Come Sail Away
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Come Sail Away" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by Styx | ||
| from the album The Grand Illusion | ||
| B-side(s) | Put Me On | |
| Released | 1977 | |
| Format | vinyl record 7" | |
| Genre | Progressive rock, Arena Rock | |
| Length | 3:10 (single) 6:07 (album) | |
| Label | A&M | |
| Writer(s) | Dennis DeYoung | |
| Producer(s) | Styx | |
| Chart positions | ||
|
||
| Styx singles chronology | ||
| "Mademoiselle" (1976) |
"Come Sail Away" (1977) |
"Fooling Yourself (The Angry Young Man)" (1978) |
"Come Sail Away" is a song by Styx from their 1977 album The Grand Illusion. It was one of the band's biggest hits, rising to number 8 on the Pop Singles chart and helping The Grand Illusion reach multi-platinum sales.
Musically, "Come Sail Away" combines a plaintive, ballad-like opening section (including piano and synthesizer interludes) with a bombastic, guitar-heavy second half. The lyrics use the metaphor of a voyage of discovery and make reference to angels and spaceships. The song is typical of the music the band played in the 1970s — pop meets progressive rock.
Styx member Dennis DeYoung revealed on In the Studio with Redbeard (which devoted an entire episode to the making of The Grand Illusion), that he was depressed when he wrote the track after Styx's first two A&M offerings, Equinox and Crystal Ball, sold fewer units than expected after the success of the single "Lady".
[edit] Popular usage
- "Come Sail Away" is referenced repeatedly in South Park. A running joke in the series is that every time Cartman hears the beginning of the song he feels compelled to finish it (which he can do in 27 seconds flat under pressure). Cartman sings a full-length version of the song on Chef Aid: The South Park Album, with a notable part near the end where he gets overexcited and descends into rhythmic gibberish. His over-the-top rendition helped make the song an icon of prog-rock camp in the late 90s.
- The song is used as the theme of the upcoming 3rd season on Deadliest Catch.
- The song was covered by punk rock band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their album Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah.
- The song was featured in a school-dance scene at the end of the 1999 pilot episode of Freaks and Geeks, which is set in 1980.
- Phil Hendrie ended the 16-year run of The Phil Hendrie Show with one of his characters singing the song.
- In the 7th season ER episode "Sailing Away", Mark Greene is blasting this song at high volume in his workshop - so loud, in fact, that he can't hear his wife tell him that she's in labor. (The title of the episode is also taken from the song.)
- In a fourth season episode of the NBC show Ed, the character Phil uses the song as part of his tribute to the recently-deceased bowler, Mr. Fish.
- In the 20th episode of season three of Family Guy, entitled "Road to Europe," Peter and Lois are watching a show on TV called The Kiss Forum when Dennis DeYoung (a member of Styx and the writer of "Come Sail Away") calls into the show insulting Kiss; the host replies, "Why don't we play 'Come Sail Away' and 'Detroit Rock City' and see how they stack up side by side?"
