Dave Loggins Created a Fictitious Person To Write His Biggest Hit

In 1974, Dave Loggins released “Please Come To Boston”. The song, his only No.1. hit, is written by Loggins, for his sophomore Apprentice (In A Musical Workshop) record. 

A heartbreaking tune about a couple who disagrees if they should travel or settle down at home, “Please Come To Boston” recites different cities that the man is traveling to, namely Boston, Denver, and Los Angeles, while his girlfriend begs him to come home. 

“Please Come To Boston” says, “Please come to Boston / She said ‘No / Would you come home to me?’ / And she said, ‘ Hey rambling boy, why don’t you settle down / Boston ain’t your kind of town / There ain’t no gold and there ain’t nobody like me / I’m the number one fan of the man from Tennessee.‘”

At the time, Loggins was on the road with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They did travel to the cities mentioned in “Please Come To Boston”, which makes the song at least partly accurate. But according to Loggins, there was no one at the time waiting for him to come home.

What Dave Loggins Says About Writing “Please Come To Boston”

Loggins later says that, while there was not a woman asking him to return to her, “Please Come To Boston” came from his longing for that kind of companionship.

“The story is almost true, except there wasn’t anyone waiting [here] so I made her up,” Loggins admits. “In effect, making the longing for someone stronger. It was a recap to my first trip to each of those cities and out of innocence. That was how I saw each one. The fact of having no one to come home to made the chorus easy to write. Some 40 years later, I still vividly remember that night, and it was as if someone else was writing the song.”

“Please Come To Boston” remains Loggins’ only big hit. The song was later recorded by several other artists, including David Allen Coe, Joan Baez, Reba McEntire, Glen Campbell, Kenny Chesney, and others.

Loggins didn’t have other hits as an artist, but he did enjoy a successful career as a songwriter. Among his many hits for other artists are Alabama’s “Roll On (Eighteen Wheels)”, “Pieces Of April” by Three Dog Night, “Morning Desire” by Kenny Rogers, and others. It’s also Loggins who is the songwriter behind “Augusta“, the theme song for the CBS broadcast of the Masters tournament. Loggins says he had the idea for the song, not surprisingly, while golfing.

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