{"id":964,"date":"2019-02-23T13:13:40","date_gmt":"2019-02-23T18:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/?p=964"},"modified":"2019-02-23T13:13:40","modified_gmt":"2019-02-23T18:13:40","slug":"were-it-not-for-thin-walls-england-dan-john-ford-coleys-biggest-hit-wouldnt-have-happened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/were-it-not-for-thin-walls-england-dan-john-ford-coleys-biggest-hit-wouldnt-have-happened\/","title":{"rendered":"Were it not for thin walls, England Dan & John Ford Coley’s biggest hit wouldn’t have happened"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"John<\/a>

John Ford Coley, one half of the 1970s duo England Dan & John Ford Coley, performed Feb. 22, 2019, at the Sellersville Theatre 1894 in Sellersville, PA.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes, thin walls can be a good thing. For England Dan (Seals) &\u00a0John Ford Coley, thin walls were responsible for making \u201cI\u2019d Really Love to See You Tonight\u201d a hit single.<\/p>\n

After being dropped by A&M Records in early 1976, the duo wandered for a year or so, not because they were lost, according to Coley, but because they were perfecting their craft in the hopes of landing another record deal. And then their manager, Susan Joseph, brought them the song, \u201cI\u2019d Really Love to See You Tonight,\u201d written by Mississippi-based songwriter Parker McGee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really didn\u2019t want to do it,\u201d said Coley in an interview for The Vinyl Dialogues Volume I, which features a chapter on the making of the duo\u2019s 1976 album, Knights are Forever<\/em>. \u201cWe thought it was more of a female song. But our manager said, \u2018Please try it,\u2019 so we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

They brought in Louie Shelton, a seasoned session musician who had worked with the likes of Simon and Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, and the Monkees. He also produced the first couple of England Dan & John Ford Coley albums, and brought in Jeff Pocaro and David Paich, later of Toto, to cut a demo tape of \u201cI\u2019d Really Love to See You Tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph then took the tape to Atlantic Records, and it made it into the office of Bob Greenberg, Vice President at Atlantic Records, where it was played for the record executive.<\/p>\n

Greenberg was not impressed.<\/p>\n

Immediately after the tape had been played, there was a knock on Greenberg\u2019s office door. Sitting in an adjacent room were Doug Morris and Dick Vanderbilt, executives of Big Tree Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic. Founded by Morris, he had sold Big Tree to Atlantic Records in 1974. Morris would eventually go on to become co-chairman of Atlantic before it closed its doors for good in 1980.<\/p>\n

But at that moment, Morris and Vanderbilt were interested in \u201cI\u2019d Really Love to See You Tonight\u201d because they had heard the demo tape through the thin walls of Greenberg\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a>

John Ford Coley greets fans after his show Feb. 22, 2019, in Sellersville, PA.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

According to the story as related to Coley by manager Susan Joseph, Morris asked Greenberg if he was interested in recording the song.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Bob, what do you think of that record? You like that? You gonna take it?\u201d Susan Joseph recalls Morris saying to Greenberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, I just don\u2019t think this one\u2019s got it. We\u2019re going to pass,\u201d Joseph remembered Greenberg saying. \u201cAnd Morris said, \u2018We\u2019ll take the song.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The single would become the biggest hit that England Dan & John Ford Coley ever had, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. It would also go on to anchor the Nights are Forever<\/em> album, also released in 1976. The title track, “Nights Are Forever,” also written by McGee, was the second single released from the album and it reached No. 10 0n the Billboard singles chart.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only had a singles deal with Atlantic, and [executives] were talking about possibly doing an album if the single took off,\u201d said Coley. \u201cAnd Dan and I were kind of unhappy because we were writing songs all the time, and now some other writer [McGee] comes in and he\u2019s written the song that everybody wants.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then we got our first royalty check, and I was like, \u2018OK, where are some more songs that other people had written? I think up to that point I had made about $1.98 on the songs I had written all those years.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Seals and Coley brought in session musicians and began building an album around \u201cI\u2019d Really Love to See You Tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe began to cut this thing, and the players were so great,\u201d said Coley. \u201cDan and I were so low-key and laid-back. I remember the drummer saying, \u2018Man, I just love these low pressure sessions.\u2019 He\u2019d play something and say, \u2018What about this?\u2019 And we\u2019d go, \u2018Yeah, that sounds good. Just do that.\u2019 The musicians, they weren\u2019t accustomed to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album, produced by Kyle Lehning, was recorded at the Studio by the Pond \u2014 the home of recording engineer Lee Hazen \u2014 at Old Hickory Lake near Hendersonville, Tennessee.
\nBetween sessions, Coley and the musicians played a lot of ping-pong, while Seals oftentimes relaxed by fishing in the lake.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything just kind of came together. We had a lot of good players,\u201d said Coley.<\/p>\n

Even Dan\u2019s brother, Jim Seals, of Seals and Crofts, played on the album.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a good friend who we used to play with back in Texas named Shane Keister, and he and I doubled up in a band we were in. I played organ and he played piano and Dan was one of the singers.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when we came into town, there were certain things that I didn\u2019t want to play. And we pulled Shane in and he did such a wonderful job for us,\u201d said Coley.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A signed “Nights are Forever” album, first released in 1976.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

Nights Are Forever was the duo\u2019s fourth studio album and their highest charter, peaking at No. 17 in the United States. Two subsequent albums, Dowdy Ferry Road<\/em>\u00a0in 1977 and Some Things Don\u2019t Come Easy<\/em> in 1978 broke into the Top 100. Dowdy Ferry Road<\/em>\u00a0featured the single \u201cIt\u2019s Sad to Belong,\u201d which reached No. 21; and Some Things Don\u2019t Come Easy<\/em> featured \u201cWe\u2019ll Never Have to Say Goodbye,\u201d which became the band\u2019s second-best charting single, reaching No. 9.<\/p>\n

The Nights are Forever<\/em> album cover features Seals and Coley in mid-1970s-style leisure suits.<\/p>\n

\u201cDan and I were blue jeans kind of guys, so they wanted us to wear these suits,\u201d said Coley. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll be doggone if we didn\u2019t wear those suits for like two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coley said there are actually two versions of the album cover. Once the album began to take off, some \u201calterations\u201d were made in the cover photo of the two, and the album was re-released as sales continued to increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, they straightened out my collar, they removed a mole off my chin, they removed a sprig of hair, and they took two pimples off Dan\u2019s face and straightened up his shirt collar,\u201d said Coley. \u201cThe record went gold, so they just straightened up a bunch of stuff on it and made it a little bit more professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coley said one of the interesting comparisons about the duo made in the 1970s, was when they were compared to Seals and Crofts.<\/p>\n

\u201cJimmy Seals is Dan\u2019s brother, but they were so diametrically opposed temperamentally that it was staggering,\u201d said Coley. \u201cPeople would compare Dan to Dash Crofts \u2014 both were extraordinarily laid-back. Dan was one of the funniest people you\u2019d ever want to meet in your life. He kept me laughing so much. He was also a very wise man. He was like a gentle giant. Then people would compare me to Jimmy, because Jimmy was quick-tempered and would be down your throat in a New York-minute. And I was right there with him. I\u2019ve mellowed over the years, but it was really an interesting comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n

England Dan &\u00a0John Ford Coley\u00a0were together as a duo from 1965 to 1980. Dan Seals died in 2009 after a battle with mantle cell lymphoma.<\/p>\n

Coley said that becoming a star was never the primary goal for himself and Seals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just loved playing and would go out and play everywhere,\u201d said Coley. \u201cWe really didn\u2019t look at it as going as far as it actually did. I thought probably it might last a couple of years and then I would grow up and go off and be as boring as all my friends were. It didn\u2019t work out that way. God kind of has different plans for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still kind of surprised when people say that we made history,\u201d said Coley. \u201cAnd I go, \u2018OK, really?\u2019 For me, I was just having fun. I loved it. I had the best time of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The author and John Ford Coley after the show.
(Photo by The Blonde Accountant)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, thin walls can be a good thing. For England Dan (Seals) &\u00a0John Ford Coley, thin walls were responsible for making \u201cI\u2019d Really Love to See You Tonight\u201d a hit single. After being dropped by A&M Records in early 1976, the duo wandered for a year or so, not because they were lost, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[94,135],"class_list":["post-964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tvdbook","tag-england-dan","tag-john-ford-coley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}