"I Saw the Light" by Todd Rundgren (1972)

Todd Rundgren Creator Series

Welcome to day 4 of our focus on rock ’n’ roll Creator writ large Todd Rundgren.

So far we’ve reviewed his early years, up to and including The Nazz, listened to “We Gotta Get You a Woman” here, and listened to both versions of his biggest popular hit “Hello It’s Me” and watched his performance on The Midnight Special here.

Now we turn to his other big hit on the pop charts, “I Saw the Light.”

Btw, check out this week’s Tune Tag in which Brad Kyle posts three of Todd’s tunes I’ve never heard, including a cover of “Strawberry Fields Forever.” (Plus more tunes with an overarching Beatles theme.)

Song of the day

What’s extraordinary about “I Saw the Light” is that Todd wrote it in about 20 minutes and did all of the instruments and vocals himself. As he said in an interview, “You want things to come out a certain way, and instead of strangling the creativity out of another musician because you’re so particular about it, you do it yourself, and that way it does become in some ways more expressive.”

He expected it to be the hit single off his 1972 album Something/Anything?. As he wrote in the liner notes, “If there’s a single on the album, this is it, so I put it first like at Motown. Dedicated to Paul Fishkin, the man with the 45 RPM ears (but still no woman).” (See Monday’s post re this humorous reference.) He described Side One of the four-sided album as “A bouquet of ear-catching melodies.”

As it turned out, “Hello It’s Me” on Side 4 became the album’s biggest hit when it was re-released in summer 1973, reaching #5 on the Hot 100. “I Saw the Light” was no slouch, however, becoming a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Top 100 and Easy Listening charts and making the Billboard Hot 100 singles list for the year.

You will want to listen to the original Something/Anything? album version below, but first we have a special treat, Todd performing the song with fellow Philly boy Daryl Hall at Todd’s home in Kauai, Hawaii. These two dudes have only gotten better with age, and what a glorious setting. You can watch the entire episode of Todd’s appearance on Daryl’s House (from whence this clip comes) here. But until you get to that, get ready for a piece of heaven (the music and the place):

Below is the album version of the song. Notice the difference?

Other Todd Versions

A fast-paced version of the song was included on Todd’s live album Back to the Bars as part of a medley including “I’m So Proud,” “Ooh Baby Baby,” and “La La Means I Love You,” with “I Saw the Light” coming last. (I recommend listening to the whole medley.) Check it out here at around 07:40.

Todd also re-recorded the song after joining the New Cars. It appeared on their 2006 album It’s Alive!, and you can listen to that here.

Song credits

Todd Rundgren - songwriter, producer, lead and background vocals, all instruments

I can’t find a list of the instruments Todd used, but besides piano, drums, guitar, and bass guitar, listeners have claimed to hear tambourine, triangle, maracas, and cabasa. If you have the list, please share it with me. Or check with Todd for me. Gracias.

Engineers: James Lowe and John Lee at I.D. Sound Studios (surmised but not confirmed) and Kevin Gray may be involved as mastering engineer (not confirmed)

Daryl’s House credits

Executive Producers: Daryl Hall & Jonathan Wolfson

Edited by Ronaldo DeMorais & Scott Sternberg

Band: Daryl Hall, Todd Rundgren, Paul Pesco, Eliot Lewis, Everett Bradley, Zev Katz, Brian Dunne

Recorded & Mixed by Peter Moshay

Crew: Rick Rosabella, Andrea Muraglia, Mickey Durivage, Joe Interlande

Rhema Services: Pat Ku, Kaleleomele Kekauoha, Rick Ames, Raymond Duarte