Not the Song I Mean Top Ten: Harbor Lights (#5)

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Oh, you’ve been waiting for this. Well, John’s been waiting for this. On this bright, warm (it’s already in the mid-50s!) day I’m continuing my countdown of different songs with the same title, one of which comes to mind immediately while I mean another song with an old favorite. Two old favorites, actually. Here we go. #5: Harbor Lights YOU’RE PROBABLY THINKING: Platters or Sammy Kaye I MEAN: Boz Scaggs As Lori says, ”Of course you mean Boz Scaggs.” As I’ve mentioned before, this isn’t a “one song sucks, one’s great” countdown. In this case, I could listen to these two diverse songs all day long. “Harbor Lights,” the standard, dates to the 1930s. The biggest hit version, according to Picky Wedia, was the 1950 recording by Sammy Kaye and his orchestra. The version I remember most distinctly is by the Platters, given that we had Platters records in the otherwise all-country music record collection when I was a kid. But Boz!!!! Back when I did my countdown of favorite Boz Scaggs songs, his “Harbor Lights” was #2 on the list, second only to “Painted Bells.” Holy cow, what a song. In a way, they compliment each other: the Platters sang of losing love, and Boz sang of coming back. Harbor Lights THE ONE YOU’RE PROBABLY THINKING: Written by Hugh Williams and Jimmy Kennedy Recorded by the Sammy Kaye Orchestra Released as a single, 1950 Also recorded by the Platters From Reflections, 1960 THE ONE I MEAN: Written by Boz Scaggs Recorded by Boz Scaggs From Silk Degrees, 1976 Son of a Tokyo Rose: