This Is What It’s Like to Write a Hit Song With Kenny Loggins

When Kenny Loggins agreed to let me write a song with him for a column, I had no idea how seriously he’d take it. This is largely because no one had taken me seriously before.

We spent more than 12 hours writing, and then he brought me into the recording studio to play cowbell on the song, which took hours to record, with so much doubling and tripling and multiple tracks that made me realize you don’t become Kenny Loggins without at lot of hard work. He also made me wear a wig and costume for a promotional video I don’t completely understand but fully enjoyed. Also, there were a lot of dinners involved. All of which I feel good about expensing.

Although I demanded to be fully credited as a writer on the song, I mostly just sat there and said, “That’s great!” and whistled in a really bad way that made everyone in the recording studio laugh and say, “That’s perfect!” in a way that meant it wasn’t at all perfect. Still, I got to play on a Kenny Loggins song. Or, more accurately, a Kenny Loggins/Joel Stein song. Or, if my lawyers win, a Joel Stein/Kenny Loggins song. Kenny doesn’t know about the lawyer thing yet.

I present the worldwide exclusive of the next Kenny Loggins hit. Or, again, technically, the first Joel Stein/Kenny Loggins hit. (It’s also an homage to the classic cow bell skit on Saturday Night Live.)