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Orinoco Flow
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Orinoco Flow
"Orinoco Flow", also released as "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)", is a song by the Irish singer-songwriter Enya from her second studio album, Watermark (1988). It was released on 3 October 1988 by WEA Records in the United Kingdom and by Geffen Records in the United States the following year. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks and received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Music Video and Best New Age Performance at the 32nd Annual Grammy Awards. The Guardian ranked "Orinoco Flow" at number 77 on its list of the 100 greatest UK number-one singles in 2020.
The song was released as the lead single from Enya's studio album Watermark on 3 October 1988. It became a global success, reaching number one in several countries, including Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, where it stayed at the top of the UK Singles Chart for three weeks. In the United States, the song peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1989.
The title of the song is an allusion both to Orinoco Studios (now Miloco Studios), where it was recorded, and to the Orinoco river in South America. Its pizzicato chords were generated by customising a Roland D-50 synthesizer patch. Enya was signed to WEA by Rob Dickins, who served as executive producer of Watermark, and the song pays homage to Dickins in the line "with Rob Dickins at the wheel". Co-producer Ross Cullum is referred to in the song with a pun on Ross Dependency: "We can sigh, say goodbye / Ross and his dependencies".
The lyrics have been likened to "an itinerary for the most expensive gap year of all time", mentioning an array of locations like a "global geography lesson". Locations mentioned in the song include Orinoco River, Fiji, Tiree, Peru, Cali, Bali, and Cebu.
In 1994, the song was licensed to Virgin Records for the best-selling new-age music compilation album Pure Moods, which contributed to further exposure and "helped provide a multi-platinum bonanza" to the record company.
In 1998, a special-edition tenth-anniversary remix single was released.
In a 2015 interview with The Irish Times, Enya said: “Longevity is all any artist dreams of”, rather than to dwell on how her songs are remembered. She credits "Orinoco Flow" for some of her cross-generational appeal, saying: "people who used to like Orinoco Flow are now playing my music to their children". In another interview, when asked whether people bring up "Orinoco Flow", she responded: "people say 'sail away' to me or whistle bits of it back to me. I think it’s wonderful—I never tire of it."
Ned Raggett from AllMusic described the song as "distinct" and "downright catchy". He noted "its implicit dramatics, [that] gently charges instead of piling things on".
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Orinoco Flow
"Orinoco Flow", also released as "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)", is a song by the Irish singer-songwriter Enya from her second studio album, Watermark (1988). It was released on 3 October 1988 by WEA Records in the United Kingdom and by Geffen Records in the United States the following year. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks and received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Music Video and Best New Age Performance at the 32nd Annual Grammy Awards. The Guardian ranked "Orinoco Flow" at number 77 on its list of the 100 greatest UK number-one singles in 2020.
The song was released as the lead single from Enya's studio album Watermark on 3 October 1988. It became a global success, reaching number one in several countries, including Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, where it stayed at the top of the UK Singles Chart for three weeks. In the United States, the song peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1989.
The title of the song is an allusion both to Orinoco Studios (now Miloco Studios), where it was recorded, and to the Orinoco river in South America. Its pizzicato chords were generated by customising a Roland D-50 synthesizer patch. Enya was signed to WEA by Rob Dickins, who served as executive producer of Watermark, and the song pays homage to Dickins in the line "with Rob Dickins at the wheel". Co-producer Ross Cullum is referred to in the song with a pun on Ross Dependency: "We can sigh, say goodbye / Ross and his dependencies".
The lyrics have been likened to "an itinerary for the most expensive gap year of all time", mentioning an array of locations like a "global geography lesson". Locations mentioned in the song include Orinoco River, Fiji, Tiree, Peru, Cali, Bali, and Cebu.
In 1994, the song was licensed to Virgin Records for the best-selling new-age music compilation album Pure Moods, which contributed to further exposure and "helped provide a multi-platinum bonanza" to the record company.
In 1998, a special-edition tenth-anniversary remix single was released.
In a 2015 interview with The Irish Times, Enya said: “Longevity is all any artist dreams of”, rather than to dwell on how her songs are remembered. She credits "Orinoco Flow" for some of her cross-generational appeal, saying: "people who used to like Orinoco Flow are now playing my music to their children". In another interview, when asked whether people bring up "Orinoco Flow", she responded: "people say 'sail away' to me or whistle bits of it back to me. I think it’s wonderful—I never tire of it."
Ned Raggett from AllMusic described the song as "distinct" and "downright catchy". He noted "its implicit dramatics, [that] gently charges instead of piling things on".