| "Sailing on the Seven Seas" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | ||||
| from the album Sugar Tax | ||||
| B-side | "Burning" | |||
| Released | 18 March 1991 | |||
| Genre | Synth-pop | |||
| Length | 3:45 | |||
| Label | Virgin | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Andy McCluskey, Stuart Kershaw | |||
| Producer(s) | Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark | |||
| Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| Sailing on the Seven Seas on YouTube | ||||
"Sailing on the Seven Seas" is a song by English electronic music band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released on 18 March 1991 by Virgin as the first single from their eighth studio album, Sugar Tax (1991). Along with 1981's "Souvenir", it is the band's highest-charting UK hit to date, peaking at number three on the UK Singles Chart. It also charted at number three in Austria and Sweden, number five in Ireland and number nine in Germany. The single was the first to be released by OMD without co-founder Paul Humphreys, who had left to form his own band the Listening Pool.
The song pays homage to various rock groups. The Velvet Underground song "Sister Ray" is directly referenced (OMD had previously covered "I'm Waiting for the Man" as a B-side to 1980 single "Messages"), and the line "people try to drag us down" is similar in melody and lyrical content to the opening line of the Who's "My Generation";[1] singer Andy McCluskey also noted that the track includes "Glitter Band-style" drumming.[2]
- ^ Wallace, Wyndham (October 2019). "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark: Souvenir". Classic Pop. No. 57. p. 86.
- ^ "Seven Tracks: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark". Clash. 14 October 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2019.