Ten Songs That Make Me Cringe: Come Sail Away (#7)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (76520)
United States
February 7, 2017 6:49pm CST
When you start picking on songs that "everybody" likes you run the risk of alienating a lot of people. Please understand I'm saying that I, personally, don't like these songs. I guarantee you that within five songs from my iPod you'd look at me and go, "Do you seriously like that????" Tastes are subjective and personal. Having said that, here's the next song that most of you will disagree with me on.
#7: Come Sail Away - Styx
And you can pretty much tack on every single Styx song to this one.
Yes, including "Lady." And "Babe." And "Mr. Roboto" (heck, even Styx fans tend to agree with that one). The only song of theirs I ever cared for, and marginally at that, was "Lorelei."
What is it about them that rubs me the wrong way? I don't know. The formulaic "FM rock friendly" sound that they repeated over and over and over? Those grating "arena rock" ahem, "harmonies"? Or the fact that this song got played to death despite being a really lame song? Yes.
They should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because they certainly had the longevity and success. It just wasn't my cup of tea.
Come Sail Away
Written by Dennis DeYoung
Recorded by Styx
From The Grand Illusion, 1977
And now, as an alternative, "Sail Away":
From the 1973 album, "Only a Fool". Etta covers Randy Newman's tour de force composition, "Sail Away" (1972).
6 people like this
7 responses
@JohnRoberts (109845)
• Los Angeles, California
8 Feb 17
There are some Styx songs I like and some I don't. This belongs to I don't.
2 people like this
@JolietJake (50190)
•
8 Feb 17
There's always this one...
From The Serpent Is Rising album, assisted by The Plexiglass Toilet Choir. This is the story I have been told about this song which came from Chuck Panozzo. ...
2 people like this
@librarygeek1980 (3137)
• United States
9 Feb 17
I can't listen to this song without thinking of the dance scene in the TV show Freaks and geeks..... lol
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (76520)
• United States
21 Feb 17
@JolietJake -- why does this remind me of a Beatles outtake? (That's a compliment, by the way.)
1 person likes this
@AliCanary (3343)
•
21 Feb 17
I like this one okay, although there are several Styx songs that I like better. I do agree that some of them were quite cheesy (I loved the Paradise Theater album, but the ridiculous "rock opera" Mr. Roboto failed miserably as a concept album). Of course it's inextricably intertwined with the South Park cartoon for me as an earworm that must be sung in its entirety to be banished! I guess it's Styx's answer to Queen's masterful "Bohemian Rhapsody".
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43418)
• Denver, Colorado
9 Feb 17
On South Park, Cartman can't hear the opening lyrics without finishing the entire song.
1 person likes this
@JolietJake (50190)
•
8 Feb 17
While I can listen to it, it's not my favorite by them...in fact I prefer The Serpent Is Rising to The Grand Illusion.
Have you heard their version of the Hallelujah Chorus?
The worst thing, for me, about 'Come Sail Away' is this horrible band did it at a show I was running sound at once...I keep hearing them now.
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group North America Hallelujah Chorus · Styx The Complete Wooden Nickel Recordings ? 1973 Wooden Nickel Records, Inc.,...
@FourWalls (76520)
• United States
21 Feb 17
@JolietJake -- I had to work up the courage. Doesn't sound like them at all. Sounds like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. What happened? 
1 person likes this
@JolietJake (50190)
•
21 Feb 17
@FourWalls They did some major changes...that first album doesn't sound like anything else they did
1 person likes this
@JolietJake (50190)
•
20 Feb 17
@FourWalls You hate Styx so much you didn't even look at my response, huh? 
1 person likes this
