"Saltwater" is a song by English singer-songwriter

Julian Lennon Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and he is named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian in ...

. It was written by Lennon,

Mark Spiro Mark Spiro (born March 28, 1957) is an American songwriter, record producer and recording artist. Represented on millions of records sold worldwide, Spiro has delivered songs to artists such as Julian Lennon, Cheap Trick, John Waite, Heart, Laura B ...

, and Leslie Spiro. Originally released on the album ''

Help Yourself Help is a word meaning to give aid or signal distress. Help may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Help'' (2010 film), a Bollywood horror film * ''Help'' (2021 theatrical film), a British psychological thriller film * '' ...

'', the single peaked at number six in the United Kingdom in October 1991 and topped the Australian

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

for four weeks in March 1992. "Saltwater" was the 14th-highest-selling single of 1992 in Australia, where it is certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

. In 2016, Lennon rerecorded the song as "Saltwater 25" on 14 December 2016 saying that a proportion of the proceeds would go to The White Feather Foundation.

Background

Unlike most of Lennon's previous songs, "Saltwater" combines subtle melodies with gentle vocals to bring forward the issues of environmental conservation and world poverty. The lyrics juxtapose the many marvels and feats of human civilisation with the death of the natural world, constantly emphasising the passing of time — "Time is not a friend, 'cos friends we're out of time". The recording features a lead guitar solo in the style of

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

. Lennon originally wrote a guitar solo for the song. At the suggestion of his producer Bob Ezrin, he then contacted Harrison to play the solo instead. Harrison was busy at the time consoling

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

whose son had recently died. He recorded a couple of riffs and sent them back to Lennon. Guitar player

Steve Hunter Stephen John Hunter (born June 14, 1948) is an American guitarist, primarily a session player. He has worked with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, acquiring the moniker "The Deacon". Hunter first played with Mitch Ryder's Detroit, beginning a long as ...

then played the actual solo on the song, combining elements of both Lennon's and Harrison's solos. In the liner notes for the ''Help Yourself'' album, Harrison is given special thanks.

Track listings

CD single # "Saltwater" – 3:46 # "Rebel King" – 4:30 # "Cre que voy a llorar" – 4:07 # "Mother Mary" – 4:53 12-inch single :A1. "Saltwater" – 4:07 :B1. "Rebel King" (edit) – 4:30 :B2. "Creo que voy a llorar" – 4:07 7-inch and cassette single :A. "Saltwater" – 3:46 :B. "Rebel King" (edit) – 4:30 Australian CD and cassette EP # "Saltwater" # "

Now You're in Heaven "Now You're in Heaven" is a song written by Julian Lennon and John McCurry, recorded by Lennon and released as the lead single from his third studio album, ''Mr. Jordan'' (1989), on which the song appears as the opening track. A David Bowie-inspi ...

" # "

Too Late for Goodbyes "Too Late for Goodbyes" is the first single (second in the U.S.) from Julian Lennon's 1984 album ''Valotte''. It featured the harmonica of Jean "Toots" Thielemans, and it was a top-10 hit, reaching No. 6 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1984, ...

" # "Say You're Wrong" # "Rebel King" (edit) Japanese mini-CD single # "Saltwater" # "Mother Mary"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Covers

An instrumental version of this song was recorded by

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...

and

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...

on their album ''The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World''.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad Princess Anni-Frid Synni Reuss, Countess of Plauen (born Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad on 15 November 1945), also known by her nickname "Frida", is a Norwegian-born Swedish singer, songwriter and environmentalist, who is best known as one of the foun ...

from

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

performed the song at the open-air gala concert "Artister för Miljö"Oldham, A, Calder, T & Irvin, C: "ABBA: The Name of the Game", p. 217. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1995 and included her cover as a B-side on her single "Änglamark".

References

{{Authority control 1991 singles Atlantic Records singles Environmental songs Julian Lennon songs Number-one singles in Australia Song recordings produced by Bob Ezrin Songs written by Julian Lennon Songs written by Mark Spiro Virgin Records singles