Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: fat B****rd
Date: 07 Mar 16 - 10:38 AM

Good Lord, Ellen! I'd totally forgotten that one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,Ellen Vannin
Date: 07 Mar 16 - 07:31 AM

There's parody about a murder in the 30's.

Something like this -

Red sails in the sunset, red stains on the knife,
Oh Dr. Buck Ruxton, you murdered your wife.
The nursemaid she saw and she threatened to tell.
Oh Dr. Buck Ruxton, you killed her as well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: scouse
Date: 07 Mar 16 - 05:57 AM

Was a hit in the 50's I think, sung by Tab Hunter!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 06 Mar 16 - 07:40 PM

It looks like the Platters and coasters show is no longer running in Vegas. There goes our chance to hear 'Red Sails in the Sunset' live one more time.

HiLo, I agree with you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 06 Mar 16 - 06:29 PM

What an interesting thread. I did not know that Kennedy wrote all those grand songs! Thanks for posting this.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 06 Mar 16 - 06:25 PM

Yes, I enjoyed the kitsch. Who thinks of all those things? Unfortunately, the noise level was hard on me.

We did something different on that trip. Five of us squeezed into a small rental car and drove to Floyd Lamb state park (about 40 miles out in the desert) to birdwatch. We saw some cool birds, including my brother-in-law's first roadrunner.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 06 Mar 16 - 12:47 AM

Following drift: Lots of people hate Las Vegas, but I love it -- in its own way: "The Kitsch Capital Of The World", I call it. Have spent days & days there, & never even put a nickel in a slot; just walked around drinking in the kitsch and watching the other poor saps flinging their hard-earned $$$ away like there was no tomorrow! And all the shows, which you have to pass the slots to visit, + all the excellent cheap 'eat-all-u-like' diners, which ditto, are a grand bonus to the self-controlled. And the Strip at night is one of the greatest light-shows anywhere. I recall one lovely summer's night when there was a preternaturally bright sickle-new·moon gleaming away above all those others, which I recall as one of the loveliest things I have seen in a long life.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 09:31 PM

Hi, MGM. It could be. That's what I thought for years, anyway.

This thread has inspired me to play the dance Kitty of Coleraine and to listen to 'Red Sails in the Sunset' by the Platters. At first I thought I wasn't going to like it, but then I did.   That video led to listening to 'Harbor Lights' also by the Platters.

Actually, both songs were sung by only one Platter - the tenor Tony Williams, I think.

A few years ago I was dragged to a family reunion in Las Vegas, a place I hate. The only thing I wanted to do there was to see the show based on the music of the Platters and the Coasters, but nobody else wanted to go. Pbbbbb!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 07:08 PM

One good song deserves another?

Kennedy wrote about a real pleasure yacht, the "Kitty of Coleraine" (Portrush Y.C., Co. Antrim) and yes leneeia, she carried fancy red sailcloth. Lloyd's had her as a 22' centerboard gun-sloop registered to G.H. Moore-Browne of London. She'd been on the hard at one Irish museum or another for donkey years. Dunno what's become of her.

Probably worth a trivia note in one of the "Kitty of Coleraine" threads.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 02:50 PM

Interesting, leneeia. But I have always taken it that Mr Kennedy was writing about the effect a fine sunset had on white sails.

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: fat B****rd
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 01:21 PM

I like The Platters version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 11:03 AM

See some "red sails" here.

https://www.zerve.com/JollyRover/Sunset

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 11:00 AM

I don't know if it still operates, but there used to be a sailboat which took tourists on a cruise of Florida Bay, in Everglades National Park. It was beautiful to see, with its dark red sails against the turquoise water.

Recently I read up on 'red' sails. There are reddish-brown chemicals, which, applied to white sails, made them last longer. A boat with red sails was apt to be owned by the people who were operating it, because they cared more about it and took better care of it.

(I needed to know because I had bought a coloring book about sailboats.)

Perhaps nowadays, when sails are made of strong synthetics, sails do not need to be treated.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 09:19 AM

Years ago a guy my uncle knew a local fellow who could not say the letter "S". His mates used to ask him to sing this song in particular.
Apparently it came out as "Red Tails In The Tuntet".
(True story)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 01:28 AM

In a career spanning more than fifty years, he wrote some 2000 songs, of which over 200 became worldwide hits and about 50 are all-time popular music classics. Until the duo of Lennon and McCartney, Kennedy had more hits in the United States than any other Irish or British songwriter. Wikipedia

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 01:20 AM

Jimmy Kennedy was one of most prolific of British lyrists of familiar 30s-40s titles. Here are a few of his others:

Teddy Bears' Picnic; South of the Border; We're Going to Hang Out the Washing on the Siegfried Line; The Hokey Cokey; Play to me Gypsy; The Isle of Capri; Poor Little Angeline*; translation of Lili Marlene; &c &c

≈M≈

*No, not that version!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,Patti
Date: 05 Mar 16 - 12:20 AM

Genie - I first heard this parody (Red Snails in my Sunsuit) in 1972 from Patrick Sky. Did he by any chance, get it from you? Much better than the original lyrics IMHO. :)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Joe_F
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 09:03 PM

A reminiscence by Jean Shepherd:

The water is absolutely flat. There has not been a breath of air since April. It is now August. The surface is one flat sheet of old used oil laying in the darkness, with the sounds of the Roller Rink floating out over it, mingling with the angry drone of the mosquitoes and muffled swearing from the other boats. A fistfight breaks out at the Evening In Paris. The sound of sirens can be heard faintly in the Indiana blackness. It gets louder and then fades away. Tiny orange lights bob over the dance floor.
"Raaahhhhhd sails in the sawwwwnnnnnsehhhht...."
It's the drummer who sings. He figures some day Ted Weems will be driving by, and hear him, and....
"...haaaawwww brightlyyyy they sninneee...."
There is nothing like a band vocalist in a rotten, struggling Mickey band. When you've heard them over 2000 yards of soupy, oily water, filtered through fourteen billion feeding mosquitoes in the August heat, he is particularly juicy and ripe. He is overloading the ten-watt Allied Radio Knight amplifier by at least 400 per cent, the gain turned up all the way, his chrome-plated bullet-shaped crystal mike on the edge of feedback.
"Raaahhhhhd sails in the sawwwwnnnnsehhhht...."
It is the sound of the American night. And to a twelve-year-old kid it is exciting beyond belief.
    -- _In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash_, Chap. VIII

Deserves to be read in full, out loud, with a drinking buddy.

Subject: Parody: Red Snails In My Sunsuit
From: Genie
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 01:43 AM

This isn't the one I wrote back then, but off top my head:

Red Snails In My Sunsuit
(Tune: Red Sails In The Sunsuit)

Red Snails in my Sunsuit,
Way down in my pants,
They're slurping my lotion,
They're worse than red ants!

Loud wails at their gnawing,
All day it's been "Ewww!"
Red Snails in my sunsuit,
I'm itching from you.

We went to the seashore,
We went for a swim.
Now they've taken over --
How did they get in?

Red Snails In My Sunsuit,
You're driving us nuts!
You're ruining our tan lines,
You're chewing our butts!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Genie
Date: 05 Mar 09 - 01:29 AM

Iancarterb, when I was playing and singing for a nursing home audience back in the mid 1990s, one of the residents (who seemed to have parodies for everything) asked if I knew "Red Snails In My Sunsuit."
I didn't, and he couldn't seem to remember the words to this particular parody. So I wrote my own version.

Unfortunately I didn't literally "write" them (down) -- at least not where I could find them easily. So I guess I'll have to try to reconstruct them from memory and rewrite where that doesn't work.

Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Anglo
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 11:47 PM

Wasn't it done by Pat Boone (or contemporary)?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: GUEST,iancarterb
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 10:35 PM

My late brother used to sing it as Red Snails in My Sunsuit. Wish I could ask him for the whole verse.:)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 09:29 PM

The Red Hot Jazz Archive has recordings by

Red McKenzie and His Mound City Blue Blowers from 1935.

Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra, also 1935.

The lyrics they sing are the same ones Ireland O'Reilly posted above.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 02:47 PM

Hugh Williams was born Will Grosz, and this name is used in some copyrights.
He also composed the music of Isle of Capri, In an Old Dutch Garden, and Along the Santa Fe Trail.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Declan
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 02:28 PM

A certain Mr Dylan also used the air of this song as the basis for "Beyond the Horizon" on his Modern Times album.

Subject: Lyr Add: RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET (Kennedy/Williams
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 02:12 PM

Guest O'Reilly posted lyrics, but left out the introductory verse and the last verse.
In 1935, the recordings by the Casani Club Orchestra, and by Bing Crosby, included the first verse. Guy Lombardo and Mantovani also recorded in 1935. I have not seen the sheet music (Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.), but lyricsplayground.com says these are from the sheet music.
The Casani Club recording is on youtube. It leaves out the last verse.

Lyr. Add: RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET
Lyrics Jimmy Kennedy, Music Hugh Williams, 1935

It was down where fisher folk gather,
I wandered far from the throng
I heard a fisher girl singing
And this refrain was her song:

Red sails in the sunset
'Way out on the sea
Oh, carry my loved one
Home safely to me.

He sailed at the dawning
Al day I've been blue
Red sails in the sunset
I'm trusting in you.

Swift wings you must borrow
Make straight for the shore
We marry tomorrow
And he goes sailing no more !

Red sails in the sunset
'Way out on the sea
Oh, carry my loved one
Home safely to me.

Red sails, the night wind is blowing
And clouds are hiding the moon
Above no bright stars are glowing
It means the storm's coming soon.

Several lyrics sites purport to have the Crosby lyrics, but print the Nat King Cole version of the 1950s.

Lale Andersen, best known for "Lili Marleen," sang a song to the same tune, "Ein Schiff fährt nach Schanghai."

I have been unable to find the Andersen lyrics. I hope someone can come up with them.

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: alison
Date: 06 May 98 - 07:09 AM

Hi,

Here goes my advertisement for the Northern Ireland tourist board.

This was written by someone in Portstewart. Beautiful little seaside town on the North Coast. He was looking out across the harbour at dusk..... there was a pretty sunset..... there was a boat.......

If he had any sense he was sitting in Morellis eating a huge ice cream sundae at the time.

I used to live about 5 miles away from Portstewart it had a great beach I used to walk my dog along.

Here's some trivia... Sunday nights they used to have the "crawl". The main street ran along the shore with the harbour at one end and a roundabout at the other. You parked your car somewhere along this stretch in the morning then walked home. Then in the evening you went back and sat in your car, watching the other cars crawl up and down the road. If you saw someone you liked the look of you phoned the local radio station and they would play a request for "the pretty girl in the red ford escort" and you'd go off to Morrellis for some ice cream.

Slainte

alison

alison

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Bob Schwarer
Date: 05 May 98 - 03:52 PM

Also, as the Russian diplomat headed back to Russia;

Red sails in the sunset.

Bob S.

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Frank Phillips
Date: 05 May 98 - 11:13 AM

This reminds me of the story about the millionaire from San Diego who had a son engaged in radical politics (as is often the case). Despite the fact that they were barely on speaking terms the millionaire sponsored his son for membership in a local yacht club. When questioned about this he replied that he had always wanted a "red son in the sail set."

Frank Phillips

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Ireland O'Reilly
Date: 05 May 98 - 09:50 AM

Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 04 May 98 - 05:36 PM

Kennedy was Irish, - Belfast or thereabouts?
Regards

Subject: RE: Lyrics: Red Sails in the Sunset
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 May 98 - 01:38 PM

Looks like you got the words right, Ireland. Here's a MIDI and a slightly different version of the lyrics.

Copyright information:
Red Sails In The Sunset

Words by Jimmy Kennedy
Music by Hugh Williams
Copyright, 1935, by the Peter Maurice Music Co.

Hope that helps.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Lyr Add: RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET
From: Ireland O'Reilly
Date: 04 May 98 - 12:45 PM

Here are some lyrics to a song:

RED SAILS IN THE SUNSET

Red sails in the sunset
Way out on the sea,
Oh, carry my loved one
Home safely to me.

He sailed at the dawning;
All day I've been blue.
Red sails in the sunset
I'm trusting in you.

Swift wings you must borrow-
Make straight for the shore!
We marry tomorrow;
He goes sailing no more.

Red sails in the sunset
way out on the sea
Oh, carry my loved one
home safely to me.

Does anyone know this song or anything about it? Looking for music notation, or a good MIDI. Can anyone help?