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MOTL

Sailing Away



Waiting at the water's edge,
Watching all the ships as they are heading for the harbour wall,
I was just a boy, I was just a boy,
Dreaming of the wide world, dreaming of the wide world;

Watching as they disappear,
Reading out the names of all the places I have never been,
Looking out to sea, staring out to sea,
Dreaming of a wide world, dreaming of the wide world;

I wish I was sailing away, sailing away,
Sailing away, with you tonight, with you tonight;

Walking down another street,
Underneath the red lights, I am watching where the shadows fall,
Looking at the girls, listening to the girls,
Dreaming of a new world, dreaming of that new world;

I wish I was sailing away, sailing away,
Sailing away, in your arms tonight,
In your arms tonight;

I wish I was sailing away, sailing away,
Sailing away, with you now, with you now...
"Vaguely, what this is about is a youngish boy - me - wandering around the docklands of Dublin, looking at the boats and watching them disappear into the distance. They've got exotic names likes 'Hamburg', 'Copenhagen' and 'Calcutta' written on their sterns... this didn't happen, I'm just imagining it happening. So, this guy kind of wishes he was drifting off with the boats, too; learning a bit about the world. It's a very dreamy groove track, and it works lovely. The second part of the song has the boy wandering off down forbidden back streets - he wanders into the Red Light district of the town. He's just a young teenager and he sees the girls and he knows that waiting for love and learning about love is another dream. He looks at the girls and he wishes he was sailing away in their arms as well - learning about that other world. It's a very good starter for the album [Flying Colours], and the saxophone player featured on it - he's Chris White, who recently played with Dire Straits - has got a lovely feel."
The Getaway Gazette, September 1988

Albums

"Sailing Away" appears on the following albums:

Flying ColoursSpark To A FlameHigh On Emotion Live From DublinThe Lady In Red (The Very Best Of Chris De Burgh)The Ultimate CollectionNotes From Planet EarthLive In DortmundGoldNow And ThenEssential

Videos