Trivia- Rod Steward's 'Sailing' - the only song he ever recorded sober

by Nancy Knudsen on 26 Oct 2010 If you're the kind of sailor that likes to put Rod Stewart's 'Sailing' on full blast when you're running with a good strong wind on the quarter (like me) you'll be fascinated to know that 'Sailing', one of Stewart's greatest hits of all time, was the only song he ever recorded completely sober.

The craggy singer admitted to Contact Music this week he has clear memories of recording his hit song 'Sailing' - because it's the only track he's ever sung without drinking alcohol first.

The singer has confessed he suffers from nerves when he has to perform live or in the studio, and always has a drink before hitting the stage or laying down vocal tracks.

But he had to record Sailing completely sober because there was no alcohol available at the studio in Alabama - and it went on to become one of his most famous songs.

Stewart told Britain's Live magazine, 'It's the only song I ever recorded without a drink inside me. My thing was always to have a little tipple before I sang; even now I'll have a Bacardi and Coke before I go on stage. It just helps.

'But Sailing was recorded in Muscle Shoals, which was a dry area. The producer Tommy Dowd woke me up at ten in the morning saying, 'Get down here in half an hour; we've mixed the track and need the vocal.' I was like, 'You're joking, recording at 10.30 in the morning. I need a drink to calm the old nerves.'

'I was stuffed, because there was nothing to be had anywhere and I was terrified to sing without one. But I did and it turned out to be one of the biggest ones I ever made.'

One can't help wondering whether if he'd stayed sober more often, we might have truckloads of fabulous songs to go sailing by.