It’s #SongLyricsSunday! Today’s prompt is to find songs that have a “girl’s name that with S” in their title or lyrics. I have picked two songs: “Oh Sherrie” by Steve Perry and “Sara” by Starship. The reason why I picked two hits from the 80s because I couldn’t go with only one song. I love “Oh Sherrie”, but at the same time, I wanted to highlight “Sara” as my best friend’s name is “Sarah”. So for today, enjoy two songs!
Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie”
This was one of Steve Perry’s earliest hits in solo career. The 1984 tune was written about Steve’s then-girlfriend Sherrie Swafford, who also appears in the music video. According to Wikipedia, many have made this song as a honorary Journey song as it features the trademark Journey song, it has been featured on many of the band’s compilation albums, and been featured on some the band’s tours.
The song was written by four people! Four people! A lot of people! They were Steve Perry, Randy Goodrum, Craig Krampf, and Bill Cuomo. Many know Bill Cuomo and Craig Kramp as they performed on Kim Carnes’ 1981 song “Bette Davis Eyes”. Randy Goodrum has written for countless artists since his start in the 70s. I noticed he even written some songs for Japanese artists like Seiko Matsuda, OFF COURSE, and Noriyuki Makihara.
Randy Goodrum told Songfacts about how he crafted the song, especially the lyrics:
“I’d gotten to know him and Sherrie, not really well, but I had a general idea of what they were like as people. I sensed a certain amount of drama in their relationship, to put it mildly. I like to find a premise and go with that, rather than a hook. And as long as I know what the point of the song, or the mission of the song is, then the lyrics usually just fall into place. So I focused on that, it was me saying, ‘Here is a relationship the way I perceive it between two people.’
And when Steve gave me a scratch tape that had him singing what I call a ‘la-la’ track, which is when the singer just sort of sings nonsense, and non-words, I listened to his vocals and listened to some of the vowels that sounded good on high notes, and some of the ones that sounded good in the middle. That’s another little trade secret that I do when I get a scratch vocal. And I fashioned the lyrics around their relationship. And then, of course, I took it back to Steve and showed him what I’d done. We made changes and tweaks here and there, and it ended up being the basic lyrics for ‘Oh Sherrie.'”
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/steve-perry/oh-sherrie
I love “Oh Sherrie” so much with that awesome intro (that was sequenced on a multi-tumbrel sequencer), the melody, and Perry’s strong vocals. This is a song that I often sing in my apartment because I love singing like those powerful vocals!
Starship’s “Sara”
Like I said above, I choose “Sara” because my best friend has the same name (well, her name is “Sarah” with a h). I often sing this song to her; oven the phone, over Facebook messenger, or in-person. This 1986 song had lyrics written by Ina Wolf. Not much is know about her, except she was married to Peter Wolf (the guy who isn’t the former singer of the J. Geils Band, but composed “Sara”) for some time.
Many don’t like Starship’s Knee Deep in the Hoopla (especially with “We Built This City” as it appears on so many worst song lists), but the album had produced some memorable hits in the 80s, like “Sara”.
This one is for you, my best friend named Sarah!
The Rules
If you want to participate, here are the rules:
- Post the lyrics to the song of your choice, whether it fits the theme or not.
- Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due.
- Make sure you also credit the singer/band and if you desire you can provide a link to where you found the lyrics.
- Link to the YouTube video, or pull it into your post so others can listen to the song.
- Ping back to this post will eventually work, as long as you are being patient, but you can also place your link in the comments if you don’t like to wait.
- Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
- Feel free to suggest future prompts.
- Have fun and enjoy the music.
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Oh Sherrie was written as a tribute to his girlfriend, Sherrie Swafford who played the object of his affection in the video as well and it celebrated the joys and pains of being in love. The relationship didn’t last, as the pressures of touring finally ended their romance. Perry has never married, but the song stands alongside Journey’s best hits as an anthem of the ‘80s. Sherrie and Steve still remain friends and she is an esthetician specializing in the beautification of the skin, she teaches yoga, she has also never married and she has no children. Sara by Starship is also a lovely song.
Two great choices! ☺️🌺
I am not familiar with the first song, but I have heard of the Sara song since I was a kid. It still sounds so good even up to this time.
What a lovely songs, a celebration of love. We can draw many inspirations by listening to Oh Sherrie.
I know both of those songs and love them a lot. This is a fun challenge to think of songs that fit the requirements.
Those are great songs! I haven’t even thought of them for a long time.
Such an original post – as always. Although I’m not the target group: R-enata….
I haven’t heard any. but they sound good, all of them!
I enjoyed playing the videos and those songs reminds me of good and bad memories. Thanks for posting these songs! 🙂
A very interesting topic and now that I see it I would like to explore these songs~! how about oh sabrina?
Great read. Loved the songs brought back some good memories!
I’ve never heard of these songs before, but such a great listen haha
Im still hearing this song sara on radio great lyrics and voice…but the other one im not that familiar
You always introduce me to new songs and my playlist is getting longer thanks to you.
I love all of these songs. I listen to old songs because the beat is so much enjoyable and the words are always meaningful.
Loving the vibe from your pick song. Very nostalgic, i can easily determine this is from 80’s. That era brings so much pride in music compared to what we have nowadays.
You have great taste in music! You chose two great hits! I like Sara and I’m more familiar with it since I love Starship’s songs. I’ve been listening to their songs since I was a child. Never gets old.