Muskrat Love
Written by Willis Alan Ramsey, ©1971
Found on Hat Trick, History, America Live, America's Gold, The Very Best Of America, Highway, The Definitive America, The Complete Greatest Hits, and Here & Now.

Muskrat, muskrat candlelight
Doin' the town and doin' it right
In the evenin'
It's pretty pleasin'

Muskrat Susie, Muskrat Sam
Do the jitterbug out in muskrat land
And they shimmy
And Sammy's so skinny

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

Nibbling on bacon, chewin' on cheese
Sammy says to Susie "Honey, would you please be my missus?"
And she say yes
With her kisses

And now he's ticklin' her fancy
Rubbin' her toes
Muzzle to muzzle, now anything goes
As they wriggle, and Sue starts to giggle

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

La da da da da ...

Highway Highlight (from the box set booklet) The choice for the album's lead track and first single was "Muskrat Love," written by Oklahoma singer/songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey. "The idea was: each of us was working on three songs, and then we'd agree on a cover tune," Beckley says. "David Dickey had played us Willis Allen Ramsey's album on Shelter, and it had 'Muskrat Love (Muskrat Candlelight)' on it, as it was titled. And to us it sounded like a very bluesy, quirky tune. We just felt it was quirky and commercial, and we worked it up." Warner Bros. was less than enthusiastic about the song, and as a single it made it only to #67. But the "Muskrat" refused to die--Captain & Tennille released their own version in 1976 and scored a #4 hit. "You know that movie Multiplicity with Michael Keaton, where you make a copy of a copy of a copy? Well, I think 'Muskrat Love' is a fine example of where the closer you go back to the original seed, the nicer it is. Ours was once removed, and the Captain & Tennille's was even more removed. They got their version from us--they assumed it was our song."