"Seemann (deine Heimat ist das Meer)" | ||||
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Single by Lolita | ||||
B-side |
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Released | February 1960 | |||
Recorded | 15 December 1959 (original version) Austrophon-Schallplatten-Studio (Konzerthaus, Vienna) | |||
Genre | Traditional pop | |||
Length | 2:48 | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Werner Scharfenberger, Fini Busch | |||
Producer(s) | Gerhard Mendelson | |||
Lolita German singles chronology | ||||
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"Sailor (Your Home is the Sea)" | ||||
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Single by Lolita | ||||
from the album Sailor, "Sailor" and Lolita's Greatest German Hits | ||||
B-side | "La Luna (Quando La Luna)" | |||
Released | August 1960 | |||
Recorded | 15 December 1959 (original version) Austrophon-Schallplatten-Studio (Konzerthaus, Vienna) • track modified 1960 Polydor 1 Studio Hamburg (Rahlstedt) | |||
Genre | Traditional pop | |||
Length | 2:48 | |||
Label | Kapp | |||
Songwriter(s) | Werner Scharfenberger, Fini Busch, Alan Holt (English spoken word section) | |||
Producer(s) | Gerhard Mendelson | |||
Lolita US singles chronology | ||||
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"Seemann (Deine Heimat ist das Meer)" (English translation "Sailor (Your Home is the Sea)") is a song originally written in German by Werner Scharfenberger (de) and lyricist Fini Busch (de). A 1959 German-language recording by Lolita became an international hit in 1960–61.
The song was covered in a number of languages, most notably by Petula Clark who had her first #1 UK hit with the English-language rendering "Sailor". Clark was also afforded international success with both "Sailor" and the French-language rendering "Marin". A rival version by Anne Shelton was a Top Ten UK hit, concluding her chart career. Other singers for whom "Sailor (Your Home is the Sea)" brought success as rendered in various languages include: Scandinavian singers Thory Bernhards and Towa Carson "Sjöman" (Swedish) and Jan Høiland "Sjömann" (Norwegian); Caterina Valente, who had a Flemish hit with "Zeeman (Je verlangen is de zee)"( Dutch;) a 1981 hit in the Netherlands for Ciska Peters (nl); and Virginia Lee (af) whose "Seeman" (Afrikaans) was a successful local cover in South Africa.
A schlager-style number, "Sailor" with its original German lyric, addresses a seafaring love object with an acceptance of his wanderlust: the English-language version inverts this sentiment turning the song into a plea for the sailor to return. The song is sometimes sung by male vocalists from the point of view of the sailor with the lyrics adjusted accordingly.