Ride Captain Ride

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“Ride Captain Ride”

Single by Blues Image from the album Open
B-side	"Pay My Dues"
Released	April, 1970
Format	7" 45 RPM
Genre	Rock
Length	3:45 (full album version) 3:06 (single version)
Label	Atco / Atlantic
Writer(s)	Mike Pinera, Frank Konte
Producer	Richard Podolor

"Ride Captain Ride" is a song recorded by the American rock band Blues Image. The song was co-written by the band's singer-guitarist Mike Pinera and keyboardist Frank "Skip" Konte. It was included on the group's 1970 album, Open. Released as a slightly shortened single in the spring of 1970, it shot up the charts, eventually reaching #4, making it Blues Image's first (and only) chart hit. The tasty clean guitar fills and main solo were performed by Kent Henry. Mike Pinera plays the guitar solo at the end of the song.

The song was inspired by the number of keys on Pinera's Rhodes piano:

So I say, "Okay, I need a first word." And what came into my head was 73. I liked the rhythm, and I went, "73 men sailed in, from the San Francisco Bay." ... The song sort of just wrote itself from there.^[1]

—Mike Pinera