STORY OF THE SAIL AWAY SONG

If you have ever sailed on board a Crystal ship, you experienced a special tradition. As the ship casts its lines off and begins its move away from the dock, two very beautiful songs are played.

The first one is Louis Armstrong's “What a Wonderful World”. The name says it all and is a perfect choice of music to play when departing an exotic destination - destinations that leave us with so many memories, sights and sounds. It reminds us that there is so much beauty to behold throughout our world. Beauty even in countries that are so poor the most precious thing they can give is a smile!

As the port is left behind and the ship heads out to sea, another song followed Satchmo's great hit. A Norwegian composition appropriately called “Ut mot Havet”. In English it translates to; “Out to Sea”. The latter is actually something that was suggested by myself, as I thought it was befitting.

Sadly, for reasons unknown this is not played anymore. To this day though, I still get emails asking, "Where can I get that beautiful song?"

If you would like to hear this special melody
Click here to listen to "Ut mot Havet"

The composer of “Out to Sea”, Edvard Fliflet Bræin, was born on August 23, 1924 near my hometown, Kristiansund on the west coast of Norway.

He studied music composition and musical direction at Oslo Music Conservatory and had his breakthrough as composer when he was 23 years old with a piece of music called The Happy Musicians and Overture op.2. His works includes several symphonies and operas.

Edvard Fliflet Bræin expressed himself in a simple and natural way. He was known as a modern composer and complicated music was not for him. "I am a kind of person that when I am down, I have to write happy music to bring myself up. And when I am up, I feel almost compelled to be somewhat tragic. The Happy Musicians was written at a time when I was in a deep depression".

"To create a brighter existence in my art has been for me the medicine that have contributed to keeping my spirit up. If my art makes people happy, it is my biggest reward".

Edvard Fliflet Bæin passed away on April 30, 1976 at the age of 51.