the doobie brothers sang oh black water keep on rolling.
the doobie brothers sang oh black water keep on rolling.
who sings oh black water keep on rolling?
the doobie brothers
despite his encouragement in regard to writing "black water" and his meticulous arranging of the track, ted templeman would recall: "we never thought [of] it as a [potential hit] single" - "i put 'black water' on [a] b-side because i figured [it was] an acoustic thing." "black water" was in fact utilized as the b-side for the lead single from the doobie brothers' 1974 album release "what were once vices are now habits", the a-side being "another park, another sunday" whose june 1974 "billboard" hot 100 peak would be #32: regular group lead vocalist tom johnston who would recall that "another park" "was doing real well [in single release], and then it got yanked off the radio for the line 'and the radio just seems to bring me down'". after the second single off "what were once vices": "eyes of silver", was a top 40 shortfall, warner bros. resorted to a re-release of the doobie brothers inaugural single "nobody" a 1971 non-charter which in the autumn of 1974 rose into the top 60 before being phased out by the re-release of "black water" as an a-side single.
black water (song)
from 11 september 1974 wrov-am in roanoke va began airing "black water" off the album "what were once vices" - the blackwater, a roanoke river tributary, is a 25-minute drive from roanoke city center - with listener response so positive as to cause music director chuck holloway to opine: "no one was requesting anything else." hampton roads broadcaster wqrk-fm was soon also airing "black water", and the track's intense regional success came to the attention of warner bros. national promotion director gary davis causing an a-side single release of "black water" in october 1974, five weeks after wrov had begun airing the track ("song to see you through", a tom johnston composition off "what once were vices", was utilized as b-side). "black water" had its first major market breakout in the twin cities area, being reported as an add-on by kdwb in the 23 november 1974 issue of "billboard". reaching #1 on the "billboard" hot 100 dated 15 march 1975, "black water" is one of the few records by any act released as a b-side to another hot 100 hit "before" topping the hot 100 itself. in the "billboard" ranking of hot 100 hits for the year 1975 "black water" would rank at #15.
black water (song)