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Length: 4:22
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let the orinoco flow,
Let me reach, let me beach
On the shores of Tripoli.
Let me sail, let me sail,
Let me crash upon your shore,
Let me reach, let me beach
Far beyond the Yellow Sea.
From Bissau to Palau - in the shade of Avalon,
From Fiji to Tiree and the Isles of Ebony,
From Peru to Cebu hear the power of Babylon,
From Bali to Cali - far beneath the Coral Sea.
From the North to the South,
Ebudc into Khartoum,
From the deep sea of Clouds
To the island of the moon,
Carry me on the waves
To the lands I've never been,
Carry me on the waves
To the lands I've never seen.
We can sail, we can sail...
We can steer, we can near
With Rob Dickins at the wheel,
We can sigh, say goodbye
Ross and his dependencies
We can sail, we can sail...
I bet there are a thousand people just here on Radio Paradise who could say "I remember the first time I heard this."
My wife and I heard this playing in a coffee shop and bought it for a friend's birthday. She couldn't stop playing it. As we were leaving I I remember her leaning out her bedroom window yelling "I love my birthday present!" Like we couldn't tell.
Is it cheesy? Maybe. But I think anybody who was at least open to music that they didn't always listen to would be captivated on hearing this for the first time. I think that's why so many of us can still say "I remember the first time I heard this."
And what more do you really want from a musician?
The first time I heard this, I was spending a weekend with a friend in the Finger Lakes region of New York circa 1989. It was a crisp, sunny, fall morning, and over coffee and breakfast, this song started playing. I was absolutely mesmerized and enchanted. Hearing it now instantly transports me to a place of tranquility and relaxation, and to this day, I have a playlist entitled "Sunday mornings" that starts off with this song.
Sorry folks, Eclecto-pop is not for everyone...
Reminds me a lot of Abba, and that should be enough to pan this song, BUT, like millions around the world, I actually liked Abba (although I would never have admitted it to my friends). What I love about RP is that even pop songs get played in the mix - and you have to admit, even if you don't like the arrangement, the lady has a dynamite voice!
Although this song sold millions of records it is in no way a "pop song."
Great story.
Most French people don't understand lyrics, and sing: "C'est Noël, c'est Noël, c'est Noël"...
Makes me smile every time... 😉
The Korg Wavestation was a biggie back this came out. :-)
I bet there are a thousand people just here on Radio Paradise who could say "I remember the first time I heard this."
My wife and I heard this playing in a coffee shop and bought it for a friend's birthday. She couldn't stop playing it. As we were leaving I I remember her leaning out her bedroom window yelling "I love my birthday present!" Like we couldn't tell.
Is it cheesy? Maybe. But I think anybody who was at least open to music that they didn't always listen to would be captivated on hearing this for the first time. I think that's why so many of us can still say "I remember the first time I heard this."
And what more do you really want from a musician?
Similar comments about first hearing an Enya song, in my case played in one of the episodes of the U.S. TV show "Northern Exposure." The song was "Caribbean Blue." This must have been around ~mid-1992.
The next day, I bought the CD with this song, "Shepherd Moons." Still one of my favorite Enya albums. Turns out this album was very soothing music to play when my wife or I would put our first son to bed, when he was an infant/toddler. Back then, I bet I played songs on that CD hundreds of times, rocking my first son to sleep in my arms.
Good memories! Thanks, Enya!
The bridge concludes with a low B note which clocks in somewhere around 25Hz—not the lowest note in the universe, but pretty durn close. I've long used it as one of my tests for LF accuracy, especially in subwoofers. A good subwoofer will resolve the note, give it dimension, maybe even rumble your room.
In my younger days I worked at a high end stereo store for a while -- the kind of place where you could drop $20k on a sound system (those were 1990s dollars). This was the song they pulled out for the non-classical customers.
I got pretty tired of it.
My wife and I heard this playing in a coffee shop and bought it for a friend's birthday. She couldn't stop playing it. As we were leaving I I remember her leaning out her bedroom window yelling "I love my birthday present!" Like we couldn't tell.
Is it cheesy? Maybe. But I think anybody who was at least open to music that they didn't always listen to would be captivated on hearing this for the first time. I think that's why so many of us can still say "I remember the first time I heard this."
And what more do you really want from a musician?
The bridge concludes with a low B note which clocks in somewhere around 25Hz—not the lowest note in the universe, but pretty durn close. I've long used it as one of my tests for LF accuracy, especially in subwoofers. A good subwoofer will resolve the note, give it dimension, maybe even rumble your room.
I like that you think about this. My dog has a low bark sound. He's my favorite subwoofer.
I've always loved Enya's work, and this is one of her best songs.
But for French-speaking listeners, it contains a number of pretty funny Mondegreens
The most famous is the way she says "Sail away". For untrained ears, it really sounds like she's saying "It's Christmas!" in French. And there is a PG13 one that I won't write here
I always wonder if Orinoco Flo is a sister of Eskimo Nell...
This song came on as I walked around the store and I went to the desk and asked "what the hell is that, its awesome" he popped out a disk from a computer "gasp!" and showed it to me. I walked out without the upgrade modem, but with a CD-ROM drive and went directly to Licorice Pizza in the same mall and bought the CD.
Damn you.
jukes1 wrote:
Ross Cullum was listed as the album's engineer, and also its co-producer with Nicky Ryan and Enya. (A reader has noted that Mr. Cullum was actually out sick the day of the recording.)
"The Ross Dependencies" is a geographic reference, only one of many in the song. It seems likely that Roma simply couldn't resist making a little joke based on Ross's name.
Sale (a)
Sale (a)
Sale (a)
... I'll get my coat!
Yawn
Love your wife or Enya?
And He said...."Yes".
Nope! Here's the story.
The words "We can steer, we can near, with Rob Dickens at the wheel" refer to Rob Dickins, the head of her record label WEA. Dickins is listed as a producer on the album. In an article published December 13, 2008, Dickins said: "When I signed Enya, her manager/producer Nicky Ryan said, 'You're not going to push us for singles, are you?' It wasn't that kind of music. After we'd made the Watermark album, I said as a joke, 'Nicky, where's the single?' A week later Nicky rang up and said, 'We've got it!' Got what? 'We've got the single!'
He sent over what became 'Orinoco Flow.' There was no middle eight, and 'Sail away' was after every line - it drove me crazy, but there was something there that could be worked on. Orinoco was the name of the studio and I think they saw me as the captain of the ship. The whole thing was a metaphor for a journey for all of us.
I was in charge of the record company for the UK and Ireland, but we never had any Irish music. Someone said, 'You like Clannad, you'd like this soundtrack album this ex-Clannad member has done.' She'd done the music for the BBC series The Celts. I loved it and played it every night. We met at an Irish awards ceremony and I said, 'You must do a vocal record.' The record company thought I was mad, but I said what became a famous quote - 'Sometimes you sign acts to make money and sometimes you sign acts to make music.' In the week of release, Tower Records phoned up to say that when they played the album in the shop they sold 45 copies - almost everyone in the shop had bought the record. It was unheard of. It went from 29 to five, then to #1 and we sold bucketloads of albums. It was totally rags to riches.
It's one of the things I'm most proud of. Funnily enough, I hadn't even noticed the lyric until they printed the album. It was embarrassing. But when it went to #1 I thought, 'I'm in the lyric of a number one song, how fabulous.' All these years later, if I hear that line 'Rob Dickins at the wheel' I can't help smiling."
Interesting! Who is "Ross" then?
It sounds like there's at least one minor chord in each of the bridges, but neither minor nor seventh chords are automatically expressions of angst. Anyhow, it is an enjoyable song.
Love your wife or Enya?
I'm trying to figure out the cause/consequence here
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
Nope! Here's the story.
Due respect, Enya thrust Celtic and Gaelic music into main stream, but since, there have been so many better songs and musical talent of the genre. Lower rotation and hopefully more diverse recordings than just "Sail away" would help not lower the ratings ..
Love your wife or Enya?
-BRING BACK THE RADIO PARADISE ROCK STATION!
Funny story. Thanks for sharing.
Never would have checked the lyrics if it hadn't been for SFW's post. Who the heck is "Ross and his dependencies", though?
Of course you haven't, but you might actually like it!
...your constant negativity?
Of all the spectacular and eclectic music that is played here...you choose THIS to motivate your support.... huh....
While it may not have my reason to become a regular supporter, even though I go long periods of time without listening, you're right on target for me. It's the eclectic music that keeps me coming back when I get tired of my Pandora playlists.
Oh, and I just bumped it to a 10!!!
Of all the spectacular and eclectic music that is played here...you choose THIS to motivate your support.... huh....
Nope! Here's the story.
The words "We can steer, we can near, with Rob Dickens at the wheel" refer to Rob Dickins, the head of her record label WEA. Dickins is listed as a producer on the album. In an article published December 13, 2008, Dickins said: "When I signed Enya, her manager/producer Nicky Ryan said, 'You're not going to push us for singles, are you?' It wasn't that kind of music. After we'd made the Watermark album, I said as a joke, 'Nicky, where's the single?' A week later Nicky rang up and said, 'We've got it!' Got what? 'We've got the single!'
He sent over what became 'Orinoco Flow.' There was no middle eight, and 'Sail away' was after every line - it drove me crazy, but there was something there that could be worked on. Orinoco was the name of the studio and I think they saw me as the captain of the ship. The whole thing was a metaphor for a journey for all of us.
I was in charge of the record company for the UK and Ireland, but we never had any Irish music. Someone said, 'You like Clannad, you'd like this soundtrack album this ex-Clannad member has done.' She'd done the music for the BBC series The Celts. I loved it and played it every night. We met at an Irish awards ceremony and I said, 'You must do a vocal record.' The record company thought I was mad, but I said what became a famous quote - 'Sometimes you sign acts to make money and sometimes you sign acts to make music.' In the week of release, Tower Records phoned up to say that when they played the album in the shop they sold 45 copies - almost everyone in the shop had bought the record. It was unheard of. It went from 29 to five, then to #1 and we sold bucketloads of albums. It was totally rags to riches.
It's one of the things I'm most proud of. Funnily enough, I hadn't even noticed the lyric until they printed the album. It was embarrassing. But when it went to #1 I thought, 'I'm in the lyric of a number one song, how fabulous.' All these years later, if I hear that line 'Rob Dickins at the wheel' I can't help smiling."
Funny story. Thanks for sharing.
Excellent back story. Thanks for sharing. Tower Records... yonder be memories.
I was living in Long Beach when this track hit the airwaves. It was clear that commercial music broadcasters didn't quite know what to do with it, i.e. what kind of music was it "supposed" to be? It fit no mold. They were playing it on the short-lived New Age station (KTWV, The Wave), which maybe made the most sense, but for a while you could also hear it on rock stations, pop stations, and alt-whatever others.
Nope! Here's the story.
The words "We can steer, we can near, with Rob Dickens at the wheel" refer to Rob Dickins, the head of her record label WEA. Dickins is listed as a producer on the album. In an article published December 13, 2008, Dickins said: "When I signed Enya, her manager/producer Nicky Ryan said, 'You're not going to push us for singles, are you?' It wasn't that kind of music. After we'd made the Watermark album, I said as a joke, 'Nicky, where's the single?' A week later Nicky rang up and said, 'We've got it!' Got what? 'We've got the single!'
He sent over what became 'Orinoco Flow.' There was no middle eight, and 'Sail away' was after every line - it drove me crazy, but there was something there that could be worked on. Orinoco was the name of the studio and I think they saw me as the captain of the ship. The whole thing was a metaphor for a journey for all of us.
I was in charge of the record company for the UK and Ireland, but we never had any Irish music. Someone said, 'You like Clannad, you'd like this soundtrack album this ex-Clannad member has done.' She'd done the music for the BBC series The Celts. I loved it and played it every night. We met at an Irish awards ceremony and I said, 'You must do a vocal record.' The record company thought I was mad, but I said what became a famous quote - 'Sometimes you sign acts to make money and sometimes you sign acts to make music.' In the week of release, Tower Records phoned up to say that when they played the album in the shop they sold 45 copies - almost everyone in the shop had bought the record. It was unheard of. It went from 29 to five, then to #1 and we sold bucketloads of albums. It was totally rags to riches.
It's one of the things I'm most proud of. Funnily enough, I hadn't even noticed the lyric until they printed the album. It was embarrassing. But when it went to #1 I thought, 'I'm in the lyric of a number one song, how fabulous.' All these years later, if I hear that line 'Rob Dickins at the wheel' I can't help smiling."
Kudos to the Sunday morning aural cleanse/refresh!
I respect that to the fullest sir.
Plus, listening objectively, it's a really bad song.
...
If you were listening objectively, you wouldn't have an opinion as to whether the song was good or bad.
8
seeing your upper notes - you are not!
Enya was like mum-friendly 'new age' music. Just on the right side of muzak to be radio friendly yet claimable by those wanting to declare it as NA.
I feel Enigma's more truthful take on new age definitely gives you more pause for thought, and I think their music's fared better since first airing. Google thinks it's also Worldbeat, which amuses me somewhat, because I think of ACSS as Worldbeat. I suppose Return to Innocence is the one everyone remembers...
The stuff Enya did when she was part of Clannad was (comparatively) more palatable, though I can't claim to own any of their CDs. My parents did though!
(snobby sidenote: I'm a big fan of genuine ambient, experimental, drone, new age, 0bpm, etc)
And fortunately, aside from a "Pure Moods" compilations, nothing else again ;-)
Plus, listening objectively, it's a really bad song.
This must be Bill's toilet break selection...
OK so this is one of those songs that's always playing on the radio or at someone's house or in a store or elevator or in a commercial or something, and I've never been impressed enough to check it out and now that I know what it is and who composed it I'm none the better for it. But my congrats to those of you who like it and I guess I'll listen to it when it shows up again in the rotation. Happy Thanksgiving to all.