Sara (Starship song)

1985 single by Starship

"Sara"

Japanese single cover

Single by Starship
from the album  Knee Deep in the Hoopla
B-side| "Hearts of the World (Will Understand)"
Released| December 1985
Recorded| 1985
Genre|

* Pop rock
* soft rock

Length| 4:52 (album version)
4:18 (edited version)
Label|

* Grunt
* RCA

Composer(s)|

* Peter Wolf
* Ina Wolf

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

* Mickey Thomas – lead vocals
* Grace Slick – backing vocals
* Craig Chaquico – lead guitar
* Peter Sears – bass synth
* Donny Baldwin – electronic drums

Additional personnel

* Peter Wolf – keyboards, synthesizers, LinnDrum programming

## Charts

[edit]

### Weekly charts

[edit]

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

[edit]

Chart (1986)  | Ranking

|

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

## See also

[edit]

* List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 1986
* List of Hot Adult Contemporary number ones of 1986

## References

[edit]

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.

* v
* t
* e

Jefferson Airplane · Jefferson Starship · Starship

Members|

* Jefferson Airplane members
* Jefferson Starship members
* Starship members

Discographies|

* Jefferson Airplane discography
* Jefferson Starship discography
* Starship discography

Studio albums|

| Jefferson Airplane|

* Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
* Surrealistic Pillow
* After Bathing at Baxter's
* Crown of Creation
* Volunteers
* Bark
* Long John Silver
* Jefferson Airplane

|

Jefferson Starship|

* Blows Against the Empire (with Paul Kantner)
* Dragon Fly
* Red Octopus
* Spitfire
* Earth
* Freedom at Point Zero
* Modern Times
* Winds of Change
* Nuclear Furniture
* Windows of Heaven
* Jefferson's Tree of Liberty
* Mother of the Sun

Starship|

* Knee Deep in the Hoopla
* No Protection
* Love Among the Cannibals
* Loveless Fascination

Live albums|

| Jefferson Airplane|

* Bless Its Pointed Little Head
* Thirty Seconds Over Winterland

|

Jefferson Starship|

* Deep Space/Virgin Sky
* Greatest Hits: Live at the Fillmore
* Across the Sea of Suns

Archival releases|

* Live at the Monterey Festival
* Live at the Fillmore East
* At Golden Gate Park
* Last Flight
* Sweeping Up the Spotlight
* At the Family Dog Ballroom
* The Woodstock Experience

Compilations|

| Jefferson Airplane|

* The Worst of Jefferson Airplane
* Early Flight
* Flight Log
* 2400 Fulton Street
* Jefferson Airplane Loves You
* The Essential Jefferson Airplane

|

Jefferson Starship|

* Gold

Starship|

* Greatest Hits (Ten Years and Change 1979–1991)

Singles|

| Jefferson Airplane|

* "My Best Friend"
* "Somebody to Love"
* "White Rabbit"
* "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil"
* "Volunteers" / "We Can Be Together"
* "Wooden Ships"
* "Mexico"

|

Jefferson Starship|

* "Miracles"
* "Play on Love"
* "With Your Love"
* "Count On Me"
* "Runaway"
* "Jane"
* "Find Your Way Back"

Starship|

* "We Built This City"
* "Sara"
* "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"

Related articles|

* Grunt Records
* Hot Tuna
* KBC Band
* The Matrix (club)
* The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra

* Category

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz work
* MusicBrainz release group

|

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template