One of the pleasures of doing this site is re-listening to some of my favourite songs from when I was a pre-teen and just starting to listen to the radio. I've always enjoyed this song but I always wondered: why 73 men? The answer, apparently, is that 73 is the number of keys on singer and co-songwriter Mike Pinera's Rhodes piano. He started with "73 men sailed off" and wrote the song from there.
Blues Image were formed in Miami before moving to Los Angeles in 1969. "Ride Captain Ride" was from their second album, Open; it reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold over one million copies. Pinera left the band shortly afterwards, joining Iron Butterfly and later becoming part of Alice Cooper's band.
When looking up videos for this song, I almost included this one, which features people having fun in the surf while the members of Blues Image mime to their hit song, but the sound quality isn't quite as good. This video was shot after Pinera left the band, so new lead singer Denny Correll is miming a song that he did not sing.
Blues Image released one more album with their new lineup before breaking up in May 1970. Correll went on to record Christian music.
Created December 12, 2025.