Vahevala

Album: Sittin' In (1971)
Charted: 84
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Songfacts®:

  • Unlike most of Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina's songs, this wasn't written by them but by Dan Loggins (of "Danny's Song" fame, he was Kenny's older brother) and his friend Dann Lottermoser. In the song, a sailor remembers sailing off the coast of Jamaica to a fictitious island called "Vahevala." The name really doesn't mean anything, but evokes a sailor's paradise. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Sara - Silver Spring, MD
  • This comes from the pair's debut album, Sittin' In, which was intended to launch Loggins as a solo artist, with Messina producing. But after the sales and good reviews started rolling in, Columbia Records president Clive Davis convinced them to capitalize on the success by continuing as a duo. Messina told The Times-Picayune in 2005, "Clive Davis intervened and said, 'You know, I think you'd be making a mistake if you guys didn't take this opportunity. Things like this only happen once in a lifetime. It may merit you sleeping on it overnight and making a decision that will be in your best interest.' He was absolutely correct. Kenny made the decision as well. It delayed his solo career, but it gave him an opportunity, I think, to have one."

Comments: 2

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 22nd 1972, Loggins and Messina performed "Vahevala" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    Three months earlier on April 8th, 1972 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #90; and on April 30th, 1972 it peaked at #84 (for 2 weeks) and spent 5 weeks on the Top 100...
    On the same 'Bandstand' show the duo performed "Nobody But You", it stayed on the Top 100 for 2 weeks, peaking at #86...
    Between 1972 and 1975 the duo had ten Top 100 records, with one reaching the Top 10, "Your Mama Can't Dance" at #4 (for 1 week) on January 21st, 1973.
  • Sara from Silver Spring, MdOn the Loggins and Messina Live at the Santa Barbara Bowl Kenny subs "Jamaica" with "Santa
    Barbara" because that's where both of them currently live.
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