Randy Newman – Sail Away

Randy Newman released this song as the title track of his 1972 release Sail Away, instantly contributing a classic to the American canon and all with a song that dealt with a little examined stain on the American Dream, black slavery. The acerbic Newman coats his bitter lyrical pill, as usual, in the sugary and sweet strings that accompany the beautifully simple piano figure at the heart of the tune. Newman taps into an evocative strain of Americana, a powerful form of music that stretched back to the work of Stephen Foster in the 19th century. The tactic lulls the listener into a deceptively receptive state as they listen to a modern approximation of an old standard like “Way down upon the Swannee River”, only to have Newman’s epic morality tale unfold.

Randy takes the position of a slaver luring a young black boy onto his ship, telling him of the freedom to be found in America when they “sail away, across the mighty ocean to the Charleston Bay”. Of course, no such freedoms will be available to the boy, as a life of hard work and misery was the reward for signing on. Some 6 million Africans were captured and taken to the Americas during the slave trade years prior to 1807, when America, which had taken approximately 10% of the trade, banned the practice of importing slaves to fall into line with international laws. Of this number some 15% did not survive the crossing……

You can read more about this song and 32 more! This is an excerpt from Michael J Roberts’ excellent eBook “33 Great Songs 33 Great Songwriters”

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