Blues Image – Ride Captain Ride …. One Hit Wonder Week

I usually stay a few posts ahead. I’ve been stockpiling them and I’ve noticed that at least five songs were bands or artists only hit. I thought we would all have some fun this week and do something different. I’m going to post only One Hit Wonders through Friday. I like posting album cuts usually… but this week we will revisit some older hits. I’m starting off with a song that was one of the first songs  I ever remembered.

Blues Image first came together in Florida in 1966. Florida in the sixties held a lot of future rock stars. You had the Allman Joys(Gregg and Duane Allman), Tom Petty, Bernie Leadon (Flying Burrito Brothers and The Eagles), Don Felder (Eagles), My Back Yard (future Lynyrd Skynyrd), Black Foot, The Classic IV, Jim Morrison, Stephen Stills…and I could go on. The state was full of talent at that point in time.

This band performed regularly in the Miami area and became the house band at a club called Thee Image, a venue that also featured groups such as Led Zeppelin, Cream, and The Mothers of Invention.

They eventually moved to California and signed a deal with Atco Records. They released their self-titled debut album in 1969. It made no impact on the charts but while making their second album they started to play around with a keyboard riff. Guitarist Mike Pinera came up with “Seventy-three men sailed up”… he came up with that line after noticing 73 keys on that particular keyboard. You can’t make this stuff up. Mike Penera and keyboard player Skip Konte wrote this song. The keyboard in question is a Rhodes Electric Piano.

Rhodes Electric Piano

That was the single to the second album called Open. This is a one-hit-wonder band but what an impressive one-hit. Ride Captain Ride made it to #4 in the Billboard 100 and the Canadian Charts. The album Open peaked at #147 in 1970.

I always thought this song was about some historical event…but no it was just made up. Mike Pinera joined Iron Butterfly in 1969 while recording this album, he also joined a band called Ramatam in 1972 with Mitch Mitchell, and The Cactus Band in 1973.

Mike Pinera’s wife: “Ride Captain is a story from his imagination. I know when he was in the studio recording that album, they needed another song and he wrote it on the spot. He came up with 73 from the keyboard having 73 keys. A lot of people say it relates to a few different stories.”

Ride Captain Ride

Seventy-three men sailed up from the San Francisco Bay,
Rolled off of their ship and here’s what they had to say.
“We’re calling everyone to ride along to another shore,
Where we can laugh our lives away and be free once more.”

Ride, captain ride on your mystery ship,
Be amazed at the friends you’ve got there on your trip.
Ride, captain ride on your mystery ship,
Be aware of the things others just might have missed

No one heard them calling, no one came at all,
‘Cause they were too busy watching those old raindrops fall.
As a storm was blowing out on the peaceful sea,
Seventy-three men were sailing off into history.

Ride, captain ride on your mystery ship,
Be amazed at the friends you’ve got there on your trip.
Ride captain ride on your mystery ship,
Be aware of the world others just might have missed

Ride, captain ride on your mystery ship,
Be amazed at the friends you’ve got there on your trip.
Ride captain ride on your mystery ship,
Be aware of the world othersjust might have missed

Ride, captain ride on your mystery ship,
Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip.
Ride, captain ride on your mystery ship,
Be aware of a world others just might have missed.

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

41 thoughts on “Blues Image – Ride Captain Ride …. One Hit Wonder Week”

  4. I neither recognized the name of the band nor the song’s title, but once I started listening, I knew it right away – great!

    It still continues to puzzle me how some artists/bands can write one great song that becomes a hit, and then you never hear of them again. Of course, that still puts them ahead of countless other talented music acts who never catch a break!

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    1. Oh yes…I would have taken one hit!
      Sometimes it may not be the band…it could be the record company not pushhing another song…but…on the other hand it could be the band lol.

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  5. I remember hearing that this song was about the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo which was seized by North Korea, but that had 82 prisoners on it and one dead crewman. It was a big story because they were in captivity for 11 months.

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  7. A good song and FM rock classic. I know the song fairly well but didn’t know anything about the band, in fact if you’d asked me just randomly who did it, I’d only give you 50/50 I’d remember. Good call Randy, there is a bit of a similarity there with the Trooper song. Also reminds me just a bit of ‘I’m Your Captain’ by Grand funk.

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  8. A classic track of the kind you were talking about yesterday – old numbers that were not previously known for us to discover with delight. I was not familiar with this at all. It’s great. I love it – lovely deep bass sound and excellent stereo.

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      4. Oh ok…you mean shen she comes out of the bathtub…I was thinking of the Grady scene in that bathroom…that was red I believe now thinking about it.

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