Top 20 Songs About Sailing

Have you ever wished you could just hop on a boat, disappear sailing into the sunset and get away from it all? Sailing is unfettered joy, and spending time out on the water is beautiful and relaxing… There's nothing like cracking on under a lowering sky...treading that fine line between audaciousness and foolhardiness, or so I’m told… These are my Top 20 Songs about Sailing…

1. Crosby, Stills & Nash – The Southern Cross

Got out of town on a boat / Goin' to Southern islands / Sailing a reach before a followin' sea / She was makin' for the trades on the outside / And the downhill run to Papeete / Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas / We got eighty feet of the waterline / Nicely making way…



2. Little River Band – Cool Change

Well I was born in the sign of water / and it's there that I feel my best / The albatross and the whales / they are my brothers / It's kind of a special feeling / When you're out on the sea alone / Starin' at the full moon like a lover



3. Christopher Cross – Sailing

It's not far back to sanity / At least it's not for me / and when the wind is right you can sail away / and find serenity / the canvas can do miracles / just you wait and see / believe me



4. Mark Knoppfler and James Taylor– Sailing to Philadelphia

Now hold your head up, Mason / see America lies there / The morning tide has raised the capes of Delaware / Come up and feel the sun / A new morning has begun / Another day will make it clear / Why your stars should guide us here..

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5. Styx – Boat on a River

Time stands still as I gaze in her waters / she eases me down, touching me gently / with the waters that flow past my boat on the river / So I don’t cry out anymore



6. Kansas – The Point of No Return

They say the sea turns so dark / that you know it’s time you see the sign / they say the point demons guard is an ocean grave for all the brave / Was it you that said, "How long, how long / How long to the point of know return?"



7. Spilt Enz – Six Months in a Leaky Boat

When I was a young boy / I wanted to sail 'round the world / That’s the life for me / Living on the sea / Spirit of a sailor / Circumnavigates the globe / The lust of a pioneer will acknowledge no frontier



8. Billy Joel – The Downeaster “Alexa”

Well I'm on the Downeaster "Alexa" / and I'm cruising through Block Island Sound / I have charted a course to the Vineyard / but tonight I am Nantucket bound / We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday / And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner's Bay / Like all the locals here I've had to sell my home / Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone



9. Chris Thompson – Thunder Child

There were ships of shapes and sizes / Scattered out along the bay / and I thought I heard her calling as the steamer pulled away / The Invaders must have seen them / as across the coast they filed / Standing firm between them / There lay Thunder Child / Moving swiftly through the waters / Cannons blazing as she came / Brought a mighty metal War-Lord / Crashing down in sheets of flame / Sensing victory was nearing / Thinking fortune must have smiled / People started cheering / 'Come on Thunder Child'



10. Iron Maiden – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Day after day, day after day / we stuck nor breath nor motion / as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean / Water, water everywhere and all the boards did shrink / Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink.



11. Bertie Higgins – Key Largo

We had it all / Just like Bogie and Bacall / Starring in our old late, late show / Sailing away to Key Largo / Here's looking at you kid / Missing all the things we did / We can find it once again, I know / Just like they did in Key Largo



12. The Commodores – Sail On

Sail on down the line / about a half a mile or so / And a don't really wanna know / where you're going / Maybe once or twice you see / Time after time I tried to hold on to what we got / But a now you're going / And I don't mind about the things you're gonna say / Lord



13. Enya – Sail Away

From Bissau to Palau - in the shade of Avalon / from Fiji to Tiree and the Isles of Ebony / from Peru to Cebu hear the power of Babylon / from Bali to Cali - far beneath the Coral Sea / Sail away, sail away, sail away…



14. Styx – Come Sail Away

I’m sailing away, set an open course for the virgin sea / I’ve got to be free, free to face the life that’s ahead of me / On board, I’m the captain, so climb aboard / We’ll search for tomorrow on every shore / And I’ll try, oh Lord, I’ll try to carry on



15. Jimmy Buffet – Son of a Son of a Sailor

Haul the sheet in as we ride on the wind / that our forefathers harnessed before us / Hear the bells ring as the tight rigging sings / It’s a son of a gun of a son of a son, son of a son, son of a son of a sailor...



16. Beach Boys – Sloop John B

So hoist up the John B’s sail / See how the mainsail sets / Call for the captain ashore / Let me go home, let me go home / I wanna go home, yeah yeah / Well I feel so broke up / I wanna go home




17. Beach Boys – Full Sail

Full sail, full sail / Steady as you go / The wind will blow / Set sail at Frisco Bay / In a fog cold and gray / Clear sailing, day after day / Full sail full sail / Now the air is still / We lay adrift / Come upon a sea of trouble / Till the winds of change shift / My course is set / There's no turning back / But there's no goin' anywhere yet



18. Rod Stewart – Sailing

I am sailing / I am sailing / home again 'cross the sea / I am sailing / stormy waters / to be near you / to be free.



19. David Gray – Sail Away

Sail away with me honey / I put my heart in your hands / Sail away with me honey now, now, now Sail away with me / What will be will be / I wanna hold you now



20. Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound / and a wave broke over the railing / and ev'ry man knew, as the captain did too / 'twas the witch of November come stealin' / The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait / when the Gales of November came slashin' / When afternoon came it was freezin' rain / in the face of a hurricane west wind.