New in Rolling Stone - MICHAEL MCDONALD: MY LIFE IN 15 SONGS
New in Rolling Stone : MICHAEL MCDONALD: MY LIFE IN 15 SONGS - The Doobie Brother walks us through key songs in his career, from "What a Fool Believes" to "Yah Mo B There" with James Ingram...
November 26, 2024
In the early Eighties, Michael McDonald was such an omnipresent force in the music industry that he inspired one of the greatest sketches on SCTV. It stars a bearded Rick Moranis as McDonald, who frantically parks his vehicle at a studio and comically races in and out of the room just in time to sing backing vocals on Christopher Cross’ “Ride Like the Wind.” His signature voice — those immeasurably deep, blissful pipes — echo through the control room.
The zany sketch was grounded in truth, since McDonald was indeed absurdly busy when it aired, juggling his commitments to the Doobie Brothers, guest spots with Steely Dan, James Ingram, Kenny Loggins, and more, and cutting songs for his 1982 debut solo LP, If That’s What It Takes. Throughout the decades after that, McDonald never really left the pop cultural landscape. The sketches continued, with McDonald even joining in on the joke. In 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, electronic store employee Paul Rudd explodes on his boss, Jane Lynch, about “Yah Mo B There” incessantly playing on the television sets. “If I hear ‘Yah Mo B There’ one more time, I’m going to yah mo burn this place to the ground,” he tells her...
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