Christopher Cross - "Sailing"

Hated it then, hate it now.

not many songs that are as corny as sailing stick the landing but I think it does. great song.

His music is very relaxing. Too bad his career went down the shitter.

It was well written and produced, but it was so ubiquitous on the radio back then that I started to hate all his music. What happened after his big debut album though? His career seemed to implode.

He has argued that his career didn't take off because of looksism. He didn't have the right look for MTV.

His other hits include It's Alright, Ride Like the Wind, Arthurs Theme, and Think of Laura (used by General Hospital). Those songs were huge.

R4 I'm surprised he didn't do more session work. Steely Dan was after him to be a recording guitarist.

I saw him interviewed on TV last year. He was one of the first to get COVID, nearly lost his life, and became partially paralyzed. When he was interviewed, he was learning to walk again. Poor guy.

He was a very talented guy but got stuck in Yacht Rock. Still, I love his music and it is very relaxing.

Yes, OP. I, too, get nostalgic and teary from mellow music of that era.

It was so long ago, and such music reminds me of my childhood (born in 1970). My parents were so caring and it was a wonderful time to be a child.

Both of my beloved parents are now gone, and I miss them more than anything. I take frequent trips down memory lane through music.

I’m old.

R9 Early 50s isn't "old." You're fine.

Yacht Rick fell out of favor and he was fat and ugly so he wasn't right for the MTV era. That's why his career went down the shitter.

"Ride Like the Wind" is one of the greatest pop songs ever.

Not really a fan of his other work.

Sounds like a fag

It has a wistful feel to it. I’ve always liked it, even when I first heard it at 15.

It’s not the song’s fault it was overplayed.

Whenever I hear Ride Like the Wind I’m reminded of this.

R9 thank you for sharing that. We're the same age.

It's hitting me hard these days. And seems to be that music is my trigger. A few months back it was "The Voice" by The Moody Blues. Had to leave my cart for a second to pull it together.

"Wishing I could get in a time capsule and go back" energy. Have never been one to live in the past but just getting smacked with it hard lately.

R9 - You're not old - just wait until you reach 72!! I'm a very young at heart 72 (barrelling towards 73!) and even though my youth is long gone, I have wonderful memories of all the great things I did and places I went with friends that have passed on. We all age but we don't have to grow old!

As for this Sailing song - I find it really beautiful and soothing. So many wonderful songs and performers during the 70's & 80's who could actually sing whereas today most song artists are performers first then singers second if at all.

'Ride Like The Wind' as noted above was another great Chris Cross song.

Except for Ride Like The Wind all his songs were easy listening/adult contemporary. He was VH1 not MTV. He can blame it on lookism, which probably was a factor, but his music was the bigger one.

[quote]As for this Sailing song - I find it really beautiful and soothing.

At your age R17, I bet you find soft foods tasty and consider 8pm staying up late.

Eldergays are sobbing in grocery stores now?

I hear that song and am instantly transported back to the swimming pool in the summer before eighth grade.

Gentle and sweet and blissful.

R19 Most soft foods are tasty. Fois Gras, sushi, most deserts, the best steaks and prime rib, garlic mash. Ahhh, to be young, stupid and out of touch.

I'm ashamed to admit Arthurs' Theme was my anthem when I moved to NYC.

On the other hand, I get this guy mixed up with Steve Miller. One was a mean drunk.

Anybody?

R19 - You lose that bet. All foods I consume (regardless of consistency) are quite tasty and I go to bed when I'm tired and wake up when I'm rested. I have been blessed with good genes and I am in excellent health, have no age related chronic ailments and don't take any prescribed medications. Yes, being young/younger has it's benefits but I have acquired knowledge, wisdom and piece of mind that only comes with more years than fewer. Hopefully, if society doesn't self destruct in the coming years, you too may learn that growing older is a great adventure - if you have good health and enough money.

Cheers Hon!

This could be gone into the Wistful Songs of the 1970s thread.

It squeaked in at 1979, though I think maybe the single came out in 1980?

DLers live in the past like nobody else I've ever seen

^ Read the YouTube comments from r25.

Music can take one back to a precise moment in time like almost nothing else. It’s not just DL.

You seem upset about other people’s relationship to music, r26. Are you worried about feeling old or irrelevant yourself and fearful that memories of the more distant past will bring forth that inevitability?

r27 I'm well into my forties so I'm an eldergay myself. It's just funny to me how much navel gazing into the past is on DL. I don't see this IRL with my contemporaries or people who are older than me. We're all very much in the present, with occasional reminisces but on DL it seems that's all the elders around here do.

And to what R27 said....read the comments from the Sailing clip at my OP.

That kind of music may not be for everyone, but it means a lot to many of the people who commented there.

r29 I feel the same way about Lil Kim's "Big Momma Thang."

......

I remember seeing N Sync perform this song live at some awards show, alongside Christopher Cross.

N Sync did that ridiculous thing where they were hooked up to cables and then lifted up in the air, floating around above the audience while they sang.

Christopher, who was a huge heifer at that point, did not participate in the flying.

I recall thinking "OMG, if they try to lift that big fat tub of goo on a cable, it's gonna snap, and he's gonna fall to his death and crush a few audience members upon impact!".

It’s the nostalgia effect. The theme song, Man in Motion, and video for St. Elmo’s Fire came on YouTube the other day and I lost it. I’m not sure why it was a trigger, I wasn’t even a teenager when the film/song came out and never liked the movie that much. I’ve been going through some family stuff and reflecting on life. I guess the song unconsciously came to represent the time to me. When you’re young you have a lifetime to conquer the world and your family is your universe/security, things change through the years. Songs just take you back.

The music was so dismal then.

About 10 years ago or so I was sitting in Supercuts waiting to get my hair cut and Landslide by Fleetwood Mac came on the sound system and I started crying. It wasn't even nostalgia as I didn't grow up knowing that song but just hearing Stevie's voice and listening to the lyrics made me so sad. I know, MARY!, but it's funny how music can just hit you differently depending on the circumstance. Although I guess the only thing sadder than actually growing older is crying in a Supercuts waiting area while listening to a song about it.

[quote]He was a very talented guy but got stuck in Yacht Rock.

"Sailing" is probably the definitive Yacht Rock song.

I love Yacht Rock and I don't care who knows about it. The 60s and 70s music is the soundtrack of my life. I'm 66 (born in 1956 so you don't have to do math) with an older sibling, so I absorbed a lot of 60s music too.

[quote]I'm ashamed to admit Arthurs' Theme was my anthem when I moved to NYC.

Don't be ashamed. Arthur's Theme does the same to me and anyone who went to NYC in the 70s. I was a bridge and tunnel guy.

[quote]Music can take one back to a precise moment in time like almost nothing else. It’s not just DL.

This is so true. But I'm also a weirdo in that when I hear songs from the 40s, I feel myself thinking of how it must have felt to live during WWII. I had relatives who fought in WWII and I grew up hearing their stories and watching old movies. When I hear big band songs, I think about how it must have been for people separated by the war. Especially:

I'll Be Seeing You It's Been A Long, Long, Time Time After Time As Time Goes By (yes, I've seen Casablanca at least 40 times)And of course, The Glenn Miller Band.

Last Wednesday, the weather was terrible and work was closed. Since I was home with nothing to do, I made homemade cavatelli rigati, sauce, and meatballs. Just for fun, I told Alexa to play Frank Sinatra. I was taken back to the mid-60s having Sunday dinner at my sister's then bf house and everybody talking and yelling at the same time. Except for my sister and her husband, they're all gone now. But in my head, I enjoyed spending a little time with them again.

Music can take you back and make you cry.

r36: I want to meet you. Our tastes in music are very similar. I was born in 1960 and fell iunb love with my parents 78s of popular songs of the '40s.

Paramount Plus just did a great three part documentary on Yacht Rock. I recommend it.

These are actually the best kind of DL threads.

"Strange how potent cheap music is."

- Noel Coward

[quote] Yacht Rick fell out of favor and he was fat and ugly so he wasn't right for the MTV era. That's why his career went down the shitter.

Nowadays he could take a page from the Sam Smith playbook and market himself as a “body positive” NB. Voila, you’re a star again!

Christopher Cross made wonderful music. Sailing never fails to make me cry, too. Even the great Ride Like the Wind, which evokes images of a Wild West gunslinger fleeing from justice, makes me teary. And R33, Man in Motion makes me verklempt, too.

LOL R15.

[quote] Even the great Ride Like the Wind, which evokes images of a Wild West gunslinger fleeing from justice, makes me teary.

Not half as teary as it makes me, Sweetie.

I liked Arthur's Theme although I couldn't understand most of the lyrics.

Made the charts and was a top 10 soft rock hit. The girls loved it. Then they saw Christopher. Game over.

^ The hell you say.

Rick Astley was adorable.