Released November 1971 Genre Folk rock Label Columbia | Recorded 1971 Length 4:16 Writer(s) Kenny Loggins | |
"Danny's Song" is a song written by the American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins. It was written as a gift for his brother Danny for the birth of his son, Colin. It first appeared on an album by Gator Creek and a year later on the album Sittin' In, the debut album by Loggins and Messina. The song is well remembered for both the Loggins and Messina original, as well as Anne Murray's 1972 top-ten charting cover.
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Loggins and Messina version
Loggins and Jim Messina released Sittin' In in 1971, and although the album yielded no Top 40 radio hits, one song that received a significant amount of radio airplay was "Danny's Song". Loggins wrote the song for his brother, Danny Loggins, in 1970 when Danny became the father of a boy named Colin – his first son. Loggins and Messina would achieve chart success in 1973 with their song "Your Mama Don't Dance", but their version of "Danny's Song" remains one of their best-known songs through frequent airplay on rock and adult contemporary radio stations.
Personnel
Anne Murray version
Canadian country-pop music singer Anne Murray was a fan of the original recording and recorded a cover version in 1972. The version she recorded of the song omitted two of the lyric verses and is in a different key than the original version by Loggins & Messina. Included on her album of the same name, Murray's version of "Danny's Song" was a hit, reaching the Top 10 on three major Billboard music charts in early 1973. On the pop chart, the song reached number seven; on the country chart, it peaked at number ten; and on the easy listening chart, it spent two weeks at number one in March of that year. Murray's version also earned her a Grammy Award nomination in the category Best Female Pop Vocal performance at the Grammy Awards of 1974, losing out to "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack.
Murray stated that she loved the original version, but the song took on a deeper meaning for her after the birth of her first child a few years later. In an interview, she stated that "Whenever I was singing that song, it was very meaningful."