The Best of Boats

Want a near-impossible task? Rank the songs on Eric Carmen’s Boats Against the Current in order of preference, starting with (if I can borrow a phrase from my youngest daughter) your "most favorite."

As many times as I’ve listened to Boats, I’ve never actually tried to make such a list, because, frankly, it’s not fair to whichever song I’d put at the bottom. Boats, after all, is powerful from start to finish, with no “let-up” in between. At least, that’s how I’ve always heard it. And that’s what makes it so timeless --- the depth, honesty, and consistent quality from those first few notes of “Row, row, row your boat” all the way to the driving fadeout of “Run Away.”

Nevertheless, I’ll give it a try… and maybe you’ll do the same. Let me know if you end up where I do.

1. “Boats Against the Current.” This just might be my favorite song ever. At the very least, I’d rank it on my own all-time Top 10 list with the likes of “Hey Jude,” “Surfer Girl,” “If I Fell,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Go All the Way,” “Good Vibrations,” “Born to Run,” and a select few others. The intense --- and tense --- lyrics of “Boats Against the Current” got to me right away, even as a 17-year-old, and they still resonate. It’s pure poetry. And the melody is the perfect match, intensifying with each verse and each repeated chorus. And, of course, the vocal might be Eric’s best ever.

2. “Nowhere to Hide.” The opening piano notes here hint at a light “soap opera” feel, but the lyrics quickly take you to a far more complex place: complete and utter depression. Heck, no soap opera could get this despondent. Has there ever been a line in a pop ballad as depressing as, “Happiness is hard to show when you’re numb to all the pain”? Unless maybe it’s the next one: “And I’ve been floatin’ ’round like an old newspaper, blowin’ down some windy street/Feeling so alone and incomplete”? These are gripping, imagistic lyrics that may have more impact now, 30 years later, than they did in 1977.

3. “Runaway.” Eight-minute songs run the risk of losing you, but not this one. "Runaway" takes hold early on with more great lines that, again, read as poetry: “She was just an average blue-eyed golden high-school dream, an illusion nothing real could ever touch.” Who hasn’t been there? The playing and production are brilliant, and the pacing gives us those musical changes that made “I Can Remember” so great. And I love the long tag that pounds away for a couple minutes before fading. This is the type of song that would make an ideal soundtrack for a movie (any scriptwriters out there?).

4. “Love Is All That Matters.” Judging by my top three picks, this album’s most dismal moments are the ones that have the most appeal to me. Yet I love this little slice of heaven, too --- a perfect respite from the gloom and darkness, thanks to the positive lyrics and symmetrical melody. Upon the album’s release, I remember thinking, “This should be a single.”

5. “She Did It.” How can you not dig a song with the line, “Set to sea on a ship called Emptiness, cast away on the island of Loneliness, looking for love”? Not even the Beach Boys themselves were this good in the mid- to late-1970s.

6. “Marathon Man.” If there were a Hall of Fame for songs that are ideal companions for roadwork (as in, running or jogging), “Marathon Man” would be a first-ballot inductee. I’ve always found it to be an inspiring three and a half minutes, thanks to the tension in the song, the off-beat production (I especially love the drumming), and the determination in Eric’s voice.

7. “I Think I Found Myself.” This was the only Boats track that didn’t make an instant impact on me: It took a few months to sink in. But sink in it did, and once I “got it,” it became a source of inspiration. The turning point was a winter night in 1977, not long after the album’s release. I always fell asleep with a radio on, and one particular night, the haunting sound of “I Think I Found Myself” awoke me from a deep sleep. It was weird, because here’s a song that you’d just never hear on the radio. Ever. But that night, it got air time on some late-night show during which a calm-sounding host imparted bits of inspirational advice to listeners and complemented it with fitting songs. When he played “I Think I Found Myself,” it pulled me from my slumber and I just soaked it in. Ever since, I’ve treasured it as a song that, in times of doubt or confusion or self-pity, can actually get your thinking back on track: “I’m on the line and out of time/For once in my life, I’m gonna do what I think is right….”

8. “Take It or Leave It.” It’s not fair, I know, to put any song on Boats Against the Current at the bottom of this list. And I hate myself for doing it. But just keep in mind that No. 8 on an album that’s packed with A+, A, A-, and B+ songs is still pretty damned good. And by no means do I consider this a “weak” track. To the contrary, "Take It or Leave It" boasts an instant hook, great guitar interplay, and fully believable anger in Eric’s voice. It's an awesome rocker and ideal “scram!” song. And I have no doubt it sits at No. 1 or 2 on the lists of other Boats fans.