Kenny Loggins to help kids tear up this town with new book based on “Footloose”

Yacht Rock luminary Kenny Loggins is adapting his 1984 No. 1 hit song “Footloose” into a children’s book. But since the new book is based off of the song, and not the film, it will have a dearth of evil John Lithgow, and won’t help you in your next game of Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon. Instead, it showcases a gang of animal pals kicking off their Sunday shoes for a dance party.

“The meter of the lyric is a little tricky, “ explains Loggins, dropping some music theory on the kids. “But if you’re familiar with the song [“Footloose”], and most people are, you quickly get how the words are bouncing off of the pages.” The story features such characters as a “rockin’ chimp” named Louise (“Geez, Louise”) and a lemur that goes by Marie. You get the rest.

“My first seven years were spent in Seattle,” explains Loggins to children’s literature trade magazine Story Monsters Ink. “Lots of rainy days. Lots of opportunities to read.” The first book Loggins remembers reading was House At Pooh Corner; the singer-songwriter even adapted the story to song, first recorded by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970 and then by Loggins and songwriting partner Jim Messina on their 1971 album Sittin’ In.