Sailing Away (All of Us song)
1986 single by All Of Us
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"Sailing Away" is a 1986 single by a supergroup of New Zealand singers and personalities, to promote New Zealand yacht KZ 7 in the 1987 America's Cup. It spent nine weeks at #1 in the single chart, the longest run of a New Zealand single until 2009. While the song is conceptually similar to the many charity supergroup singles released in the mid 1980s, "Sailing Away" has its origins as a television advertisement and was not a charity record.[1]
| "Sailing Away" | |
|---|---|
| |
| Single by All Of Us | |
| B-side | "Pick It Up" |
| Released | 1986 |
| Recorded | Auckland, 1986 |
| Genre | Pop |
| Length | 3:59 |
| Label | CBS |
| Songwriters |
|
| Producer | Murray Grindlay |
The song uses the melody of the Māori folk song "Pokarekare Ana", and is bookended with a verse of the original song sung by Michelle Sadgrove.[2]
All Of Us (in singing order)
- Dave Dobbyn (singer)
- Billy T. James (entertainer and comedian)
- Tim Finn (singer)
- Bunny Walters (singer)
- Barry Crump (author and personality)
- Annie Crummer (singer)
- Hammond Gamble (blues singer) and Beaver (jazz singer)
- John Hore Grenell and Suzanne Prentice (country singers)
- Satellite Spies (pop group)
- Mark Loveys
- Gordon Joll
- David Curtis
- Eddie Pausma
- Sonny Day (blues musician) and Jacqui Fitzgerald (jazz singer)
- Ray Woolf (entertainer) and Suzanne Lynch (singer)
Choir included:
- Dougal Stevenson (newsreader)
- Precious McKenzie (Commonwealth Games weightlifter)
- Peter Williams (newsreader)
- Peter Sinclair (entertainer)
- Graham Lowe (rugby league coach)
- Gray Bartlett (country singer)
- Roger Gascoigne (broadcaster)
- Ian Ferguson (Olympic canoeist)
- Paul MacDonald (Olympic canoeist)
- Chris Lewis (Wimbledon finalist)
- Glenn Turner (cricketer)
- Keith Quinn (sports broadcaster)
- Jeremy Coney (cricketer)
- Alex "Grizz" Wyllie (All Black coach)
- Marshall Seifert (art gallery owner)
- Members of the New Zealand Maori Chorale (in the back two rows).
- Parnell Primary School (Auckland)
Charts
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[3] | 1 |
The single spent nine weeks at #1 in the New Zealand chart in 1986, the longest run for any single by a New Zealand artist until "Brother" by Smashproof and Gin Wigmore in 2009.[4]
Reception
New Zealand Herald entertainment critic Paul Casserly notes that the song reflects a different New Zealand: "We are no longer 'One nation on the water'. The chances of us all getting behind a yachting event to this extent again seem unlikely, absurd even."[5] However, the song "Loyal" by Dave Dobbyn (who featured in "Sailing Away") would later be adopted by Team New Zealand for the 2003 America's Cup defence.