Songfacts®:

• An '80s classic and one of Michael McDonald's signature songs, "I Keep Forgettin'" puts a new spin on heartbreak. The song is about a guy who is struggling to accept that his relationship has ended, and doesn't understand why. He fights his emotions every time he sees his former lover, and he keeps forgetting they're no longer in love.
• "I Keep Forgettin'" is based on a 1962 song with that title that was written by the legendary songwriting team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, and was originally recorded by the R&B singer Chuck Jackson in 1962. This original version went to #55 in the US.
  
  McDonald put together a new version of Jackson's song with Ed Sanford of the Sanford-Townsend Band ("Smoke From A Distant Fire"). Their version isn't really a cover - it has different lyrics and a different arrangement, but it uses the title along with the vocal melody and concept in the chorus. Jackson's original goes, "I keep forgetting you don't love me no more." McDonald's is "I keep forgettin' we're not in love anymore." In both songs, the singers go on to list things they keep forgettin'.
  
  Jackson's version was produced by Leiber and Stoller in a style they developed with The Coasters, incorporating timbales, a tuba, and some kind of mallet instrument into the mix. Jackson's vocal is very punctuated and pronounced as opposed to McDonald, who glides through the song.
  
  McDonald's version includes the subtitle "(Every Time You're Near)." The credited songwriters on the single and album are listed as McDonald and Ed Sanford, but the publishing shows the credits going to Leiber and Stoller. Streaming services often list all four as credited writers. According to Mike Stoller, a deal was worked out before McDonald's song was released.
• "I Keep Forgettin'" was Michael McDonald's first single as a solo artist. He came to Los Angeles in the early '70s set on becoming a solo artist, but he ended up joining bands instead. His big break came in 1974 when he started touring and recording with Steely Dan as a backup singer and keyboard player. The following year he joined the Doobie Brothers, bringing them into a new era with smoothed-out songs like "What A Fool Believes" and "Takin' It To the Streets." When the Doobies broke up in 1982, McDonald went solo. "I Keep Forgettin'" was a big hit and showed he could go it alone, but he gravitated toward collaborations. A few years later he had big hits with the James Ingram duet "Yah Mo B There" and with Patti LaBelle on "On My Own." He was also a popular backup singer around this time.
  
  McDonald later revealed that he struggled with addiction throughout the '80s and didn't get sober until the late '90s. He was part of various Doobie Brothers reunions and was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with them in 2020.
• Michael's sister Maureen sang backup on this one. The McDonald's were a musical family, with father Bob a talented singer.
• The groove on this track is mellow gold spun from the finest session players of the era. Here's the lineup:
  
  Michael McDonald - electric piano, synthesizer
  Steve Lukather - guitar
  Greg Phillinganes - clavinet
  Louis Johnson - bass
  Jeff Porcaro - drums
  
  Lukather and Porcaro were members of Toto; Porcaro helped McDonald land his gig with Steely Dan back in 1974. Phillinganes and Johnson played on many of Michael Jackson's hits.
• Chuck Jackson's version was covered more faithfully by The Checkmates Ltd. in 1969, David Bowie in 1984, and Joe Cocker in 2005.
• Warren G and Nate Dogg sampled the groove to "I Keep Forgettin'" on their 1994 hit "Regulate," a hip-hop classic that showed how melodic songs from yesteryear could be reworked and transformed. The effect is striking: "Regulate" tells a story of robbery and retribution.
  
  Warren's parents played him "I Keep Forgettin'" when he was a kid, and he loved the song. When he started making music, he decided to sample it. "I wanted to do something different instead of the same old hip-hop," he told Buzzfeed. "I thought, 'why don't I take a song that I liked from back then and recreate it in hip hop style?'"
• Michael McDonald didn't join Twitter until later, but a spoof account posted this Tweet in 2013, which got a laugh: "I keep forgettin' where I put my keys."
• Michael McDonald titled his 2024 memoir What A Fool Believes. He wrote it with the actor/comedian Paul Reiser.