Foreplay/Long Time – Boston | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#22); 1977
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
As the man who founded one of classic rock’s classic bands, perhaps it’s fitting that Tom Scholz cut his musical teeth on his parents’ classical record collection. In fact, it wasn’t until his 17th year that the then-contemporary rough rock records of the Yardbirds and the Kinks hooked him on more modern music.
As an undergrad at M.I.T., he added guitar, bass, and drums to his repertoire (he’d played piano since childhood). After college, he worked days at Polaroid and nights in his basement, where he had his own hand-built studio.
There, he spent countless hours crafting the songs that would make up the first Boston album. For vocals, Tom turned to Brad Delp. A Scholz-created six song demo brought an offer from Columbia/Epic, and – on August 25, 1977 – Boston appeared in public for the first time.
Rock radio spun every track on the album, and fans bought millions of copies: all of which made Boston the top selling debut album of the 20th century.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- John Boylan
- Tom Scholz
Lyrics Written by:
- Tom Scholz
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).