Unraveling Obsession: Inside the Haunting World of The March Xness Anthology
Elena Passarello, on “Muskrat Love” by Captain and Tenille:
[Toni Tennille] says she first heard ‘Muskrat Love’ in the car on the way to a nightclub gig, about a year before she and Captain Daryl were discovered. Given the timeline, they probably heard the band America’s 1973 cover of Willis Alan Ramsey’s song. This was both the first recording re-named ‘Muskrat Love’ and the first to receive any real radio airplay. Weirdly, singer Lani Hall recorded a soporific take on the song, renamed ‘Sun Down,’ the year before, at the label that eventually signed Captain and Tennille. ‘Sun Down’ has the same tune as ‘Muskrat Love,’ but uses new lyrics that omit the Susie and Sam storyline, and I fully reject this heinous act of muskrat erasure.
