Diesel - "Sausalito Summernight"

(Debuted September 12, 1981, Peaked #25, 17 Weeks on the Chart)  

While the name Suasalito brings Marin County, California to mind, Diesel wasn't from that part of the world. They were actually Dutch, founded in 1978 by drummer Pim Koopman, who had previously been in a band called Kayak. The fact that they were a European band seems to have been overlooked by many, considering "Sausalito Summernight" is sometimes attributed to Steve Miller (and to be fair, it does sound somewhat like something Miller would have done in the late 1970s).

"Sausalito Summernight" is a guitar-driven tune that has been widely overlooked despite reaching the Top 40. A nice "driving song" -- literally, as its lyrics describe a road trip in a car that is clearly on its last miles -- that has an incredibly catchy guitar line and enough hooks to catch a whole bunch of fish. It was the only American hit the group enjoyed before they broke up in 1985.

(I normally feature YouTube videos whenever I post songs here. However, the videos for  "Sausalito Summernight "" seem to get yanked rather quickly over there, probably due to copyright infringement issues. While it's never fun to lose out on something like this that rarely gets any radio play anymore, I do realize that copyright holders can do  -- and should do -- whatever they like with their property. With that in mind, here's a video of the song from over at Veoh.com. Hopefully, this one stays for a little while. However, if it disappears, there are links to both iTunes and Amazon in this post that will let you get your hands on the song.)


Watch Diesel - Sausalito Summernights in Music  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com