Song #3: "Sausalito Summernight"--Diesel (1981)

We've talked about the year in music 1981 extensively over the past sixteen months, a year that allowed for so much musical variety in the Top 40, our generation simply wouldn't believe it.

Among those who made their mark 36 years ago was the Dutch group "Diesel". Formed three years earlier, their album, "Watts In A Tank" first debuted in their homeland in 1980, then Regency Records released it in America the following year.

Sometime, I believe, in the Summer of 1981, today's song debuted, first on the cool AOR radio stations like XL102 in Richmond, K94 near the coast, and 3WV up in Charlottesville. And, as I mentioned yesterday, when I first heard the song, especially its opening, on the airwaves, time stood still.

"What IS this song??", I asked. The funky opening and driving beat were absolutely mesmerizing.

And back then, you couldn't do The Google and go find out with a few keywords of lyrics. You know, "Google, can't afford to blow it 'cuz we haven't got a spare."

You hoped the DJ back sold the song, and that it wasn't in the middle of "ten songs in a row commercial-free!", because to find a new group's name and song title was not exactly simple back in the day.

This is one of the reasons why, and I've never understood this, many people thought The Steve Miller Band recorded and released this song. No way, Miller's vocal range was far too low.

Did I buy "Watts In A Tank"? You betcha. I liked the second single, "Going Back To China", too. But, in the Summer of 1981, THE song that made everything stop, the song I had to have a recording of off the radio before I could get the album, and the song I prayed would come every time I was in a car, was today's song.

So, drop a quarter in the meter, hit the sidewalk for awhile, and have a burger and a root beer!