"Boat on the River" is a 1980 song by Styx

Styx (band)

Styx is an American rock band that became famous for its albums from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Chicago band is known for melding the style of prog-rock with the power of hard rock guitar, strong ballads, and elements of American musical theater....

, from their album Cornerstone. It was released as a single, but did not chart in the band's native United States. However, it was popular in several German-speaking countries, becoming a top-five hit on the German, Austrian and Swiss charts (reaching number one on the latter.)

The song features Tommy Shaw

Tommy Shaw

Tommy Roland Shaw is an American guitarist, best known for his work with the rock band Styx. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with the supergroup Damn Yankees and Shaw Blades, and has released several solo albums....

 on lead vocals and mandolin

Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...

, with Dennis DeYoung

Dennis DeYoung

Dennis DeYoung is an American singer, songwriter, musician and producer best known for being a founding member of the rock band Styx, a tenure that lasted from 1970 to 1999.-Early life:...

 accompanying on accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

. In the video for the song, Chuck Panozzo

Chuck Panozzo

Charles Salvatore "Chuck" Panozzo is an American musician best known as the bass player for the rock band Styx. A longtime member of Styx, he founded the group with his fraternal twin brother, drummer John Panozzo, who died in July 1996, and singer Dennis DeYoung...

, John Panozzo

John Panozzo

John Anthony Panozzo was an American drummer best known for his work with rock band Styx.Panozzo grew up in the Roseland neighborhood, the south side of Chicago, Illinois, with his fraternal twin brother, Chuck . At age 7, the twins took musical lessons from their uncle in which John took an...

, and James Young

James Young (American musician)

James "J.Y." Young is a guitarist, singer and songwriter, and member of the rock band, Styx. Young began playing keyboard and piano at the age of five. He attended Calumet High in Chicago and learned to play clarinet and guitar during those years.J.Y...

 play bowed double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

, tambourine

Tambourine

The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

/bass drum

Bass drum

Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...

 and acoustic guitar

Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

 respectively.

Allmusic reviewer Mike DeGagne praise both "Boat on the River" and fellow Cornerstone single "Lights" for their "silky harmonies and welcoming choruses", despite their poor chart performance in the U.S.

The song has been covered by Seventh Avenue

Seventh Avenue (band)

Seventh Avenue is a Christian metal band from Wolfsburg, Germany, formed in 1989. Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Herbie Langhans, guitarist Florian Gottsleben, bassist Markus Beck, and drummer Mike Pflüger, Seventh Avenue plays a hybrid style of speed and power metal with the focus on melodies...

 and Guano Apes

Guano Apes

Guano Apes are an alternative rock band formed in 1994 in Göttingen, Germany. The group members are Sandra Nasić , Henning Rümenapp , Stefan Ude and Dennis Poschwatta ....

.

Charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
German Singles Chart	5
Austrian Singles Chart	2
Swiss Singles Chart	1
Dutch Top 40	29