It’s not far to never-never land, no reason to pretend/
And if the wind is right you can find the joy of innocence again.
I have always enjoyed “Sailing”—the song—and I love Christopher Cross’ high voice. The song is about escape; for Cross, he finds his escape in sailing. You may find your escape in another hobby. I believe that is why this song resonates so well. Like all soft-rock tunes, I believe it is unjustly not taken seriously enough as a contribution to rock. However, there are so many aspects of the song to love.
The imagery and depiction of escape is accurate and sailing away on a boat is a wonderful way to depict it. His falsetto is great. The use of keyboards is excellent. He uses the synthesizer tone just a touch and mainly relies on the piano sound. The strings are sprinkled in nicely too. There is a nice piano solo…we don’t hear many of those. Cross is an underappreciated talent and “Sailing” is an underappreciated song.
Lyrics Sailing
Well, it’s not far down to paradise, at least it’s not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away and find tranquility
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.
Believe me.
It’s not far to never-never land, no reason to pretend
And if the wind is right you can find the joy of innocence again
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.
Believe me.
Sailing takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free
Fantasy, it gets the best of me
When I’m sailing
All caught up in the reverie, every word is a symphony
Won’t you believe me?
Sailing takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free
Well it’s not far back to sanity, at least it’s not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away and find serenity
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.
Believe me.
Sailing takes me away to where I’ve always heard it could be
Just a dream and the wind to carry me
And soon I will be free
Songwriters: Christopher Cross