This thoughtful, austere piano ballad about the slave trade finds Newman's slaver protagonist attempting to convince his African listeners to climb aboard his ship and "sail away" with him to the promised land of America. Newman explained to NPR in a May 8, 2013 interview: "I wrote about slave trade from the view of the recruiter from the slave trade. He is talking, you know, come to America and then talks about using that and I didn't another way to do it. I mean, you could say the slave trade is bad, horrendous or a great crime of the nation, but I chose to do differently."
Among the artists that have covered the tune are Bobby Darin, who recorded it on his last album before he died in 1972 (Motown label's Bobby Darin) and Linda Ronstadt for her 1973 set Don't Cry Now. Etta James also released it in 1973 on her self-titled album.
It's not glaringly obvious what this song is about, as there's no direct mention of slavery. Newman never went for the obvious though, preserving nuance at the risk of misinterpretation. The biggest hint to the song's meaning is the line "We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay" - Charleston Bay, South Carolina is where much of the slave trade took place. One person who didn't get it, according to Newman, was Bobby Darin, who sang it in a more jovial manner.
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