THESE ARE THE SONGS OF MY LIFE!

No. 2 - SAILING by Rod Stewart

Unless you have lived in the UK for long periods of time, you will never fully understand how much this song means to so many people. What began life as a gentle UK Number One in 1975, has in recent years morphed into a classic football-stadium-filling anthem of patriotism and separation from the homeland. "Sailing" is now a rock classic, and part of the fabric of British lives, and this is no exaggeration. Anyone who saw the recent Concert for Diana at Wembley would have witnessed the hold this song has over most Brits. Billy Connolly once remarked that the Scots are "the only race of people who sing about being far away from home...when they're still there." This song delineates that statement definitively. "Sailing" is Rod's closing number at every British concert; it's so embedded in the culture that he simply has to sing it. Whether it be Glasgow, Liverpool or Torquay, it's his signature piece, the biggest song of his career, at least where British audiences are concerned. I guess he figures that North American audiences won't sing along like "fitba' hooligans" the way the punters enthusiastically do back home. As for me, I only got to see him sing it live once, miraculously, in Vancouver in 1994. I couldn't believe it. The song that had single-handedly kept me alive during all the angst of being far away from Glasgow, and the family and friends I ached for, was being played live right in front of me. I was a mess emotionally, but simultaneously rapturous; to see the enormous St. Andrews flag waving majestically in the upper echelons of BC Place Stadium where other exiled Scots had come to see Rod sing his heart out only amplified the feeling, lifting this boy's heart and carrying him back to where he truly wanted to be. It was an electric experience, I don't mind telling you. "Sailing," particularly the 1982 live version from the Absolutely Live album, has gotten me through every kind of hell imaginable. The world keeps turning, I get older, I live here now, but as long as I hear this song, Glasgow will always be in my heart.

I am sailing, I am sailing,
Home again across the sea
I am sailing stormy waters
To be near you, to be free.
I am flying, I am flying,
Like a bird across the sky
I am flying, passing high clouds,
To be with you, to be free
Can you hear me, can you hear me
Through the dark night far away,
I am dying, forever crying,
To be with you, who can say...

I dedicate "Sailing" to my mum and dad, who had the courage to bring us all to the new land in the first place. It took me a long long time to realise they'd done the right thing and I'm grateful for all that they went through to make our lives better. Here is an atmospheric live version of Rod's anthem as performed at Glastonbury in 2002. Note the Scottish and English flags (to say nothing of the resplendent Glasgow Celtic and Swedish flags) all waving in harmony for once:

And finally, the glorious moment from the Diana concert, July 1, 2007: