"Sail Away" is a song by Randy Newman, the title track of his 1972 album.
"Sail Away" is representative of Newman's trademark unconventional and clever approach to songwriting: it takes the form of a "come on" or a "pitch" from an American slave trader to potential slaves. The slaver attempts to convince his listeners to climb aboard his ship and "sail away" with him to America (specifically Charleston), which he portrays as a land of happiness and plenty.
The lyrics contain several subtle references to the extreme ideological dichotomy going on in America at the time of the slave trade. For example, the slaver sings "In America, every man is free," emphasizing the American ideal of liberty. However, after a caesura he quickly concludes that sentence with "to take care of his home and his family," implying that every man in fact isn't "free" in every sense of the word.
The song is written in the key of F major, and performed in that key on the album. The original album recording features an ostinato piano part, played by Newman (who also sings the lyrics), accompanied by a full orchestra (strings, winds and brass) for harmonic and melodic fills. It features a set of relatively simple (for Newman) chord changes in the blues-country-rock-gospel progression that Newman is so well known for.
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter,arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant (and often satirical) pop songs and for film scores.
Newman often writes lyrics from the perspective of a character far removed from his own experiences, sometimes using the point of view of an unreliable narrator. For example, the 1972 song "Sail Away" is written as a slave trader's sales pitch to attract slaves, while the narrator of "Political Science" is a U.S. nationalist who complains of worldwide ingratitude toward America and proposes a brutally ironic final solution. One of his biggest hits, "Short People" was written from the perspective of "a lunatic" who hates short people. Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer. His film scores include Ragtime, Awakenings, The Natural, Leatherheads, James and the Giant Peach, Meet the Parents, Cold Turkey, Seabiscuit and The Princess and the Frog. He has scored six Disney-Pixar films: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars and most recently Toy Story 3.
Sail Away may refer to:
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE (born 20 May 1944) is an English rock and blues singer, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of the Beatles.
He is the recipient of several awards, including a 1983 Grammy Award for his #1 hit "Up Where We Belong", a duet he performed with Jennifer Warnes. He was ranked #97 on Rolling Stone's 100 greatest singers list.
Cocker was born on 20 May 1944 at 38 Tasker Road, Crookes, Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. He is the youngest son of a civil servant, Harold Cocker, and Madge Cocker. According to differing family stories, Cocker received his nickname of Joe either from playing a childhood game called "Cowboy Joe" or from a local window cleaner named Joe.
Cocker's main musical influences growing up were Ray Charles and Lonnie Donegan. Cocker's first experience singing in public was at age 12 when his elder brother Victor invited him on stage to sing during a gig of his skiffle group. In 1960, along with three friends, Cocker formed his first group, the Cavaliers. For the group's first performance at a youth club, they were required to pay the price of admission before entering. The Cavaliers eventually broke up after a year and Cocker left school to become an apprentice gasfitter while he pursued a career in music.
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004), known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records. He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his Modern Sounds albums. While with ABC, Charles became one of the first African-American musicians to be given artistic control by a mainstream record company.Frank Sinatra called Charles “the only true genius in show business.”
The influences upon his music were mainly jazz, blues, rhythm and blues and country artists of the day such as Art Tatum, Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown, Louis Armstrong. His playing reflected influences from country blues and barrelhouse, and stride piano styles.
Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004, and number two on their November 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In honoring Charles, Billy Joel noted: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley. I don't know if Ray was the architect of rock & roll, but he was certainly the first guy to do a lot of things . . . Who the hell ever put so many styles together and made it work?"
I'm a bit like a soldier
In the way I wear no uniform
And choose not to fight
And fight all night
For some other cause
I'm a bit like the grave digger
Who wields no shovel
And digs no hole
But leaves the bodies to rot
In the places that they stand
For some other cause
I'm a bit like the pack mule
Carrying no load
Into the canyons of your jive
For some other cause
I'm a bit like the freelance fence painter
Then eyes your backside as you leave
For some other cause
I'm a bit like the peephole
That falls in love with all the eyes
That look through
Watching major things unfold
From minor flaws
For some other cause
do you remember when we met i was so intrigued you were so intrigued we spent our time telling our sides of our excitement of insecurities moving far away and from that moment on we were inseperable a vivid image of ecstasy it's been a long time and things i see well they remind me well they remind me they take me to that age moving far away moving far away in time but everyday that goes by your further from my mind try to rememebr lies i know i trasure things too much instead of pushing them aside still i tell lies try to turn around and face it
Song, music that seemed to blur
All that my heart would say
Song, you didn't change our tune
You didn't end too soon
Love is forever, still you play on in my heart
Each note really tears me apart
How could a love so right go wrong?
How can I learn to let go?
Your words keep on haunting me so
Love is forever, love is forever
Song, tell her and make her see
She is my life to me
And all that is left of a beautiful love
Is a beautiful love song
Still you play on in my heart
Each note really tears me apart
How could a love so right go wrong?
How can I learn to let go?
Your words keep on haunting me so
Love is forever, love is forever
Song, tell her and make her see
She is my life to me
And all that is left of a beautiful love
When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.
I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain;
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
(Verlaine)
I think of you, I think of you.
I had this friend who told me that
Coincidence cannot articulate the best
Events. She said she'd rather think of
Everything as accident, after all, it's
All heaven-sent. She said I don't think
Good but i know how to wait as if when
You wait it is not hours but some forgotten
Sense of time. It's very kind of all those
Powers to feature love without design.
Letters arrive, spelling out the wish so
Clear, making a language of desire and fear.
You said it's not that way... God is not the
Name of God... you'll send a drawing of the heart
I don't draw well but i know how to wait as if...
I think of you listening to your father's voice...
Those endless speeches on 'The Gift of Choice'.
Love's not a story I could ever read or write...
I guess you'd say I'm not so bright. Show me
How you wait... as if...
I am so fond of you, so fond of you.