I don't know about 'Sailing', by 1975 Rod had already sailed away from these shores and in case anyone had any doubts, the title of the parent album 'Atlantic Crossing' made no bones about where he saw his future. I guess in fairness Stewart never denied his love for playing American R&B, and now he was famous enough to leave The Faces behind to go and play it with some genuine American R&B musicians down in Muscle Shoals. Fair enough.
Not that ''Sailing' has any pedigree in that direction mind; written by Scottish folkie Gavin Sutherland and recorded by The Sutherland Brothers in 1972, just like 'Without You' before it, 'Sailing' was not destined to be a success for its writer. But then again, seeing as the original sounds like a sea shanty played on a waterlogged Moog then maybe that's no surprise. Stewart's wisely noted and stressed its yearning quality in his interpretation and he recast it as a ballad by slowing it right down.
On a personal level, hearing 'Sailing' always invokes some strong and fond memories. It stayed at number one for four weeks, but for me in 1975 it seemed to hang around there a lot longer than that. The promo video of Rod slouching around some docks before meeting up with Britt Ekland seemed a permanent fixture on Top Of The Pops and yet the very factors that made it all seem so impossibly glamorous to me then are the very things that detract from the experience now.
Because at heart, 'Sailing' is the sound of Stewart wanting to have his cake and eat it. The cover picture of 'Atlantic Crossing' had a glammed up cartoon Rod striding into New York as a giant, pausing only to glance back and pour a few drops of ale on the Blighty he'd left behind. Yet as part of that backward glance, 'Sailing' is offered as an earthy home thought from abroad to show he was missing us already. As far as that goes the forced earnestness of his vocal ticks all the right boxes, but at heart it doesn't ring true.
To my ears, Rod's croak adopts the same pleading tone I'd use in 1975 whenever I tried to persuade my mother I was too sick to go to school when all I wanted to do was stay home and play with my trains. 'Sailing' makes all the right moves in its staircase climb from sparse opening to closing crescendo but it's a frosty affair that doesn't convince me that it's anything more than painting by numbers rather than genuine expressionism anymore than my playacting used to fool my mother. 'Sailing' is the sound of uncertainty, of Stewart trying to stay true to his roots by giving a theatrical wink to show the folks back home that he hadn't forgotten us whilst also putting down fresh ones that snaked off in the opposite direction. Rod may have crossed the Atlantic, but 'Sailing' suggests he was treading water all the way.
Not that ''Sailing' has any pedigree in that direction mind; written by Scottish folkie Gavin Sutherland and recorded by The Sutherland Brothers in 1972, just like 'Without You' before it, 'Sailing' was not destined to be a success for its writer. But then again, seeing as the original sounds like a sea shanty played on a waterlogged Moog then maybe that's no surprise. Stewart's wisely noted and stressed its yearning quality in his interpretation and he recast it as a ballad by slowing it right down.
On a personal level, hearing 'Sailing' always invokes some strong and fond memories. It stayed at number one for four weeks, but for me in 1975 it seemed to hang around there a lot longer than that. The promo video of Rod slouching around some docks before meeting up with Britt Ekland seemed a permanent fixture on Top Of The Pops and yet the very factors that made it all seem so impossibly glamorous to me then are the very things that detract from the experience now.
Because at heart, 'Sailing' is the sound of Stewart wanting to have his cake and eat it. The cover picture of 'Atlantic Crossing' had a glammed up cartoon Rod striding into New York as a giant, pausing only to glance back and pour a few drops of ale on the Blighty he'd left behind. Yet as part of that backward glance, 'Sailing' is offered as an earthy home thought from abroad to show he was missing us already. As far as that goes the forced earnestness of his vocal ticks all the right boxes, but at heart it doesn't ring true.
To my ears, Rod's croak adopts the same pleading tone I'd use in 1975 whenever I tried to persuade my mother I was too sick to go to school when all I wanted to do was stay home and play with my trains. 'Sailing' makes all the right moves in its staircase climb from sparse opening to closing crescendo but it's a frosty affair that doesn't convince me that it's anything more than painting by numbers rather than genuine expressionism anymore than my playacting used to fool my mother. 'Sailing' is the sound of uncertainty, of Stewart trying to stay true to his roots by giving a theatrical wink to show the folks back home that he hadn't forgotten us whilst also putting down fresh ones that snaked off in the opposite direction. Rod may have crossed the Atlantic, but 'Sailing' suggests he was treading water all the way.
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