‘I'd Really Love to See You Tonight’ is a song written by Parker McGee and recorded by England Dan & John Ford Coley from their 1976 album Nights Are Forever. It eventually peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks, behind Wild Cherry's ‘Play That Funky Music’ and No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 21 song for 1976. It also reached No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart. Record World called it a "sparkling tune with its extraordinary melodic hook." Dan Seals, the "England Dan" half of the duo, re-recorded the song in 1995 in an acoustic country music style for the album In a Quiet Room.
England Dan is Dan Seals, who had a series of country hits after he stopped performing with Coley in 1980. His older brother Jim was the Seals of Seals & Crofts, who had the hit ‘Summer Breeze.’ Seals and Coley met in high school. This was their first single, and they followed it up with several other light favorites, including ‘Nights Are Forever Without You’ and ‘We'll Never Have To Say Goodbye Again.’
By the Spring of 1976, the sexual revolution was in full swing across America, and that free-wheeling feeling permeated the pop charts. Case in point: England Dan and John Ford Coley's ode to a particularly meaningful one-night-stand, ‘I'd Really Love to See You Tonight,’ released as a single in May of that year.
John Ford Coley said during an interview in 2018 that the group had been dropped by its label, and hungry for a hit., "When they brought us 'I'd Really Love to See You Tonight,' we didn’t want to do that song. We only wanted to do the songs that we had written, and that we were close to. The unfortunate thing is that I think of all the songs that we had written, so far they had generated about $1.90 worth of sales, so when they brought 'I'd Really Love to See You Tonight' to us we thought, 'Man, that's a woman's song. We don't really want to do it that way," Coley continued. "They said, 'No, try it. Try it. Just do it, and we can discuss all of that later.' So, we did, and son of a gun, it took off the way that it did.”
Labels – Big Tree (US), Atlantic (UK)
Songwriter – Parker McGee
Producer – Kyle Lehning
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Hello, yeah! It's been a while
Not much, how about you?
I'm not sure why I called
I guess I really just wanted to talk to you
[Verse 2]
And I was thinking maybe later on
We could get together for a while
It's been such a long time
And I really do miss your smile
[Chorus]
I'm not talking about moving in
And I don't wanna change your life
But, there's a warm wind blowing the stars around
And I'd really love to see you tonight
[Verse 3]
We could go walking through a windy park
Or take a drive along the beach
Or stay at home and watch TV
You see, it really doesn't matter much to me
[Chorus]
I'm not talking about moving in
And I don't wanna change your life
But, there's a warm wind blowing the stars around
And I'd really love to see you tonight
[Bridge]
I won't ask for promises!
So you don't have to lie?
We've both played that game before:
Say I love you then say goodbye
[Outro]
I'm not talking about moving in
I'm not talking
And I don't wanna change your life
But, there's a warm wind blowing the stars around
And I'd really love to see you tonight
Really love to see you tonight
I'm not talking about moving in
I'm not talking
And I don't wanna change your life
But, there's a warm wind blowing the stars around
And I'd really love to see you tonight
Really love to see you tonight
I'm not talking about moving in
I'm not talking
And I don't wanna change your life
But, there's a warm wind blowing the stars around
And I'd really love to see you tonight
Really love to see....