"Come Sail Away" is a song by American rock group

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...

, written and sung by singer and songwriter

Dennis DeYoung Dennis DeYoung (born February 18, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and keyboardist. He was a founding member of the rock band Styx and served as its primary lead vocalist and keyboardist from 1972 until 1999. DeYoung was the band's most ...

and featured on the band's seventh album ''

The Grand Illusion ''The Grand Illusion'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Styx. Recorded at Paragon Recording Studios in Chicago, the album was released on July 7, 1977, by A&M Records, intentionally choosing the combination 7th on 7-7-77 for l ...

'' (1977). Upon its release as the lead single from the album, "Come Sail Away" peaked at #8 in January 1978 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and helped ''The Grand Illusion'' achieve multi-platinum sales in 1978. It is one of the biggest hits of Styx's career.

Background

DeYoung revealed on ''

In the Studio with Redbeard ''In the Studio with Redbeard'' is a North American radio program, produced and hosted by Dallas, Texas, based rock and roll disc jockey Doug "Redbeard" Hill. The show is a weekly hour-long "rockumentary" interview with music program which look ...

'' (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 A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun appears directly above the equator, rather than to its north or south. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise directly east and set directly west. This occurs twice each year, arou ...

'' and ''

Crystal Ball A crystal ball is a crystal or glass ball commonly used in fortune-telling. It is generally associated with the performance of clairvoyance and scrying through crystal gazing. Used since Antiquity, crystal balls have had a broad reputation with ...

'', sold fewer units than expected after the success of the single "

Lady ''Lady'' is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. "Lady" is al ...

Writing

Lyrically, the song uses sailing as a metaphor to achieve one's dreams. The lyrics touch on nostalgia of "childhood friends," escapism, and a religious thematic symbolized by "a gathering of angels" singing "a song of hope." The ending lyrics explain a transition from a sailing ship into a starship, by narrating that "they climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies". Musically, "Come Sail Away" combines a plaintive, ballad-like opening section (including piano and synthesizer interludes) with a bombastic, guitar-heavy second half. In the middle of the second half of the album version is a minute-long synthesizer-heavy instrumental break. "Come Sail Away" is in the key of

C major C major is a major scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. C major is one of the most common keys used in music. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative minor is A minor and its parallel min ...

Personnel

– lead vocals, piano, synthesizer *

Tommy Shaw Tommy Roland Shaw (born September 11, 1953) is an American singer and guitarist best known for his tenure in the rock band Styx (band), Styx as co-lead vocalist. In between his stints with Styx, he has played with other groups including Damn Yan ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals * James Young – rhythm guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals *

Chuck Panozzo Charles Salvatore "Chuck" Panozzo (born September 20, 1948) is an American musician best known as a co-founder of the rock band Styx. He is currently a part-time bass player in the band, sharing bass duties with Terry Gowan. Panozzo is living wit ...

– bass *

John Panozzo John Anthony Panozzo (September 20, 1948 – July 16, 1996) was an American drummer best known for his work with rock band Styx. Early life Panozzo was born to Tranquinino Panozzo and Elizabeth Lofrano Panozzo, both of whom were of Italian desc ...

– drums

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "a solitary voice introduces the melody to light piano accompaniment" and that then "the pure fury of the drum, guitar and vocal explosion that follows will pleasantly startle expectations." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that "The melody here is most appealing; the message of escape seems just right for the spirit of the seventies." ''Classic Rock'' critic Malcolm Dome rated "Come Sail Away" as Styx's 7th greatest song, calling it "one of the all time great power ballads." In the United States, "Come Sail Away" reached #8 on ''Billboard'' and spent two weeks at #9 on ''Cash Box''. The song also peaked at #9 in Canada. On superstation WLS-AM in their home city of Chicago, the song spent two weeks at #3 and was ranked at #26 for the year.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

Although the song hit its chart peak in 1978, "Come Sail Away" has had tremendous longevity in popular culture. It was arguably as popular in the 1980s (and in subsequent decades) as it was when released in the late 1970s.

Films

The song appears on trailers and TV spots for the films '' Atlantis: The Lost Empire'', ''

The Wild ''The Wild'' is a 2006 animated adventure comedy film directed by Steve "Spaz" Williams with a screenplay by Ed Decter, John J. Strauss, Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin, as well as featuring an ensemble cast consisting of Kiefer Sutherland, ...

'', and '' Big Daddy''. It also appeared as a cover by The Trophy Fire in the 2012 movie '' Nitro Circus: The Movie''. In the 2018 Netflix release '' Like Father'' the song is the choice of the main characters Rachel and Harry for their winning performance in the cruise karaoke championship. In the 2019 film '' Stuber'' the song is used during an action sequence later on in the film. It is referenced earlier in the film as well. The song was used in the homecoming dance scene of ''

The Virgin Suicides ''The Virgin Suicides'' is a coming-of-age thriller novel and the debut novel by American writer Jeffrey Eugenides, published in 1993. The story, which is set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers on the lives of five doomed sis ...

''.

Television

The song appears as a plot point to the ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' episode "

Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" is the second episode of the second season of the American animated television series ''South Park''. The 15th episode of the series overall, it premiered on Comedy Central in the United States on April 2 ...

". If

Eric Cartman Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to as just Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom ''South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main characters, ...

hears any portion of the song, he feels a compulsion to sing the rest of it. On '' Chef Aid: The South Park Album'', he does a cover of the song. The song scored the end of the pilot episode of ''

Freaks and Geeks ''Freaks and Geeks'' is an American teen comedy-drama television series created by Paul Feig and executive-produced by Judd Apatow that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season. The show is set in a suburban high school near ...

'', in which Sam Weir summons the courage to ask a popular girl to slow dance. Though she agrees, the guitar-heavy second half kicks in before they can start slow dancing as originally intended. A version of the song performed by

Aimee Mann Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released ten studio albums as a solo artist. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyrics about dark subjects, often d ...

is used in the TV show ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

'' in the Season 5 episode "Geothermal Escapism" for the nautical departure of

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

's Troy Barnes. In the first season, he'd confessed to crying upon hearing the original version of the song. The song also appears in '' ER''s season 7, episode 19 ("Sailing Away"), where Dr. Greene sings along. In ''

Generation Kill ''Generation Kill'' is a 2004 book written by ''Rolling Stone'' journalist Evan Wright chronicling his experience as an embedded reporter with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps (the " Devil Dogs" mentioned on ...

'' several of the Marines sing the chorus as they travel. The song is parodied as "Please Say You'll Stay" in the ''

Fish Hooks A fish hook or fishhook, formerly also called an angle (from Old English ''angol'' and Proto-Germanic ''*angulaz''), is a hook used to fishing, catch fish either by piercing and embedding onto the inside of the fish jaw, fish mouth (angling) or, ...

'' episode "Labor of Love". The song was featured in '' The Goldbergs'' season 1, episode 2 (" Daddy Daughter Day"). The song again appears in season 5, episode 4 (" Revenge o' the Nerds"), sung by Erica Goldberg at a ''

Revenge of the Nerds ''Revenge of the Nerds'' is a 1984 American comedy film directed by Jeff Kanew and starring Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Ted McGinley, and Bernie Casey. The plot follows a group of nerds at the fictional Adams College trying to st ...

''–style musical finale. The song is performed by the New Directions on an episode of the television show ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'' (Season 6, Episode 11). The song is performed as part of a Broadway musical in ''

Mozart in the Jungle ''Mozart in the Jungle'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, and Paul Weitz for the video-on-demand service Amazon Prime Video. It received a production order in March 20 ...

''s first episode. Hailey plays the oboe section of the piece along with Cynthia at the cello. In the ''

Modern Family ''Modern Family'' is an American television sitcom, created by Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd, that aired on ABC for 11 seasons from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. The series follows the lives of three diverse but interrelated fa ...

'' episode " Spring-a-Ding-Fling," a parody of the song is sung by realtor Phil Dunphy, played by

Ty Burrell Tyler Gerald Burrell (born August 22, 1967) is an American actor. Burrell is best known for playing Phil Dunphy on the ABC sitcom '' Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

. The song is performed by actress

Olivia Holt Olivia Hastings Holt (born August 5, 1997) is an American actress and singer. She starred in the Disney XD series ''Kickin' It'', List of Disney Channel original films, Disney Channel Original Movie ''Girl vs. Monster'', and the List of program ...

in the season-one finale of '' Cloak & Dagger'' (episode 10). The song was featured in the end credits of the ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'' episode " Carny Knowledge". A drunken karaoke rendition of the song is performed by brother and sister Anna Collier and Tripp Collier in '' Death and Other Details'' (Season 1, Episode 6).

Other

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (often shortened to MFGG or the Gimmes) are a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in San Francisco in 1995. The band's lineup consists of Spike Slawson, C. J. Ramone, Joey Cape, Pinch and John Reis. ...

released a cover on their album ''

Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah ''Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah'' is a live album by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, released on October 19, 2004, on Fat Wreck Chords. It was recorded live at an actual B'nai Mitzvah, bar mitzvah party, and its runtime lasts their entire performance ...

'', which was featured in commercials for season 3 of the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

's ''

Deadliest Catch ''Deadliest Catch'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing ...

'' in 2005.

Patty Pravo Nicoletta Strambelli (born 9 April 1948), known professionally as Patty Pravo, is an Italian singer. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful commercially for the rest of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Having suffered a decline in p ...

covered it as "Dai Sali Su" on her 1978 album ''Miss Italia''.

References

External links

Song Review A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usually ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

* {{authority control 1977 singles 1978 singles Rock ballads Songs written by Dennis DeYoung Styx (band) songs A&M Records singles 1977 songs 1970s ballads