Figuring It Out: “Heart to Heart” by Kenny Loggins
When I started building a solo repertoire of cover songs on acoustic guitar (around 2010–2015), the idea was to earn some cash at functions, parties, weddings, the whole thing. That’s a trade I thoroughly respect. A lot of people have worked hard at it and have the market covered. I did just a bit, in Brooklyn, in Tribeca, in Athens, GA, good experiences all. Now life’s done a 180, and the vast majority of my “playing out” is going to be in front of my phone. And that is actually awesome. No need to lift my amp into the trunk (boot), and the pub I’m playing in, my home office, can hold a bigger audience, in theory, than all stadiums put together.
The greatest liberation, though: I don’t need to perform entire songs. Does that bridge on “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” kind of go nowhere? Don’t learn it! Delete! Much easier to get short, clean takes, stitch things together and get right to the point.
In that spirit, here is “Heart to Heart” by Kenny Loggins (1982), cowritten by Michael McDonald and David Foster. McDonald plays Fender Rhodes electric piano, and his feel is what I’ll call “ridiculous,” which is like “bad” meaning good, but even badder. David Sanborn has the alto sax solo break. Paulinho da Costa and Lenny Castro on percussion. Foster and Marty Paich arranged the strings, which are too loud in the mix, if I’m right about what I’m hearing — I had to keep checking that my Shure SM-57 wasn’t about to feed back. It was the ambient strings, too much. Golden Age session vibe from the impeccable bassist Darek Jackson and drummer Tris Imboden. The guitarist is Mike Hamilton, whose credits also include Bette Midler, Sting and a bunch of others.
Scroll down for my video, on acoustic, which blended better with the record — the Tele was too washy and I would’ve used my Strat but it’s in the shop.
Before you watch: Read this fantastic account of how bassist and singer-songwriter Thundercat, who is obsessed with “Heart to Heart,” managed to get Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald to appear together on his 2017 Brainfeeder album Drunk (on “Show You the Way”). Here is the link to the full Red Bull Music Academy interview:
Kenny Loggins is one of my favorite songwriters. One of my favorite songs is “Heart to Heart” because you can hear the life that he’s lived in that song. That song was so much of the inspiration behind this album. That song, literally, I would sing it all loud. I’m like, “Kenny knows what’s going on. He gets it. He’s been there. He’s been to the wall.” I used that as a guiding light for the album.
[…]
When Kenny reached out to me, the first question he asked me was, “Are you joking?” It was a weird moment. He was like, “Are you serious about working with me?” I was like, “Absolutely.” He opened up to it and he listened to the music.At first he was a bit skeptical … trying to feel out what the situation is. If I’m going to football tackle him. He thinks he’s on a TV show. “You’re being punked.”
He listened to the music and he calls me back and he goes, “I’m listening to your music, man. You sound very jazz influenced. Are you into Mahavishnu Orchestra?” I was like, “Yeah.” He literally goes, “OK, I’m going to call Michael McDonald because I think that this would be a good chance to get him involved, because he’s also that kind of person.”
I literally almost peed on myself.
[…]
I guess he does the talking to Michael McDonald and the first person I met in the studio was Michael McDonald. I get there and Mike’s sitting there, he’s got the silver hair and flannel shirt.
[…]
The minute you would say, “Do that again,” he’d be like, “Do what?” It was like magical, just to see it. Then he was like, “Let me take it home for a little while.” He would send me a voice memo and I would break down crying, man. … There’s even more to it. One day Kenny said, “I hadn’t seen Michael in so many years. It’s cool that we got the chance to work together again.” For me, I was just like… floored. I didn’t know what to say.
