Sara – Starship | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#1); 1986
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Emerging from the heady San Francisco music scene in the 1960’s, the Jefferson Airplane/ Jefferson Starship/Starship combos racked up 36 chart singles, including 12 Top 20’s with three #1’s over a 14 year period.
Within those years, they conquered the psychedelic era with Somebody To Love and White Rabbit, rode through the mid-70’s mellow singer/songwriter period with Miracles and Runaway, then roared into the 1980’s power pop elite with We Built This City, Sara, and Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.
On 1985’s Knee Deep In The Hoopla album, which contained City – the band’s first #1 – and Sara, the only member still on board from the White Rabbit days was Grace Slick.
Sara flowed from the pens of Peter and Ina Wolf, who also wrote Now Way Out (#23, 1984). The lead was handled by Mickey Thomas who had previously voiced Fooled Around And Fell In Love for Elvin Bishop (#3, 1976).
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Peter Wolf
- Jeremy Smith
Lyrics Written by:
- Peter Wolf (music)
- Ina Wolf (music and lyrics)
Awards:
- The music video for “Sara” won the Best Art Direction award at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).