Song: “Hold On Loosely”
An enduring classic relationship hit, is it The Cars meet Lynyrd Skynyrd?
“Hold On Loosely” was the lead single off .38 Special’s 1981 album, Wild-Eyed Southern Boys. Founded by Donnie Van Zant, the younger brother of Lynyrd Skynyrd founder Ronnie Van Zant, who died in a plane crash in 1977.
Jim Peterik, who was the keyboard player for Survivor and a songwriter hired to help the band, said later about the song:
The bridge was straight out of the Doobie Brothers songbook. If I look at that song, it’s kind of a meld of a lot of influences of mine from that time. The eighth notes are very Cars-like from that time and the bridge was “What a Fool Believes” upside down. It was a great moment and led to a series of .38 Special songs that I wrote with them. After that came “Caught Up In You,” “Fantasy Girl,” “Wild-Eyed Southern Boys,” and all of those. It was a great run.
Peterik’s involvement with .38 Special caused a lot of consternation with Survivor, who had yet to have a hit of their own of this scale. Peterik would co-write “Eye of the Tiger” a year later, quashing any concerns with a #1 hit for that band.
Others have commented on how this song sounds like Lynyrd Skynyrd meets the Cars, so Peterik’s reminiscence confirms they were influenced. The title comes from something Don Barnes of .38 Special heard Dinah Shore say on her talk show when she had a guest on talking about giving her husband space in their relationship.
Those wild-eyed Southern boys were watching Dinah Shore . . .
Enjoy!
