Background
The song is often incorrectly referred to as "Sail Away", a phrase repeated during the chorus; although, in the United States, the song was actually retitled, "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)". Released as the lead single from Enya's second studio album, Watermark, in October 1988, the song became a "breakthrough" success for the singer-songwriter, whereby popular recognition was achieved on a global scale.
"Orinoco Flow" peaked at #1 in several countries, including the United Kingdom, where it stayed at the top of the music charts for three weeks. In the US, the song peaked at #24 in early 1989. The song was also highly popular in the early 1990s and was featured on many pop music compilations.
In 1994, the song was licensed to Virgin Records for the best-selling, New Age music compilation album, Pure Moods, and in 1998, a special-edition, 10th-anniversary remix single was released.
Part of its name is derived from Orinoco Studios (now Miloco Studios), where it was recorded, and its altered use of the Roland D-50 synthesizer's "PizzaGoGo" patch is highly recognizable.
Read more about this topic: Orinoco Flow
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