months in advance so I spent a lot of time in a simple rural mountain life cutting wood for winter and the gardens and last summer canning or drying food. That song had such pleasant tonal transitions that the sound communicated more than the lyrics.
Stephen Bishop opened Fleetwood Mac's San Diego concert in the spring of 1977. The crowd seemed a little impatient at first. But, then it was such a pleasure to hear his songs live and sounding way better than on the radio. I'll never forget that night. Fleetwood Mac was pretty good, too.
What an awesome guy, and I always loved his music. Yacht rock rules!
I was so young when Tootsie came out that I did not see it for years But when I finally did, It Might Be You was what stuck out most for me and has stuck with me ever since. I still enjoy watching the movie occasionally, but it will always be that song that makes it for me. Though I would love to hear Will There Ever Be a Sunday in Nebraska lol
I haven't heard that song for years, now it's stuck in my head!
Thanks for resurrecting this artist. I remember On and On when I was a kid. A song that gets stuck in my head.
I graduated high school in ‘78 and Stephen Bishop’s music got me thru so very much!❤🫶🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻👈
This song brings me right back to that time in my life. I liked it then and still now…great interview, as always.
The songs "the story of a boy in love" and "send a little love my way" are incredible.
Adore this song still! It reminds me of being a kid in the 70s.
Very cool. I bet you have some great memories.
Pandora just introduced the phrase yacht rock to me based on my faves from my walking mix and I have now realized that I am a million years old but still truly believe it can coexist with disco in my eclectic soul 😏
I've never heard the term yacht Rock. The DJs called it soft rock, which was extremely popular in the late 70s and early 80s. I didn't hear Stephen Bishop until a year after the Careless album came out. I happened to catch "On and On" on the radio. Loved it! Went out and bought the album and I loved all the songs, still do. I know all the songs by heart. I'm a singer/guitarist and the song On and On is always a hit.
At the time this song was out, my wife had a friend named Sam and I had a co-worker named Susan. They met each other through their mutual connection to us and had a brief romance. It was very sweet. I think of them every time I hear this song.
Stephen Bishop is a delight to listen to, and not just for his gorgeous singing voice! Thank you so much, Professor, for these amazing interviews. I love how these artists feel so comfortable with you, I feel we are seeing their real personalities. It's like watching two old friends talk about good times while chilling on the front porch.
Stephen looks great! He looks younger than me, but I'll forgive him for that.
Thank you! Very kind words.
When I listen to Stephen Bishop songs and Tim' Hardin's It'll Never Happen Again I always think. Wow !!! those girls really did a number on these guys. The Professor tries to get Stephen Bishop to confess about the She Done Him Wrong girl in the song On and On and it was the one question I would have asked Stephen as well. You get the feeling that Stephen Bishop may have not wanted to go there. It's like the line from Separate Lives..."you have no right to ask me how I feel." Great interview and you get the impression that it's sometimes much easier to be comedic in lieu of true heartbreaking sincerity.
.
Concerning the opening line (5:35) I wasn't even 18 back then and living in a pretty small town just north of nowhere. We ALL wanted to be somewhere else and probably be someone we weren't or at least had not become yet. Yeah, these songs served a purpose, they eventually got us to where we were going.
Perfect comment. You nailed it. So true.
First lines of the song are accurate, besides the "pretty" part
On and On is such an underrated classic.
Fooled Around & Fell in Love
Grew up in the Sandy Eggo area AND was in high school when this was a hit. LOATHED disco "music" (then and now) so when this would play at a school dance, ahhh, sweet!!
Great interview, Adam. Thanks!
Stephen Bishop is a charming man.
I love Stephen Bishop and the song On and On. His scene in Animal House was hilarious too!!
Right?
I became a lifelong fan of Stephen’s back in ‘78 when I first heard On and On. I’ve bought all of his albums ever since. He is my all time favorite song writer. He has so many other great songs on his other albums. As well as ‘Careless’ which contains On and On, listen to his other albums: Bish; Red Cab To Manhattan; Romance in Rio and many others. He keeps on releasing new music to this day which I’m so grateful for. Stephen Bishop somehow manages to put into words what I figure we’ve all felt at some stage. His songs have everything, great lyrics, great melodies, great arrangements plus his fabulous voice. Such a talent and Stephen never fails to deliver. Yes, I admire Stephen very much for his music but I’ve also listened to numerous interviews of Stephen. It is so very satisfying when you realize that someone you admire so much is worthy of that admiration. John Cochrane
Stephen has a book coming out soon that will be full of fun anecdotes from his career. I don’t know the release details other than covid has impacted the release date.
Oh wow, loved these songs. I was too young to know who sang them. Your digging deep into my brain.
Never Letting Go is so underrated, too. Love Stephen Bishop so much!
Awsome Classic... the changes are Funny Good... NICELY Done
My first exposure to Stephen Bishop was when I was given a verify LP called Solid Gold published in '80 or '81, by Ronco. His song, Save it for a Rainy Day was on it. I was 8 or 9 yrs old at the time. I played it so much, though I haven't listened to it in a long time I still remember most of the lyrics.