# Favorite Cruising Music?



## veprjack (Jun 10, 2011)

OK - CSN&Y's "Southern Cross" is pretty good and Chris Cross' "Sailing" is a no-brainer (if you like him). And then there's Bob Marley in general and while cruising the islands it's a "must". I like everthing from Heavy Metal (though probably not while cruising) to Mozart, so I'm probably weird.

What music do you all like to listen to when cruising? Yeah, I know that on a watch you a) don't want to interfere with people's sleep and b) don't want to block out important sounds that warrant your attention, but on a nice day with good visibility, what "does it" for you?


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## Pamlicotraveler (Aug 13, 2006)

I love music, but when I am sailing I like to hear the water and wind. 

I have friends that bring big boom boxes on and want to play underway, but for some reason that doesn't work for me. At anchor or the dock that's fine, but wind and water flow is the best music there is to me.


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## sailhog (Dec 11, 2006)

Anything with a nice, sweet, soft, melodious, effervescent yet delicate fart sound to it.


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## Donna_F (Nov 7, 2005)

I have iPod playlists for various stages (and moods) of a trip:

*Waking Up* Easing into the day with a cup of tea/coffee in the cockpit. Classical and instrumental music

*Underway* Upbeat, excited that the motor is off. Reggae (there's more out there than just Marley, good as he is  ), some classical, classic rock, sea shanties, trop rock, etc.

*At Anchor* Relaxing with beer/wine and good food. Blues, traditional jazz (none of that so-called "smooth" jazz nonsense), standards, acoustic singer-songwriter tunes

However, we have yet to listen to any of the music that I spend time collecting actually on the boat. We like to hear the burble underway, or the near-silence at anchor. We turned on the radio only once at anchor and that was to listen to a Phillies game.

Mostly I play my playlists while puttering around the house.

Maybe I should change the playlist titles to:

Cleaning (or Moving Stuff Around) the Garage
Cleaning (or Moving Stuff Around) the House
Gardening


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## CalypsoP35 (Jul 24, 2006)

Someone posted on a similar thread Kenny Chesney's album Be As You Are. I downloaded and it has become my favorite sailing album. A number of the songs have sailing references and many of the songs have refereneces to the Virgin Islands. My favorite lyric from one of the songs:

French kissing life square in the mouth sailing out on the sea.


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## welshwind (Feb 27, 2005)

When winds are big and the boat is really moving along, my kids love to put on the theme song from Pirates of the Caribbean.


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## LandLocked66c (Dec 5, 2009)

Beach Boys - Sloop Jon B!

Some Buffet of course, and throw in some TOTO - Africa... To name a few.


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## Ninefingers (Oct 15, 2009)

If hear Chris Cross "Sailing" near my boat, I will unload a full battery of flares in your direction. I will save one shot in case your boat does not go up in flames. That one I will use on myself.

Jazz is good. Latin works.


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## veprjack (Jun 10, 2011)

Great and HILARIOUS responses. I agree - and especially since I'm a newbie - I may never get used to the beautiful sounds created by the boat and/or nature. When I see people walking along the beach wearing headphones with roaring waves in the background, I want to ask them if they are listening to the sounds of traffic or airport noise! Still, the first time I THINK I have the sails trimmed just right in a 15 knot wind, I WILL be tempted to play something.

Oh, and agreed about Chris Cross' "Sailing". Didn't the Geneva Convention ban that song from being played to torture prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison and elsewhere?


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## MacGyverRI (Nov 14, 2007)

Deep Purple - Highway Star
Al Stewart - Life In Dark Water
Al Stewart - Time Passages
Enya, (anything)
Chicago - Wishing You Were Here
Hoku - Perfect Day (Legally Blond theme)
Jimmy Buffet (anything)
Kenny G 
Van Morrison
Bachata style Latin music
and a crap load more


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## JRA1968 (Apr 10, 2011)

*sailing tunes*

CSN,Greatful Dead,Buffet,The Left Banke,Rod Stewart,CC,Rush,The Byrds,DuranDuran,Beatles,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,OMG way too much great music in this world sorry all cant list em all ill wear my keyboard out.LMAO its all good folks,least we forget also how sweet mother natures sounds are. cheers from a rat looking for the right wharf


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## VallelyJ (Nov 21, 2008)

Sibelius--Karelia Suite, Intermezzo. He must have been on a sailboat with a grin on his face when he composed it.
Mendelsohn's Hebrides Overture is nice, too, but more for overcast days and big swells.
Whatever you play, just keep it on your own boat. I'm with Ninefingers--I'll lob flares if I have to listen to some bozo's radio blasting anything--even the above. Not that I'm unfriendly or anything...
JV


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## cranki (Jun 11, 2006)

I'm with pamlicotravellor on this one. I will not play music while sailing...I want to hear what's going on in, on and around the boat. At anchor it depends on my mood and who I am with. Anything from Marley to Dead to STP or RHCP or Cracker or Sublime or Willie Nelson, Allison Krauss, Wilco, Dwight Yoakam... just no Jimmy Buffet on my boat please.


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## Buddycleatus (Jul 6, 2011)

john butler trio, marley, sublime, zac brown, xavier rudd, jj gray and the mofro


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## St Anna (Mar 15, 2003)

Well we have enough ipod music to last almost a year if run 24/7. So usually I put it on shuffle and turn it off when I am sick of it.

However, at times I need ceredwen type stuff - classical - Pink Floyd - new stuff. All depends on the mood I am in. Sometimes it has to be loud until the water about the boat vibrate! Sometimes it has to be mellow.


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## BostonSailor (Sep 14, 2010)

Nothing for me underway, but on the hook it's hard to beat good island music. For something a little different check out this Thai reggae band named "Job2Do".


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## 3Kioni (Dec 5, 2008)

Christopher Boscole


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## 3Kioni (Dec 5, 2008)

Agree with VallelyJ -Whatever you play, just keep it on your own boat.


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## night0wl (Mar 20, 2006)

My latest addition...(not really the best nautical song):

Guster - On the Ocean


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## MarkCK (Jan 4, 2009)

My favorite sailing music is Def Lepard's Hysteria album. I know it's an odd choice, but the best day I have ever had sailing that happened to be the CD I was listening to. It was one of those day's where the weather was perfect, the wind speed/direction, temperature, everything. It was even a day at the beginning of the season where just being out there where just getting to be out there was exciting I chose that album randomly when I put it in, but now every time I listen to it I think of that day.


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## CorvetteGuy (Jun 4, 2011)

Jazz on the first lag, (nice and quiet so you can hear the horns and focus on sails), Something clasic rock on the second lag to get the boat goin',,then tropical Bob Marley on the rest of the voyage(race), followed by silence for an hour or so to settle the boat down a bit,,,,,yaaaaa sailin!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Capt Len (Oct 9, 2011)

When sailing in the fog I sometimes play an Enya tape It somehow lends a mystical to the mist.Besides it probably isn't bothering other boaters.


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## 3Kioni (Dec 5, 2008)

WasserMusik???


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## 3Kioni (Dec 5, 2008)

And for my 10th post, "What a Beautiful World".


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## CarbonSink62 (Sep 29, 2011)

World Party - Ship of Fools :laugher

Catchy tune

and appropriate.


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## smallboatlover (May 11, 2011)

i need music when i'm sailing it keeps me focused if not my mind wonders and i stop paying attention to what i'm doing. cruising i try to keep it rock, hip hop, stuff like that but only clam music. when i want to go faster i get turn the heavier music then start hiking.


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## PBzeer (Nov 11, 2002)

Mood and situation determine whether I play music, and if I do, what kind. Sometimes it can be a distraction, sometimes a complement. The only "rule" I have about it is whether it makes my day more enjoyable. And, there is no Buffett on my boat, not by design, just worked out that way.

I got the name for my boat from a song:


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## MikeOReilly (Apr 12, 2010)

*Eileen Quinn*

Anything by Eileen Quinn. She is the true cruisers' poet. Who else could write songs about "the anchoring dance," SSB addiction, and "the 45 knot wind blues". www.eileenquinn.com. And no, not connected, just a fan


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## Leocat66 (Dec 11, 2010)

night0wl said:


> My latest addition...(not really the best nautical song):
> 
> Guster - On the Ocean


Thanks NightOwl. It is now on the IPOD.


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## Leocat66 (Dec 11, 2010)

Some of these are hard to come by from traditional sources. We have about 180 that we call sailing type songs, sea songs and island songs. Many others are from Eileen Quinn, Buffett, and Eric Stone.

Just for fun we also have the theme from GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. 

Outward Bound - Tom Paxton
Peace and Quiet - Michael McCloud
Back To The Island - Michael McCloud
Costa Rica Calling - Carl Peachy
Adventures In Paradise - Arthur Lyman
American Dream - Michael McCloud
Be - Neil Diamond
Beach In A Bottle - Joe Bennett
Beyond The Horizon - Bob Dylan
Blue Boat Home - Peter Mayer
Blue Sunset - Jimmy Louis
Chasin The Wind - Michael McCloud
The Conch Republic Song - Michael McCloud
Crossing The Bar - Salamander Crossing
Hooked On The Easy Life - Terry Cassidy
Marathon BY Midnight - Carl Peachy
My Corona - Gene Mitchell
The Water Is Wide - Pete Seeger
We All Are Sailors - Joe Bennett
No More - Gene Mitchell


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## cupper3 (Jun 30, 2010)

The Outlaws - Green grass and High Tides


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## irishbasket (Nov 28, 2010)

We love Abba - all of their albums...very uplifting and great for sailing. We purchased a 35P and was lucky to have lots of classical music left aboard. What a pleasant way to play cards, dominoes (mexican train) or dine w/this on.


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## Rickem (Nov 16, 2011)

3Kioni said:


> And for my 10th post, "What a Beautiful World".


By Louis Armstrong or by IZ. The one by IZ was redone by an east coaster up here at a young age, she does it beautifully.

Aselin Debison'version
Aselin Debison - Somewhere over the rainbow / What a wonderful world - YouTube

IZ's
OFFICIAL Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo


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## kwaltersmi (Aug 14, 2006)

I just blogged about some of my favorite obscure sailing songs here: Sail Far Live Free: The Best Sailing Songs You've Never Heard


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## larrybme (Nov 2, 2011)

Thanks for taking the time for that list leocat66. I will check out each one of them. You too MikeOReilly.
No body mentioned Cool Change by LRB. I listen to that one at least once a week if not more often, reminds me of why I am eating at home all the time and saving as much of my meager wages as possible. Or does that one fall into the same catagory as Jimmy Buffett? Whom I have most all of his songs and they still bring a smile when I hear them yet again and play them often just to get into a light hearted mood. I freely admit to being a parrot head. Christopher Cross, well I listen to 'Sailing' when it comes up on the ipod in shuffle mode, but how about his 'Ride Like the Wind', it's not a far stretch to adapt parts if not mostly to sailing. Most anything Santana, check out 'Shape Shifter', and of course 'Europa' and 'Samba Pi Ti', oh and 'Singing Winds and Crying Beasts', 'Vera Cruz'. Even Madonna's 'Isla Bonita'. For the jazz lovers check out Gato Barberi and Two Cellos. Erikah Badu is very nice for romantic evenings with a special mate, add red wine. I am gravitating towards clasical more and more, there is such a wide range of classical music to fit all moods and goes very nicely as background music to the wind in the sails and waves past the hull. 
Thanks again all, as you can tell, I can use and appreciate new music to explore. So glad I perused this thread, and will continue doing so.
Larry


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## gus_452000 (Mar 11, 2012)

Bon Jovi...... Good and loud when we have plenty of wind and the world is good


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## zeehag (Nov 16, 2008)

i dont like music while i sail--i prefer to listen to the natural music of the ocean and winds. when i do listen to music , i listen to blues and swing and zydeco and gooood boogie an boogie woogie.


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## MedSailor (Mar 30, 2008)

For me, it's definitively music-free when sailing. My favorite moment when sailing is actually a sound as well: It's that moment after you've set your sails, when you turn off the motor and yet somehow, magically, the boat is still moving forward. It's that moment when I realize that this forward motion isn't burning a limited tank of gas, and yes, I really could go anywhere I wanted.

For rainy, cold winter days, when sailnet and a bookshelf of nautical books are the only things keeping me sane I like Awolnation's _Sail_ to get the sailing/racing blood pumping.







I also STRONGLY agree that at anchor, especially during that magic sunset time, music should not be heard beyond your own boat. Unfortunately this also seems to be the time that everybody wants to run a genset.

MedSailor


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## apaulo blank (Jul 21, 2011)

I really like Tommy Guerrero when not on the move...


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## daydream sailor (Mar 12, 2012)

Cat Stevens morning has broken


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## heelangle (Dec 30, 2009)

Loggins and Messina "Full Sail" LP. First heard it sailing around Hawaii. Can't seem to get it out of my mind. Of course, no music is fine.


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## JKCatalina310 (Nov 18, 2010)

Our boats theme song is "Where the boat leaves from" by the Zac Brown Band. We listen to a lot of him, Buffet, Sublime, Long Beach Dub Allstars, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Bostones, Marley, John Browns Body, and some other mixed country and reggae. 

We have an iPod for the boat that has several playlists. We will also hook up the iPhone and put on Pandora if close to shore.


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## Ferretchaser (Jan 14, 2011)

Anything from the Dubliners will do me just fine


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

It's interesting to discover what albums/playlists/mixes end up becoming favourites- Tunes that raely get played in the dirt home become boat favourites. Last season Sting's "Symphonicity" was in heavy rotation and this tune...





led to the purchase of the "Cold Mountain" sountrack, which became the go-to album for winds from 10-15 knots.
Over 15 knots the Big Fun mix comes out- Radar love, a crapload of AC/DC, Dropkick Murphys and of course the ultimate fun wind song, ZZTop's "La Grange."

Speaking of soundtracks, "50 First Dates" is a Saturday afternoon light wind, bob n bake, sailing with guests favourite.

Light wind night sailing- jan hammer's miami vice tracks ( "Evan", "Crockett's theme" etc.,)and early 80s pat metheny and just for fun, Felix Da Housecat's remix of Nina Simone's "Sinnerman"


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## bobnpaula (Nov 17, 2008)

I love all kinds of music too, from classical to blues to country, but don't listen to music while underway, for the reasons everyone else gave... but, sitting at anchor with a glass of wine, anything by Van Morrison does it... "Into the Mystic"... there are many references to sailing and the sea in his music. Poetry.


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## Sailorgirl346 (Mar 7, 2009)

Eric Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops "Sailing" CD ~ Soft, relaxing, always makes me smile!


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## johnnyquest37 (Feb 16, 2012)

I recently put together a youtube playlist of great sailing songs: Great Sailing Songs - YouTube

It's got most of the tunes mentioned in this thread plus many more.


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## sailguy40 (Feb 6, 2010)

Hey you all don't forget Enya songs. To name just a couple, try Book of Days or Caribbean Blue. Nearly all of her songs are awesome to listen too while sailing. In fact I like her songs so much I thought about naming my next boat Enya


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## sailortjk1 (Dec 20, 2005)

sailhog said:


> Anything with a nice, sweet, soft, melodious, effervescent yet delicate fart sound to it.


What ever happened to this lunatic?
You guys didn't scare him off did you?
Say something nasty about how he smells? 
Make fun of his C-30?
Or how he almost got run over by a container ship?
Did the mod's finally have enough of his wackiness?

Hog, where are you?


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## Serendipitous (Nov 19, 2010)

I actually kind of enjoy night passages while I'm on shift and my husband is asleep, close up the companionway for a few minutes, and belt out some Florence and the Machine, 'Shake It Out'.


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## RichardM (Jan 31, 2007)

I have a playlist that includes Reggae starts doing covers of Grateful Dead tunes that is very nice on the boat.

Also,

Henri DiKongue C'est la Vie

Lucky Dube (RIP)

Johnny Clegg/Juluka Scatterlings of Africa

In the evening

Roger Calloway Come to the Meadow CD

Anything by Charlie Haden, esp. Sophisticated Ladies

Eva Cassidy

'Trane

RichardM
S/V Raven
Cal 33 West River, MD


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## MastUndSchotbruch (Nov 26, 2010)

johnnyquest37 said:


> I recently put together a youtube playlist of great sailing songs: Great Sailing Songs - YouTube
> 
> It's got most of the tunes mentioned in this thread plus many more.


GREAT playlist! Thanks a lot for putting it together!

Can we have more of those, please?


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## MnLandLoc (Nov 8, 2012)

Try David Gilmour's (pink floyd) - "On an Island". Perfect music for evening/night time in the Caribbean.


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