Yacht Rock Essentials: “We Just Disagree,” Rock Journeyman Dave Mason’s Biggest Hit

There are some artists who released many songs throughout their career that clearly fit into the yacht rock template. And then there are a few who kind of accidentally dipped their toes into that warm ocean water. Dave Mason, a British classic rocker, probably stands as one of the most unlikely Yacht Rock standard-bearers, thanks to his 1977 hit “We Just Disagree.”

What is the song about? Who wrote it? And how did it go against the grain of what Mason usually released? Here is the story of one of the most heartbreaking yacht rock standards, “We Just Disagree.”

Mason’s Journey

Dave Mason’s track record will stun you. On the surface level, he’s best known as an early member of Traffic and a songwriter whose best tracks, “Feelin’ Alright” and “Only You Know and I Know,” were recorded by others and turned into classics. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find it’s as impressive a CV as you’ll find.

He played on indelible tracks by Jim Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and many others. Top acts returned the favor, with luminaries like Harrison, Graham Nash, and Stevie Wonder playing on his solo stuff. Mason even ended up in Fleetwood Mac for a cup of coffee in the ’90s.

As a solo act, he had a hard time gaining commercial traction in the ’70s, at least until record mogul Clive Davis signed him at Columbia Records. But the mercurial Davis left the label not long after, leaving Mason a bit adrift at the label but still owing them a lot of material. Luckily, he found some help from a new member of his band.

The Bruiser to the Rescue

Mason’s first album for Columbia, It’s Like You Never Left in 1973, was an all-star affair. When it failed to do much sales-wise, Mason decided to put together a regular backing band that could take material out on the road. One of his new cohorts was a guitar player named Jim Krueger, nicknamed “The Bruiser,” who also offered some songwriting ability.

When Mason was making his 1977 album Let It Flow, Krueger came forward with a heartsick ballad for inclusion. “We Just Disagree” wasn’t typical of what Mason usually delivered around that time, as he was more known for a kind of free-flowing rock approach than straightforward slow stuff. But, as he told Songfacts, he didn’t hesitate for a second when he heard Krueger’s track:

“I did it because I thought it was a great song. An unusual chord arrangement behind it. And it stood up—it was a song that when he sang it to me, it was like, ‘Yeah, that’s the song.’ Just him and a guitar, which is usually how I judge whether I’m going to do something. If it holds up like that I’ll put the rest of the icing on it.”

What is the Meaning of “We Just Disagree”?

Mason and Krueger, who, as traveling musicians, had seen their fair share of heartbreak, gravitated to this tale of two ex-lovers undergoing a stilted reunion. The guy struggles to make sense of how they went from such intimacy to this distance: Don’t seem the same, seems you’ve lost your feel for me.

Krueger’s lyrics cycle through the emotional spectrum, as he naturally treats her with kindness, only to remember all the bad stuff that’s gone down between them: Have you got a place to stay? / Why should I care when I’m just trying to get along. In the refrains, he decides it’s best that they stay apart rather than trying to tiptoe through the old land mines: So let’s leave it alone ’cause we can’t see eye to eye / There ain’t no good guy / There ain’t no bad guy / There’s only you and me and we just disagree.

Jim Krueger passed away in 1993 at only 43 years old, meaning he didn’t live quite long enough to witness the yacht rock sensation that gave his most famous song second life. As for Dave Mason, “We Just Disagree,” a Top-20 hit, became a signature song for him, despite it being somewhat uncharacteristic of most of his output.

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