Boat on the River

Styx's sublime non-US single

After getting into a discussion in the YouTube comments defending Gowan’s honour, I thought about the album that got me into Styx. That would be Cornerstone. That’s the album that first signals the split in sensibility that eventually leads to Dennis De Young being expelled from the band. In some circles this would brand me not a “real” Styx fan.

However, this song in its simple way shows the band at its best. Tommy Shaw’s simple evocative lyrics and virtuoso mandolin playing, DeYoung gets to bust out his accordion as well as his trademark harmony, and the rhythm core of JY Young and the Panozzo brothers Chuck and John holding it all down - Chuck on double bass and John using just a foot drum and tambourine.

As Shaw said later:

It came about after I bought a mandolin. I thought to myself, "Well, I can play this." But when I got home, it was like, "Oh… no I can’t!" So, if you can’t really play something, you have to make something up… which is what I did...I made up the little progression. I had a four-channel, reel-to-reel tape deck, so I recorded the mandolin part, then added guitar, bass and a vocal, which was enough to make it sound like a little group. But I just did it for myself, thinking, "There’s no way the band’s going to do this." Dennis liked it enough and said, 'Let’s put it on the album.' That’s one thing I like about being a band that’s been so daring over the years: you get to try stuff like that!

While never released as a single in the US it was released internationally , hitting #1 on the Switzerland chart, and landing in the top 10 in Austria, Germany, and South Africa.¹

I’ve performed this one myself, accompanied by a Cajon. It’s a beautiful piece to sing. Enjoy your song of the day!

1. I get why it charted so high in the European countries as it sounds like their native music, but South Africa?