John Lennon, Frank Sinatra Agreed This Classic 1970s Yacht Rock Song Was the Greatest of All Time
John Lennon and Frank Sinatra agreed that this classic 1970s song was the greatest of all time. Today, it is featured on channels of soft rock songs grouped in a genre called Yacht Rock. But the Little River Band’s “Reminiscing” was a global sensation during its heyday and caught the attention of Old Blue Eyes and one of The Beatles chief songwriters.
The Little River Band’s ‘Reminiscing’ hit a musical sweet spot for both Frank Sinatra and John Lennon
In her book Loving John, May Pang, who dated the singer for two years during his separation from Yoko Ono during his “lost weekend,” claimed they would lie together in bed, listening to the Little River Band tune. She wrote that he asked her to play it again and again.
The song wasn’t released until 1978. Thus, the conversation could have been during a different moment shared between the two former lovers. Lennon and Pang reportedly kept in touch until he died in 1980.
In an interview with Guitar Player, Little River Band guitarist Graeham Goble called “Reminiscing” the band’s “pinnacle song. It’s double any other song we’ve ever had in terms of listens. It’s been in a lot of movies and a lot of soundtracks. Sinatra said he thought it was the best ’70s song in the world, though he never recorded it. But when John Lennon calls your song one of his favorites, does that really matter?”
How successful was ‘Reminiscing’ for The Little River Band?
Besides being one of Frank Sinatra and John Lennon’s favorites, “Reminiscing” was The Little River Band’s most successful single in the U.S., peaking at number three on both the Billboard 200 and Cash Box charts. “Reminiscing” was named Australian Record of the Year at the 1978 King of Pop Awards.
The Little River Band guitarist David Briggs showed Graeham Goble a C9 chord shape on the guitar. Legend has it that Goble was inspired by the chord and, in one hour, composed the words and lyrics for “Reminiscing.”
The song gave Little River Band the momentum they needed to build a repertoire of songs that would make them a considerable part of the music industry in the late ’70s and early ’80s. These tunes included “Help is On Its Way,” “Lonesome Loser,” “Man on Your Mind,” and “Cool Change.”
There was one other song John Lennon and Frank Sinatra agreed was a classic
Other than The Little River Band’s song, there was another tune that John Lennon and Frank Sinatra agreed was an instant classic. It was George Harrison’s “Something.”
The song was the only Harrison-penned tune released as a Beatles single. Sinatra believed “Something” was one of the best love songs ever written.
Old Blue Eyes often covered the song in concert. In a clip, Sinatra explains how he feels about “Something.” He claims, “It’s one of the best love songs I believe to be written in 50 or 100 years, and it never says ‘I love you.’” He eventually included a recorded version of the song on his 1972 album Frank Sinatra’s Greatest Hits.
Lennon reportedly called the song one of the best on The Beatles Abbey Road album. That was high praise for a compilation that included legendary songs such as “Come Together,” “Here Comes the Sun,” “The End,” “Octopus’s Garden,” and “Golden Slumbers.”
“Something” was paired as a double-A side with “Come Together,” and the song peaked at number one in the US.
