"I See a Boat on the River" peaked at #5 in Germany but marked the group's waning popularity in the UK where "My Friend Jack" was promoted as the A-side, faring even worse than their former single "I'm Born Again", stalling at #57.

Boney M. would use the double A-side format over the next years, typically with the A1 being the song intended for radio and A2 being more squarely aimed at discos.

"I See a Boat on the River" was written by another Farian artist Gilla (aka Gisela Wuchinger = G. Winger) and her fiancé Helmut Rulofs.

Producer Frank Farian added some additional parts and lyricist Fred Jay re-wrote the original lyrics which went I beg you boat on the river and birds in the sky / Show me the way home or teach me to fly.

Original Smoke member Zeke Lund was by now working as a sound engineer for Frank Farian.