Sara (Starship song)

"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 only by Mickey Thomas, of the newly renamed band Starship, from their first album Knee Deep in the Hoopla; for this single, Grace Slick only provided the backing vocals.[1]

"Sara"
Single by Starship
from the album Knee Deep in the Hoopla
B-side"Hearts Of The World (Will Understand)"
ReleasedDecember 1985
Recorded1985
Genre
Length4:48 (album version)
4:18 (edited version)
LabelGrunt/RCA Records
Songwriter(s)Peter Wolf (music), Ina Wolf (music and lyrics)
Producer(s)Peter Wolf, Jeremy Smith
Starship singles chronology
"We Built This City"
(1985)		 "Sara"
(1985)		 "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight"
(1986)

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 the 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 Thomas's wife at the time, Sara (née Kendrick).

Music video

The music video for "Sara" prominently features actress Rebecca De Mornay as the song's titular character and Thomas in a storyline about a relationship ending, on a Dust Bowl farm in the midwest, with frequent flashbacks to what is presumably Thomas's character's childhood and the tornado that wrecked his home and took the life of his beloved mother. It ends with an aerial shot of Thomas walking down the dirt road Rebecca drove down, with another dust cloud coming in.[3] The flashback portions of the music video were set in the 1950s and directed by Francis Delia.

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1986) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 10
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[5] 15
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[6] 21
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[7] 1
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[8] 18
Ireland (IRMA)[9] 19
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[10] 30
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[11] 43
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[12] 16
South Africa (Springbok)[13] 10
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] 9
UK Singles (OCC)[15] 66
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[16] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[17] 1
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[18] 12
West Germany (Official German Charts)[19] 15

Year-end charts
Chart (1986) Ranking
Australia (Kent Music Report)[20] 67
Canada RPM [21] 30
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[22] 24

See also

References
  1. Sonneborn, Liz (2002). A to Z of American Women in the Performing Arts (SLICK, GRACE (Grace Wing)). 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. Somebody to love?: a rock-and-roll memoir Grace Slick. 1998.
  4. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  5. "Austriancharts.at – Starship – Sara" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  6. "Ultratop.be – Starship – Sara" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  7. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0649." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  8. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  9. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Sara". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  10. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 12, 1986" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40 Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  11. "Dutchcharts.nl – Starship – Sara" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  12. "Charts.nz – Starship – Sara". Top 40 Singles.
  13. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  14. "Swisscharts.com – Starship – Sara". Swiss Singles Chart.
  15. "Starship: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  16. "Starship Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  17. "Starship Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  18. "Starship Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  19. "Offiziellecharts.de – Starship – Sara". GfK Entertainment Charts.
  20. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – 1986". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  21. "RPM Weekly - Top Singles of 1986". 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  22. "1986 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 98 no. 52. December 27, 1986. p. Y-21.
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