OW | That ‘Christopher Cross’ Album!

My blog entries, here at Progressives Chat, are usually political. But, from time to time, I will post a blog entry which is not political. (There is a quote mentioning “TSA.”) This one applies.


I was at a discussion site last month in which someone mentioned thinking about singer–songwriter Christopher Cross’s 1980 hit “Sailing.” People were waxing nostalgic over it. It is wonderful song.

(As a child of the 1970s and 1980s, I listen to a lot of music from this period. It may be that, given I am not into recent and current music, I feel most satisfied. Sure, I respect Adele and Bruno Mars; but, I don’t make a point of listening to them. I like what I grew up with.)

According to Wikipedia, “Sailing” was released 38 years ago on this date, June 15, 1980, and I associate that song with summer. [Link: Wikipedia — ‘Sailing‘ (Christopher Cross).] But, it isn’t just that song; it’s the whole album Christopher Cross. (It was a big Grammy winner—Album of the Year and both Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Sailing.” Christopher Cross was released in December 1979. Its Grammys eligibility was for the year 1980.)

A key part from “Sailing”:

All caught up in the reverie

Every word is a symphony, won’t you believe me?

Sailing, takes me away

To where I’ve always heard it

Just a dream and the wind to carry me

Soon I will be free

It is really the entire album Christopher Cross. From Stephen Thomas Erlewine’s review at AllMusic.com (Christopher Cross): “In retrospect, it might seem like the kind of success that’s disproportional to the record itself, especially to hipper-than-thou younger generations, but in truth, Christopher Cross was a hell of a record… And while the hits like the dreamy ‘Sailing’ and the surging ‘Ride Like the Wind’ deserved all the attention, they’re hardly the only highlights here…there’s not a weak moment here. In fact, soft rock albums hardly ever came better than this, and it remains one of the best mainstream albums of its time.”

On that LP, in addition to “Sailing,” were a trio which also placed on Billboard’s Pop Chart: “Say You’ll Be Mine,” “Never Be the Same,” and “Ride Like the Wind.” In fact, below are YouTube-uploaded videos of those songs (placed in their listed tracks order).

I found an interesting interview, from 2014, with Christopher Cross (born May 3, 1951 in San Antonio, Texas) here: ‘Christopher Cross sails back with a new album’. Cross, who had a big rise—including winning the 1981 Oscar for best original song for “Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do),” from Arthur—and a fall, admitted to encountering a fan who assumed he had died. “I was going through TSA—this has been a year, or maybe two years ago,”  Cross recalled. “And a woman took my boarding pass. And she said, ‘Oh, Christopher Cross, there used to be a singer named that! He passed away! But he was a great singer.’”



What albums and/or songs do you associate with the summer?

And now for this Open Weekend [OW]…