100 Songs of Summer #19 “Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills & Nash

Amid visions of sails filling with off-shore winds as the Antigua Barbuda Hamptons Challenge approaches the horizon here on the East End, our Top 100 Songs of Summer Countdown continues with a selection for anyone who has ever dreamt of throwing off the bowlines and heading out for a course whose destination is not entirely certain.

Hamptons 100 Songs of Summer #19

“Southern Cross” by Crosby, Stills & Nash

All you need, the saying goes, is a tall ship and a star to steer her by. Songwriter Steven Stills needed only a bit more—in this case, heartache, (“It’s about using the power of the universe to heal your wounds,” Stills said)nand a certain constellation from the Southern Hemisphere—to take off from a song by Richard Curtis and Michael Curtis called “Seven League Boots” and turn it into a classic. Driven by the pain of a lost love, inspired by the freedom one can only find beneath the sails of a boat, this 1982 tune captures the spirit everyone feels whle standing on deck with only the wind to blow you and the stars guide you.