Sara (Starship song)

Not to be confused with Sara (Fleetwood Mac song) or Sara (Bob Dylan song).
"Sara"
A black-and-white photo of the band over a background of four colored squares separated by a white gradient cross.
Japanese single cover
Single by Starship
from the album Knee Deep in the Hoopla
B-side"Hearts of the World (Will Understand)"
ReleasedDecember 1985
Recorded1985
Genre
Length4:52 (album version)
4:18 (edited version)
Label
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)Ina Wolf
Producer(s)
  • Peter Wolf
  • Jeremy Smith
Starship singles chronology
"We Built This City"
(1985) 		"Sara"
(1985) 		"Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight"
(1986)
Music video
"Sara" on YouTube

"Sara" is a song recorded by the American rock band Starship which reached number-one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 15, 1986. It was sung by Mickey Thomas, of the newly renamed band Starship, from their first album Knee Deep in the Hoopla, and Grace Slick provided the backing vocals.[1]

The recording became one of the best-selling singles of 1986 in North America. It was the band's second number-one hit after the song "We Built This City" hit that mark a few months earlier in 1985. It also became the band's first number-one song on the adult contemporary chart, where it remained for three weeks.[2] Although written by Peter and Ina Wolf, the song was named for Sara (née Kendrick), Thomas's wife at the time.

Reception

Cash Box called it a "melodic ballad [that] has a biting rock edge led by Mickey Thomas' riveting vocal" and said it has "an ethereal chorus and shy guitars."[3]

In a retrospective review from 2020, Stereogum's Tom Breihan wrote that while "'We Built This City' gets all the hate", "Sara" is "even shittier", calling it a "bad, boring '80s song, and it's pretty easy to forget its existence entirely."[4]

Music video

The music video for "Sara" featured Thomas, and actress Rebecca De Mornay as the song's titular character, in a storyline about the ending of a relationship, set on a Dust Bowl farm in the Midwest, with frequent flashbacks to what is presumably the Thomas character's childhood, and the tornado that wrecked his home and took the life of his beloved mother. It was filmed, not in the Midwest, but at an old farm residence located in west Lancaster, CA. It ends with a panoramic view of the farm, with Thomas walking down the dirt road Sara (De Mornay) has driven away on, with another dust cloud closing in.[5] The flashback portions of the music video were set in the 1950s and directed by Francis Delia.

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1986) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[6] 10
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[7] 15
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8] 21
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[9] 1
Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM)[10] 1
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[11] 18
Ireland (IRMA)[12] 19
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[13] 30
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[14] 43
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[15] 16
South Africa (Springbok)[16] 10
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 9
UK Singles (OCC)[18] 66
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[19] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[20] 1
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[21] 12
West Germany (GfK)[22] 15

Year-end charts

Chart (1986) Ranking
Australia (Kent Music Report)[23][24] 67
Canada RPM [25] 30
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[26] 24

See also

References

  1. ^ Sonneborn, Liz (2002). A to Z of American Women in the Performing Arts (SLICK, GRACE (Grace Wing)). Facts on File, Incorporated. p. 195. ISBN 0-8160-4398-1. Slick sang supporting vocals on the band's mid-decade top 40 hits "We Built This City"(1985), "Sara"(1986), and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"(1987) before quitting again in 1988
  2. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 126. ISBN 0898201497.
  3. ^ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. January 11, 1986. p. 11. Retrieved 2022-08-03.
  4. ^ Breihan, Tom (November 25, 2020). "The Number Ones: Starship's "Sara"". Stereogum. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  5. ^ Somebody to love?: a rock-and-roll memoir Grace Slick. 1998.
  6. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  7. ^ "Starship – Sara" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  8. ^ "Starship – Sara" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  9. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0649." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  10. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 0650." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  11. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  12. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Sara". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  13. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 12, 1986" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  14. ^ "Starship – Sara" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  15. ^ "Starship – Sara". Top 40 Singles.
  16. ^ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  17. ^ "Starship – Sara". Swiss Singles Chart.
  18. ^ "Starship: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  19. ^ "Starship Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  20. ^ "Starship Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  21. ^ "Starship Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  22. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Starship – Sara" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  23. ^ "National Top 100 Singles for 1986". Kent Music Report. No. 650. December 1986. Retrieved January 24, 2023 – via Imgur.
  24. ^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1986". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  25. ^ "RPM Weekly - Top Singles of 1986". Library and Archives Canada. 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  26. ^ "1986 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 98, no. 52. December 27, 1986. p. Y-21.