Sailing By is a short piece of light music

Light music

Light music is a generic term applied to a mainly British musical style of "light" orchestral music, which originated in the 19th century and had its heyday during the early to mid part of the 20th century, although arguably it lasts to the present day....

 composed

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 by Ronald Binge

Ronald Binge

Ronald Binge was a British composer and arranger of light music.-Biography:He was born in a working-class neighbourhood in Derby in the English Midlands. In his childhood he was a chorister at Saint Andrews Church , London Road, Derby - 'the railwaymens church'...

 in 1963, which is used before the late Shipping Forecast

Shipping Forecast

The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The forecasts sent over the Navtex...

 on BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

. A slow waltz

Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...

, the piece uses a repetitive ABABC structure and features a distinctive rising and falling woodwind arpeggio.

Context and usage

Sailing By is played every night on BBC Radio 4 at around 00:45hrs before the late Shipping Forecast

Shipping Forecast

The Shipping Forecast is a four-times-daily BBC Radio broadcast of weather reports and forecasts for the seas around the coasts of the British Isles. It is produced by the Met Office and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The forecasts sent over the Navtex...

. Its tune is repetitive, assisting in its role of serving as a signal for sailor

Sailor

A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...

s tuning in to be able to easily identify the radio station. It also functions as a buffer — depending on when the final programme before closedown finishes, Sailing By (or part of it) is played as a 'filler' as the shipping forecast starts at 00:48hrs precisely. The initial reason for its introduction was because of the indeterminate finish time for the preceding Midnight News, leading to filling music being played until the Shipping Forecast was due to start. Sailing By was added to allow for a clear break between the end of the music and the start of the forecast.

In the 1990s the tune was also adopted for the weekly maritime programme Seascapes

Seascapes

Seascapes is a weekly 30-minute Irish radio programme covering maritime matters broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 on Fridays at 22.30 and presented until recently by the award-winning presenter Tom MacSweeney...

on Ireland's RTÉ Radio 1

RTÉ Radio 1

RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926...

.

Popularity

Besides its intended function, Sailing By is thought of affectionately by many British radio listeners as it is considered a soothing accompaniment to bedtime. The lead singer of the Britpop

Britpop

Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...

 band Pulp

Pulp (band)

Pulp are an English alternative rock band formed in Sheffield in 1978. Their lineup consists of Jarvis Cocker , Russell Senior , Candida Doyle , Mark Webber , Steve Mackey and Nick Banks ....

, Jarvis Cocker

Jarvis Cocker

Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...

 chose Sailing By as one of his Desert Island Discs

Desert Island Discs

Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...

, saying for many years he had used it "as an aid to restful sleep".

The piece featured as the second track on a single recorded by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia

Royal Ballet Sinfonia

The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is the Orchestra of Birmingham Royal Ballet.The Sinfonia appears with Birmingham Royal Ballet in its home town, in London and around the UK, and frequently appears with The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House and on tour...

 in a quest to save the Radio 4 UK Theme

Radio 4 UK Theme

The BBC Radio 4 UK Theme is an orchestral arrangement of traditional British airs composed by Fritz Spiegl which was played every morning on BBC Radio 4 between 23 November 1978 and 23 April 2006....

. In 1993 there was a similar reaction by BBC listeners when Sailing By was temporarily taken off the air on weekday schedules, leading to it being re-instated in 1995.

The recording used by the BBC (performed by the Alan Perry/William Gardner Orchestra) was originally only available as library music, but has since 1997 been available commercially as track 11 on the second CD of the EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 CD set titled The Great British Experience (EMI Classics CDGB50). The unexplained crediting of the recording to the "Perry Gardner Orchestra", suggesting the existence of a conductor or arranger by that name, is apt to be confusing; indeed, "Alan Perry" and "William Gardner" are in fact pseudonyms for composers Ernest Tomlinson

Ernest Tomlinson

Ernest Tomlinson is an English composer, particularly noted for his Light music compositions. He is sometimes credited as Alan Perry.-Life:...

 and Peter Hope

Peter Hope

Peter Hope is a British composer and arranger. He is particularly noted for his light music compositions, such as the Ring of Kerry Suite, which won an Ivor Novello award, and for his arrangements, such as "Mexican Hat Dance"...

. The BBC broadcast the original stereo version for a few weeks in the late 1980s, but soon reverted to a mono version.