I just turned on BBC Radio 4.
The cultured voice said: “And now a chance to hear Sailing By in its entirity”.
Nightmare! I just managed to get to the off switch in time.
Do any other R4 listeners hate Sailing By as much as I do?
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Sailing By
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One year and several months after your post, I have to say yes, I detest Sailing By as much as I dislike the Radio 4 theme at 5:30am.
I came by your post via google as I was inspired to look for the composer / general availability of the tune Sailing By as the 00:45 shipping forecast was about to start…
I think Sailing By is part of our nation’s heritage and I’m certain it will form part of the Radio 4 theme in 2400, just as Greensleaves (sp?) is very much part of the theme today.
BTW Sailing By is much more tolerable in long wave
Don’t start me on the Radio 4 theme!
I hate that too.
The only way Sailing By ever sounds tolerable is through a radio with a flat battery!
My friends mother wants to get a copy og “Sailing By” ….I’ve never heard it so can’t comment !
Can anyone give me details that would help me locate a copy of the CD ?
erm sorry to be a stupid person but sailing by is quite good but not good enough -my suggestion a bit of bohemian rapsody before the shippinmg forecast
Answer to Steve’s and Alison’s queries:Sailing By was composed by Ronald Binge. There’s info as to how to get hold of a recording on the BBC’s FAQ page on their website. Alas, too late for Christmas though ….. Enjoy.
My personal opinion – Sailing By is a horrendous mush of a piece of music (those flutes!) but I love it……
I tell you what is worse than “Sailing by” – Bells on sunday fading into “Sailing by” : perfect for that got-to-be-up-for-work-in-five-hours feeling!
Sailing By is the antithesis of the gotta ‘av it culture, owning a BMW, branded synthetic sportsware around town, 4WD school runners, Trance music, prominent satellite dishes, celebrity culture, thinking the Light Bar is impressive, admiring Anoushka Hempel’s taste, joining Soho House, wearing trainers when not excercising, having a second home in St.Mawes, think the poor are of no consequence, thinking East Enders is entertainment, block paved driveways.
It’s sonorous waves settle my mind before sleep. Now where are my slippers?
PS. The “UK” theme really is the pits. About as representative of our collective culture as Eminem, or maybe not? MMm.
Sailing By is the antithesis of the gotta ‘av it culture, owning a BMW, branded synthetic sportsware around town, 4WD school runners, Trance music, prominent satellite dishes, celebrity culture, thinking the Light Bar is impressive, admiring Anoushka Hempel’s taste, joining Soho House, wearing trainers when not excercising, having a second home in St.Mawes, think the poor are of no consequence, thinking East Enders is entertainment, block paved driveways.
It’s sonorous waves settle my mind before sleep. Now where are my slippers?
PS. The “UK” theme really is the pits. About as representative of our collective culture as Eminem, or maybe not? MMm.
Sailing By is the antithesis of the gotta ‘av it culture, owning a BMW, branded synthetic sportsware around town, 4WD school runners, Trance music, prominent satellite dishes, celebrity culture, thinking the Light Bar is impressive, admiring Anoushka Hempel’s taste, joining Soho House, wearing trainers when not excercising, having a second home in St.Mawes, think the poor are of no consequence, thinking East Enders is entertainment, block paved driveways.
It’s sonorous waves settle my mind before sleep. Now where are my slippers?
PS. The “UK” theme really is the pits. About as representative of our collective culture as Eminem, or maybe not? MMm.
well i kinda like it too but not enough to post this three times
Sailing by is fantastic. So absurd. The most inappropriate use of a flute in all musical history. I love it.
Rather than just being an introductory theme, “Sailing By” is in fact an essential component of the Shipping Forecast. It is there to assist mariners recognise the correct station as they retune their radios to the appropriate frequency, prior to the forecast’s broadcast. That’s why it’s usually about three minutes in duration and starts so promptly. The fact that the tune is a simple repeat of several bars means that it is instantaneously recognisable, no matter when you find the station.
Lay off the UK Theme. It’s nicely put together, played by real musicians rather than electronics, and was written by the late Fritz Spiegl – the Viennese-born Liverpudlian flautist, composer, lexicographer and humorist, who came to the UK to escape the Nazis and might therefore have felt slightly different about the place than do jaded post-war kids, for whom sneering at anything that suggests affection for their country is pretty much a reflex action. I’ve only heard the piece three times in my entire life, each time by accident, and there’s something indefinably haunting about having “The Londonderry Air” and “Early One Morning” drift gently into your consciousness through a fug of sleep.
I have just had a read though this page and it seams that people don’t like the UK theme, Well I think this is a wonderful piece of music, probably due to the fact that I was forced to listen to it at least once a week every week from the age of 10. I really do quite like it and came across this page while looking for a copy! Cheer up u misrible bastards!!!
Lay off Messrs Binge and Spiegl please, chaps. The music may sound pretty naff by some definitions, but both Sailing By and the Radio4UK theme- together with the national anthem just before 01.00- are about the only bits of nighty-night and wakey-wakey sanity left on our 24/7 airwaves. They are waymarkers, as much as any signpost on the road, reminding you that however mad the world’s becoming, however homogenous the ever-expanding dirge that is most commercial radio services, BBC Radio 4 is there to present an intelligent view of Britain as well as allowing you 4 1/2 hours sleep.
Hating Sailing By in its way means hating the very Englishness the tune stands for. Ronald Binge’s other works include The Watermill and Elizabethan Serenade, both lovely little tunes.
I happened across this blog while trying to find out more about the Radio4 UK theme: sad to hear that Fritz Spiegl has died, though not suprised. It is made up of a mixture of English, Irish, Welsh and Scots folk songs such as Danny Boy, Greensleeves, Men of Harlech and Scotland the Brave. I like to think though, and perhaps to David’s satisfaction, that “The Drunken Sailor” which is also included is there in a witty way to wake up the mariners and as a counter to Sailing Lulla-by. More info on this tune and others in my blogspot. Incidentally, I still remember the very first time I heard Sailing By, during a late night journey home in my father’s car: I thought I had stumbled on some far distant music station, such is the romantic glow of the tune. I was a little disappointed to discover it was only the BBC- in those days, I think it preceded the inshore waters forecast only on Radio 3, actually.
I would definately choose ‘sailing by’ as one of my desert island discs, along with the desert island discs theme tune. Does anyone know any other woozy seashanty style tunes? Oh yeah the one they play throughout the London marathon is pretty sweet too!
Some people may not like to hear the BBC Radio 4 UK Theme, Sailing By or God Save The Queen but it’s a pleasant change from the doom and gloom. What better way to wake up than to than this rousing medley of British patriotic tunes? Better than the drivel on the other stations at that time of the morning and it’s a nice way to closedown and then start the day. In fact, I’m surprised that these three pieces of music haven’t disappeared entirely.
I like them anyway.
As a point of clarification, the UK Theme does not include Scotland the Brave, assuming that the version broardcast dily at present is complete. Until I started listening to early morning radio regularly a year or so back, I thouht Scotland the Brave was included, so it may have been once.
Can anybodyplease, tell me the website that plays Midi recordings?
I am certain the Radio 4 UK Theme has gone through a number of incarnations. For instance, it used to be quite a bit longer with amongst other things a slow Greensleeves section. I’m also convinced it has quite recently been re-recorded. It would be good if an archive were avaiable of this piece in all its various forms. I believe the medley is a well-executed composition that forms a fitting commencement to Radio’s output each day and that it should be retained.
This was again discussed on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning on the back of The Guardian declaring it as an outdated view of a “toff’s England”. The theme was also discussed on Wednesday too. The general opinion seemed to be that it was militaristic misguided tosh. The proposed replacement was a nightmare IMHO and I’ll stick with the current one, ta very much.
Never, never change “Sailing By” of the UK theme. I love them both and always have. “Sailing By” and the following “Shipping Forecast” is wonderfully soporific and lulls me to sleep. (I have even named my 5 cats after the shipping forecast – Cromerty, Finistaire, Shannon and Lundy. The dog is called “Dogger”!
AS for the UK theme it is made up of beautiful traditional airs which we hear all too infrequently now. Those tunes and songs will never date. If some are a little too military then replace them with other non-military airs. “Men of Harlech” could be replaced by “We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside”; Scotland the Brave could be replaced by any number of beautiful old Highland or Hebridean melodies; “the Londonderry Air” is, if anything anti-war and very, very beautiful; and “The Drunken Sailor” is only an old sea shanty and a reminder that we are a sea-faring nation.
If it must be altered please keep old traditional tunes. They are part of our national heritage.
I found this page whilst looking for information on Ronald Binge. One thing at least is quite obvious, love the themes or hate them, with the exception of one contributor, you must have all HATED school. Your spelling is dreadful!
I notice from my site meter that a couple of people have followed the link from this site to my own musings about the Radio 4 UK Theme etc. As it is some months ago now since I posted it, here’s the link to the archive posting called “Drunken Sailors”, with various other pieces on this subject around it.
http://mas59.blogspot.com/2004_09_01_mas59_archive.html
A P.S. to my above posting, and some further info for Simon’s posting from December 6th. The link from my original posting takes you to my main webspot but not to the postings about the Radio 4 music, which is now in the September archive. The link I posted immediately before this one should however take you straight to that and save you wading through my other postings if they are not of interest.
Scotland the Brave was definitely still included in the “theme” the last time I listened to it. As with the setting of Greensleeves, it is cleverly counterpointed with another tune, though I can’t for the moment remember which one- I think it may be Men of Harlech.
The theme certainly sounds as though it has been re-recorded at least once, but I don’t think it was ever longer than it is now- though it was certainly shorter for a while. Until public demand and a new Radio 4 controller brought it back, most mornings would see only a select snippet of the tune being played before programmes began. At that time, you would only get the full version at the weekend.
Sailing By is musically dated scmolz, while R4UK theme is musically fun with its counterpoint. As a sailor I love them both, as they remind me of the days, not so long ago, before mobile phones and Navtex made the world smaller and the Shipping Forecasts were a vital safety aid in remote places. Whenever I hear either I am transported instantly to one of the many locations where I have heard it, eagerly anticipating the information to come and its impact on my plans for the next day or two. My only complaint is the somniferous quality of both which has on numerous occasions, either when desperately trying to stay awake after a hard day or to avoid relapse when newly awakened by the alarm, resulted in my reawakening just in time to hear the weather report from Sumburgh. The world would be a worse place if we were to lose these traditional vestiges of British seafaring tradition.
Here’s the URL for the UK theme,
http://www.sterlingtimes.org/music_themes20.htm
and for Sailing By:
http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/sounds/Sailing_By.mp3
I love the UK theme: I have to be up at 5 and out the door at 5.30 to get to work on time, and the UK theme’s right up there with toast, marmalade and fresh chilly air: there’s something tremendously encouraging about starting the day with it. Not so fond of Sailing By, but you can’t argue with tenure. I hope they both stay on the air for years to come.
I adore Sailing By.
I’m certain that about 10 years ago I read that Sailing By is not a maritime theme, but was commissioned in the 1960s for a tv documentary about hot-air ballooning.
As a balloonist I proudly mention this if ever the subject comes up. I’m trying to find evidence that what I read back then is true, but I’m not finding it. Anybody know?
For the record I have a love/hate relationship with the UK Theme. I hear it almost everyday and seeing as I’m still humming the bleeding thing at 10.30am, i’ve decided to try to get along with it as best I can and pretend I actually like it.
I think sailing by is the best piece of music ever written, it is especially good when it goes into the minor key. I may only be 13 years old, but i do listen to radio 4!!!!!!
Sleeping with the radio on, the UK Theme can seem completely bizarre at 5:30 (the Rule Brittania bit does sound like it’s being played by a school orchestra but never mind). All part of this country’s radio heritage.
That said, have they abandoned the requirement to play the World Service theme on the hour? There seems to be a tendancy for the aural equivelent of a BBC4 TV ident.
Tim
Did you know you can order Radio 4′s “Sailing By” on Amazon!! get it while you can :0)
I set my alarm at 05.30 to hear the UK theme even when I have no requirement to be up that early. It is an inspiring medley, better than strong black coffee to get me going in the morning. Long may it continue.
The UK Theme on Radio-4 @ 0530
(A sort of Great British Musical Sandwich of National Airs)
Introduction: based on the first few notes of ‘Early One Morning’ played on horns and trombones.
‘Rule Britannia’ starts on woodwind, joined by the strings.
‘Air from County Derry’ (an originally wordless Northern Irish tune which is often erroneously called Danny Boy) played by the English (!) horn, accompanied by harp; and after four bars the solo violin enters with ‘Ye Banks and Braes’ (Scottish air), which, with a certain harmonic accompaniment, fits note for note with the ‘Londonderry Air’ which continues at the same time: a musical coincidence, not a political comment.
This United Kingdom harmony is interrupted by a side-drum roll and gives way to an English double counterpoint: the solo piccolo starts off with ‘What Shall We Do with The Drunken Sailor’ (a traditional tune in the Dorian mode), against which the upper strings play ‘Green Sleeves’ (surely the most English tune of all, and also in the Dorian D minor).
This English duet then subsides into a side-drum diminuendo, leading into ‘March of the Men of Harlech’, on brass and percussion. Again the Celts stick together, for the woodwind march in and over the top of the Welsh tune with ‘Scotland the Brave’.
At the end of this section the horns, followed by strings, briefly allude to ‘Early One Morning’, which is then played by the horns and bassoons.
The strings quietly start up again with ‘Rule Britannia’, over which the solo trumpet reminds us of the ‘Trumpet Voluntary’ – which by now has surely achieved the status of an English national air – and the whole orchestra then enters with a fortissimo version of ‘Rule Britannia’ – though the trumpet again slips in the final bars of this voluntary at the very end.
I enjoy listening to Sailing By. I always leave Radio 4 on as background noise when I was studying. However, when Sailing By comes on, I would stop & relax to the soothing sound & transport myself to some far away place away from my books
I simply love it.
I love Sailing By, when i’m unable to sleep i listen to it and i’m away.Dont listen to the others BBC4 keep this tune.
I am just recently past my teenage years and standing at 20 years old and a student, lived in the uk all my life I dind the lack of patriotism shocking.
Come on chaps, if youre British, how can you feel anything but pride on hearing such tunes as rule Britannia! Long live the UK theme I say.
A symbol of all great things British, as important to the youth of our population as the more elderly, long may it grace our early morning airwaves.
And what happened to the rebelliousness of youth? The iconoclasm of the Victorian age that made Britain great?
I say dump it in the sea!
Sailing By? I hasten to the radio when ever I can get to one just to hear sailing by play. It on its own makes the licence fee worth paying.
I think it’s a very relaxing and lovely tune; it has a great melody and interesting chord sequence. I’m 21 years old now and was introduced to this great tune by my grandpappy. A useful tune for sailors. Edward
Is “Sailing By” in Midi format?
I have wonderful memories of listening to sailing by with a sailor after a few bevvies in the Yacht club. Can’t beat listening to the grating tune as I drifted off to sleep in a drunken stupor.
Sailing By??? I can only refer you back to the original post and Jen ‘I tell you what is worse than “Sailing by” – Bells on sunday fading into “Sailing by” ‘. I would like to express my utter hatred of those but words literally fail me….
Uinsin: Yes. Google for George Pollen. He’s arranged much MIDI stuff. Good stuff, too.
I love the tune “Sailing By” I try to hear it everday on Radio 4.
Cheers
Laurie
I cannot go to sleep unless I can listen to ‘Sailing By’, I think it’s the most wonderful tune ever composed. it’s so relaxing..just the thing before retiring to bed. I love it!
I wish it were played more often.
Avast There me Buckos,
What a lpad of piffle I’ve just read on here. Sailing By stands for something for each and every one above even those who can’t stand it. For me it means that half my night shift is in the bag and only half to go… so for me it’s a happy tune. No matter what you think of the arrrangement and choice of instruments it could probably mean something happy to you too.. go on, what is it?
I first heard Sailing By after midnight one night in the 1980s on Radio 4. Most of the 80s was rather traumatic to me. It was so beautiful to hear the sound of Sailing By, so soothing, especially during the nightmare I was in. I finally managed to download it off a file sharing site a couple of years ago.
Now that I am learning the tenor saxophone (first time I’ve learnt music) I want to try and play Sailing By.
What planet are you from then..the mind boggles!
David Rossam..For shame..What planet are you from then? the mind boggles
By the way I forgot to mention this chap’s name on my other comment, sorry if it got mixed up with somebody else’s comment.
Dino..I was not referring to yourself, I mistakenly forgot to mention whom I was referring to for a moment.
I just love this piece of music which reminds me of the sea. I go to sleep listening to it. Please never never never change it.
Living a third of a world away from the UK, +8 GMT, I listen to Sailing By and the shipping forecast on the internet over my morning coffee,after which I can face the day’s horrendous weather: blue skies, sun, calm sea, with equine equanimity.
I really love ‘sailing by’ I listen to it every night also the shipping forecast——-how’s that for dedication to radio4 !!!!!!!!!
@Alison
nice site, but it dose not explain how to down sailing by?
can one of your boffins please let me know?
Cheers
Pat kelly
I have recently despaired of Radio 5 and changed to R4 for bedtime listening, amazed to hear the wonderful ‘Sailing By’, and searching everywhere to get a copy of the BBC version. I’m sure it would be a hit if published! Meanwhile does anyone have a link to the BBC version please?
Sublime..simply sublime, well worth waiting up for..well for music lovers-that is.
Sailing By is redolent of the pernicious ‘cosy warm cardy’ thinking behind much of what comes out of Radio 4 – the ‘comfort factor’. It’s smug, complacent and safe and all the more dangerous because it is those things.
Found website on hearing that tune yet again, and thought there must be someone else who finds the tune such an antidote to life affirmation! Ugggggh
@Paul Wooton. You’re a man of taste