Come Sail Away on the Sloop John B but probably not The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald singing a Sea Shanty Medley!

Hello, my favorite Monday peeps! Another Monday, another start to a crazy, busy week. Sure, it’s only Monday, but we’re always racing towards Friday, right?

Are we there yet? 😆

Meanwhile, since it is Monday, you know that Monday means music! This week’s theme is “tomorrow marks the anniversary of the Titanic tragedy 114 years ago. With that in mind, build your song picks using ships, icebergs, big band music, … for your playlist this week.” Let’s get this ship party started!

Let’s start with a song that takes you away on the high seas and beyond. This song, written by the keyboard player of this group, is about following your dreams by embarking on a journey into the unknown. In the second verse, he misses out on the pot of gold, but continues to carry on.

The song is a personal one for the keyboard player, who wrote it about struggling to break through to the next level with the band. Formed in the early 1970s, they built a solid fan base but were always the support act (for Bob Seger, Foghat, Rush, Kiss, Aerosmith, etc.), never the headliner.

Released as the first single from their seventh studio album, this song helped them reach the next level, as they became one of the top arena rock acts over the next few years. In 2020, the keyboardist was interviewed and asked about the song’s meaning. He said:

“[This song] is a song about yearning to be in a better place. How do you get there? You go on a boat, on a ship, angels waving their wings as you ascend to heaven with them. Is there something going on? A starship to the stars? Are they aliens? Is it Captain Kirk? You tell me.” 

Give a listen to Styx with “Come Sail Away”:

Next up is a traditional West Indies tune about a sunken boat. The song was popularized by The Kingston Trio, who adapted it from a version in poet Carl Sandburg’s 1927 songbook The American Songbag. The Kingston Trio’s version stays true to the song’s Calypso roots and was released on their first album in 1958.

Eight years later, this group changed the title and came away with a hit. Their debt to The Kingston Trio goes far beyond this song: they also adopted the group’s striped, short-sleeved shirts and wholesome persona, and this was the biggest hit from their landmark album.

Fun fact: In the movie Forrest Gump, this plays when Forrest is in Vietnam, and the camera shows the latrines. The lines, “This is the worst trip I’ve ever been on… I wanna go home,” are emphasized.

Here’s The Beach Boys with “Sloop John B”:

Next up is a song by an artist my husband is a huge fan of—he even got to play pedal steel for him on stage in Toronto years ago. The track tells the true story of a 1975 Lake Superior shipwreck that claimed all 29 crew members after a brutal storm caused the ship to break apart.

Early reports blamed the crew for failing to secure the hatches, and the original lyrics reflected that. But later research suggested the crew wasn’t at fault, and the artist supported updating the story to honor them properly.

He was inspired to write the song after noticing how little coverage the tragedy received—and even that had the ship’s name misspelled.

Fun Fact: My hubby is friends with the artist’s pedal steel player, who has been kind enough to give him lots of tips on playing pedal steel. He mentioned that the recorded song on the album was the first take that wasn’t meant to be recorded, but the 13-14+ takes after that never measured up to that first take, so that’s the one that went on the album.

Without further ado, here’s the late, great, legendary Gordon Lightfoot with “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”:

Last but definitely not least is a group I first stumbled across in 2021—and I’ve been hooked ever since. They’re a five-member American a cappella group, originally formed in 2000, and they actually got their name from a boat owned by one member’s grandfather, who helped support them in their early days.

This particular song dropped on March 19, 2021, and it first caught my attention because a TikTok trend at the time brought it back into the spotlight. But once I hit play, I was all in. It’s one of those medleys you end up replaying immediately because it just puts you in a good mood.

Honestly, it felt like the perfect fit for this week’s theme—and a pretty great way to wrap things up. 😁

Get ready to dance, here’s Home Free with “Sea Shanty Medley”:

That’s a wrap for this week – have a great Monday! See you on the dance floor!

Now, onto the particulars of Monday’s Music Moves Me:

I have the supreme honor and privilege of being a co-host with the inimitable Xmas Dolly and our musical cohort, the awesome Cathy from Curious as a CAThy, and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM!

Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it, and link up! Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!