‘Captain’ Daryl Dragon & Toni Tenille conquered the pop landscape in the late 70s. With his wry demeanor behind a bank of synths and her bubbly shag mop singing the tunes, as well as 2 drooling bulldogs along for the ride, they were the most popular duo of the decade. And not many people can say that they sang Muskrat Love for Henry Kissinger.
After touring together in the Beach Boys, the pair hit the Encino, CA club scene and made a name for themselves at The Smokehouse. They recorded and released a 45 that Toni wrote for her then-boyfriend Daryl called The Way I Want To Touch You on their own label, Butterscotch Castle. It was then picked up by the Joyce record label in 1974 and while it failed to make a dent on the charts it did get some local airplay, enough to get A&M records to sign them to a deal. C&T knocked it out of the park with an early 70s album cut of Neil Sedaka’s called Love Will Keep Us Together in 1975, which spent a month at #1. They followed it up by rereleasing The Way… which on its third attempt, sashayed into the Top 5. Where Love was short, sweet & upbeat, The Way was sexy, languid and moody, showing off Toni’s sultry alto. She wants to touch you, live with you, love you and give you things that she never wanted to with anyone else as much as she does with you. Damn, let’s do this, Toni! I’ll even take off my hat.
I find this song interesting in their catalog because it documents how they started musically showcasing the sound they were going for before being pushed into Sedaka covers and other goofy tunes. It’s often overlooked and seldom played on 70s stations, mostly because it doesn’t sound like any of their other stuff. C&T would come close to this sound on Do That To Me One More Time but that song was made more for the dance floor of a wedding than the bedroom.
Ok time to let Toni touch you….
7 Inches of 70s Pop 