My Gen X Playlist: Come Sail Away – Styx

50 Happens introduced me to the term Yacht Rock. I had no idea what she was talking about so I had to look it up.

The name “yacht rock” didn’t enter the popular imagination until decades after its heyday in the early 1980s.

Yacht rock refers to the soft rock that dominated FM radio airwaves in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Yacht rock is characterized by glossy production, breezy vocals, and bouncy rhythms—all elements thought to evoke relaxing bay cruises in Southern California, where the genre originated. 

– masterclass

I’m from Southern California and had never heard of it before. The definition above seemed a little squishy so I had to dig a little deeper. I found the three bullet points below were helpful.

Ideally, one or more of these themes will be present:

• Finding the love of your life;
• Having a memorable one-night stand; or 
• Doing something nautical.

– musicinfluence

I looked at a number of top yacht rock lists and Christopher Cross’ Sailing often made number one. I really didn’t get a feel for the genre until I reviewed this Top 20 Yacht Rock List. “Ah, I see”, said the blind man. They all have that same feel. I can definitely feel the overlap of styles. Yacht rock. I get it now.

Do I like yacht rock? To be perfectly honest, I did enjoy it back in the day. I’m not sure if I would choose to listen to many of these songs today unless I was in a certain mood. However, I can totally picture myself on a long road trip, in the middle of nowhere, scrolling the radio station in my car, finding the Climax Blues Band on the only clear FM station I can find, windows rolled down, singing at the top of my lungs. Oh, that’s if I was the only one in the car. No way if I wasn’t flying solo. Just saying.

Today’s song is going off one of the three bullet points – it’s nautical. It made one of the yacht rock lists I found. I always loved the piano in the beginning and then halfway through, the sudden uptempo left turn. Styx released Come Sail Away in 1977. Although I grew up with the Styx version, I also discovered this island version by Keal’i Reichel. It’s a different vibe, but cool as well.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

I'm sailing away, set an open course for the virgin sea
Cause I've got to be free, free to face the life that's ahead of me
On board, I'm the captain, so climb aboard
We'll search for tomorrow on every shore
And I'll try, oh Lord, I'll try to carry on

I look to the sea, reflections in the waves spark my memory
Some happy, some sad
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had
We lived happily forever, so the story goes
But somehow we missed out on that pot of gold
But we'll try best that we can to carry on

A gathering of angels appeared above my head
They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said
They said come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me now
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me

Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me now
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me

I thought that they were angels, but to my surprise
We climbed aboard their starship, we headed for the skies
Singing come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me now
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away with me

Come sail away, come sail away
Come sail away, come sail away