Singled Out: Joe Bouchard's Forget About Love

Keavin Wiggins | 07-08-2020

Joe Bouchard is releasing his new album "Strange Legends" on later this month and to celebrate we asked him to tell us about the single "Forget About Love". Here is the story:

Forget About Love from my latest solo album was written by one of my oldest friends, John Elwood Cook. John was my summertime friend from my earliest days as a toddler. We grew up in a large family of seven siblings, but John in the next cottage over was an only child. Naturally we hit it off early, and we'd play, swim and fish in the beautiful St. Lawrence River very near the Canadian border. When we hit our teenage years we developed an interest in playing guitars, listening to the latest albums of blues and folk music. John played fingerstyle guitar and eventually developed a knack for songwriting.

About that same time my brother Albert and I were making our way as rockstars as founders of Blue Oyster Cult. We were a big part of the songwriting team for BOC, composing many songs for our Columbia albums. When the hits dried up in the 80s we would head back up to the river, and John was still sitting on his porch strumming up a storm with his original songs.

Somewhere around 2005 we started having all night song swaps fueled by six packs of cheap beer. I was preparing to start work on my first solo album and I was searching for songs that might fill out my album. John played me a song called Dark Boat. I was stunned. That song was fantastic. I had to record it for my first solo album. That album, Jukebox in My Head, came out in 2009.

A few years later I knew my marriage was on the rocks, and a good place to get away for a break from the pressure was back to the 1000 Islands on the St. Lawrence. I went over to John's porch and he said "I've got a song you might like. It's called Forget About Love." He played me the tune and I though this was perfect for the way I felt at the time.

I recorded the song in 2014 and released it on my solo album called New Solid Black. It was never a single but it was very popular with the fans. John told me many times that I should get out and promote the song, because it struck a familiar chord with lots of people. He said it could be a real hambone, rev' em up, a perfect live song. I said someday I would get around to re-recording the song.

Sadly, John passed away in the spring of 2019, but his songs will live on for years to come. Here is the complete new single production, with great drumming by Mickey Curry. It was so much fun to record, and I know it is a classic song that will live on for years.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and preorder the album here