"Sailaway" is a song by the American R&B band

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

, written by

Maurice White Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter, and producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, and served as the ...

Eddie del Barrio Eduardo Gutiérrez del Barrio, known professionally as Eddie del Barrio, is an Argentinian composer, arranger, songwriter, and pianist. He is a founding member of the jazz fusion band Caldera. He has collaborated with Earth, Wind & Fire, Stan Get ...

Philip Bailey Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, Wi ...

and

Roxanne Seeman Roxanne Joy Seeman is an American songwriter and lyricist. She is best known for her songs by Billie Hughes, Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, The Sisters of Mercy, The Jacksons, Jacky Cheung, and in ...

. It was produced by White and recorded during the ''

Faces The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affe ...

'' sessions in Montserrat at George Martin's

Air Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer Sir George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded ...

and in Los Angeles at The Complex/ARC Studios 1980, engineered and mixed by

George Massenburg George Y. Massenburg (born Baltimore, Maryland c. 1947) is a Grammy award-winning recording engineer and inventor. Working principally in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Macon, Georgia, Massenburg is widely known for submitting a paper to ...

. "Sailaway" was released on a vinyl, 12', radio promo disc with four songs by ARC and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. The song was included in

compilation albums including " The Love Songs", released in 1991 in Europe, UK, Germany and Brazil and "Simply the Best", released May 15, 2000 by Columbia. In June 1999,

featured a jazz version of "Sailaway" under the title "Sail Away" on his ''

Dreams A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, alth ...

'' album.

Track listing

Production

The rhythm track for Sailaway was recorded at George Martin's Air Montserrat studios. Vocals, horns, strings and overdubs were recorded at The Complex, designed by

with custom-built equipment and board for Maurice White's ARC facility in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Horns and strings were arranged by Eric Bulling. The recording includes a trombone solo performed by

Louis Satterfield Louis Edward Satterfield (April 3, 1937 – September 27, 2004) was an American bassist and trombonist. Satterfield was a member of both The Pharaohs and the Phenix Horns. He also collaborated with prominent artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Mu ...

. The song was recorded and mixed by George Massenberg and Ken Fowler. It was mastered by Michael Reese.

Critical reception

HiFi Stereo Review's album review of Faces praised the song, writing "especially fine items among the fifteen selections on these four sides include Sailaway, a rhapsodically beautiful little tidbit".

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

described the Faces albums as being "smartly tempered by soulful breathers like...the delicate orchestral fantasy "Sailaway".

Philip Bailey solo version

Philip Bailey recorded a solo version of "Sailaway", appearing as "Sail Away", on his album

, released June 22, 1999 on Heads Up International Records. The track was produced by Erik Huber.

Composition and lyrics

This song is a

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

in ¾ time and recorded in the key of

G Major G major (or the key of G) is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative minor is E minor and its parallel minor is G minor. The G major scale is: Notable compositi ...

. For the Faces album, White and Bailey invited lyricists from outside of the band to collaborate with them "to polish our songs and take them to the next level." In the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

written by Christian John Wikane for the 2010 UK reissue of "Faces" released by Big Break Records, Wikane quoted

recounting: “Philip called me one day and said, Do you want to write a song for The Fire?...I went over to his place. They had cut a beautiful rhythm track that Maurice had written with Eddie del Barrio. Philip gave it to me. We did some of it together. I went home, did some more of it, came back, and then we did more of it together.”

References

External links

* * * * {{Earth, Wind & Fire 1980 songs Earth, Wind & Fire songs Songs written by Maurice White Songs written by Philip Bailey Songs written by Roxanne Seeman Songs written by Eddie del Barrio Song recordings produced by Maurice White Waltzes