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Sitting at the Wheel

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"Sitting at the Wheel"
Single by The Moody Blues
from the album The Present
B-side
  • "Sorry" (UK)
  • "Going Nowhere" (US)
Released19 August 1983
Recorded8 March – 10 December 1982
GenreNew wave
Length5:40 (album)
3:30 (single edit)
7:32 (Germany 12-inch single remix)
LabelThreshold
Songwriter(s)John Lodge
Producer(s)Pip Williams
The Moody Blues singles chronology
"Blue World"
(1983) 		"Sitting at the Wheel"
(1983) 		"Running Water"
(1983)

"Sitting at the Wheel" is a 1983 hit single by The Moody Blues, written by John Lodge. It was released in the US as the lead-off single from The Present in August 1983 and debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 3, 1983. In the UK, "Sitting at the Wheel" was released in November 1983 as the second single from The Present, following "Blue World".

Music and lyrics

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Producer Pip Williams felt that "Sitting at the Wheel" was the most commercial song on The Present and the album's "only out-and-out rocker".[1] Frank Rizzo of the Hartford Courant considered it the album's "one hard-driving pop song."[2] Bill E. Burk of the Memphis Press-Scimitar described it as an "up-tempo rocker".[3]

The song uses a LinnDrum for most of the drum sound but Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge reinforced the sound with real drums and cymbals.[1] Lodge plays a 12-string acoustic guitar as well as bass guitar and Pat Moraz plays keyboards.[1] Justin Hayward did not take part in the initial recording of the basic track of the song, but later added electric rhythm guitar on a Gibson 335 and Williams later added a slide guitar part.[1]

Moody Blues biographer Marc Cushman described the lyrics as "more of those mystical, spiritually inclined, highly interpretable Moody Blues lyrics.[1] Philadelphia Daily News critic Jonathan Takiff said that in the lyrics Lodge "still is promoting his nose-to-the-grindstone keep-on-pushin' philosophy."[4]

Reception

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Cash Box said "Sitting at the Wheel" was worth the long wait since the Moody Blues' previous US single, "The Voice," and that "bright, brassy keyboard flourishes give ELO-style orchestration and pumping bass rhythms a strong forward thrust."[5] Pittsburgh Press critic Pete Bishop considered it "one of the best rockers [the Moody Blues have] ever done.[6] Jim Zebora of the Record-Journal said it was "among the best and most likeable of any [songs] the band has done in years."[7] Gazette critic Dick Hogan praised Hayward's "spirited" lead guitar and Moraz' "soaring synthesizer runs" and said that "vocally, the song borders on some of ELO's more recent tunes."[8] The Morning Call said that "'Sitting at the Wheel', with its speedy rhythm, catchy lyrics and honky tonk piano...is perfect for AM/FM radio drive time."[9] Allmusic critic Dave Connolly called it the album's "most invigorating track".[10] Hamilton Spectator critic Paul Benedetti called it a "competent pop/rock tune indistinguishable from a dozen others on the charts."[11]

In the Kansas City Star, Tim McGraw complained of the song's commercialism, saying that it "has about as much thought as any number of the Electric Light Orchestra's pounding 12-bar rockers.[12] Brett Milano of the Boston Globe said the song "could be Electric Light Orchestra on a bad day."[13] Jim Angell of the Tri-City Herald called it a "rather cliche rocker featuring Jackson Browne-like guitar work by Hayward.[14] Tim McCarthey of the Salt Lake Tribune considered it to be "bland".[1][15] Steve Pond of the Los Angeles Times found it to be "awkward".[16] Music journalist Geoffrey Freakes felt it was "one of Lodge's most misjudged efforts."[17] Freakes acknowledged that it's "lively in a foot-stomping way" but said that it's "a curious hybrid of synth-pop (the reverb-heavy drum sound and Eurythmics style synth) and rock 'n' roll (Lodge's energetic echo-laden chorus and [Pat] Moraz' Fats Domino-inspired boogie-woogie piano)."[17]

"Sitting at the Wheel" peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.[18] In Canada it reached #18.[19] It peaked at #91 in the UK.[20]

Live

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"Sitting at the Wheel" was frequently the opening song of concerts on the Moody Blues tour supporting The Present.[2][17]

Personnel

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Cushman, Marc (2021). Long Distance Voyagers: The Story of the Moody Blues Volume 2 (1980-2018). Jacobs Brown Press. pp. 102–103, 128. ISBN 9781735567358.
  2. ^ a b Rizzo, Frank (19 October 1983). "Little Right and Lots Wrong as Moody Blues Struggle, Fail". Hartford Courant. p. D2. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Burk, Bill E. (29 September 1983). "'Clowning' tinged with heroism". Memphis Press-Scimitar. p. C3. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Takiff, Jonathan (21 October 1983). "Live! This Week". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 79. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. September 3, 1983. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  6. ^ Bishop, Pete (27 October 1983). "Shaky Moody Blues; sturdy Texas blues mix it up at Arena". Pittsburgh Press. p. M7. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Zebora, Jim (6 January 1984). "Off the Record". Record-Journal. p. 15. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Hogan, Dick (30 September 1983). "Moodies' 'Present' exceptional package". The Gazette. p. 1B. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Records". The Morning Call. 8 October 1983. p. 76. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Connolly, Dave. "The Present". Allmusic. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  11. ^ Benedetti, Paul (14 October 1983). "JoBoxers' does come on like gangbusters". Hamilton Spectator. p. D8. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  12. ^ McGraw, Tim (27 November 1983). "Veratility of Oregon expands bounderies of 'outdoor' music". Kansas City Star. p. 7F. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  13. ^ Milano, Brett (6 October 1983). "Records". Boston Globe. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Angell, Jim (9 September 1983). "Moody Blues' latest hint at songs, times gone by". Tri-City Herald. p. 13. Retrieved 2024-03-24 – via newspapers.com.
  15. ^ McCarthey, Tim (21 October 1983). "'Wasatch Rocks': 5 local bands; The Moody Blues are in a rut". Salt Lake City Tribune. p. C4. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Pond, Steve (25 September 1983). "Moody Snooze". Los Angeles Times. p. 68. Retrieved 2024-03-23 – via newspapers.com.
  17. ^ a b c Freakes, Geoffrey (2019). The Moody Blues: Every Album, Every Song. Sonicbond. p. 95. ISBN 9781789520422.
  18. ^ "The Moody Blues: Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  19. ^ "RPM Top 50 Singles - October 15, 1983" (PDF).
  20. ^ "Official Charts: Moody Blues". Official Charts. Retrieved 2022-07-21.
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