Gavin Sutherland would comment: "Most people take the song to be about a young guy telling his girl that he's crossing the Atlantic to be with her. In fact the song's got nothing to do with romance or ships; it's an account of mankind's spiritual odyssey through life on his way to freedom and fulfillment with the Supreme Being."

Written on the beach by Blythe Bridge, "Sailing" was recorded by the Sutherland Brothers - a duo consisting of Gavin and Iain Sutherland - in a June 1972 session: the brothers provided their own backing with Gavin on bass drum and Iain on harmonium - (Iain Sutherland quote:) "The original idea was it should have a Celtic feel to it" - and overdubbed their vocals. Issued as a single, the Sutherland Brothers' "Sailing" almost reached the official UK singles chart (then formatted as a Top 50), as "Sailing" peaked at #54 in July 1972, and the single's sales were reportedly 40,000 units. The Sutherland Brothers had recorded "Sailing" subsequent to completing the tracks intended for their upcoming album release Lifeboat, and that album was issued in November 1972 without the inclusion of "Sailing": included on the US edition of the Lifeboat album, "Sailing" by the Sutherland Brothers would make its UK album debut on the 1976 Sutherland Brothers' compilation album entitled Sailing.

"Sailing" was recorded by Rod Stewart for his first album recorded in North America rather than Great Britain: Atlantic Crossing, which album was recorded April - June 1975 at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with Tom Dowd producing. The first single from the album, "Sailing" afforded Stewart an international hit notably in the UK where "Sailing" was #1 for four weeks in September 1975: augmented by a return to the UK chart in 1976 and - to a lesser extent - 1987, "Sailing" remains the Rod Stewart single to have the greatest success in its UK release. However "Sailing" failed to afford Stewart a major hit in his newly adopted US homeland.

According to Iain Sutherland the connection between the Sutherland Brothers and Rod Stewart which led to Stewart's recording of "Sailing" began when Stewart's live-in girlfriend Dee Harrington saw the Sutherland Brothers on the 20 June 1972 broadcast of the BBC2 music program The Old Grey Whistle Test: Harrington recommended the Sutherland Brothers as a musical act who'd interest Stewart and Stewart did indeed become a Sutherland Brothers fan after seeing them perform at the Marquee Club. According to Gavin Sutherland, the Sutherland Brothers co-wrote two original songs with Stewart which Stewart hoped to record for Atlantic Crossing: however the only Sutherland Brothers tune Stewart would record for the album would be "Sailing" whose seemingly nautical theme complemented the album's title.

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Wikipedia