Drift Away - Single Version

This was originally sung by John Henry Kurtz, an actor whose 1972 Reunion album also featured Kenny Loggins and a cover of Loggins' "Danny's Song."

Virtuoso guitarist and session man Reggie Young Jr. played on this track, which is known for its distinctive intro. His son, Reggie Young III, told us that his father had to re-learn the signature guitar lines for a live radio broadcast around 1993, when Lonnie Mack did a special out of Nashville and invited several people to perform as guests. Said Young, "Dobie Gray asked my father to join him in playing 'Drift Away' live. This was the first time since 1973 that they had played the song together. In the '80s my father was showing another guitar player how to play the intro to 'Drift Away,' but the other guy said he thought that my father was playing it wrong. In fact he was playing in the wrong key. Also, when this was re-recorded in 1997 for Gray's CD Diamond Cuts, he declined, as he didn't think he could do it any better than he did on the original."

Gray mused in an interview that the song's hook of "Gimme the beat boys and free my soul" has been misheard and incorrectly sung as "Gimme the Beach Boys," "Gimme the wheat boys" (proposed for a cereal commercial), "Gimme the peat moss," and "Gimme the meatballs."