Sailing is really a liquid metaphor

When singer-songwriter Christopher Cross unveiled his self-titled debut album in 1980 and went on to win five Grammy awards in 1981. Among the award winners was the eighth track – Sailing – which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (August 30, 1980), where it stayed for one week, later earning a Grammy for Song of the Year.

Cross, when asked what’s the real meaning behind his biggest hit, he explains how sailing is really a liquid metaphor.

“Sailors like to use it as their anthem, which is fine, but my intent in the lyric ‘the canvas can do miracles’ is really about a painter’s canvas. On the surface it’s sailing in a boat, but more deeply I tried to express the transition we experience through art.

“For writers, all the songs are important, and when I wrote ‘Sailing’ I felt it was a quality song and something special. But when the record company wanted to release it as the second single, I was very opposed to it. I felt it was too introspective and too dark and wasn’t the right choice to follow ‘Ride Like The Wind’.

“Fortunately, Mo Ostin, who was chairman of Warner Brothers, made the decision to release it and he was right. It really resonated. It’s one of those songs that seems to connect with everybody.”