"Sara" is a song recorded by the American rock band
Starship
A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems.
The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 188 ...
which reached number-one on the U.S.
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart on March 15, 1986. It was sung by
Mickey Thomas, of the newly renamed band Starship, from their first album ''
Knee Deep in the Hoopla
''Knee Deep in the Hoopla'' is the debut studio album by American AOR band Starship, the succeeding musical project to Jefferson Starship. It was released on September 10, 1985, through record label Grunt.
Four singles were released from the al ...
''; for this single,
Grace Slick
Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing; October 30, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter, artist, and painter. Slick was a key figure in San Francisco's early psychedelic music scene in the mid-1960s. With a music career spanning four decades, ...
provided the backing vocals.
The recording became one of the best-selling singles of 1986 in North America. It was the band's second number-one hit after the song "
We Built This City
"We Built This City" is a 1985 song by American rock band Starship. It was released as their debut single on their album '' Knee Deep in the Hoopla''. It was written by English musicians Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, who were both living in Lo ...
" hit the mark a few months earlier in 1985. It also became the band's first number-one song on the
adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...
chart, where it remained for three weeks. Although written by Peter and Ina Wolf, the song was named for Thomas's wife at the time, Sara (née Kendrick).
Reception
''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' called it a "melodic ballad
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
has a biting rock edge led by Mickey Thomas’ riveting vocal" and said it has "an ethereal chorus and shy guitars."
Music video
The music video for "Sara" prominently features actress
Rebecca De Mornay as the song's titular character and Thomas in a storyline about a relationship ending, on a
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) a ...
farm in the midwest, with frequent flashbacks to what is presumably Thomas's character's childhood and the
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
that wrecked his home and took the life of his beloved mother. It ends with a panoramical view of the farm, with Thomas walking down the dirt road Rebecca drove down, and another dust cloud coming in.
[''Somebody to love?: a rock-and-roll memoir'' Grace Slick. 1998.] The flashback portions of the music video were set in the 1950s and directed by Francis Delia.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
See also
*
List of ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one singles of 1986
*
List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1986 (U.S.)
Adult Contemporary (chart), Adult Contemporary is a record chart, chart published by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' ranking the top-performing songs in the United States in the adult contemporary music (AC) market. In 1986, 25 songs topped ...
References
{{Authority control
1980s ballads
1985 songs
1985 singles
1986 singles
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Pop ballads
RCA Records singles
Rock ballads
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Songs written by Peter Wolf (producer)
Starship (band) songs